Readers: my next several style columns in the FT will be about this porcupine. That is all.

Very much don't miss this from @robarmstrong.bsky.social on stock allocations www.ft.com/content/4f05...

‘Individual investors’ cash allocations are well below average.’ www.ft.com/content/b4a3... via @robarmstrong.bsky.social

Sign up for Unhedged's 'Chart of the Week' (free!) here: www.ft.com/newsletter-s...

Trump promised that tariffs would lead to a big increase in US production at the expense of imports, and at the same time generate enormous tax revenues. Critics replied that it had to be one or the other. So far, revenues are the clear winner. w/ @theboysmithy.ft.com @robarmstrong.bsky.social

"Underdressing has become ubiquitous, and so lost its power. It’s less fun for the mogul to wear a hoodie when his toadies do too; this explains why dressing up is coming back in." www.ft.com/content/cf19...

300 paywall jumps for Robin's MainFT lunch with Jean-Philippe Bouchaud. Get one before someone else does. on.ft.com/3K7Or9T

Spot the new guy

📈 👂🏼 POD TIME 👂🏼 📉 Me, @robarmstrong.bsky.social and @antoinegara.bsky.social with: -a cynic's guide to private equity -posh gyms (incl "photographs of pebbles", ht John Cooper Clarke) -cigar box accounting open.spotify.com/episode/0Hz4...

Unhedged chart of the week; Pity the poor Fed via @hakyungkim.bsky.social Sign up for COTW here: ep.ft.com/newsletters/...

Unhedged chart of the week; Pity the poor Fed via @hakyungkim.bsky.social Sign up for COTW here: ep.ft.com/newsletters/...

If We Keep This Up, Charlie Kirk Will Not Be the Last to Die www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/o...

🎪 🐶 👂🏼 POD TIME👂🏼 🐶 🎪 me and @robarmstrong.bsky.social *live* at the FT Weekend Festival on: -Markets Always Chicken Out -wetting your pants at the North Pole -Scott Bessent: key man risk -how would gilts like a Reform government? -gold bug dogs open.spotify.com/episode/3ngZ...

👂🏼 POD TIME👂🏼 *OK DOOMER* me and @robarmstrong.bsky.social on: -how to be miserable about econ/markets 📉 -no but literally a list of things to worry about 😬 -attention-seeking nonsense about the UK 🙄 open.spotify.com/episode/16wh...

Dark opportunityinsights.org/wp-content/u...

Shopping list: -grated cheese -ground beef -spices -tortillas

* TRUMP: WILL FIRE FED'S COOK IF SHE DOESN'T RESIGN @reuters.com

👂🏼 POD TIME 👂🏼 Me, @robarmstrong.bsky.social and George Steer, who is too cool for Bluesky, on: -good times for scammers 📛 -pump n dumps 💪🏼🗑️ -NOCAC? (No crying at the casino) -Greasy flares -Labubus open.spotify.com/episode/7tbl...

👂🏼 POD TIME👂🏼 me and @robarmstrong.bsky.social in a cabin in the woods on: -markets are really concentrated on tech -that's fine, right? -right? -plus: church on wheels open.spotify.com/episode/5ITU...

Tremendous, important piece. Find a way past the paywall. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Top ten US companies by market cap

👂🏼 POD O'CLOCK👂🏼 me, @robarmstrong.bsky.social and geopolitical pointy head @gideonrachman.bsky.social on: 💥 US authoritarianism? 💥 C-words 💥 Market complacency? 💥 Bardcore open.spotify.com/episode/2FWx...

Decent retail sales monthly print and revision. Even with it, goods demand (retail trade) is still soft, having grown only at a 1.5% nominal pace annualized so far this year. And the surge in eating out seems to have leveled off.

"When people talk about decline in this country, this article is what they mean." ⬆️Most recommended comment on this piece by @robarmstrong.bsky.social, in which he argues it's time to consider shorts in the office www.ft.com/content/183d...

Small Etching/Black & White No.8 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lewitt-small-etchingblack-white-no8-p78442

"Still I hesitate. They are younger men with better legs. There is something about a white-bearded fiftysomething in shorts, in a professional setting, that sounds horribly incongruous. Am I being ageist against myself?" Highly enjoyable menswear column from @robarmstrong.bsky.social as per:

@robarmstrong.bsky.social has finally broken

For the last decade, Berkshire Hathaway has traded like a big property casualty insurer -- nothing else. $BRK-A www.ft.com/content/bc30...

How to reason with OpenAI’s spiralling valuation on.ft.com/4m6YrOJ | opinion

Well this doesn't look great

‘40% of the decline in job creation this year is down to fewer government jobs. This raises the tragic and farcical possibility that the president has fired the head of the BLS to scapegoat her for the success of one of his own signature initiatives.’ www.ft.com/content/519b...

Is Taco (Trump Always Chickens Out) dead, killed by Waco (the World Always Chickens Out)? Me with Paddy O'Connell on BBC Radio 4 sunday morning -- featuring @lionelbarber bbc.com/audio/play/m...

Unhedged chart of the week: Japanese and Korean investors in US stocks have made great local returns because of currency weakness. What happens when the story changes? @hakyungkim.bsky.social Sign up for Chart of the Week at ft.com/newsletters

oh dear

Well done Liesman!

‘All together now: inflation is rising. Not maybe rising, not rising depending on what you include or exclude. Just Rising.’ www.ft.com/content/5b3b... by @robarmstrong.bsky.social

ruh roh

Ailanthus Leaves I (Vernis du Japon I) from Suite of Plant Lithographs http://www.moma.org/collection/works/77275

"The EU’s task is not ... to negotiate a trade deal, but to find ways to insure its economies, companies and workers as much as possible from the cost of being exposed to a completely unreliable US." Very good from @MESandbu www.ft.com/content/d508...

The spotify playlist attached to this will brighten even a v cloudy morning. Nun jazz! www.ft.com/content/a299...

Have Brewdog’s equity punks been zeroed? Great post by @mccrum.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/5da2...

Nice that, at his age, Trump can still surprise himself

Aaaaaand Taco is back after 45 minutes away pass the hot sauce

If this happens, it's RIP Taco trade, period. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...?

Awnings, Avenue Matignon https://www.wikiart.org/en/ellsworth-kelly/awnings-avenue-matignon-1950

The WACO trade! Donald Trump reaps $50bn tariff haul as world ‘chickens out’ www.ft.com/content/82e3... via @ft

Terrific piece on the booming business of locking up migrants. Read it! ig.ft.com/us-immigrati...

On the problem of hats on.ft.com/3TLdaCp