📈 The Small-Town Investment Club That Became a Market Legend

In the 1980s, a group of 16 women from the small town of Beardstown, Illinois suddenly became famous on the US stock market.

Most of them had no investment background. The club was founded in 1983 by 62 year old bank employee Betty Sinnock after she noticed bank clients making money from stocks while brokers refused to work with her.

She invited friends and created an investment club that included teachers, nurses, farmers and small business owners aged from 41 to 87.

They followed a simple value approach. The women preferred companies with steady growth, strong management and reasonable prices, while avoiding businesses they considered unethical.

Some decisions were surprisingly intuitive. They bought shares of a shoe company because they personally wore the brand, and purchased Hershey stock because they loved chocolate.

After 10 years the club’s initial $1,600 investment grew to more than $80,000.

Media attention exploded. Their book became a New York Times bestseller and journalists claimed their annual returns reached 23.4%, higher than many professional investors.

Later it turned out the calculation contained an accounting error. The real annual return was about 9.1%, while the S&P 500 delivered roughly 14.9% during the same period.

Even so, the story had a huge cultural impact. Between 1983 and 1997 the number of investment clubs in the US grew from about 7,000 to 28,000, and women became a rapidly growing group of investors.

The Beardstown club still exists today and its portfolio reportedly includes companies like Amazon, Facebook and Apple with a total value of more than $500,000.

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🇺🇸 Pentagon Spent $93B in End-of-Year Budget Rush

In September 2025 the Pentagon spent a record $93.4B trying to use up its budget before the fiscal year ended.

US agencies often follow a “use it or lose it” rule. If allocated funds are not spent by year end, next year’s budget may be reduced.

Some notable purchases during the spending surge:

➡️ ~$15.1M on ribeye steaks
➡️ ~$6.9M on lobster tails
➡️ ~$2M on Alaskan king crab
➡️ ~$1M on salmon
➡️ $139K for ~272K donut orders
➡️ $124K on refrigerators
➡️ $225.6M on furniture
➡️ $5.3M on Apple devices
➡️ $4M on Samsung equipment
➡️ $98K for a Steinway grand piano
➡️ $26K for a violin

September is often the biggest spending month for US government agencies as departments rush to exhaust remaining budgets.

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📉 Volkswagen to Cut 50,000 Jobs

Volkswagen plans to eliminate around 50,000 jobs, about 17% of its German workforce, as profits fall to their lowest level in a decade.

The company’s profit dropped 44% last year and pressure is coming from several directions.

📊 Chinese EV makers like BYD are taking market share in China

📊 U.S. tariffs on imported cars are costing VW nearly €3B per year

📊 Rising energy and labor costs in Germany are forcing factory shutdowns

Europe’s largest automaker is now restructuring to stabilize its finances.

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📉 Stocks May Have Topped for the 4-Year Cycle

There are signs the stock market could be approaching the top of its current 4-year cycle.

Early breakdown signals are appearing on the daily timeframe, though the weekly cycle has not confirmed a top yet, so it may still be early.

If a top forms here, the next cyclical bottom could come around October, likely resulting in a relatively mild cyclical bear phase.

Given strong AI investment and ongoing fiscal stimulus, such a pullback could simply act as a shakeout before a larger rally into 2027–2029.

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👾 Retired US General Linked to UFO Base Reported Missing

Days after Donald Trump ordered the release of classified UFO documents, a retired US Air Force general connected to long-standing UFO rumors has gone missing, according to CNN.

68-year-old Major General William Neil McCasland left his home on February 27 and has not been heard from since. Hundreds of volunteers joined search efforts but no trace has been found.

During his career he commanded the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson base, a location often linked to claims that debris from the Roswell UFO incident was stored there. The Pentagon has always denied those claims.

After retiring, McCasland worked with To The Stars Inc., a company co-founded by Blink-182 musician Tom DeLonge that researches unidentified aerial phenomena.

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