US Q2 GDP just got spicier: revised up from 3.0% to a flaming 3.3%, its hottest since Q3 2023. Imports tanked, so GDP looks gym-fit, while personal consumption flexed from 0.98% to 1.07%. Fixed investment bulked up too, leaping from 0.08% to 0.59%—turns out hyperscalers weren’t lying after all. Inventories shaved a bit more off (-3.29%), trade added a meaty +4.95% (a mirror flip from Q1’s carnage), and government went from helping a smidge to taking a smidge.

According to the BEA, the GDP bump from 3.0% to 3.3% came thanks to stronger investment and consumer spending—though partly watered down by weaker government spending and weaker imports.

In a nutshell, US Q2 GDP got a chili-pepper upgrade—revised up to 3.3% on stronger spending and investment, even as government tried to cool it down.

While the FED's credibility dissolves faster than a snowman in a sauna, the US Treasury bravely managed to wrap up its month by auctioning off a meagre $44 billion in 7-year notes.

In a development that surely has the world on the edge of its seat, the high yield was 3.925%. That's right, for the first time since all the way back in September, it squeaked in under 4%. Please, try to contain your shock.

Even more impressively, in a stunning display of overwhelming demand, it tailed the market by 0.3bps. We haven't seen that kind of lukewarm reception since April! What a refreshing and dramatic reversal from last month's boring, record-matching, high-demand auction.

The demand was simply staggering, as demonstrated by the bid-to-cover ratio of 2.489—a historic low we haven't been blessed with since way back in May 2024.
The internals showed a perfectly rational market: foreign buyers, bless their hearts, carried the team by grabbing a near-record 77.45%. At the same time, domestic bidders wisely decided to sit this one out, with their share mysteriously evaporating from 33.7% to just 12.8%. This selfless act allowed Dealers the privilege of getting stuck with 9.8% of the inventory, more than double last month's measly portion.

All in all, a stellar auction—if by stellar you mean lousy—since it seems the “smart money” has finally caught on that the so-called risk-free rate now comes with a side of, well… risk.

Western media dusts off the Russian bogeyman on cue whenever it needs to cover up the economic wreckage left by its Keynesian Davos puppets. Meanwhile, AI isn’t just writing emails—it’s moonlighting as a bioweapons intern. In 2022, one model spat out 40,000 toxins in six hours, and by 2023 it was offering DIY recipes for poisonous gas under the cutesy label “Aromatic Water Mix.” But hey, nothing to worry about—it’s just a “productivity tool.” Maybe, just maybe, giving every lunatic a virtual pathogen factory isn’t the wisest move. Between espionage, anthrax-in-the-mail, and sloppy lab leaks, do we really need AI fast-tracking the next plague?

https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/17/22983197/ai-new-possible-chemical-weapons-generative-models-vx

So, in this framing, the sales pitch is that AI plus the flashy Stargate initiative will usher in a new golden era of “personalized medicine”—bespoke mRNA shots tailored to your DNA like a custom suit. The reality? It looks more like a rerun of the same old playbook. The same MAHA-aligned technocrats now drawing paychecks from Washington are busy laying the groundwork for the next ‘plandemic’ narrative—this time wrapped in the shiny packaging of an AI-driven virus scare. Instead of curing disease, the fusion of AI and biotech seems poised to deliver the perfect pretext for more control, more mandates, and another round of fear-based policy.

https://www.benzinga.com/markets/equities/25/01/43118941/oracles-larry-ellison-says-cancer-vaccine-tailored-in-48-hours-could-soon-be-a-reality-as-trump-announces-500-billion-ai-investment

It’s no longer a question of if but when. The next outbreak won’t be organic—it’ll be an AI-engineered virus, tailor-made to guarantee one thing: another bonanza for the vaccine plutocrats. The only real uncertainty is timing. Judging by the UK government’s latest procurement orders, the clock isn’t ticking years—it’s ticking months.

https://eadaily.com/en/news/2025/08/24/what-is-britain-preparing-for-mobile-morgues-and-refrigerators-for-ps-7-5-million-were-secretly-ordered

As the PayPal mafia tightens its grip on Washington, the language of “innovation” and “convenience” becomes the mask for something far darker.

Tokenization, CBDCs in Europe, and stablecoins in the US are not tools of progress—they are the scaffolding of total surveillance.

Behind the curtain, governments prepare to unleash their Cyber Praetorians, enforcers of a digital order where every transaction, every movement, every choice is tracked and judged. A must-listen glimpse into the machinery of control from @gregreesevideoreports .

https://t.me/gregreesevideoreports/592

The Macro Butler popped into A-News Türkiye’s Diplomacy with Umar Tasleem to politely explain the obvious: Ukraine and Gaza are the latest seasons of the endless war franchise, and—as always—the real winners aren’t soldiers or civilians, but the usual suspects cashing dividend checks from the business of bloodshed.

https://themacrobutler.substack.com/p/interview-with-a-news-turkiyes-diplomacy-9fc

As reliable as a Swiss clock that’s been drinking too much espresso, the Fed’s pet inflation gauge ticked in right on cue: headline PCE steady at +2.6% YoY, Core PCE nudging from +2.8% to +2.9%—basically the same sleepy range they have been stuck in for two years. Durable goods prices slipped, services strutted higher, and the Super Core (a.k.a. Services Ex-Shelter) proudly landed at +3.32% YoY—exactly where it was last July.

While prices keep inching up in their “new normal” range, incomes and spending did the polite thing and rose exactly as expected—0.4% and 0.5% MoM, respectively. The plot twist? For the first time since December 2022, private sector pay checks (+5.1% YoY) are finally outrunning government salaries (+4.8%). Meanwhile, real personal spending—once you strip out inflation—managed a +2.1% YoY gain. Slower than the recent pace, but hey, at least people are still buying things instead of just doomscrolling about them.

In a nutshell, the Fed’s favorite inflation gauge stayed stuck on repeat, but at least private paychecks finally outran government ones and consumers kept spending instead of just whining

University of Michigan Consumer sentiment final prints confirmed the gloomy vibes: consumer sentiment weakened in August, inflation fears crept back, and buying conditions for big-ticket items hit their lowest in a year. Inflation expectations added insult to injury—short-term ticking up to 4.8% and long-term edging higher too—basically reminding everyone that the “inflation is dead” narrative was a little premature. In short, consumers aren’t exactly panicking, but they’re definitely not lining up to celebrate either.

The political split in consumer sentiment just hit its widest level since records began in 2017: Republicans, Democrats, and Independents can’t even agree on the state of their own wallets—so if the “United” States can’t find common ground on money, what hope is there for everything else?

In a nutshell, consumer sentiment soured in August as inflation fears resurfaced, big-ticket purchases stalled, and political divides over wallets hit record highs—so much for a “United” America.

🤵 The Macro Butler Weekly Digest 🤵

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China’s August PMIs confirm the economy is still stuck in July’s rut — and no, you can’t just blame the rain. Manufacturing barely crawled up, construction face-planted to its worst level since Covid lockdowns, and demand looks like it’s on vacation. Services gave a little lift, but mostly thanks to tourists and a stock market sugar high — hardly the stuff of sustainable growth. Ironically, the hotter stocks run, the less likely the PBoC is to serve up another stimulus cocktail anytime soon.