Russia warns that ongoing US Iran negotiations could be used as cover for preparations for a ground military operation against Iran, citing a major buildup of American forces across the Middle East.

TSMC sees 2026 sales to grow by above 30% in USD terms -Bloomberg

Markets are frontrunning a 2027 Taiwan blockade

Chinese state banks' impaired mortgages can rise 20% and 17% in 2026 and 2027, we calculate, lifting the average nonperforming home-loan ratio over 1% despite forbearance and relief measures. -Bloomberg

The deep cracks in the Chinese housing market could be fixed by a military operation in Taiwan.

TSMC expresses confidence in the AI megatrend and states that capital expenditures over the next three years will significantly exceed those of the past three years

Warren Buffett sold his TSMC stake in 2022 because he didn't like where TSMC is located

Trump told Dutch officials at a private dinner event that he wants to end the Iran war quickly and plans to do it via a squeeze on the Iranian economy causing them to come to the negotiating table with concessions - WSJ

Ignore all FUD from Russia and BTFD

TSMC signals intent to add additional fabs in Arizona.

That's the only solution, bring manufacturing to US or gtfo

Pakistan's Army Chief Asim Munir to travel to United States after returning from Iran as part of mediation efforts.

China opposes unilateral sanctions lacking international legal basis or authorization from the UN Security Council, in response to remarks by Donald Trump on penalizing countries that purchase Iranian oil - Chinese Foreign Ministry Statement

China wants its cheap Iranian oil

Proof of Personhood (PoP) network Interlink has officially released the InterLink Visa Card, allowing its 7 million verified human users to spend USDT and ETH directly at millions of global merchants.

Morgan Stanley's Bitcoin ETF hit $100M in inflows in the first week

Dalio: The US is facing a Suez moment in the SoH. We are in the final phase of the Big Cycle where major powers are fighting over trade, tech and capital while their allies are engaged in local wars that are interrelated. This doesn't mean I expect a shooting war between the US and China any time soon

Subtext: The Suez moment will come when China moves on Taiwan in 2027. If China succeeds, countries all around the world will conclude that the US might not be the strong ally and countervailing force to China that they thought it would be. Which is what happened to the British Empire in the Suez Crisis, bringing about the ultimate end of their Empire

Despite new highs in stocks retail traders are not chasing the rally. -Bloomberg

Fed's Williams (FOMC voter): AI will likely lift productivity rate, but the level of increase is hard to say

Everyone's starting to parrot Warsh's productivity thesis. Most people still have no clue about Kevin Warsh's plans for 2026.

Taiwan's stock market cap soars to $4.14 trillion, officially surpassing the UK.

Iran emphasized US must drop 'excessive demands', must fulfill commitments, new talks of no benefit without framework - Tasnim

BTC dumping on this

2.56 billion DOGE, worth $245M, were transferred from Robinhood into private wallets.

Doge is ready for 2026

Iran's planned Hormuz toll to be paid via Iranian banks - ISNA

Iran saw Prof Jiang's video

Fed's Miran: At this point, I feel that the Fed should be heading to a neutral rate estimated as low as 2.5%

That's four 25 bps rate cuts from here. Warsh can do that

US and Iran are considering extending their truce by another fortnight to allow more time to negotiate a peace agreement, according to a person familiar with the matter. -Bloomberg