Last wk, SPX/Nas/R2K +0.5%/+0.8%/-1.5% w/ oil -4%. But a hawkish Warsh on Friday led to a bear flattening of the yield curve. Despite $NVDA guide of 70% CY27 rev growth vs consensus of 47%, SOX Index -2.3% while software $IGV +5.9% on solid earnings. In general, many AI investors have been bullish on semiconductors and bearish on software on the belief that AI will displace many point solution software companies. This is why the SOX index is up 62% YTD and IGV is still only up 4% YTD versus the S&P +13%. Situational Awareness was the poster child for this type of positioning. But since the unwinding of the Momentum trade which started on 6/22 (I wrote about these concerns on 6/20), IGV has rallied 25% while the SOX Index has declined 22% through 8/28. For perspective, the Morgan Stanley Momentum index (momentum long performance minus momentum short performance) from 6/22-8/28 is down 36% while their more concentrated TMT index is down 54%. But a bullish twist on AI for the software sector introduced recently is that AI agents will access software tools ~10-100x more often than humans. On 8/6, $TEAM, which was in the bucket of software names widely considered at risk of being replaced by AI, rallied 35% the next day in reaction to solid earnings & outlook. Then on 8/13, $WDAY rallied 18% on the news that private equity firm Silverlake might be pursuing an acquisition which I wrote probably put a floor underneath software. Workday was also supposed to be in the AI crosshairs and private equity has higher bars to clear given their use of leverage and holding period than a typical investor. Then on 8/26, $CRM reported solid results, guidance and a deal with Anthropic (in which they also first invested in May of 2023.) The stock was up 23% in reaction the next day. This seemed to be a strong counterpoint to the SaaS-pocalypse worries. This strategic alliance allows users to execute actions natively inside Claude without needing to open traditional software screens. Salesforce also seems to be changing how they charge customers with fees more related to customer use and benefits to their business. Then on 8/27, Workday reported results which were good enough but arguably acquisition prospects drove more of the stock reaction of +6% the next day from the slightly down opening price. Historically, system of record, security and gaming software have been the only three areas I have liked within software. I now wonder whether the fundamental implications of Atlassian, Workday and Salesforce are supportive of the technical reactions in the software stocks as a group as agentic AI continues to ramp. So how do I square this with my concerns that the rapidly escalating amounts spent on AI by corporations has to come from somewhere? Annualized revenue run-rates for Anthropic and OpenAI have ramped from $29B to start the year to $105B just 7 months later. Software spending globally excluding AI was roughly $1 trillion in 2025. But IT services at $1.7 trillion is a bigger category which I believe still has risk. And finally, knowledge worker compensation is an even bigger category where disruption would be even less noticeable at an estimated $35-50 trillion in 2025 or roughly 30% of the global workforce. Looking forward, the deal on Friday for Venezuelan oil fields that hold the largest crude reserves in the world at 17-18% should get us off to a positive start to the week with declining oil prices. But a bit further out: 1) “Don’t Fight the Fed” given I believe a hike is likely on 9/16 because the 10/28 mtg is right before mid-terms, 2) September has the poorest seasonality of all months, 3) there is even worse seasonality than normal during mid-term election years (see prior posts for more detail) and 4) recent bipartisan pushback against datacenter expansion (one of the few things both sides seem to agree on though I believe this is wrong and hope it will change with more education) puts pressure on the AI infrastructure names. As Warren Buffett says, the market has to keep pitching but you do not need to swing.

Tesla is still dominating. In the first half of 2026, they secured over 52% of the U.S. EV market. 1. Tesla: 52.3% — 242,100 units sold 2. Chevrolet: 6.1% — 28,267 3. Hyundai: 5.8% — 26,936 4. Cadillac: 4.7% — 21,855 5. Rivian : 4.7% — 21,770 6. Toyota: 4.7% — 21,767 7. Ford: 3.6% — 16,606 8. Kia: 2.7% — 12,627 9. BMW: 2.4% — 10,790 10. Subaru: 2.2% — 10,064 11. Honda: 1.8% — 8,407 12. Lexus: 1.7% — 7,814 13. GMC: 1.4% — 6,645 14. Lucid: 1.1% — 5,208 15. Volvo: 0.9% — 3,964 16. VW: 0.8% — 3,768 17. Mercedes: 0.6% — 3,010 18. Porsche: 0.6% — 2,967 19. Other Brands: 0.6% — 2,596 20. Nissan: 0.4% — 1,774 21. Audi: 0.4% — 1,697 22. Genesis: 0.1% — 560 23. Dodge: 0.1% — 534 24. Jeep: 0.1% — 418 25. Mini: 0.1% — 307 26. Acura: 0.0% — 108 (Data Via Cox Automotive Q2 2026 EV sales)

CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTER Warren Buffett vs Stanley Druckenmiller Buffett stepped down as Charman of Berkshire Hathaway $BRK.B today. Druckenmiller has never had a losing year in more than 30 years. Here are their full portfolios as of Q2 2026. BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY - Apple $AAPL: 22% - American Express $AXP: 17% - Google $GOOGL: about 12.6% across both share classes - Coca-Cola $KO: 11% - Bank of America $BAC: 9.2% - Chevron $CVX: 4.7% - Occidental $OXY: 4.3% - Chubb $CB: 3.9% - Moody's $MCO: 3.7% - Kraft Heinz $KHC: 2.6% - DaVita $DVA: 2.1% - Delta $DAL: 1.8% - SiriusXM $SIRI: 1.2% - VeriSign $VRSN: 0.8% - Kroger $KR: 0.7% - Liberty Live $LLYVA: about 0.6% across both share classes - Ally $ALLY: 0.4% - Lennar $LEN: 0.4% - New York Times $NYT: 0.4% - Capital One $COF: 0.2% - Louisiana-Pacific $LPX: 0.1% - Nucor $NUE: 0.1% - Macy's $M: 0.1% - NVR $NVR - Jefferies $JEF - D.R. Horton $DHI DUQUESNE FAMILY OFFICE - Natera $NTRA: 17% - Insmed $INSM: about 5.7% in shares and calls - Taiwan Semi $TSM: 5.4% - Brazil ETF $EWZ: about 5.1% in shares and calls - Amazon $AMZN: about 4.6% in shares and calls - STMicro $STM: 4.5% - S&P 500 Equal Weight $RSP: about 3.7% in calls and shares - Fox $FOXA: about 2.8% across both share classes - YPF $REPYY: 2.7% - CDW $CDW: about 2.7% in shares and calls - BBB Foods $TBBB: 2.3% - Google $GOOGL: 2.3% - Seagate blockstack:native: 2.3% - United Airlines $UAL: 2.1% - Sea $SE: 2.0% - NewAmsterdam Pharma $NAMS: 2.0% - Russell 2000 ETF $IWM: 1.9% in calls - Sandisk $SNDK: 1.5% - Revolution Medicines $RVMD: 1.4% - S&P 500 ETF: 1.3% in calls - Bitdeer: 1.2% - CRH: 1.1% - Delta: 1.1% - Tesla $TSLA: 1.0% in calls - Fluor: 1.0% - D.R. Horton: 0.9% - Coupang: 0.9% - AMD: 0.8% - Palo Alto Networks: 0.8% - Cleveland-Cliffs: 0.8% - Hut 8: 0.7% - Caris Life Sciences: 0.6% - Argentina ETF: 0.6% - Woodward: 0.5% - Meta: 0.5% in calls - Nuvation Bio: 0.5% - Protagonist Therapeutics: 0.5% - Roku: 0.5% - Cavco: 0.5% - ADMA Biologics: 0.4% - Hyperliquid Strategies: 0.4% - Rambus: 0.4% - Rhythm Pharmaceuticals: 0.4% - Champion Homes: 0.4% - Daktronics: 0.4% - PureCycle: 0.4% - Southern Copper: 0.4% - Linde: 0.4% - Entegris: 0.4% - Teva: 0.4% - Unity: 0.4% - Aeva: 0.4% - Riot Platforms: 0.4% - Qnity Electronics: 0.4% - Equinix: 0.4% - Lam Research: 0.4% - Definium Therapeutics: 0.3% - Belite Bio: 0.3% - 10x Genomics: 0.3% - Wabtec: 0.3% - Eli Lilly: 0.3% - Xenon Pharmaceuticals: 0.3% - Olema Pharmaceuticals: 0.2% - Repligen: 0.2% - Rocket Companies: 0.2% - Baidu: 0.2% - Arm: 0.2% - Carvana: 0.2% - Reddit: 0.2% - Alcoa: 0.2% - Thermo Fisher: 0.2% - Danaher: 0.2% - F5: 0.2% - Vista Energy: 0.2% - Skeena Resources: 0.2% - JBS: 0.1% - Monte Rosa Therapeutics: 0.1% - Relay Therapeutics: 0.1% - DBV Technologies: 0.1% - CCC Intelligent Solutions: 0.1% - UWM Holdings: 0.1% - Navitas Semiconductor: 0.1% - Solstice Advanced Materials: 0.1% - FTAI Aviation: 0.1% - Beam Therapeutics: 0.1% - Aurora Innovation: 0.1% - IREN: 0.1% - Grupo Financiero Galicia: 0.1% - Wave Life Sciences: under 0.1% Both own Google, Delta and D.R. Horton. Neither owns Nvidia $NVDA.

MACY'S $M Q2’26 EARNINGS HIGHLIGHTS 🔹 Revenue: $4.9B (Est. $4.83B) 🟢; +1.1% YoY 🔹 Adj. EPS: $0.63; incl. $0.23 tariff refunds 🔹 Adj. EPS ex-Refund: $0.40 (Est. $0.37) 🟢 🔹 GAAP EPS: $0.62; +100% YoY; incl. refunds 🔹 Adj. EBITDA: $457M; incl. tariff refunds Raises FY26 Guide: 🔹 Revenue: $21.7B-$21.8B (Est. $21.91B) 🔴; from $21.5B-$21.75B 🔹 Adj. EBITDA Margin: 7.8%-8.0% (Est. 8.1%) 🔴; from 7.7%-7.9% 🔹 Adj. EPS: $2.15-$2.35 (Est. $2.25) 🟡; from $2.00-$2.20 🔹 Comparable Sales Change: 1.0% to 1.5%; from 0.5% to 1.2% Other Q2 Metrics: 🔹 Comparable Sales: +2.7% 🔹 Go-Forward Business Comps: +2.8% 🔹 Macy's Comps: +1.1% 🔹 Bloomingdale's Comps: +11.3% 🔹 Bluemercury Comps: +6.2% 🔹 Gross Margin: 41.5%; incl. 180 bps refunds Key Updates: 🔸 Tariff refunds: $98M of IEEPA refunds received in Q2 and $18M after quarter end ($116M total); the net benefit was $84M pre-tax, $0.23 per share after tax and 180 bps of gross margin — excluding it, adjusted EPS was $0.40, +14% YoY, and gross margin was up 10 bps; the FY26 guide reinvests the majority of the refunds, with ~$0.05 per share flowing through to adjusted EPS Comments: 🔸 “The investments we're making are driving results across our portfolio, from the continued outperformance of our Reimagine 200 Macy’s stores, to meaningful double-digit growth at Bloomingdale’s and another solid quarter at Bluemercury.”

📌 VI. Trigger Matrix (V2.0 – Observation Status Log) Observation Item Current Value Threshold Status Consecutive Days/Trend Super-Capital Concentration Risk 9.3 8.0 ESCALATION ↑ 1 day (new) AI Governance Risk 8.8 8.0 ESCALATION ↑ 1 day (new) Resilience Ratio 0.63 0.70 ESCALATION ↑ 4 days US-Iran Deal Signing Status 接近 Formal Signing WATCH — Brent Crude Oil Price 3-mo low — THRESHOLD_CROSSED 1 day New Ebola Health Zone (DRC) Confirmed spread — THRESHOLD_CROSSED 3 days EU Accession Talks Launched — THRESHOLD_CROSSED 1 day Items Near Threshold (Elevated Observation): Observation Item Current Value Threshold Current Status • Formal signing of US-Iran deal 接近 Formal Signing ALERT • SpaceX market cap stability Above $2T Drop below $2T WATCH • OpenAI probe scope expands Multi-state Federal involvement ALERT • G7 Summit statements on AI & trade 即将 held Substantive regulatory共识 WATCH • Cross-border Ebola spread Risk rising First邻国 confirmed case ALERT • Clustered cases in fan zones No reports Confirmed cluster transmission WATCH --- 📅 VII. Key Observation List for the Next 72 Hours Grade A Observations (High Impact): Observation Item Potential Impact if Triggered 1. Formal signing of US-Iran MOU Geopolitical entropy pressure declines further, but execution risk仍需 assessed. 2. SpaceX market cap stability above $2T Test of sustainability for super-capital concentration narrative. 3. OpenAI probe expands to federal level Potential further upgrade to AI governance risk level. 4. G7 Summit statements on AI & trade First collective test of institutional response capacity. Grade B Observations (Medium Impact): Observation Item 1. Expansion of Ebola outbreak zone in DRC 2. Subsequent日程 for EU accession negotiations 3. Public health data during FIFA World Cup --- 📜 VIII. CRI Calculation Summary (V1.6) Variable Weight Risk Score Weighted Contribution V_capital 20% 9.3 1.86 V_tech 18% 8.8 1.58 V_inst 18% 8.1 1.46 V_geo 15% 7.5 1.13 V_human 10% 7.6 0.76 V_expansion 8% 7.9 0.63 V_market 6% 7.2 0.43 V_energy_price 5% 6.5 0.33 Total 100% CRI = 8.2 Calibration Notes: Added V_capital variable (weight 20%) to reflect super-capital concentration as a new structural risk dimension. V_tech上调 to 8.8 (AI governance race launch). V_geo下调 to 7.5 (US-Iran deal接近, declining war risk). --- 📌 IX. Structural Conclusion On June 13, 2026, the global civilizational system's Resilience Ratio remains below the 0.70警戒线 for the fourth consecutive day. What is most worth recording today is not war – but the first time in human civilization that private wealth approaches the GDP of a中等发达国家. When a single entrepreneur owns a satellite network, rocket system, AI platform, energy network, financial capital, and global data流入口, civilization is entering a new organizational form: Transitioning from nation-state-led civilization to platform-infrastructure-led civilization. If the core question of the 20th century was "How to constrain state power?", then the core question of the latter half of the 21st century may well become "How to govern super-platform power."

China macro is turning into an extreme dispersion trade. Headline GDP is becoming almost useless.. Japanification, but with geographic arbitrage both domestically and internationally is my closest mental model for what comes next Maybe this is what the last inning of industrial and geopolitical catch-up looks like: hyper-competitiveness abroad, household retrenchment at home. Export strength no longer translates cleanly into household income or confidence; youth unemployment remains elevated at ~16%, even after excluding students. China may be entering a long cycle of Japanification, but with much more room for geographic arbitrage, both within China and across its supply chains. Externally, China looks almost unstoppable: June exports +27% YoY, H1 high-tech manufacturing +13.3%, IC manufacturing +67.3%. Manufacturing PMI crawled back above 50. AI-linked demand and high-end exports are doing the heavy lifting. But some of this demand is borrowed from the future. AI capex is partly a game of musical chairs and future capacity lock-in, while the export surge contains tariff front-loading. Neither is a durable substitute for domestic consumption. Inside China, the picture is almost inverted. Retail sales fell 0.6% YoY in May and grew only 1.0% in June. H1 fixed-asset investment fell 5.7%, property investment fell 18%, and new-home sales value fell 13.6%. The price chain does not look good either: producer input prices +6.4%, factory-gate prices +4.1%, CPI only +1.0%. Costs are moving downstream much faster than consumer pricing power. Many downstream firms have to absorb the gap through thinner margins, intensifying the rat race. Even consumption itself is dispersing. Urban retail was -0.9% in May vs rural +1.5%; in June, +0.8% vs +2.1%. But rural outlets are only ~14% of total retail, and the rural print is policy-sensitive, wont be able to carry the entire economy Japan after the 1980s bubble offers a strong parallel: stagnation from the early 1990s, then persistent deflation from the late 1990s into the early 2010s. But China has a continental shock absorber Japan never had at this scale: a vast interior homeland where housing and daily life are far cheaper, while infra and digital services have narrowed the quality of life gap with tier 1 cities. The option to leave tier 1 cities and return home has become a popular choices for many, this can lower household burn rates and may soften the social transmission of stagnation Writing this, NF’s Hope started playing in my head: Thirty years of running, thirty years of searching Thirty years of hurting, thirty years of pain For China, make it almost fifty. Almost fifty years of running from scarcity since Reform and Opening, searching for modernity, and avg citizens absorbing the pain of remaking an entire society at impossible speed Maybe that is the eternal paradox of industrial catch-up: a country can arrive frontier before its people feel they have.

SNB Sees 2026 Inflation At 0.7% (Prev 0.6%) Sees 2027 Inflation At 0.8% (Prev 0.6%) Sees 2028 Inflation At 0.8% (Prev 0.7%) Sees 2026 Swiss GDP Growth At 1.5-2% (Prev 1.0%) Sees 2027 Swiss GDP Growth At 1.5% (Prev 1.5%)

SWE-Together Update: Claude Fable 5 and 5.1 are the new top models on SWE-Together, and Meta's Muse Spark 1.3 is the best value on the board. SWE-Together is our benchmark of 109 real coding tasks with a simulated user in the loop, built to tell you whether a new model will actually match your expectations before you hand it your work. Six quick findings from the updated board: 1. Fable 5 beats 5.1 on consistency, but 5.1 is more efficient. At their best the two actually perform the same. The gap is in the worst runs, where Fable 5.1 scored zero on 14 trials and Fable 5 on only 6. However, 5.1 is 25% faster, about 2x cheaper, and needs slightly fewer corrections from the user (1.45 vs 1.53 corrective messages per task) than Fable 5. 2. Muse Spark 1.3 is the value outlier. Per solved task, it is about 2.5x cheaper than Fable 5.1 and 5x cheaper than Fable 5. Performance-wise, it ties with Fable 5 and 5.1 for best on Python (73%) and Rust (100%). 3. Newer is not automatically better at collaborative coding. GPT-5.6-Sol is the newer model, yet it needs more corrections from the user than GPT-5.5 (1.66 vs 1.59 per task). 4. "Stronger models need less steering" is a trend, but not guaranteed. With more models added, the correlation between pass@1 and user correction weakens from -0.92 to -0.72, and Fable 5 takes more corrections than Opus 4.8 (1.53 vs 1.38) despite a 6 pp higher pass@1. 5. Frontier progress contributes greatly to stability. Fable 5 converts 89% of its pass@1 into pass² (both runs solve), versus 60 to 67% for DeepSeek V4 Pro, GLM-5.1, and MiniMax 2.7. 6. There is still plenty of headroom. 16 of 109 tasks have zero solves across all tested models, and even Fable 5 at 69% pass@1 sits about 9 pp below the ~78% that the original human patches scored. The full leaderboard, with per-task and per-trial breakdowns, is at and the benchmark is open source at