SpaceX IPO Hype Ignites Blast Off For This Korean Broker Stock

The SpaceX IPO, potentially launching as early as mid-June, is set to accelerate the "space investment" theme we previously outlined, with Elon Musk's rocket company rumored to target about $50 billion in proceeds at a $1.5 trillion valuation.

Early bullish sentiment is already appearing in one public-market proxy: Seoul-based Mirae Asset Securities Co., which has about $400 million of exposure to SpaceX and xAI, and has surged to the top spot on MSCI's broadest global stock index performance so far this year.

Ha SeokKeun, CEO at Eugene Asset Management Co., was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that Mirae Asset's fundamentals are improving due to the strong Korean stock market, while its SpaceX position provides an additional catalyst, allowing investors to capture two sources of value simultaneously.

Mirae Asset's brokerage revenue jumped to a record in 2025, up 43% over the previous year, according to its earnings report last week. The stock is trading at 21 times forward earnings estimates, or triple its five-year average.

KB Securities Co. analyst Kang Seunggun warned that the stock's valuation is elevated and that the benefits of its high portfolio valuations remain unclear.

There was roughly a one-month lag between the corporate media headlines about the SpaceX IPO in December and the market pricing in Mirae Asset's SpaceX exposure.

"Most of the earnings increase comes from unrealized gains in consolidated funds, limiting the direct impact on standalone capital," Kang wrote in a note earlier this month. "As a result, we see greater uncertainty in translating valuation gains into shareholder returns."

We have told readers the space theme is well underway, as well as ways to profit:

• Data Centers In Space Are Coming: Here's How To Profit

A year ago, we mapped out Starlink's satellite supply chain as the space theme started to emerge:

• Goldman Turns Bullish On Starlink Satellite Parts Supplier As Space Race Accelerates

Could the AI bubble morph into the space bubble?

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/20/2026 - 15:00

SpaceX IPO Hype Ignites Blast Off For This Korean Broker Stock

The SpaceX IPO, potentially launching as early as mid-June, is set to accelerate the "space investment" theme we previously outlined, with Elon Musk's rocket company rumored to target about $50 billion in proceeds at a $1.5 trillion valuation.

Early bullish sentiment is already appearing in one public-market proxy: Seoul-based Mirae Asset Securities Co., which has about $400 million of exposure to SpaceX and xAI, and has surged to the top spot on MSCI's broadest global stock index performance so far this year.

Ha SeokKeun, CEO at Eugene Asset Management Co., was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that Mirae Asset's fundamentals are improving due to the strong Korean stock market, while its SpaceX position provides an additional catalyst, allowing investors to capture two sources of value simultaneously.

Mirae Asset's brokerage revenue jumped to a record in 2025, up 43% over the previous year, according to its earnings report last week. The stock is trading at 21 times forward earnings estimates, or triple its five-year average.

KB Securities Co. analyst Kang Seunggun warned that the stock's valuation is elevated and that the benefits of its high portfolio valuations remain unclear.

There was roughly a one-month lag between the corporate media headlines about the SpaceX IPO in December and the market pricing in Mirae Asset's SpaceX exposure.

"Most of the earnings increase comes from unrealized gains in consolidated funds, limiting the direct impact on standalone capital," Kang wrote in a note earlier this month. "As a result, we see greater uncertainty in translating valuation gains into shareholder returns."

We have told readers the space theme is well underway, as well as ways to profit:

• Data Centers In Space Are Coming: Here's How To Profit

A year ago, we mapped out Starlink's satellite supply chain as the space theme started to emerge:

• Goldman Turns Bullish On Starlink Satellite Parts Supplier As Space Race Accelerates

Could the AI bubble morph into the space bubble?

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/20/2026 - 15:00

Steve Cohen Tops Hedge Fund Rich List With $3.4 Billion Haul

Steve Cohen spent last fall doing something few billionaire owners enjoy: apologizing. As the New York Mets staggered through a bruising 2025 campaign, he took to social media to tell fans he was sorry for the disappointment at Citi Field. Yet even as the baseball season fizzled, Cohen was clinching a very different kind of pennant, according to Bloomberg.

The founder of Point72 Asset Management finished the year as the highest-paid hedge fund manager on Bloomberg’s annual ranking, pocketing an estimated $3.4 billion. That works out to more than $9 million every day — a staggering haul even by Wall Street standards. For the first time since the list began, Cohen sat alone at the top.

The contrast is striking. Cohen, 69, bought the Mets in 2020 for a record $2.4 billion and pledged to deliver a championship within three to five years. He backed up that promise with one of the sport’s largest payrolls. But while October glory in Queens remains elusive, his investment firm in Stamford, Connecticut, has flourished.

Point72’s ascent is particularly notable given its history. Cohen’s former firm, SAC Capital, pleaded guilty in 2013 to insider-trading charges and returned outside investors’ money; Cohen himself denied wrongdoing. When Point72 reopened to clients in 2018, skeptics wondered whether investors would return. They did — quickly and in size. More than $4 billion poured in at launch, followed by steady inflows that have helped lift assets under management to $45.7 billion. That scale places it among the industry’s largest multistrategy operations, competing with firms such as Citadel and Millennium Management.

Bloomberg writes that Cohen’s 2025 payday outpaced several longtime rivals. David Tepper of Appaloosa Management claimed second place with $3.2 billion, while Izzy Englander of Millennium followed closely at $3.1 billion. Ken Griffin, who has frequently dominated the rankings in past years, earned $2.4 billion and placed fifth.

The industry’s biggest names enjoyed a banner year overall. The 10 top earners collected about $22 billion between them, and the expanded top-20 list generated $28.3 billion in total compensation. On average, each of the 20 managers made $1.4 billion — the strongest showing in five years and the largest number of billion-dollar payouts yet recorded. Buoyant, volatile equity markets helped drive hedge fund returns to their best levels since 2009.

Point72 itself delivered a 17.5% gain in its flagship strategies, a solid result that outpaced several multistrategy competitors. Citadel, which has produced returns as high as the mid-30% range in recent years, advanced just over 10% in 2025, its softest performance since 2018.

Flush with capital, Point72 has been expanding aggressively. Over the past decade it has opened a dozen new offices, grown its workforce to roughly 3,000 employees, and built out more than 190 trading teams. The firm has broadened beyond traditional stock picking into macro investing, scaled up its quantitative arm Cubist, and started laying the groundwork for private credit and venture strategies. In one unusual move, it allowed a star portfolio manager to run an internal fund vehicle, which now oversees about $3 billion after posting strong returns last year.

For Cohen, the year underscored a peculiar dual reality. On the diamond, the Mets are still chasing the success their owner promised. In the financial arena, however, he just delivered the most lucrative season of his career.

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/20/2026 - 14:20

Steve Cohen Tops Hedge Fund Rich List With $3.4 Billion Haul

Steve Cohen spent last fall doing something few billionaire owners enjoy: apologizing. As the New York Mets staggered through a bruising 2025 campaign, he took to social media to tell fans he was sorry for the disappointment at Citi Field. Yet even as the baseball season fizzled, Cohen was clinching a very different kind of pennant, according to Bloomberg.

The founder of Point72 Asset Management finished the year as the highest-paid hedge fund manager on Bloomberg’s annual ranking, pocketing an estimated $3.4 billion. That works out to more than $9 million every day — a staggering haul even by Wall Street standards. For the first time since the list began, Cohen sat alone at the top.

The contrast is striking. Cohen, 69, bought the Mets in 2020 for a record $2.4 billion and pledged to deliver a championship within three to five years. He backed up that promise with one of the sport’s largest payrolls. But while October glory in Queens remains elusive, his investment firm in Stamford, Connecticut, has flourished.

Point72’s ascent is particularly notable given its history. Cohen’s former firm, SAC Capital, pleaded guilty in 2013 to insider-trading charges and returned outside investors’ money; Cohen himself denied wrongdoing. When Point72 reopened to clients in 2018, skeptics wondered whether investors would return. They did — quickly and in size. More than $4 billion poured in at launch, followed by steady inflows that have helped lift assets under management to $45.7 billion. That scale places it among the industry’s largest multistrategy operations, competing with firms such as Citadel and Millennium Management.

Bloomberg writes that Cohen’s 2025 payday outpaced several longtime rivals. David Tepper of Appaloosa Management claimed second place with $3.2 billion, while Izzy Englander of Millennium followed closely at $3.1 billion. Ken Griffin, who has frequently dominated the rankings in past years, earned $2.4 billion and placed fifth.

The industry’s biggest names enjoyed a banner year overall. The 10 top earners collected about $22 billion between them, and the expanded top-20 list generated $28.3 billion in total compensation. On average, each of the 20 managers made $1.4 billion — the strongest showing in five years and the largest number of billion-dollar payouts yet recorded. Buoyant, volatile equity markets helped drive hedge fund returns to their best levels since 2009.

Point72 itself delivered a 17.5% gain in its flagship strategies, a solid result that outpaced several multistrategy competitors. Citadel, which has produced returns as high as the mid-30% range in recent years, advanced just over 10% in 2025, its softest performance since 2018.

Flush with capital, Point72 has been expanding aggressively. Over the past decade it has opened a dozen new offices, grown its workforce to roughly 3,000 employees, and built out more than 190 trading teams. The firm has broadened beyond traditional stock picking into macro investing, scaled up its quantitative arm Cubist, and started laying the groundwork for private credit and venture strategies. In one unusual move, it allowed a star portfolio manager to run an internal fund vehicle, which now oversees about $3 billion after posting strong returns last year.

For Cohen, the year underscored a peculiar dual reality. On the diamond, the Mets are still chasing the success their owner promised. In the financial arena, however, he just delivered the most lucrative season of his career.

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/20/2026 - 14:20

Ford Carrier Group Enters Mediterranean To Join Biggest US Build-Up Since 2003 Iraq War

Open source monitors as well as US and Middle East media have confirmed that the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, has entered the Mediterranean Sea, having sailed passed the Strait of Gibraltar on Friday.

This is the second carrier strike group expected to soon operate directly in the CENTCOM area of responsibility, amid the massive military build-up and pressure campaign against Iran. It was sent from the Caribbean earlier this month, extending its planned deployment.

USS Ford entering the Mediterranean. Via @dparody

The USS Mahan Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, which is accompanying the USS Gerald R. Ford, is also now crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, maritime tracking analysis shows.

The aircraft carrier will likely take several more days to reach the Middle East and be poised to operate against Iran - so it looks to be in place by start of next week.

According to Bloomberg and other outlets, the US has now amassed the biggest force in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. There is administration talk of "limited strikes" - but clearly Washington is getting ready for all escalation scenarios.

The Ford's entry into Mediterranean waters took longer than expected because it was reportedly conducting replenishment-at-sea, again suggesting the nuclear-powered vessel is readying for a long, or sustained campaign.

Diplomacy seems to be continuing, but also with Trump himself on Friday confirming that he's considering 'limited' strikes on Iran in order to force an Iran deal on Washington's terms:

The reports come after Trump publicly told Iran that it has “10 to 15 days” to cut a deal over its nuclear program, as the US continues its vast military build up in the region.

“We’re either going to get a deal, or it’s going to be unfortunate for them,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One yesterday. He added that negotiations could be allowed to continue for another 10 to 15 days, a deadline the president described as “pretty much” the “maximum”.

“I would think that would be enough time,” Trump said.

So there is perhaps time to breathe, while Iranian officials continue to scramble, hoping to stave off attack. According to fresh Reuters reporting:

Iran to present its draft in 2–3 days, with further talks expected within a week, its foreign minister says -adding a diplomatic deal with the U.S. is “within reach” and could be achieved in a very short time.

But once a potential attack starts, Iran's response is entirely unpredictable, especially after this firm warning communicated formally to the United Nations:

In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, Iran warned that if attacked, all bases, facilities and assets of the hostile force in the region would be considered legitimate targets in its defensive response.

The letter added that the United States would bear full and… pic.twitter.com/I7mYTzQERE

— SafetySwipe (@SafetyNotorious) February 19, 2026

Iranian leaders may consider that they have no choice but to inflict as much pain as possible on American bases and forces in the region, seeing this as a matter of existential survival.

“It will be very hard for the Trump administration to do a one-and-done kind of attack in Iran this time around,” said Ali Vaez, an Iran expert at the International Crisis Group. “Because the Iranians would respond in a way that would make all-out conflict inevitable.”

But the Pentagon seems to be readying for just such a scenario, also while Congress is still days away from belatedly debating a resurrected War Powers push - driven by Reps Khanna and Massie.

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/20/2026 - 14:15

Ford Carrier Group Enters Mediterranean To Join Biggest US Build-Up Since 2003 Iraq War

Open source monitors as well as US and Middle East media have confirmed that the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, has entered the Mediterranean Sea, having sailed passed the Strait of Gibraltar on Friday.

This is the second carrier strike group expected to soon operate directly in the CENTCOM area of responsibility, amid the massive military build-up and pressure campaign against Iran. It was sent from the Caribbean earlier this month, extending its planned deployment.

USS Ford entering the Mediterranean. Via @dparody

The USS Mahan Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, which is accompanying the USS Gerald R. Ford, is also now crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, maritime tracking analysis shows.

The aircraft carrier will likely take several more days to reach the Middle East and be poised to operate against Iran - so it looks to be in place by start of next week.

According to Bloomberg and other outlets, the US has now amassed the biggest force in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. There is administration talk of "limited strikes" - but clearly Washington is getting ready for all escalation scenarios.

The Ford's entry into Mediterranean waters took longer than expected because it was reportedly conducting replenishment-at-sea, again suggesting the nuclear-powered vessel is readying for a long, or sustained campaign.

Diplomacy seems to be continuing, but also with Trump himself on Friday confirming that he's considering 'limited' strikes on Iran in order to force an Iran deal on Washington's terms:

The reports come after Trump publicly told Iran that it has “10 to 15 days” to cut a deal over its nuclear program, as the US continues its vast military build up in the region.

“We’re either going to get a deal, or it’s going to be unfortunate for them,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One yesterday. He added that negotiations could be allowed to continue for another 10 to 15 days, a deadline the president described as “pretty much” the “maximum”.

“I would think that would be enough time,” Trump said.

So there is perhaps time to breathe, while Iranian officials continue to scramble, hoping to stave off attack. According to fresh Reuters reporting:

Iran to present its draft in 2–3 days, with further talks expected within a week, its foreign minister says -adding a diplomatic deal with the U.S. is “within reach” and could be achieved in a very short time.

But once a potential attack starts, Iran's response is entirely unpredictable, especially after this firm warning communicated formally to the United Nations:

In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, Iran warned that if attacked, all bases, facilities and assets of the hostile force in the region would be considered legitimate targets in its defensive response.

The letter added that the United States would bear full and… pic.twitter.com/I7mYTzQERE

— SafetySwipe (@SafetyNotorious) February 19, 2026

Iranian leaders may consider that they have no choice but to inflict as much pain as possible on American bases and forces in the region, seeing this as a matter of existential survival.

“It will be very hard for the Trump administration to do a one-and-done kind of attack in Iran this time around,” said Ali Vaez, an Iran expert at the International Crisis Group. “Because the Iranians would respond in a way that would make all-out conflict inevitable.”

But the Pentagon seems to be readying for just such a scenario, also while Congress is still days away from belatedly debating a resurrected War Powers push - driven by Reps Khanna and Massie.

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/20/2026 - 14:15

Judge Temporarily Blocks Democrat-Backed Referendum To Redraw Virginia's Congressional Map

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

A county judge in Virginia issued an emergency restraining order on Feb. 19, pausing a referendum backed by Democrats that aims to redraw the state’s congressional maps.

Tazewell County Circuit Judge Jack Hurley issued the order following a Feb. 18 motion by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) that sought to challenge House Bill 1384.

HB1384 schedules a referendum for April 21 on a proposed constitutional amendment to allow the General Assembly to redraw the state’s congressional districts.

Virginia’s redistricting plan was projected to give Democrats four more U.S. House seats.

The Republican request for a restraining order argued that Democrats were ramming redistricting-related bills through the Legislature despite legal hurdles that prevent such a rushed process.

In its Feb. 18 filing, NRCC argued that HB1384 violates the Constitution by calling a referendum less than 90 days after it cleared the Legislature for the second time.

The Constitution requires at least 90 days between the final passage and submission to the voters, according to the filing.

In his ruling, Hurley found that temporary relief was warranted in this case to preserve “the status quo between the parties pending a hearing on a motion for a preliminary injunction.”

He also found the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their claim that ballot language, as set by HB1384, violates the state’s Constitution because it is misleading, in particular, the “restore fairness” language, because it “would lead a voter to believe he or she were doing something unfair by voting against the proposed amendment.”

Hurley’s order temporarily restrains local officials from “administering, preparing for, taking any action to further the procedure of the referendum, or otherwise moving forward with causing an election to be held on the proposed constitutional amendment contained within House Joint Resolution 6007.”

The restraining order will remain in effect through March 18, according to the ruling. Early voting on the amendment was scheduled to begin on March 6 and conclude on April 21.

In a statement, NRCC spokesperson Mike Marinella hailed Hurley’s order as a “massive win in defending honest representation” for all residents in Virginia.

“For a second time, the Virginia courts have ruled against Virginia Democrats’ partisan attempt to ignore their own Constitution and rig the system in their favor,” Marinella said.

Hurley had initially blocked the effort in a January ruling, but the Virginia Supreme Court later allowed the plan to proceed to an April voter referendum after an appeal.

Hurley’s latest order has now halted the ballot initiative.

Virginia House Speaker Don Scott, a Democrat, has indicated the Democratic Party will appeal the judge’s decision.

He said he is confident Hurley’s latest order will not stand, given the state Supreme Court’s earlier reversal of his previous order.

“The Supreme Court of Virginia has already made clear that this matter will go to the voters, but Republicans unhappy with that ruling went back to their friendly judge,” Scott said.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told CNN on Feb. 15 that Democrats will do “whatever it takes” to make Virginia’s redistricting plan successful, adding the party is ready to spend “tens of millions of dollars” on the Virginia ballot initiative.

“Republicans started this redistricting war, and Democrats have made it clear we’re going to finish it. We’re going to make sure that there is a fair national map,” he said.

Republicans, who hold a narrow House majority, have already passed redistricting plans in Texas, Missouri, Ohio, and North Carolina.

Earlier this year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would call a special session for April for the Sunshine State’s GOP-controlled Legislature to draw new U.S. House districts.

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/20/2026 - 14:00

Judge Temporarily Blocks Democrat-Backed Referendum To Redraw Virginia's Congressional Map

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

A county judge in Virginia issued an emergency restraining order on Feb. 19, pausing a referendum backed by Democrats that aims to redraw the state’s congressional maps.

Tazewell County Circuit Judge Jack Hurley issued the order following a Feb. 18 motion by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) that sought to challenge House Bill 1384.

HB1384 schedules a referendum for April 21 on a proposed constitutional amendment to allow the General Assembly to redraw the state’s congressional districts.

Virginia’s redistricting plan was projected to give Democrats four more U.S. House seats.

The Republican request for a restraining order argued that Democrats were ramming redistricting-related bills through the Legislature despite legal hurdles that prevent such a rushed process.

In its Feb. 18 filing, NRCC argued that HB1384 violates the Constitution by calling a referendum less than 90 days after it cleared the Legislature for the second time.

The Constitution requires at least 90 days between the final passage and submission to the voters, according to the filing.

In his ruling, Hurley found that temporary relief was warranted in this case to preserve “the status quo between the parties pending a hearing on a motion for a preliminary injunction.”

He also found the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their claim that ballot language, as set by HB1384, violates the state’s Constitution because it is misleading, in particular, the “restore fairness” language, because it “would lead a voter to believe he or she were doing something unfair by voting against the proposed amendment.”

Hurley’s order temporarily restrains local officials from “administering, preparing for, taking any action to further the procedure of the referendum, or otherwise moving forward with causing an election to be held on the proposed constitutional amendment contained within House Joint Resolution 6007.”

The restraining order will remain in effect through March 18, according to the ruling. Early voting on the amendment was scheduled to begin on March 6 and conclude on April 21.

In a statement, NRCC spokesperson Mike Marinella hailed Hurley’s order as a “massive win in defending honest representation” for all residents in Virginia.

“For a second time, the Virginia courts have ruled against Virginia Democrats’ partisan attempt to ignore their own Constitution and rig the system in their favor,” Marinella said.

Hurley had initially blocked the effort in a January ruling, but the Virginia Supreme Court later allowed the plan to proceed to an April voter referendum after an appeal.

Hurley’s latest order has now halted the ballot initiative.

Virginia House Speaker Don Scott, a Democrat, has indicated the Democratic Party will appeal the judge’s decision.

He said he is confident Hurley’s latest order will not stand, given the state Supreme Court’s earlier reversal of his previous order.

“The Supreme Court of Virginia has already made clear that this matter will go to the voters, but Republicans unhappy with that ruling went back to their friendly judge,” Scott said.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told CNN on Feb. 15 that Democrats will do “whatever it takes” to make Virginia’s redistricting plan successful, adding the party is ready to spend “tens of millions of dollars” on the Virginia ballot initiative.

“Republicans started this redistricting war, and Democrats have made it clear we’re going to finish it. We’re going to make sure that there is a fair national map,” he said.

Republicans, who hold a narrow House majority, have already passed redistricting plans in Texas, Missouri, Ohio, and North Carolina.

Earlier this year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would call a special session for April for the Sunshine State’s GOP-controlled Legislature to draw new U.S. House districts.

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/20/2026 - 14:00

"We Saw It. We Passed": Blue Owl Fails To Secure Third Party Funding For $4 Billion Data Center

As we discussed extensively yesterday, Blue Owl already has huge headaches with its software exposure, being forced to dump a substantial amount of its SaaS-linked loans (to related parties among others) as it gates retail investors in its private credit fund amid a tsunami of redemption requests. We now learn that the massive private credit asset manager is also facing major hardware challenges too. 

According to Insider, Blue Owl - which is also a leading investor in the data center boom funding countless projects with private loans - was unable to arrange financing for a $4 billion data center it is co-developing in Pennsylvania after pitching lenders to help bankroll the project in recent months.

The facility, located in Lancaster county 80 miles west of Philadelphia, will be occupied by CoreWeave, a junk-rated provider of cloud computing services that has become a closely watched name in the AI race for its rapid expansion due to the massive debt load it took on to fund that expansion which has sent its credit default swaps to record wides.

CoreWeave's Lancater data center: Photo: Bloomberg/Getty Images

An executive who arranges debt for major data center deals told Insider that the lack of interest in the Lancaster project was due to growing caution among lenders and investors about taking on sizable exposures to AI players with less-than-sterling credit. CoreWeave  has a junk rating of B1/B+, according to S&P and Moodys

"We saw it. We passed," a senior executive at a large specialty lender told Insider.

A Blue Owl spokesman said that the company had "considered" third-party financing for the Lancaster project "as we would with any transaction as we explore alternatives before choosing the most attractive path forward." This suggests that not only was Blue Owl unwilling to fund the project internally, but when it tried to syndicate the private loan, the phone calls went straight to voicemail. 

Understandably, already sweating under the spotlight of the market which has sent its stock price crashing in recent weeks, the Blue Owl spokesman added that the project, which he said is already under construction, "is fully funded, on time, and on budget." It wasn't immediately clear who had "funded" the project is, as Insider reports, 3rd party lenders had balked while Blue Owl itself was aggressively dumping its own software exposure.

To that point, Insider notes that it is unclear whether Blue Owl has been funding construction entirely from its own capital. If Blue Owl is unable to raise debt for the Lancaster development, the company - already facing massive redemption requests across its various funds - would be on the hook for a potentially huge outlay of cash to pay for the data center's construction.

The situation shows the complications and risks involved in financing the massive buildout of infrastructure for AI computing. Brennan Hawken, an equity analyst at BMO Capital Markets who covers Blue Owl, said that difficulties to raise debt for the Lancaster project would raise concern.

"I'm not familiar with this deal, but if there is a struggle to find the debt financing, that's a bit of a red flag that I would want to drill into," Hawken said.

How we got here

Last summer, CoreWeave announced it would lease 100 megawatts of initial capacity at the Lancaster data center and potentially expand its commitment to 300 megawatts. The company said it would pour up to $6 billion into the project to equip it with chips and other cloud infrastructure. A month later, in August, Chirisa Technology Parks announced it would partner with Blue Owl and Machine Investment Group to develop the project. The partnership said it would provide $4 billion of funding, an amount separate from CoreWeave's investment, to support the construction of the project's data center facilities. 

In the fall, Blue Owl began shopping the development to potential lenders, a person familiar with that effort told Insider. 

Blue Owl has been one of the more "creative" financial architects of the data center building boom. Last year, it structured an off-balance sheet deal to partner with Meta in the ownership of a large data center campus that Meta will build and operate in Louisiana.

As a reminder, META is already neck deep in off-balance sheet debt. Here is a schematic of its $27.3 billion SPV with Blue Owl "Project Beignet" for the Hyperion data center. None of this touches META's balance sheet.

Expect hundreds of billions of these in 2026 https://t.co/794EgSiiZ9 pic.twitter.com/7hMyVW6Lno

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 29, 2026

Blue Owl piggybacked on Meta's strong credit to raise $27.3 billion of investment-grade corporate bonds against its share of the project's equity, proceeds that will be used to help pay for construction.

Blue Owl could arrange a similar type of vehicle that could attempt to tap the credit of an investment-grade customer of CoreWeave's who might use the Lancaster facility or Nvidia, the chipmaker that has purchased large stakes in CoreWeave. It could also potentially raise cash for construction debt by tapping large institutional investor clients to pool together a loan, Hawken said.

Much of the development of hyperscale data center campuses has sought to utilize the strong credit ratings and deep pockets of big-tech partners.

Coreweave's data center challenges are only the latest hurdle that the AI supercycle is facing now that the market has realized the trillions in future funding needs will have to be largely filled with debt, including government funding (See "It Will Take $5 Trillion To Fund The AI Cycle, And The US Government Is On The Hook For Over $1 Trillion")

Insider previously reported that major banks had recent difficulty selling off pieces of $38 billion of debt to finance the construction of two data center campuses that will be anchored by Oracle. Banks often sell pieces of such large commitments to other lenders to spread risk and also reap a quick profit.

The slowdown in interest in participating in that financing was due to worries about Oracle's enormous AI spending and whether the tech company's credit rating could be impacted by those outlays. Oracle has since sought to calm the lending market, announcing that it would raise up to $50 billion of cash from stock and bond offerings in order to "maintain a solid investment-grade balance sheet."

Blue Owl stocks tumbled at the open to a fresh multi-year low, although it wasn't clear if that was due to the Coreweave news or because of its mutiple other issues. Coreweave's dump today, on the other hand, can likely be attributed largely to the data center news which, unless it manages to find a generous partner, will only be the start of its headaches. 

 

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/20/2026 - 13:35

"We Saw It. We Passed": Blue Owl Fails To Secure Third Party Funding For $4 Billion Data Center

As we discussed extensively yesterday, Blue Owl already has huge headaches with its software exposure, being forced to dump a substantial amount of its SaaS-linked loans (to related parties among others) as it gates retail investors in its private credit fund amid a tsunami of redemption requests. We now learn that the massive private credit asset manager is also facing major hardware challenges too. 

According to Insider, Blue Owl - which is also a leading investor in the data center boom funding countless projects with private loans - was unable to arrange financing for a $4 billion data center it is co-developing in Pennsylvania after pitching lenders to help bankroll the project in recent months.

The facility, located in Lancaster county 80 miles west of Philadelphia, will be occupied by CoreWeave, a junk-rated provider of cloud computing services that has become a closely watched name in the AI race for its rapid expansion due to the massive debt load it took on to fund that expansion which has sent its credit default swaps to record wides.

CoreWeave's Lancater data center: Photo: Bloomberg/Getty Images

An executive who arranges debt for major data center deals told Insider that the lack of interest in the Lancaster project was due to growing caution among lenders and investors about taking on sizable exposures to AI players with less-than-sterling credit. CoreWeave  has a junk rating of B1/B+, according to S&P and Moodys

"We saw it. We passed," a senior executive at a large specialty lender told Insider.

A Blue Owl spokesman said that the company had "considered" third-party financing for the Lancaster project "as we would with any transaction as we explore alternatives before choosing the most attractive path forward." This suggests that not only was Blue Owl unwilling to fund the project internally, but when it tried to syndicate the private loan, the phone calls went straight to voicemail. 

Understandably, already sweating under the spotlight of the market which has sent its stock price crashing in recent weeks, the Blue Owl spokesman added that the project, which he said is already under construction, "is fully funded, on time, and on budget." It wasn't immediately clear who had "funded" the project is, as Insider reports, 3rd party lenders had balked while Blue Owl itself was aggressively dumping its own software exposure.

To that point, Insider notes that it is unclear whether Blue Owl has been funding construction entirely from its own capital. If Blue Owl is unable to raise debt for the Lancaster development, the company - already facing massive redemption requests across its various funds - would be on the hook for a potentially huge outlay of cash to pay for the data center's construction.

The situation shows the complications and risks involved in financing the massive buildout of infrastructure for AI computing. Brennan Hawken, an equity analyst at BMO Capital Markets who covers Blue Owl, said that difficulties to raise debt for the Lancaster project would raise concern.

"I'm not familiar with this deal, but if there is a struggle to find the debt financing, that's a bit of a red flag that I would want to drill into," Hawken said.

How we got here

Last summer, CoreWeave announced it would lease 100 megawatts of initial capacity at the Lancaster data center and potentially expand its commitment to 300 megawatts. The company said it would pour up to $6 billion into the project to equip it with chips and other cloud infrastructure. A month later, in August, Chirisa Technology Parks announced it would partner with Blue Owl and Machine Investment Group to develop the project. The partnership said it would provide $4 billion of funding, an amount separate from CoreWeave's investment, to support the construction of the project's data center facilities. 

In the fall, Blue Owl began shopping the development to potential lenders, a person familiar with that effort told Insider. 

Blue Owl has been one of the more "creative" financial architects of the data center building boom. Last year, it structured an off-balance sheet deal to partner with Meta in the ownership of a large data center campus that Meta will build and operate in Louisiana.

As a reminder, META is already neck deep in off-balance sheet debt. Here is a schematic of its $27.3 billion SPV with Blue Owl "Project Beignet" for the Hyperion data center. None of this touches META's balance sheet.

Expect hundreds of billions of these in 2026 https://t.co/794EgSiiZ9 pic.twitter.com/7hMyVW6Lno

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 29, 2026

Blue Owl piggybacked on Meta's strong credit to raise $27.3 billion of investment-grade corporate bonds against its share of the project's equity, proceeds that will be used to help pay for construction.

Blue Owl could arrange a similar type of vehicle that could attempt to tap the credit of an investment-grade customer of CoreWeave's who might use the Lancaster facility or Nvidia, the chipmaker that has purchased large stakes in CoreWeave. It could also potentially raise cash for construction debt by tapping large institutional investor clients to pool together a loan, Hawken said.

Much of the development of hyperscale data center campuses has sought to utilize the strong credit ratings and deep pockets of big-tech partners.

Coreweave's data center challenges are only the latest hurdle that the AI supercycle is facing now that the market has realized the trillions in future funding needs will have to be largely filled with debt, including government funding (See "It Will Take $5 Trillion To Fund The AI Cycle, And The US Government Is On The Hook For Over $1 Trillion")

Insider previously reported that major banks had recent difficulty selling off pieces of $38 billion of debt to finance the construction of two data center campuses that will be anchored by Oracle. Banks often sell pieces of such large commitments to other lenders to spread risk and also reap a quick profit.

The slowdown in interest in participating in that financing was due to worries about Oracle's enormous AI spending and whether the tech company's credit rating could be impacted by those outlays. Oracle has since sought to calm the lending market, announcing that it would raise up to $50 billion of cash from stock and bond offerings in order to "maintain a solid investment-grade balance sheet."

Blue Owl stocks tumbled at the open to a fresh multi-year low, although it wasn't clear if that was due to the Coreweave news or because of its mutiple other issues. Coreweave's dump today, on the other hand, can likely be attributed largely to the data center news which, unless it manages to find a generous partner, will only be the start of its headaches. 

 

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/20/2026 - 13:35

Oakland Mayor, Who Supported 'Defund The Police' Has Her Car Stolen

Authored by Luis Cornelio via Headline USA,

An alleged thief stole Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee’s city-owned vehicle after breaking into her office just two days earlier, according to the California edition of the New York Post. 

The Oakland Police Department recovered the vehicle within hours, two days after somebody tampered with her office’s door. 

“The Oakland Police Department is investigating the theft of a city-owned vehicle. On February 17, 2026, OPD was notified that the vehicle was stolen from Oakland City Hall,” the OPD said through a spokesperson.

“The vehicle was recovered within hours. OPD is following up on potential leads.” 

Lee took office in May 2025 after serving more than two decades in Congress.

She previously expressed support for efforts to “restructure” and “overhaul” policing during the 2020 protests, language widely associated with the “defund the police” movement. 

In 2020, she told Politico she was “really proud” of the Minneapolis City Council’s pledge to defund the local police. 

In December 2020, she also said, “We have to restructure our funding priorities in terms of how we make our communities safe.” 

“We have seen video after video over the last few weeks of peaceful protestors being met with extreme violence from police,” Lee said during the 2020 protest in favor of George Floyd.

“We can’t wait. It’s time to overhaul our policing system.”  

According to the New York Post, police already had an arrest warrant for the alleged suspect.  

In a statement, Lee claimed her administration takes crimes seriously:  

“As with criminal cases such as this, the Oakland Police Department is actively investigating, and we cannot comment further at this time. No one in Oakland should have to worry about their car being stolen, whether they’re a resident, a city worker, or the Mayor. Public safety is a priority across our entire city.” 

The theft comes amid a broader problem for Oakland as the city reported 9,914 motor vehicle thefts in 2024, one of the highest rates in the country. 

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/20/2026 - 13:20

Oakland Mayor, Who Supported 'Defund The Police' Has Her Car Stolen

Authored by Luis Cornelio via Headline USA,

An alleged thief stole Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee’s city-owned vehicle after breaking into her office just two days earlier, according to the California edition of the New York Post. 

The Oakland Police Department recovered the vehicle within hours, two days after somebody tampered with her office’s door. 

“The Oakland Police Department is investigating the theft of a city-owned vehicle. On February 17, 2026, OPD was notified that the vehicle was stolen from Oakland City Hall,” the OPD said through a spokesperson.

“The vehicle was recovered within hours. OPD is following up on potential leads.” 

Lee took office in May 2025 after serving more than two decades in Congress.

She previously expressed support for efforts to “restructure” and “overhaul” policing during the 2020 protests, language widely associated with the “defund the police” movement. 

In 2020, she told Politico she was “really proud” of the Minneapolis City Council’s pledge to defund the local police. 

In December 2020, she also said, “We have to restructure our funding priorities in terms of how we make our communities safe.” 

“We have seen video after video over the last few weeks of peaceful protestors being met with extreme violence from police,” Lee said during the 2020 protest in favor of George Floyd.

“We can’t wait. It’s time to overhaul our policing system.”  

According to the New York Post, police already had an arrest warrant for the alleged suspect.  

In a statement, Lee claimed her administration takes crimes seriously:  

“As with criminal cases such as this, the Oakland Police Department is actively investigating, and we cannot comment further at this time. No one in Oakland should have to worry about their car being stolen, whether they’re a resident, a city worker, or the Mayor. Public safety is a priority across our entire city.” 

The theft comes amid a broader problem for Oakland as the city reported 9,914 motor vehicle thefts in 2024, one of the highest rates in the country. 

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/20/2026 - 13:20

Goldman's Meeting With Top Memory Supplier Points To Higher Prices As Crunch Worsens

The high-bandwidth memory (HBM) shortage is already pressuring the margins of consumer electronics companies, disrupting product launches, and pushing up the prices of TVs and computers. The latest development is Valve's handheld gaming PC, which is reportedly out of stock in select regions as the memory crunch now filters into retail availability.

We have been leaning on institutional channel checks across the semis and hardware coverage universe to gain an insider's perspective on what's happening across the memory space and what to potentially expect in the quarters ahead.

The latest read comes from Goldman analysts led by Giuni Lee, following a discussion with SK Hynix, a critical supplier of HBM chips, on the implications of a very tight memory market.

Lee offered clients five key takeaways from her conversation with SK Hynix:

1. Memory pricing is likely to growth throughout this year driven by real demand and tight supply,

2. Healthy inventory levels and strengthening supplier leverage are leading to increased discussions around longer term contracts,

3. The current tight conventional DRAM S/D could lead to more favorable terms for HBM business in 2027,

4. The 1c nm ramp in 2026 mainly for conventional DRAM, while for HBM mainly starting from 2027, and

5. Capex guidance and focus on DRAM/HBM investments are largely inline with GSe. We reiterate our Buy rating on Hynix

On the memory market, Lee delivered clients a detailed readout on current conditions:

Memory pricing growth likely throughout this year driven by real demand and tight supply

Hynix thinks the current memory pricing uptrend could continue throughout this year driven by robust demand from AI customers. The company expects AI customers will continue to maintain sizable investment scale as they are making meaningful progress in their AI services. While the company acknowledged potential despeccing from PC/mobile customers could weigh on memory demand, it still expects upward pricing trajectory also led by limited supply growth. The company mentioned that the industry-wide limited clean room space is contributing to tight supply and favorable condition for memory pricing. The company sees low possibility of meaningful double-booking of memory orders, as customers are aware that memory capacity cannot be increased meaningfully in the short-term, hence they recognize double-booking will not lead to more allocation but rather drive up pricing further.

The rest of Lee's takeaways from her discussion with SK Hynix are available on the Marketdesk.ai portal for professional subscribers.

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/20/2026 - 12:40

Goldman's Meeting With Top Memory Supplier Points To Higher Prices As Crunch Worsens

The high-bandwidth memory (HBM) shortage is already pressuring the margins of consumer electronics companies, disrupting product launches, and pushing up the prices of TVs and computers. The latest development is Valve's handheld gaming PC, which is reportedly out of stock in select regions as the memory crunch now filters into retail availability.

We have been leaning on institutional channel checks across the semis and hardware coverage universe to gain an insider's perspective on what's happening across the memory space and what to potentially expect in the quarters ahead.

The latest read comes from Goldman analysts led by Giuni Lee, following a discussion with SK Hynix, a critical supplier of HBM chips, on the implications of a very tight memory market.

Lee offered clients five key takeaways from her conversation with SK Hynix:

1. Memory pricing is likely to growth throughout this year driven by real demand and tight supply,

2. Healthy inventory levels and strengthening supplier leverage are leading to increased discussions around longer term contracts,

3. The current tight conventional DRAM S/D could lead to more favorable terms for HBM business in 2027,

4. The 1c nm ramp in 2026 mainly for conventional DRAM, while for HBM mainly starting from 2027, and

5. Capex guidance and focus on DRAM/HBM investments are largely inline with GSe. We reiterate our Buy rating on Hynix

On the memory market, Lee delivered clients a detailed readout on current conditions:

Memory pricing growth likely throughout this year driven by real demand and tight supply

Hynix thinks the current memory pricing uptrend could continue throughout this year driven by robust demand from AI customers. The company expects AI customers will continue to maintain sizable investment scale as they are making meaningful progress in their AI services. While the company acknowledged potential despeccing from PC/mobile customers could weigh on memory demand, it still expects upward pricing trajectory also led by limited supply growth. The company mentioned that the industry-wide limited clean room space is contributing to tight supply and favorable condition for memory pricing. The company sees low possibility of meaningful double-booking of memory orders, as customers are aware that memory capacity cannot be increased meaningfully in the short-term, hence they recognize double-booking will not lead to more allocation but rather drive up pricing further.

The rest of Lee's takeaways from her discussion with SK Hynix are available on the Marketdesk.ai portal for professional subscribers.

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/20/2026 - 12:40

Meta's AI Would Like To Keep You Posting After You're Dead

Ever since social media became a fixture of daily life, an uncomfortable question has lingered: what should happen to someone’s account after they die? Leave it frozen in time? Hand it to family members as a memorial? Or quietly let it fade into the algorithm?

A few years ago, Meta Platforms explored a far more ambitious possibility, according to Futurism. In 2023, the company received a patent describing how a large language model could be trained on a user’s past posts to simulate their voice and behavior — keeping an account active if the person were “absent,” including in the event of death. The filing, led by CTO Andrew Bosworth, outlined how such a system could generate posts, comments, likes, and even private messages in the user’s style.

The idea was striking, and for many, unsettling. Meta has since said it has no plans to move forward with that example. But the patent offers a snapshot of a moment when tech companies were aggressively testing the limits of what generative AI might do — including extending a person’s digital presence beyond their lifetime.

The Futurism piece says that the concept isn’t entirely theoretical. A small but growing “grief tech” sector has promoted AI tools that recreate voices or personalities of the deceased using photos, recordings, and written messages. Proponents argue that such tools could offer comfort. Critics worry they could complicate the grieving process.

Even within Meta’s own public comments, there has been ambivalence. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has spoken about AI companions as a way to address loneliness and, in a 2023 interview with podcaster Lex Fridman, suggested that interacting with digital representations of loved ones might help some people cope with loss. He also acknowledged the psychological risks and the need for deeper study.

The business logic behind such experiments is difficult to ignore. Platforms like Facebook are filled with dormant accounts — profiles that remain but are rarely updated. More AI-generated activity could mean more engagement and more data. As University of Birmingham law professor Edina Harbinja observed, the commercial incentive is clear, even if the ethical path forward is not.

Others urge caution. University of Virginia sociologist Joseph Davis has argued that part of grieving involves confronting the reality of loss, not blurring it with simulations.

Meta has distanced itself from the patent’s more provocative scenario. Still, its existence underscores how far companies have been willing to push generative AI — and how complex the questions become when technology intersects with death, memory, and identity.

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/20/2026 - 12:00

Meta's AI Would Like To Keep You Posting After You're Dead

Ever since social media became a fixture of daily life, an uncomfortable question has lingered: what should happen to someone’s account after they die? Leave it frozen in time? Hand it to family members as a memorial? Or quietly let it fade into the algorithm?

A few years ago, Meta Platforms explored a far more ambitious possibility, according to Futurism. In 2023, the company received a patent describing how a large language model could be trained on a user’s past posts to simulate their voice and behavior — keeping an account active if the person were “absent,” including in the event of death. The filing, led by CTO Andrew Bosworth, outlined how such a system could generate posts, comments, likes, and even private messages in the user’s style.

The idea was striking, and for many, unsettling. Meta has since said it has no plans to move forward with that example. But the patent offers a snapshot of a moment when tech companies were aggressively testing the limits of what generative AI might do — including extending a person’s digital presence beyond their lifetime.

The Futurism piece says that the concept isn’t entirely theoretical. A small but growing “grief tech” sector has promoted AI tools that recreate voices or personalities of the deceased using photos, recordings, and written messages. Proponents argue that such tools could offer comfort. Critics worry they could complicate the grieving process.

Even within Meta’s own public comments, there has been ambivalence. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has spoken about AI companions as a way to address loneliness and, in a 2023 interview with podcaster Lex Fridman, suggested that interacting with digital representations of loved ones might help some people cope with loss. He also acknowledged the psychological risks and the need for deeper study.

The business logic behind such experiments is difficult to ignore. Platforms like Facebook are filled with dormant accounts — profiles that remain but are rarely updated. More AI-generated activity could mean more engagement and more data. As University of Birmingham law professor Edina Harbinja observed, the commercial incentive is clear, even if the ethical path forward is not.

Others urge caution. University of Virginia sociologist Joseph Davis has argued that part of grieving involves confronting the reality of loss, not blurring it with simulations.

Meta has distanced itself from the patent’s more provocative scenario. Still, its existence underscores how far companies have been willing to push generative AI — and how complex the questions become when technology intersects with death, memory, and identity.

Tyler Durden Fri, 02/20/2026 - 12:00

Peter Schiff: Printing Money Is Not the Cure for Cononavirus



In his most recent podcast, Peter Schiff talked about coronavirus and the impact that it is having on the markets. Earlier this month, Peter said he thought the virus was just an excuse for stock market woes. At the time he believed the market was poised to fall anyway. But as it turns out, coronavirus has actually helped the US stock market because it has led central banks to pump even more liquidity into the world financial system. All this means more liquidity — central banks easing. In fact, that is exactly what has already happened, except the new easing is taking place, for now, outside the United States, particularly in China.” Although the new money is primarily being created in China, it is flowing into dollars — the dollar index is up — and into US stocks. Last week, US stock markets once again made all-time record highs. In fact, I think but for the coronavirus, the US stock market would still be selling off. But because of the central bank stimulus that has been the result of fears over the coronavirus, that actually benefitted not only the US dollar, but the US stock market.” In the midst of all this, Peter raises a really good question. The primary economic concern is that coronavirus will slow down output and ultimately stunt economic growth. Practically speaking, the world would produce less stuff. If the virus continues to spread, there would be fewer goods and services produced in a market that is hunkered down. Why would the Federal Reserve respond, or why would any central bank respond to that by printing money? How does printing more money solve that problem? It doesn’t. In fact, it actually exacerbates it. But you know, everybody looks at central bankers as if they’ve got the solution to every problem. They don’t. They don’t have the magic wand. They just have a printing press. And all that creates is inflation.” Sometimes the illusion inflation creates can look like a magic wand. Printing money can paper over problems. But none of this is going to fundamentally fix the economy. In fact, if central bankers were really going to do the right thing, the appropriate response would be to drain liquidity from the markets, not supply even more.” Peter explained how the Fed was originally intended to create an “elastic” money supply that would expand or contract along with economic output. Today, the money supply only goes in one direction — that’s up. The economy is strong, print money. The economy is weak, print even more money.” Of course, the asset that’s doing the best right now is gold. The yellow metal pushed above $1,600 yesterday. Gold is up 5.5% on the year in dollar terms and has set record highs in other currencies. Because gold is rising even in an environment where the dollar is strengthening against other fiat currencies, that shows you that there is an underlying weakness in the dollar that is right now not being reflected in the Forex markets, but is being reflected in the gold markets. Because after all, why are people buying gold more aggressively than they’re buying dollars or more aggressively than they’re buying US Treasuries? Because they know that things are not as good for the dollar or the US economy as everybody likes to believe. So, more people are seeking out refuge in a better safe-haven and that is gold.” Peter also talked about the debate between Trump and Obama over who gets credit for the booming economy – which of course, is not booming.

We are living in crazy times. I have a hard time believing that most of the general public is not awake, but in reality, they are. We've never seen anything like this; I mean not even under Obama during the worst part of the Great Recession." Now the Fed is desperately trying to keep interest rates from rising. The problem is that it's a much bigger debt bubble this time around , and the Fed is going to have to blow a lot more air into it to keep it inflated. The difference is this time it's not going to work." It looks like the Fed did another $104.15 billion of Not Q.E. in a single day. The Fed claims it's only temporary. But that is precisely what Bernanke claimed when the Fed started QE1. Milton Freedman once said, "Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program." The same applies to Q.E., or whatever the Fed wants to pretend it's doing. Except this is not QE4, according to Powell. Right. Pumping so much money out, and they are accusing China of currency manipulation ? Wow! Seriously! Amazing! Dump the U.S. dollar while you still have a chance. Welcome to The Atlantis Report. And it is even worse than that, In addition to the $104.15 billion of "Not Q.E." this past Thursday; the FED added another $56.65 billion in liquidity to financial markets the next day on Friday. That's $160.8 billion in two days!!!! in just 48 hours. That is more than 2 TIMES the highest amount the FED has ever injected on a monthly basis under a Q.E. program (which was $80 billion per month) Since this isn't QE....it will be really scary on what they are going to call Q.E. Will it twice, three times, four times, five times what this injection per month ! It is going to be explosive since it takes about 60 to 90 days for prices to react to this, January should see significant inflation as prices soak up the excess liquidity. The question is, where will the inflation occur first . The spike in the repo rate might have a technical explanation: a misjudgment was made in the Fed's money market operations. Even so, two conclusions can be drawn: managing the money markets is becoming harder, and from now on, banks will be studying each other's creditworthiness to a greater degree than before. Those people, who struggle with the minutiae of money markets, and that includes most professionals, should focus on the causes and not the symptoms. Financial markets have recovered from each downturn since 1980 because interest rates have been cut to new lows. Post-2008, they were cut to near zero or below zero in all major economies. In response to a new financial crisis, they cannot go any lower. Central banks will look for new ways to replicate or broaden Q.E. (At some point, governments will simply see repression as an easier option). Then there is the problem of 'risk-free' assets becoming risky assets. Financial markets assume that the probability of major governments such as the U.S. or U.K. defaulting is zero. These governments are entering the next downturn with debt roughly twice the levels proportionate to GDP that was seen in 2008. The belief that the policy worked was completely predicated on the fact that it was temporary and that it was reversible, that the Fed was going to be able to normalize interest rates and shrink its balance sheet back down to pre-crisis levels. Well, when the balance sheet is five-trillion, six-trillion, seven-trillion when we're back at zero, when we're back in a recession, nobody is going to believe it is temporary. Nobody is going to believe that the Fed has this under control, that they can reverse this policy. And the dollar is going to crash. And when the dollar crashes, it's going to take the bond market with it, and we're going to have stagflation. We're going to have a deep recession with rising interest rates, and this whole thing is going to come imploding down. everything is temporary with the fed including remaining off the gold standard temporary in the Fed's eyes could mean at least 50 years This liquidity problem is a signal that trading desks are loaded up on inventory and can't get rid of it. Repo is done out of a need for cash. If you own all of your securities (i.e., a long-only, no leverage mutual fund) you have no need to "repo" your securities - you're earning interest every night so why would you want to 'repo' your securities where you are paying interest for that overnight loan (securities lending is another animal). So, it is those that 'lever-up' and need the cash for settlement purposes on securities they've bought with borrowed money that needs to utilize the repo desk. With this in mind, as we continue to see this need to obtain cash (again, needed to settle other securities purchases), it shows these firms don't have the capital to add more inventory to, what appears to be, a bloated inventory. Now comes the fun part: the Treasury is about to auction 3's, 10's, and 30-year bonds. If I am correct (again, I could be wrong), the Fed realizes securities firms don't have the shelf space to take down a good portion of these auctions. If there isn't enough retail/institutional demand, it will lead to not only a crappy sale but major concerns to the street that there is now no backstop, at all, to any sell-off. At which point, everyone will want to be the first one through the door and sell immediately, but to whom? If there isn't enough liquidity in the repo market to finance their positions, the firms would be unable to increase their inventory. We all saw repo shut down on the 2008 crisis. Wall St runs on money. . OVERNIGHT money. They lever up to inventory securities for trading. If they can't get overnight money, they can't purchase securities. And if they can't unload what they have, it means the buy-side isn't taking on more either. Accounts settle overnight. This includes things like payrolls and bill pay settlements. If a bank doesn't have enough cash to payout what its customers need to pay out, it borrows. At least one and probably more than one banks are insolvent. That's what's going on. First, it can't be one or two banks that are short. They'd simply call around until they found someone to lend. But they did that, and even at markedly elevated rates, still, NO ONE would lend them the money. That tells me that it's not a problem of a couple of borrowers, it's a problem of no lenders. And that means that there's no bank in the world left with any real liquidity. They are ALL maxed out. But as bad as that is, and that alone could be catastrophic, what it really signals is even worse. The lending rates are just the flip side of the coin of the value of the assets lent against. If the rates go up, the value goes down. And with rates spiking to 10%, how far does the value fall? Enormously! And if banks had to actually mark down the value of the assets to reflect 10% interest rates, then my god, every bank in the world is insolvent overnight. Everyone's capital ratios are in the toilet, and they'd have to liquidate. We're talking about the simultaneous insolvency of every bank on the planet. Bank runs. No money in ATMs, Branches closed. Safe deposit boxes confiscated. The whole nine yards, It's actually here. The scenario has tended to guide toward for years and years is actually happening RIGHT NOW! And people are still trying to say it's under control. Every bank in the world is currently insolvent. The only thing keeping it going is printing billions of dollars every day. Financial Armageddon isn't some far off future risk. It's here. Prepare accordingly. This fiat system has reached the end of the line, and it's not correct that fiat currencies fail by design. The problem is corruption and manipulation. It is corruption and cheating that erodes trust and faith until the entire system becomes a gigantic fraud. Banks and governments everywhere ARE the problem and simply have to be removed. They have lost all trust and respect, and all they have left is war and mayhem. As long as we continue to have a majority of braindead asleep imbeciles following orders from these psychopaths, nothing will change. Fiat currency is not just thievery. Fiat currency is SLAVERY. Ultimately the most harmful effect of using debt of undefined value as money (i.e., fiat currencies) is the de facto legalization of a caste system based on voluntary slavery. The bankers have a charter, or the legal *right*, to create money out of nothing. You, you don't. Therefore you and the bankers do not have the same standing before the law. The law of the land says that you will go to jail if you do the same thing (creating money out of thin air) that the banker does in full legality. You and the banker are not equal before the law. ALL the countries of the world; Islamic or secular, Jewish or Arab, democracy or dictatorship; all of them place the bankers ABOVE you. And all of you accept that only whining about fiat money going down in exchange value over time (price inflation which is not the same as monetary inflation). Actually, price inflation itself is mainly due to the greed and stupidity of the bankers who could keep fiat money's exchange value reasonably stable, only if they wanted to. Witness the crash of silver and gold prices which the bankers of the world; Russian, American, Chinese, Jewish, Indian, Arab, all of them collaborated to engineer through the suppression and stagnation of precious metals' prices to levels around the metals' production costs, or what it costs to dig gold and silver out of the ground. The bankers of the world could also collaborate to keep nominal prices steady (as they do in the case of the suppression of precious metals prices). After all, the ability to create fiat money and force its usage is a far more excellent source of power and wealth than that which is afforded simply by stealing it through inflation. The bankers' greed and stupidity blind them to this fact. They want it all, and they want it now. In conclusion, The bankers can create money out of nothing and buy your goods and services with this worthless fiat money, effectively for free. You, you can't. You, you have to lead miserable existences for the most of you and WORK in order to obtain that effectively nonexistent, worthless credit money (whose purchasing/exchange value is not even DEFINED thus rendering all contracts based on the null and void!) that the banker effortlessly creates out of thin air with a few strokes of the computer keyboard, and which he doesn't even bother to print on paper anymore, electing to keep it in its pure quantum uncertain form instead, as electrons whizzing about inside computer chips which will become mute and turn silent refusing to tell you how many fiat dollars or euros there are in which account, in the absence of electricity. No electricity, no fiat, nor crypto money. It would appear that trust is deteriorating as it did when Lehman blew up . Something really big happened that set off this chain reaction in the repo markets. Whatever that something is, we aren't be informed. They're trying to cover it up, paper it over with conjured cash injections, play it cool in front of the cameras while sweating profusely under the 5 thousands dollar suits. I'm guessing that the final high-speed plunge into global economic collapse has begun. All we see here is the ripples and whitewater churning the surface, but beneath the surface, there is an enormous beast thrashing desperately in its death throws. Now is probably the time to start tying up loose ends with the long-running prep projects, just saying. In other words, prepare accordingly, and Get your money out of the banks. I don't care if you don't believe me about Bitcoin. Get your money out of the banks. Don't keep any more money in a bank than you need to pay your bills and can afford to lose.











The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and forecasts , futurists , visionaries , free investigative journalists , researchers , Whistelblowers , truthers and many more













The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and forecasts , futurists , visionaries , free investigative journalists , researchers , Whistelblowers , truthers and many more

The FBI released a summary of its file from the Hillary Clinton email investigation on Friday, showing details of Clinton's explanation of her use of a private email server to handle classified communications. The release comes nearly two months after FBI Director James Comey announced that although Clinton's handling of classified information was "extremely careless," it did not rise to the level of a prosecutable offense. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the next day that she would not pursue charges in the matter. "We are making these materials available to the public in the interest of transparency and in response to numerous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests," the FBI noted in a statement sent to reporters with links to the documents. The documents include notes from Clinton's July 2 interview with agents, as well as a "factual summary of the FBI's investigation into this matter," according to the FBI release. Throughout her interview with agents, Clinton repeatedly said she relied on the career professionals she worked with to handle classified information correctly. The agents asked about a series of specific emails, and in each case Clinton said she wasn't worried about the particular material being discussed on a nonclassified channel.