BREAKING: US stock market futures fall as diesel prices hit a record high and Middle East tensions mount: 1. S&P 500: -0.6% 2. Nasdaq 100: -1.1% 3. Dow Jones: -0.4% 4. WTI Crude: +3.0% 5. Brent: +3.0% 6. Natural Gas: +2.0% Today marks day number 197 of the Iran War.

Last wk, oil +9% & ylds +11-26 bps across 2/30 curve w/ S&P/Nas/R2K -0.3%/-0.7%/-2.4%. This wk, I am watching reaction to 1) oil/rates, 2) calls to slow down AI development & 3) Fed on 9/16. I remain on the cautious side till US mid-terms on 11/3. This weekend, the CEO of Anthropic called for a slowing of frontier model development over safety concerns. This follows comments along similar lines by the CEO of OpenAI to employees last week if other companies were willing to do the same thing. The fundamental issues I have with this is 1) foreign adversaries would welcome the US slowing down AI development, 2) I view this as an attempt to slow down open-weight model development which would help the market dominance of OpenAI and Anthropic which are currently in the lead and 3) I do not see other companies agreeing to anything that slows down progress catching up to these two market leaders. Having said that, I could see 3rd party evaluators to limit liability risk going forward and some sort of executive order from the White House. But I hope the longer-term result of these actions is broadly distributed personal AI capabilities for all individuals versus having it become concentrated in the hands of a few companies. Along this vein of AI competition, after releasing their paid API of Muse Spark 1.3 two weeks ago with open-weight versions coming later, $Meta launched their personal AI agent Muse last week with the stock gaining 5%. With 3.6 billion daily active users, a hit product could yield large results. Meta is increasingly showing other ways they can monetize their AI capex spend. This should help the stock to re-rate from a 17x CY27 PE to a multiple closer to peers trading in the low 20s. Meta Connect on September 23–24 is another potential catalyst given their leading frontier model Watermelon should be coming at the latest by October. On the front of broadly distributed AI capabilities, $AAPL stock gained 4% last week on their new product launch. The foldable Duo will provide a personalized AI agent in your pocket with a 50% larger screen than a Pro Max. I continue to see a big upgrade cycle next year. The change from a 4” screen to 5.5” screen with the iPhone 6 drove revenue growth from 7% in FY14 to 28% in FY15. The Android ecosystem has had a foldable Samsung phone since 2019. As for the Fed on Wednesday, I believe Warsh will raise by 25 bps and echo his hawkish statements from Jackson Hole on August 28th that “Price stability is not self-executing… 65 months of sustained, elevated inflation sits squarely with the Central Bank.” The ECB statement last week when they hiked might provide some hints: “For inflation excluding energy and food, the baseline foresees 2.5% in 2026, 2.6% in 2027 and 2.3% in 2028. Compared with June, the baseline projection for inflation in 2026 is unchanged, while it has been revised up for 2027 and 2028… The outlook remains highly uncertain, with risks to the upside for inflation and to the downside for economic growth.” In summary, my caution between now and the US mid-terms on 11/3 remains for reasons I have fleshed out in prior posts including: 1. Don’t fight the Fed: The market historically under-performs during a hiking cycle with the bond market discounting 2 raises by year-end and 3.5 raises by mid-June of 2027. 2. Seasonal headwinds: September is down -0.5% on average and up only 48% of the time since 1957. 3. Historical volatility: S&P drawdowns of 10% between 7/31 and 11/9 have occurred in the lead-up to mid-terms since 1990. 4. Regulatory friction: There is bipartisan pushback against datacenter expansion that could hurt the AI buildout in the near-term. 5. Geopolitical risk: Despite US efforts to de-escalate, I believe Iran drags out hostilities at least through the 11/3 US mid-terms, keeping oil prices elevated. 6. Macroeconomic pressure: Long-term government bond yields are hitting multi-decade highs for several countries, slowing down growth and providing a reasonable alternative to stocks. I believe in not fighting the Fed, the bond market or seasonality. I like the odds stacked in my favor which should improve at least seasonally following the mid-terms.

Crossing this afternoon *FRANCE'S CREDIT RATING DOWNGRADED TO A+ FROM AA- AT SCOPE The U.S. credit rating is AA+ -- Trump will be upset because he thinks Sovereign (Government) yields are set by credit rating. The best credit rating gets the lowest yield. As the chart shows, France has had lower yields than the U.S. since 2013 (13+ years now) despite being a lower-rated credit, and now even lower. Better credit ratings getting lower yields works really well for junk-rated Atlantic City casinos (which he is an expert on), but not for government yields. Government yields are set on inflation expectations, growth outlooks, and borrowing amounts. So, why are French yields lower than US yields? They have lower inflation, smaller deficits, and much weaker growth.                 Real Deficits Nominal GDP   Inflation    (% of GDP)     GDP US           2.3%    3.2%               6.0%         5.3% France    0.9%    1.8%               4.7%          2.2%

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.

📌 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."

MiniMax H3 Fashion Lookbook | Anime Character Reveal + Editorial MV Prompt🔥 Made this high-saturation anime PV with 13 fast visual beats in 15 seconds. A few years ago, this would’ve been days of AE work. Now? Prompt → generate → refine. Prompt 👇 Create a **15s, 16:9, 24fps anime character reveal trailer** with **13 fast visual beats**. Style: **Japanese anime opening × premium AAA motion graphics × fashion campaign**. The video should feel **explosive, sexy, stylish, bold and high-impact**, with **80% motion graphics and 20% character action**. ## CHARACTER LOCK — HIGHEST PRIORITY AO is a **young adult East Asian anime woman** with a sexy, confident Japanese anime aesthetic. She has: * small refined face * sharp expressive crimson eyes * glossy lips * confident, teasing gaze * slim feminine curvy figure * long elegant legs * stylish, cool, alluring presence Keep her identical throughout: * chin-length vivid red bob with messy bangs * crimson-red eyes * black choker * fitted red cropped top * short white cropped jacket, worn open * black mini skirt or fitted shorts * red belt detail * black thigh strap * white-and-red platform sneakers * subtle silver accessories Preserve the same face, body proportions, hairstyle, outfit, materials and colors in every shot. **Never redesign AO. Never change her face or outfit. If a shot becomes too complex, simplify the action first.** ## VISUAL STYLE Palette: **vivid red, crimson, white, black, silver**. Use: giant kinetic typography, red circles, diagonal slashes, manga speed lines, split screens, halftone dots, barcode strips, UI ticks, freeze frames, RGB flashes, impact shakes, poster layouts and graphic wipes. Every beat should feel: **fast, sharp, sexy, explosive, graphic and iconic**. Keep typography bold and readable. Editing: hard cuts, aggressive snap zooms, whip pans, speed ramps, freeze frames, impact shakes and foreground wipes. ## 13 VISUAL BEATS **01 | 0.0–1.0s** White field. Massive red circle slams into frame. Black bars slash across. UI ticks flicker. Giant **A**, then **O**, hit with heavy impact shake. **02 | 1.0–2.0s** The O becomes a circular frame showing an extreme close-up of AO’s crimson eye and glossy lips. She gives a teasing side glance. RGB flash. Circle bursts into red-and-white fragments. **03 | 2.0–3.1s** Black background, huge white **AO**. AO enters fast, turns sharply and power-slides beneath the typography. Red speed streaks trail behind her. Whip-pan out. **04 | 3.1–4.0s** Three red/white/black vertical panels. AO appears in three poses: hip turn, hair touch, over-shoulder stare. Huge vertical **FULL SPEED** moves behind her. **05 | 4.0–5.1s** AO jumps through a rotating typography ring reading **NO BRAKES / ALL EYES ON ME**. One clean mid-air spin. Snap zoom into her confident face. **06 | 5.1–6.0s** White editorial frame. Huge black **HOT** with a red slash. AO crosses the frame with a runway-like step, one hand at her waist. Typography compresses and rebounds. **07 | 6.0–7.0s** Bright red field with black diagonal stripe. AO performs one smooth fast turn. Three ghosted freeze positions trace the movement. Giant outlined **TURN** rotates behind her. **08 | 7.0–8.0s** Words hit one per beat: **HOT / FAST / WILD / RED** AO changes pose with each word: direct stare, hair toss, hip shift, confident forward lean. **09 | 8.0–9.0s** Black frame with manga perspective lines and a graphic grid. AO steps forward and freezes in a strong hero pose. Red circular target graphics lock around her. **10 | 9.0–10.1s** AO moves toward camera through three red-and-white graphic panels. Each panel shatters as she passes. Large **A O** fragments appear behind her. Finish with a hair or leg foreground wipe. **11 | 10.1–11.1s** Rapid poster montage: four frames of the same AO — close-up stare, walking, side pose, hands at waist. Add **01–04**, barcodes, halftone dots and sharp Japanese poster graphics. **12 | 11.1–13.0s** Hero moment on a clean white background. AO lands in a powerful fashion pose: one leg forward, one hand at her waist, chin lifted, direct eye contact. Huge red shockwave rings explode behind her. Typography fragments and speed lines burst outward. Hold an iconic confident freeze. **13 | 13.0–15.0s** Final identity card. Huge black **AO** on a bright white field. AO stands relaxed and alluring in front of the letters. Red circles, halftone, technical arcs and sharp speed accents surround her. Final red pulse flashes through the frame and ends on a hard stinger. ## ANIME STYLE Premium modern Japanese anime rendering: * clean cel shading * sharp linework * polished highlights * cinematic close-ups * dynamic perspective * fashion-editorial full-body framing * smooth hair and fabric motion AO must look like a **stylish adult anime heroine**, not chibi and not childish. ## AUDIO Hard-hitting **electro / future bass / anime-opening style music**. Use: heavy drums, bass hits, risers, glitch fills, synth stabs, typography slams, whooshes and shutter impacts. Build continuously. Peak at Beat 12. End with a sharp electronic stinger. ## PRIORITIES 1. AO identity consistency 2. sexy adult anime character design 3. red-black-white outfit consistency 4. maximum visual impact 5. readable typography 6. premium anime rendering 7. fast beat-synced editing Avoid: childlike proportions, chibi style, blue clothing, face changes, outfit changes, extra characters, unreadable typography, weak motion, dull compositions or generic schoolgirl styling. Final result: **explosive, sexy, red-hot, premium, graphic-driven and visually unforgettable.** Try MiniMax H3 on Ima Studio 👉 #MiniMaxH3# #MotionDesign# #Anime# #AIVideo# #ImaStudio#

Foreign born population of each country : Jan 2001 Jan 2025 🇦🇹 8.7% 22.5% 🇧🇪 8.4% 20.2% 🇩🇰 4.8% 14.4% 🇫🇷 5.5% 14.0% 🇩🇪 8.9% 20.5% 🇬🇷 6.9% 11.0% 🇮🇸 3.1% 21.8% 🇮🇪 4.0% 23.3% 🇱🇺 37.5% 51.5% 🇳🇱 4.1% 16.8% 🇳🇴 4.1% 18.7% 🇸🇮 2.1% 15.5% 🇪🇸 3.4% 19.3% 🇸🇪 5.3% 20.8% 🇬🇧 4.3% 20.0% Now add children born to foreign parents and the situation looks even worse. We are living through the demographic annihilation of the people of Europe.

The cheapest MiCA-regulated crypto exchanges ↓ (bookmark for later) Revolut – 0% / 0.09% OKX – 0.08% / 0.1% Gate – 0.1% / 0.1% Bybit – 0.1% / 0.3% Bitvavo – 0.2% / 0.3% Blockchaincom – 0.2% / 0.4% Bitpanda – 0.3% / 0.3% Kraken – 0.3% / 0.4% Bitstamp – 0.3% / 0.4% Cryptocom – 0.3% / 0.5% Robinhood – 0.5% Bit2Me – 0.5% / 0.6% Coinbase – 0.6% / 1.2% eToro – 1% Swissquote – 1% / 1% Data from @DefiLlama.

🇺🇸US DATA RUNS HOT: INFLATION STICKY, DEMAND FIRM INFLATION • Headline PCE MoM: +0.2% vs +0.1% est.; prior -0.1% • Headline PCE YoY: +3.7% vs +3.6% est.; prior +3.7% • Core PCE MoM: +0.2% vs +0.2% est.; prior +0.1% • Core PCE YoY: +3.3% vs +3.3% est.; prior +3.3% GDP • Q2 GDP annualized: +1.5% vs +1.5% est.; prior +1.5% • Personal consumption: +3.4% vs +3.2% est.; prior +3.2% • GDP Price Index: +6.4% vs +6.2% est.; prior +6.2% • Core PCE QoQ: +3.6% vs +3.4% est.; prior +3.4% INCOME & SPENDING • Personal income MoM: +0.4% vs +0.2% est.; prior +0.2% • Personal spending MoM: +0.2% vs +0.1% est.; prior +0.3% • Real personal spending MoM: 0.0% vs 0.0% est.; prior +0.4% DURABLE GOODS • Durable goods orders MoM: +1.1% vs +0.5% est.; prior +0.5% • Durables ex-transportation: +0.4% vs +0.6% est.; prior +0.7% • Core capital goods orders: +0.2% vs +0.7% est.; prior revised to +1.7% • Core capital goods shipments: +1.4% vs +1.0% est.; prior revised to +2.4% BOTTOM LINE: Inflation remains sticky while consumer demand and headline durable goods beat expectations. GDP growth was in line, but stronger price pressures could keep the Fed cautious on rates.

Last wk, S&P/Nas/Mag7 +0.4%/+0.1%/-0.8%. Cooler inflation (CPI, PPI) & economic data (consumer sentiment, retail sales) but +5% oil steepened the yield curve but lowered odds of a rate hike. Looking forward, I continue to believe the impact of Agentic AI with the advent of OpenClaw on January 30th has at least a year to run: 1) Token production has gone up roughly ~7.5x from the end of January more than offsetting the nearly 50% token cost reduction seen since open-weight model usage started to take off in May. 2) Combined annualized run-rate revenues for OpenAI and Anthropic which ended last year at $29B seems to be around $100B currently with Anthropic getting profitable in Q2. 3) Capex from the Big6 hyperscalers accelerated from 84% y/y/ in CQ1 to 92% in CQ2 with forecasts for nearly 100% in Q3. But this is being supported by cloud revenue growth at the 3 Big Public cloud vendors of $AMZN $MSFT $GOOGL accelerating from 23% y/y in Q1:25 to 35% in Q1:26 to 43% in Q2:26. Arguable more important is public cloud operating margins expanded from 34% to 37% and 39% during those time periods. 4) The $500B financing deal backstopped by up to $125B from $NVDA adds even more lower cost money to fund AI capex spend for the non-hyperscaler players. Nvidia gained 0.5% last week. 5) The liquidation of Situational Awareness and retail accounts during July cleared out some of the frothiness in the AI related names In terms of negatives: 1) The cost of money (yields on government bonds) remain near the highest levels for the 30 yr tenor at 5.3% since 2007. 2) Given large scale offensive US military actions are seemingly off the tablein favor of financial sanctions, probably driven by current election polls, I now believe Iran is likely to hold the Strait of Hormuz hostage until past the US mid-terms. This would be akin to them releasing the US hostages in 1981 (they were held for 444 days) just hours after President Reagan was sworn in replacing Carter. There were severe financial sanctions then also. 3) Since 1990, which happens to be the Gulf War, from the end of July through November 9th, which covers the reaction to all mid-term results, the performance is worse than non mid-term years. For mid-term years the median S&P500 gain from 7/31-11/9 is 0.9% with gains 56% of the time but the median peak loss from 7/31 is 6.2% (intra-period median peak loss of 9.9%.) For non mid-term years the median gain is 2.7% from 7/31-11/9 with gains 59% of the time and the median peak loss from 7/31 is 3.5% (intra-period median peak loss of 5.2%.) This year with the momentum seen by the Socialists which are not big business friendly, I see more risk than normal. 4) The easy money on the AI technical rebound from oversold levels on 7/29 due to the forced sale by Situation Awareness is probably over. There were negative stock reactions to headline beat and raise earnings on both revs & EPS for AI infrastructure winners $CSCO (-8% for the week but still up +45% YTD), $AMAT (-6%/+97%) and $COHR (-14%/+77%). While negatives can always be found, their biggest crime was arguably their recent bounce from 7/29-8/7 of 8%, 24% and 71% respectively and their market beating YTD gains. In summary, I remain bullish. Even from the end of July through November 9th during mid-term years since 1990, the S&P has an additional median gain of 4.2% to its peak before giving some of that back closer to the election. Given some of the negatives, especially the reaction to solid earnings data, I would add some hedges back on further market gains and get more selective. Consumer discretionary hedges should also make sense if oil is higher for longer. I believe value should continue to accrue to the infrastructure layer which includes 1) the public cloud vendors such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google and 2) the semiconductor companies. $INTC, my favorite semi company, still gained 0.8% last week despite: 1) a $20B equity offering which causes ~5% dilution and 2) being up 178% YTD. This clears the funding overhang. All the best in the week ahead.