(Part 4 of 5) News & my thoughts (02March2026)
News and my thoughts from the past week (02Mar2026)
China now generates 40% more electricity than the US and EU combined.
Electricity output is the single best proxy for industrial capacity - Elon Musk
Israeli media says that after Khamenei, our next target is Tayyip Erdogan (Turkey). - X user Globe Observer
South Korea’s stock market is a $40 billion leverage bomb waiting to go off. The KOSPI is up 177% in the last year. A 177% domestic rally relying almost entirely on semiconductors. $40B parked in highly leveraged U.S. tech ETFs. Volatility rising right alongside market highs. - X user Bull Theory
“AI does not reduce work. It intensifies it.“ Powerful new Harvard Business Review study. - X user Rohan Paul
The Pentagon just blacklisted one of America’s most valuable AI companies. For refusing to build surveillance tools aimed at American citizens. Hours later, its biggest rival OpenAI quietly signed the deal of the decade. - X user Stock Market News
Anywhere from $40 billion to $150 billion of leveraged loans packaged into US collateralized loan obligations could be disrupted by the AI boom, according to JPMorgan
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY'S OPERATING PROFIT FALLS NEARLY 30% ON INSURANCE UNDERWRITING - Investing
Apollo announced that its private credit fund, MidCap Financial Investment Corp. (MFIC), has reduced its dividend and re-evaluated its asset values, "due to challenges in certain segments of its loan portfolio." - Zero Hedge
Jane Street, Citadel Securities, Hudson River Trading, Susquehanna, Virtu, Flow Traders, and Jump. That's the Justice League of "oops we accidentally crashed your favorite coin at 10:00 AM ET." They're not even hiding it anymore. India fined Jane Street $567M for essentially doing the same thing there. The business model is: create chaos, profit from chaos, call it "liquidity provision." - X user The Block Source
U.S. margin debt just hit $1.28 TRILLION. Last year alone +$342B. +36%. - X user Alex Mason
UBS DOWNGRADES THE US STOCK MARKET. HERE’S WHAT HAS THE INVESTMENT BANK WORRIED – CNBC
PRIVATE CREDIT DEFAULT RATES COULD SURGE TO 15%, UBS WARNS — HIGHER THAN DURING THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS.
The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) dropped again in January, to the lowest level in 12 YEARS. The drawdown since the 2021 peak has been 18%, the biggest since the Great Financial Crisis. Such a drop has never been seen outside of recessions and is even bigger than in 2001. Why has the LEI collapsed so sharply? 1) Manufacturing recession; 2) Weak consumer expectations for business conditions; 3) Deteriorating job market - X user Global Markets Investor
The Department of Homeland Security said Sunday that the Global Entry program would be shut down as long as the partial government shutdown remains in effect. - AP News
‘Money's moving out of tech’: Wall Street weighs stock market winners amid the AI scare trade - Yahoo Finance
OpenAI could face bankruptcy within two years. With paid subscribers remaining at only about 5% of total users, OpenAI faces a real risk due to billions in operating costs against a limited return and a continued reliance on funding and investments. - China Pulse
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