Buying dips sinks ships.

Since forever, we've all tacitly agreed to attach outsize importance to the NFP report, like the drunk searching for their car keys under the lamppost - cos that's where the light is. But, with the evisceration, demoralisation and politicisation of the BLS, I'm no longer inclined to play this game.

As per usual: our President, your problem. US manufacturing may be in decline, but they still know how to export clusterf***s

Oh, you sweet summer child...

Thinking of this Khatami interview, for reasons.

This is going to become a yuge story, and probably a massive scandal at some point in the not too distant future, via a murky nexus of self-dealing, lightly regulated offshore subsidiaries and Joe Sixpack inadvertently holding the other side of the trade.

A proper private credit crackup would solve one of the conundrums of modern financial markets. Virtually everyone predicted that a sharp hiking cycle after an extended period of exceptionally low rates would cause carnage - and then it never happened and we all just segued to the next talking point

With news that US military commanders are referencing the end times, I guess we're doing this again.

Il Sorpasso 2.0

An interlocutor once asserted to Adam Smith: "If we go on at this rate, the nation must be ruined!" Smith famously replied "Be assured...that there is a great deal of ruin in a nation". Very wise words. But thanks to Trump, we might finally get to answer the question: how much ruin, exactly?

The Middle East - famously a geopolitics-free zone.

'AI will replace all white collar work' Investors: 'YES, YES!!!!' 'AI will solve all outstanding scientific problems and propel us to the stars' Investors: 'Ooooohh, aaaahhh!!' 'AI will disrupt B2B SAAS' Investors: 'Well, this is just fantastical nonsense. Is everyone stupid now?!'

It's what plants crave.

A CEO saying 'we only have green flags' is of course, a glaringly large red flag.

I've just heard Michael Saylor speak for the first time (my first time, not his, presumably), and, geez, I feel like the minimum requirements for stock market charlatans used to be be confident patter and charisma. Tis new age of fraud is, at the very least, extremely weird.

Hard to have to defend Sir Jim, but he has more experience than most of foreigners coming over here, refusing to integrate and living high on the hog.

Sam Altman was right - this unironically is PhD-level intelligence

One baleful effect of the Liz Truss cameo is that the UK is now being run on the back of every bump and jostle in the bond market. The highest virtue is now stasis. Hardly needs saying that this is absolutely no way to run a country.

Sorry, lads; it's now major offences only or GTFO. www.ft.com/content/a38d...

China may well be the global hegemon in waiting, but they've finally met their match: the UK planning system. www.ft.com/content/c5ca...

Absolutely glorious that the Labour leadership are now campaigning on the 'chaos with Ed Milliband' trope.

FT: KPMG pressed its auditor to pass on AI cost savings KPMG negotiating its annual audit fee www.ft.com/content/c891...

Yet another data point for AI = Abhijit in India theory.

The Epstein files are going to bring down Keir Starmer before Donald Trump. Funny old world.

Every Epstein email reads like he's jerking off with the other hand.

Things that make you go 🤔 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Trying to compile a list of countries where ragtag regime militias execute civilians in the street, and, while there may be one or two outside civil war situations, I have to say I'm struggling. American exceptionalism, indeed.

When I started studying Comp Sci many moons ago, tech guys were sat in windowless rooms with problems slid under the door (metaphorically speaking, but not always). This system worked well, but alas the Internet decisively broke this dynamic, and we've been paying for it ever since.

In errr, many years doing this, I've probably spent about five minutes total thinking about gold, and I'm not about to break the habit now.

The Powell contretemps was a mere two weeks ago. We're ageing like dogs here.

It's 2026 and people are still pointing out MAGA dissonance like this is some kind of decisive gotcha. Orwell never anticipated that when it was announced that Africa had always been at war with East Asia, earnest posters would be pointing out that you didn't believe that last week, man, WTH?!

I've seen some talk about the possibility of a new Plaza Accord following the Fed's drive-by in USD/JPY, and...just no: For starters, this US administration doesn't do complex international diplomacy, and further any such accord requires a high degree of trust between parties, also notably absent.

Trump looks totally cooked. Whoever sent him to Davos to make a speech that could have been a Truth Social post obviously hates him.

Good outcome for Europe. Trump backs down, but they get a salutary jolt just when momentum towards decoupling seemed to be stalling.

Sewing's catching flak for this, but it's not as if Deutsche's affairs in the US would stand up to scrutiny by even the most scrupulous and impartial regulators, and further they don't want Trump to default on them yet again, so honestly an understandable move.

It does feel like we're at the point where all of the 'geopolitical backdrop gives cause for concern, but we choose to focus on the potential for EPS growth' crowd may be in for a rude shock. Works till it doesn't.

If I looked like Richie Rich's dad, I simply wouldn't say this.

This is like catnip for Boomers.

The US has never gone to war with a country where its President owns a golf course.

We really did speedrun this process, huh?

ROW asset managers all trying to figure out what to do with their US exposures:

I'm surprised the ICE story took this long; you have a goon squad white trash regime militia operating entirely beyond any laws. This is Congo-level stuff. Meanwhile, my BlueSky timeline (bless you all) be like 'Minnesota ByLaw 10.7(3i) specifically covers the discharge of firearms against a...'

What were we expecting? Papers? Vibes? Essays?

Sandisk, Western Digital, Micron Technologies, Seagate - your dad's technology portfolio shot the lights out in 2025.

Oh shit oh fuck

"The food at this place is really terrible." "Yeah, I know; and such small portions."

🎶 It's the most wonderful time of the year 🎶 www.ft.com/content/6d1e...

Until we have the offspring of Alan Sugar and Jimmy Saville anointing themselves President for Life while Parliament prorogues itself, I'm prepared to take the other side.