CWS Market Review – September 15, 2026
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on September 15th, 2026 at 5:38 pm

(This is the free version of CWS Market Review. If you like what you see, then please sign up for the premium newsletter for $20 per month or $200 for the whole year. If you sign up today, you can see our two reports, “Your Handy Guide to Stock Orders” and “How Not to Get Screwed on Your Mortgage.”)

The Federal Reserve started its two-day meeting today. The meeting will conclude tomorrow at 2 pm ET when the central bank releases its policy statement.

Expectations for the Fed have changed dramatically and now it’s widely expected that the central bank will raise overnight borrowing costs by 0.25% to a range of 3.75% to 4%. Spoiler alert: That’s almost certainly what will happen.

Over the last several months, trying to predict what the Fed will do has been a raucous game. To hike or not to hike? Now there finally seems to be a broad consensus to expect a rate hike.

So what changed everyone’s mind? Two points. The recent jobs report, which was surprisingly strong, and last week’s CPI report both tipped the scales in favor of a rate hike. I’ll have more details on the CPI report in a bit.

Traders currently place the odds of a rate hike at more than 90%. After that, traders expect one more 0.25% hike before the end of the year. (Some even expect a third.)

The Fed hasn’t altered rates all year. If the Fed does raise rates, it will be the Fed’s first rate hike in more than three years.

Last Friday, the S&P 500 snapped a four-day losing streak, and stocks fell again on Monday and today. The index is back below its 50-day moving average which has often been an omen for bad returns. The stock market finished Tuesday at its lowest close since July 31. The S&P 500 Value Index (SPYV) has outperformed the broader market in each of the last four sessions.

Thanks to higher oil prices, the energy sector has done quite well this year. The S&P 500 Energy Index (XLE) is up close to 50% this year. ConocoPillips (COP) hit a new 52-week high today. I caution investors that energy investing can be highly volatile. The XLE underperformed for nearly the entirety of the 2010s.

Cyclical stocks haven’t done particularly well recently. Both the S&P 500 Materials Index (XLB) and the S&P 500 Industrials Index (XLI) have lagged the market for much of this year. That could be a warning sign about the manufacturing sector.

Over the weekend, some major tech CEOs called for a slowdown of the development of AI. Frankly, I think much of the language has been unduly alarmist. Evan Hubinger, a researcher at Anthropic, believes there’s a greater than 10% chance that AI will lead to human extinction, as if I need more things to worry about.

Nevertheless, the Nasdaq Composite dropped sharply at Monday’s open, but it regained strength throughout the day. The Nasdaq has now outpaced the market for the last three weeks.

Inflation Rose 0.4% in August

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said that inflation rose by 0.4% during August. That was in line with expectations. Over the last 12 months inflation is running at 3.4%.

If we just look at core inflation, which ignores food and energy prices, inflation was up by 0.3% last month. That was 0.1% higher than expected. Over the last 12 months, inflation is running at 2.4%.

Not surprisingly, energy was a big factor in last month’s inflation. During August, energy prices were up 2.1%, and up 16.3% over the last year. Gasoline was up 27.4% last month and up 52% over the last year.

Here are some more details:

Food prices edged 0.1% higher as food at home costs held flat. The food index accelerated 2.7% annually.

Another significant factor was a 0.3% climb in shelter costs, which had moderated over the prior two months. Transportation services saw a 0.5% increase. Used cars and trucks rose 0.4% and new vehicle prices were up 0.3%, part of what appeared to be broad-based gains for the index. Tariff-sensitive apparel prices were flat and motor vehicle insurance fell 0.8%.

Before the CPI report, traders thought the odds of a rate hike this week were 70%. After the report, the odds jumped to 90%. With tomorrow’s policy statement, I’ll be curious to see how many dissenting votes there will be. President Trump has strongly advocated for lower rates. Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh has been unambiguously clear that he intends to get inflation back to 2%.

The most important opinion doesn’t come from any elected official. Instead, it’s what the bond market thinks, and lately, the bond market gods have been displeased. The yields on the 10-year Treasury recently broke above 5%.

Specifically, on Tuesday, the 10-year yield reached 5.041%, the highest level since July 2007. The yield on the 30-year Treasury got to its highest level since June 2007.

Jessica Riedl points out that in February, the Congressional Budget Office projected that it would take 30 years for the 10-year yield to get to 4.4%. Instead, it got to 5% in just seven months.

Each month, the Conference Board releases its report on consumer confidence. Gary Alexander points out an unusual divergence. Americans are very happy right now with their current condition, but they’re very concerned about the future.

In the last report, the Present Situation Index was at 121.2, (the baseline is 100). but the Expectations Index is down to 68.1. That’s a giant spread, and it’s getting wider.

In the last report, the Present Situation Index was up 6.8 points while the Expectations Index was down 5.8 points. Interestingly, many Americans are also optimistic about their own prospects for the next several months.

All this worry, to me, suggests that this is a good time to buy. Assuming, of course, we all don’t go extinct.

That’s all for now. The Fed’s decision will be out tomorrow afternoon. Then on Wednesday is the retail sales report. I’ll have more for you in the next issue of CWS Market Review.

– Eddy

Morning News: September 15, 2026
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on September 15th, 2026 at 7:15 am

America’s Munitions Shortfall Is a Crisis In the Making

Oil Executives Say the Great Fuel Crisis Is Here

What Is Driving Diesel Prices Up? Energy Chaos Caused by Two Wars.

Key U.S. Borrowing Rate Near 20-Year High as Oil Prices Fluctuate

WTO Imagines a World With Trade Rules and Without Them

Architects of Japan’s Easy-Money Policies Are Changing Their Minds

Carney Pitches Canada as a Stable Investment in a Chaotic World

US 10-Year Yield Rises to Highest Since 2007 as Fed Looms

Warsh Set for Showdown With Trump as Fed Faces Pressure to Raise Rates

Markets Blinked at 5% Yields. They’ll Be Back

The Rationale for Raising Rates Is Crystal Clear

Bond Market Rebukes Bessent by Sending Borrowing Costs Ever Higher

Bond Yields Could Come Down as Fast as They’ve Climbed

This Bill Could Reshape Crypto in America — and It’s Sparking a Major Battle

Carlyle Joins MIT Consortium to Study AI’s Use for Investing

The Hedge Fund Veteran Betting Big on the Abundance Agenda

Brightshore Capital Launches $250 Million Property Debt Platform

Holman Jenkins Reveals the Real Crisis, and It’s Not the National Debt

The Stagnant Housing Market Is About to Face a 7% Mortgage

Boomers Are Sacrificing Retirement Savings to Support Their Grandkids

JD Vance’s Social Engineering Is Costly and Unprincipled

What It Takes to Get Your First Job on Wall Street

Will AI Force a Reinvention of the MBA?

One Chart Reveals How Much Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Have Scared People About AI

Google DeepMind Staffer Says AI May ‘Kill Us All’ in Exit Post

Trump’s AI Defense Defies Voter Unease Heading Into Midterms

A US-China Pact on AI Is Possible, But Not by Posturing

Anthropic’s $2 Trillion IPO Is Still On. And So Is the AI Race

Brazil’s Smaller Iron Ore Producers Battered by Shipping Costs

Why Capital Prefers a Power Plant To a Megawatt Saved

The Trucking Crackdown: Safety Rule or More Populist Politics

Driscoll’s Gave China Its Blueberries—Then China Swiped the Secret to Growing Them

NFL’s Sunday Ticket Is Getting Smaller. It Isn’t Getting Cheaper.

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Morning News: September 14, 2026
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on September 14th, 2026 at 7:09 am

Oil Jumps as Shutdown of Saudi Pipeline Brings Fresh Supply Risk

Suddenly 56% of Drivers Say High Gas Prices Have Them Interested in EVs

This Energy Shock Is Shredding Central Banks’ Rates Playbook

Canada Seeks EU ‘Associate Member’ Status as U.S. Trade Talks Collapse

Mark Carney Said No to Donald Trump. Now He Must Contend With the Economic Fallout

Carney, Locked in US Trade War, Pitches Canada to Global Investment Titans

TD Bank Mobilizes More than $108 Billion Commitment to Fuel Canada’s Infrastructure

Tariffs Keep Making America Cost More Without Making It Stronger

Trump Pledges to Rescind 10% Tariff on Irish Whiskey

Modern Monetary Theory Is a Failed Notion as Old as Money

Bessent Says the U.S. Can Grow Its Way Out of the Debt Crunch. What Would It Take?

Washington Needs the ‘Washington Consensus’

Wall Street Strategists See Stock Rally Surviving Fed Rate Hike

Warsh and the Fed Need Clarity More Than Certainty

Texas Challenger to Nasdaq, NYSE Lands Fifth Company in a Week

Trump Pushes Crypto Bill, Escalating Industry’s Fight With Banks

The Texas City Showing How the US’s Population Superpower is Waning

Why Tech Oligarchs Are Willing to Risk Apocalypse

The A.I. Slowdown Debate Goes Global

Anthropic’s Amodei Calls for AI Slowdown

AI “Pauses” Will Regulate the U.S. Into Second Place

Is A.I. Raising the Chances of Biological Warfare?

Tech Stocks Shudder in Response to Calls to Slow A.I. Progress

We’re in a $3 Trillion Insurance Hole and Just Keep Digging

Wall Street’s Data Center Boom Is Reshaping the Real Estate Bond Market

US AI Boom Needs $110 Billion of New Power Plants, Moody’s Says

Airbnb Sets Up $250 Million Fund to Invest in Housing Construction

Money Is Flowing Into Space Start-Ups. Some Investors See a SpaceX Effect.

Pfizer Makes an Unusual Enemy in $2 Billion Fight Over Unwanted Covid-19 Vaccines

Patients Who Fight Health Insurance Denials Often Win

Inside the Outrageous Collapse of a ‘Montessori Ponzi’

They Built a Shrine to Cable TV. Then Everyone Cut the Cord.

The Upstart Using ‘Guerrilla Tactics’ to Shake Up the Football Helmet Business

On Holding’s Aversion to Discounting Tested by Softer Retail Sales

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Morning News: September 11, 2026
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on September 11th, 2026 at 7:02 am

Twenty-Five Years After Sept. 11, What Do We Mean By ‘Never Forget’?

9/11 Was a Tragedy On Top of An Enduring Tragedy

Iranians Are Running Out of Gas as Economic Squeeze Takes Hold

IEA Warns Global Oil Refining System ‘Stretched to the Limit’ as Iran, Ukraine Wars Tighten Market

US Diesel Prices Rise Past $6 a Gallon for First Time Ever

Futures Rise With Help From Oracle’s Beat and Cooler Oil Prices

BRICS Finance Chiefs Urge Reform of Global Development Financial Institutions

The U.S.-Canada Trade War is Creating a Headache for Auto-Parts Makers

Trump’s Trade War With Canada Is Making Even Sprinkle Makers Nervous

Inflation Held Sticky in August, with Consumer Prices Rising 3.4% Annually and Core Costs Climbed

What Years of Inflation Have Done to American Prices

Trump’s FTC Places a Bull’s Eye On Affordability

Don’t Raise Rates Based On a PCE That Will Be Re-Written September 30th

Are Robots Ruining the Treasury Market?

Bessent Takes on the Bond Vigilantes

How to Make Sense of Mayhem in the Bond Market

Why India Increasingly Needs China, and Vice Versa

India, Russia Explore Using Digital Currency Payments for Trade

Crypto Fans Say Stablecoins Are Good for the Dollar. The Truth Is More Complicated

Bitcoin’s White-Hat Hack Is Just Old-Fashioned Extortion

Shareholder Ownership Gives Way to Corporate Control

Wealthy Investors Are Pouring Billions Into This New Tax Strategy Despite Risks

Tech’s New Rich Are Suffering From ‘Sudden Wealth Syndrome’

Big Tech Fooled America Once. The Second Time’s Not Going So Well.

Microsoft Plans Data Center Push to Triple Its Computing Power

OpenAI Targets Work of Wall Street Junior Bankers with New ChatGPT for Financial Services

Bridgewater’s Jensen Says AI Will Kill People Before It’s Curbed

OpenAI Is Open to Slowing Cutting-Edge AI, CEO Sam Altman Tells Staff

Compare the iPhone Duo and Cybercab Launches. Notice Something?

The Companies Trying to Cash In on Trump’s Deep-Sea Gold Rush

Automakers Pressure Congress To Ban Chinese EVs To ‘Protect Privacy’

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Morning News: September 10, 2026
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on September 10th, 2026 at 7:06 am

The Strait of Hormuz May Matter Less Than You Think

Trump’s Venezuela Oil Venture Eyes 150% Output Hike by Late 2028

Trump’s Targeted Canada Tariffs Offer Scope and Time for a Deal

BRICS Is Getting Bigger. Can It Really Challenge the US?

We Are Still Living in the Broken World Sept. 11 Created

The ECB Just Raised Interest Rates. Here’s What to Know

A Tiny Shift in the Inflation Rate Could Decide the Fed’s Next Move

Treasury Department to Buy Back up to $6 Billion in Longer-Term Debt, Triple the Normal Level

Bessent’s ‘Asymmetric Information’ Gambit Gets Tested by Traders

Wall Street Is Betting on a Split Congress with Midterms on Tap

Trump’s $5,000 Payout Promise Underscores GOP Midterm Peril

A $5,000 ‘Trump Dividend’? The Bond Market May Like a Word

Americans Are Losing Faith in Capitalism. The Problem Isn’t Capitalism

Want a Leveraged ETF but Short on Time? This One Lasts Just an Hour

Hunter Biden’s Crypto Offering Plummets Upon Launching

Capital One and JPMorgan Bet that Fighting Trump May Be Safer than Settling

Hired to Code, He Built Hudson River Trading and a $27 Billion Fortune

A Blockbuster Summer of Sports Brought a New Generation to Online Betting

College Costs Are Due for a Correction, Not a Crash

UK Super Rich Being Lured Away by Europe’s New Wealth Hubs

Disagreeing With Joe Rogan. Money Will Not Fix Poverty

Apple Debuts Foldable iPhone Duo in Biggest-Ever Device Revamp

Foldable Phones Are Unpopular. Why Is Apple Selling One?

The IPO That Asks You to Buy AI Hype Today and Get Paid Years Later

Anti-Data Center Pols Recall 19th Century Railroad Skeptics

For Years, They Warned AI Could Kill All Humans. Now People Are Listening

Anthropic Investor Leads Funding for Off-Grid AI Power Startup

Musk’s Boring Co. Raises Funds at Valuation of $23 Billion

US Drone Makers Need to Make the Most of Protectionism

Fusion Gets $14 Billion Bet It’s More Than a ‘Science Project’

Drone Deal Kicks Off Consolidation in Ukraine’s 500-Company Industry

AB Foods Shares Slump After Group Cautions on Outlook for Sugar, Grocery Units

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Morning News: September 9, 2026
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on September 9th, 2026 at 7:09 am

Oil Hits $100 a Barrel as Turmoil Intensifies in Middle East

Diesel Crunch Threatens Lasting Price Pain, Consumption Cutbacks

Trump Signs Orders to Ban Some Canadian Products From U.S. Market

Carney Tells Canadians: Retaliation Against U.S. Tariffs Was Unavoidable

How US Tariff Fears Are Driving Record Copper Prices

EU Envisions Closer Partnership With Canada Than With UK

US Threatens to Escalate Trade War With Canada

Bessent Dares Traders to Bet Against Yen: ‘I Am the House Now’

Bessent Warns ‘Nothing Else Would Matter’ If China Wins AI Race

If Treasury Wants Markets to Speak, It Has to Listen

The Fed’s Three Choices as Warsh’s Honeymoon Ends

Opposite What You’re Told, Monetary Policy Isn’t Conducted 8 Days a Year

Six Charts That Explain How Americans Really Feel About the Economy

A ‘Funky’ Fall Outlook for Stocks Is a Another Test for Investors

Every Bond Trader Should Be Worried About Medicare

The Case Against Cutting Social Security Benefits

Chime Shares Jump 10% as Stride Deal Puts Fintech on Path to Bank Charter

The Genius of Data Centers Isn’t Blue Collar Job Creation, It’s Their Erasure

AI Boom Wrecks Trump’s Plan for ‘Made-in-America’ Bitcoin Mining

Water Usage Should Not Be a Culture War

Meta Debuts Its Muse AI Agent. Will Consumers Trust It?

Anthropic Insiders Warn AI Could Kill All Humans

Legal AI Startup Harvey Hits $15.6 Billion Value With $550 Million Round

A $2,000 iPhone Gives Apple’s New CEO His Steve Jobs Moment

Apple’s Rally Pressures New CEO to Deliver on Foldable iPhone

Succession Troubles Strain India’s Wealthy Business Dynasties

China’s Huawei Comes to Brooklyn for Sweeping US Criminal Trial

Fusion Gets $14 Billion Bet It’s More Than a ‘Science Project’

An A.I. Giant Made an Enemy of Record Labels. Can It Play Nice?

It’s Getting Harder to Return Things—and It’s Making Shoppers Mad

Albertsons Names Former HP, eBay CEO Meg Whitman as Executive Chair to Help Spur Growth

NFL Plan to Add More Games Faces Obstacle in the Players Union

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CWS Market Review – September 8, 2026
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on September 8th, 2026 at 6:12 pm

(This is the free version of CWS Market Review. If you like what you see, then please sign up for the premium newsletter for $20 per month or $200 for the whole year. If you sign up today, you can see our two reports, “Your Handy Guide to Stock Orders” and “How Not to Get Screwed on Your Mortgage.”)

Wall Street got a shock on Friday when the September jobs report came in much better than expected. The number of jobs gained tripled Wall Street’s expectation. This was the biggest beat we’ve seen for August in nearly 30 years.

The stock market, however, pulled back some ahead of the holiday weekend. Stocks were down again today but not by much. The S&P 500 is still within striking distance of a new all-time high.

I say this knowing that September has traditionally been a touchy month for stocks, and October is little better.

Defensive stocks have been losing their luster in recent weeks. This comes after a good run for sectors like the one consumer staples and healthcare had through much of July.

That typically reflects optimism. Indeed, many tech stocks are leading the market again, but I’m still wary of big-cap tech as many of those stocks got hit hard in June and July, especially chip stocks.

Probably the most impressive sector in recent weeks has been financials like the S&P 500 Financials ETF (XLF). Over the last five months, financials have gained 33%. Except for minor spurts, the financial sector hasn’t been popular in 25 years. This may reflect the outlook for higher interest rates from the Fed. Also bear in mind that a bank is basically the yield curve with corporation papers. Now let’s dive into the good jobs report.

The Strong Jobs Report

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the jobs report for August, and it was a very good report. For August, the U.S. economy created 162,000 net new jobs. That more than tripled Wall Street’s consensus for 53,000 new jobs. It was the best report since March, and it topped the estimates for all 76 economists who were surveyed by the media. In fact, this was the largest beat for August in nearly 30 years.

The unemployment rate stayed at 4.1%. For two years, the unemployment rate has mostly stayed in the low-4% range. That’s a result of the “no hire, no fire” economy.

This was an especially important jobs report as it comes ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve meeting. Reports of the death of the labor market were grossly exaggerated. I also like to follow the U-6 unemployment rate which is a broader measure of joblessness. Last month, the U-6 rate fell to 7.7%. That’s at a two-year low.

This report may give a little boost to the hawkish case for raising rates, but it’s far from a sure thing. I suspect that traders will be betting on what the Fed will do up to the minute the policy statement is released. The last numbers show a 60% chance that the Fed will hike and a 40% chance that they’ll leave rates alone. This may be a moot point since the odds are nearly 50% for an October hike.

The Fed hasn’t touched interest rates all year. The last change came in December when the Fed lowered rates by 0.25%. The Fed hasn’t raised rates since July 2023.

President Trump welcomed the report and argued for an immediate rate cut. The president said that unless the Fed cuts rates soon, he’ll cut off trade with every nation that has a deficit with the U.S. We currently have trading deficits with 90 countries.

The government also revised higher its estimates for the previous month. The numbers for July were changed from a loss of 23,000 to a gain of 21,000, and June was raised to a gain of 11,000 from a loss of 11,000.

Here are some details from the report:

Restaurants and bars led with 59,000 new jobs, while government education rose by 42,000 and manufacturing contributed 16,000. Health care, the primary engine of job growth, saw a gain of just 13,000, compared with the monthly average of 32,000 over the prior 12 months.

There was some evidence of artificial intelligence hitting employment rolls: Information-related industries reported a loss of 23,000, putting the 12-month average at a loss of 8,000.

Women made up for 98% of the 162,000 jobs the U.S. added last month. This isn’t necessarily a “good news for women” story. Women tend to get lower-paying jobs. This stat may simply mean that hiring is clustered in a few lower-paying areas.

I was glad to see that average hourly earnings rose 0.3%. That matched Wall Street’s consensus. Over the last year, average hourly earnings are up by 3.1% which is basically in line with inflation. Inflation hasn’t been below the Fed’s 2% target in more than five years.

Here’s a look at the real Fed funds rate, meaning adjusted for inflation.

Next week’s policy statement will be interesting because there were three dissenting votes at the last Fed meeting. It’s unusual for the Fed to be so divided.

Despite some encouraging data, many Americans are still feeling uneasy about their finances. Earlier today, the New York Federal Reserve released its latest ‌Survey of Consumer Expectations.

The Fed’s report shows that many Americans are still worried about the jobs market and their own finances. For example, over the next year, Americans expect inflation of 3.6%. That’s quite high and I’m sure this fact hasn’t escaped the notice of Kevin Warsh.

Americans think the unemployment rate will rise to its highest level since Covid. One good note is that the expectations for losing a job fell a little.

The next big event for the market will come on Friday when the government releases the CPI report for August. While it’s true that inflation has improved, we’re still not yet at the Fed’s 2% target.

For Friday’s CPI report, Wall Street expects headline inflation to increase by 0.4% and the core rate to be up by 0.2%. For the trailing 12 months, Wall Street sees headline inflation up by 3.4% and the core rate up by 2.4%.

That’s all for now. The August CPI report is scheduled for Friday. I’ll have more for you in the next issue of CWS Market Review.

– Eddy

Morning News: September 8, 2026
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on September 8th, 2026 at 7:12 am

Russia, India Seek BrahMos Upgrades as Putin, Modi Set to Meet

The US Is Running Out of Weapons. Blame Congress

Oil Climbs Toward $100 a Barrel Following Houthi Attacks

Before ‘Drill, Baby Drill’ In Venezuela, Better ‘Underground Eyes’ Needed

Tamarack Valley to Merge With Headwater Exploration in Over $7.24 Billion Deal

China’s Surging Exports Loom Over Trump’s Talks With Xi

Three Numbers That Show Just How Big China’s Export Boom Is

German Exports Decline for First Time in Six Months

Canada Imposes New Tariffs on U.S. Goods, as Trade War Intensifies

How US Tariff Fears Are Driving Record Copper Prices

Why the BOJ Will Bet Small on Rate Hikes Now to Avoid a Bigger Shock Later

Sahm: The Fed’s Credibility Depends on Resisting Politics, Not Playing It

Why Stocks Are Defying Gravity and What Could Bring Them Down

How Almar Latour Steers Dow Jones Through Disruption

US Earnings Upgrades Are on Their Longest Run in Five Years

You Bought the Stock, But Who Gets to Call the Shots?

Millennium Nears $100 Billion in New Era for Giant Hedge Funds

Bobby Jain’s Hedge Fund Made $1.8 Billion as Millennium Cash Rolls In

India Eyes AI for Next Finance Leap After Digital Payments Boom

EverBank to Combine With WaFd to Create $75 Billion Bank

Robinhood Wins a New Role in the Oura IPO: Underwriter

Why Labor’s Share of Wealth Is Shrinking

French A.I. Start-Up Mistral Raises $3.5 Billion as Part of Strategy Shift

AI Models Buy Time for Forecasters Tracking Hurricanes

Apple’s $2,000-Plus Foldable iPhone Was a Decade in the Making

SpaceX Set for Boost From Potential Jump in Nasdaq 100 Weighting

The U.S. Is Losing Its Ability to Store Water When It Needs It Most

A Loyal Dissent On the U.S. Manufacturing “Boom”

Canadian Jet Maker Is Target in Trump’s Trade War

GE Aerospace to Buy Consolidated Precision Products for $11.75 Billion

Seaweed Is Their Way of Life. A Company’s Sweeping Plan Threatens It.

The World Can’t Get Enough of These Japanese Sneakers

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Morning News: September 7, 2026
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on September 7th, 2026 at 7:03 am

Oil Prices Churn After U.S. and Iran Trade Strikes

OPEC, Allies Agree to Keep Oil Output Steady in October

Trump’s Empire of Extraction Will Backfire

China to Pump $54 Billion Into State Banks, Insurers in Capital-Boosting Push

Yen Rises to Highest Since February, Tops Intervention Rally

Washington May Have Discovered the Limits of Economic Sanctions

Trump Says Canada’s Dollar ‘Imbalance’ With US Is Unacceptable

Canada’s Retaliatory Tariffs Set to Take Effect as Trump Threatens to Escalate

Trump’s ‘Erratic’ Tariffs Hurt Economy, House Democrat Says

Global Reserves Shift From Dollar Overstated, NY Fed Study Says

The Fed’s ‘Family Fight’ Spills Into the Open Before Key Rate Decision

The Fed Doesn’t “Print,” And The Federal Government Doesn’t “Spend”

Bitcoin Hack Drains $320 Million From Crypto Network

Switzerland’s New UBS Plan Is Complex, Costly And Bad

America’s White-Collar Workers Feel Stuck in Jobs They Don’t Like

Germany Is In a Very Dark Place, and Time’s Running Out

How a Blacklisted Chinese Tech Giant Kept Buying America’s Best A.I. Chips

Jensen Huang Says “AGI has arrived” Following OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra Launch

Target of Artificial General Intelligence May Be More Like a ‘Spiritual Concept’ for AI Leaders

When AI Goes Haywire, It Can Resemble a Teenage Psychopath

Social Media in China Is Getting Really Dark

The Sealed Document TikTok Doesn’t Want Two Senators to See

Spain Got a Head Start on Renewables — Now It Needs a Battery Revolution

German Industrial Production Contracts on Auto Sector Slowdown

A Tidier Rivian (in Size and Price) Is Ready for the Suburbs

Carmakers Have a New Idea to Boost EV Range: Add a Gas Engine

Novo’s Wegovy Reversed Obesity in Study of Young Children

In Trump’s Second Term, the MAGA Merchandise Boom Is Going Bust

Hollywood’s Box Office Boom Comes With 248 Million Missing Tickets

There’s a Legal Fight Brewing at Oktoberfest

China’s Luxury Panic Leaves the US Holding the Bag

Diamond Mines Are Closing and South Africans Have Few Alternatives

Hermès Has Big Watchmaking Ambitions. The Cult of the Birkin Is Getting in the Way

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Morning News: September 4, 2026
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on September 4th, 2026 at 7:02 am

Trump’s Missile Shield Moonshot Bets on Unproven Tech

Hegseth Has Turned the Army Into a Rudderless Ship

US Grip on Venezuelan Oil Threatens Billions Owed to China

With Venezuela’s Oil, Trump Is Doing Exactly As Conservatives Desire

U.S. Diesel Prices Set New High

Americans Are Out of Places to Hide From Fuel Crisis

‘Nothing But Headaches’: Vermont Businesses Decry Canada Tariffs

The Bond Markets Are Pushing Up Rates. Will Central Banks Follow?

Wall Street Should Know How Poorly Seoul Treats U.S. Capital

Carry Trade Exodus Fuels Yen Gain Ahead of BOJ Rate Decision

Norway Wealth Fund Proposes Cut to Government Bond Holdings

What You Can Learn From the Dutch Central Bank’s Reshuffling of Its Gold Reserves

Washington Still Hasn’t Found a Fix For the Deficit

Pimco Fund Beating 97% of Peers Cuts ‘Mag Seven’ to Bet on Asia

Investors Can’t Get Enough of QQQ. Now It Has Competition

Citi Eyes China Brokerage Unit Licence as Soon as This Month

Soaring Student Loan Debt Is Driving Some Americans Into the Military

US Mortgage Rates Climb to 6.71%, Highest Since July 2025

The American Dream Is Alive. And It’s Minting Millionaires

Wise and Salutary Neglect: Why Competition Is the Best AI Regulation

Former Google China Chief Kai-Fu Lee: China Will Win the AI Race for Reach

Altman’s Opaque AI Is Creating a New Security Dilemma

Anthropic Finalizing $15 Billion Pre-IPO Credit Facility

DeepSeek Plans Big Huawei AI Chip Order to Power New Data Center

New Apple CEO Could Use a Social Media Makeover

Amazon’s Bid for Advertising ‘Performance Premiums’ Called Out by Regulators

Tesla Begins Offering Rides in a Car Without a Steering Wheel

Tesla-Challenging EV Truck Startup Windrose Loses Most of Chinese Staff

Volkswagen Board Approves Doubling Job Cuts to 100,000 in Surprise Move

Where Does Spirit Go When It Dies?

Erica Schwartz Is Failing Her First Test as CDC Head

‘The Salt Path’ Is a Lesson in What We Want to Believe

NFL Confronts Prediction-Market Bets Embraced by Other Leagues

$100 Million Changed Notre Dame’s No-Advertisement Attitude

Starbucks Refreshed Its Menu. Chai Fans Are Losing Their Minds.

Wineries Are Offering Bingo, Picnics, Jewelry … and Sometimes Wine

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