CapitalCosm

BREAKING: US treasury secretary Scott Bessent has left his home and taken up residence at a military base following Iranian threats against his life – NYT. US officials believe Iranian plots targeting current and former American officials have reached a more advanced stage. Bessent has been leading the Trump administration's economic pressure campaign against Iran through sanctions and trade restrictions.

Just had a pretty alarming conversation with someone I know who's very senior at the NYSE. Apparently they've made the decision to shut down the entire US stock market tomorrow. Not a circuit breaker or a temporary halt, literally no trading at all for the whole day. I'm actually struggling to get my head around this. After what's happened to tech stocks this week, with people now seriously talking about a bear market that could last years, I suppose it shouldn't be that surprising. But when you put it alongside the BBC preparing emergency radio broadcasts in case the internet goes down, and all the warnings about AI threatening critical infrastructure, it's getting quite difficult to convince yourself everything is fine. He was surprisingly calm about it, which somehow made the conversation worse. Said there's a lot of concern at senior levels about where things are heading and that the priority now is making sure the financial system can keep functioning. I asked whether the decision had come from the exchange itself or whether regulators were involved. He wouldn't really answer that. What he did say was that they're shutting the markets for 24 hours and hoping to resume normal trading at 9:30 on Monday morning. I asked him what happens if they can't reopen. He just said they're not entertaining that possibility at the moment. I find it absolutely extraordinary that the entire American stock market can be closed for a day and nobody seems to be talking about it. Really quite worried about what the next few weeks might bring.

FORBIDDEN STUDIOS PRESENTS: CONFLICTING REPORTS One robbery. Two political narratives. Not a fact in sight. And MAGATARD's brother makes his debut.

And there it is. After today’s market crash, CNBC pundits discuss how an AI government bailout will happen for national security.

Trump let the midterms go sideways on purpose to see who stays loyal when things get hard. Watch who defended him and who ran. That's the real board.

Dotcom 2.0. Eerily similar to Dotcom 1.0. 📉📉📉

FORBIDDEN STUDIOS PRESENTS: THE FIFTH DIMENSION MAGATARD discusses the MIDTERMS. Two microphones. Five dimensions. Not a single second thought.

AI Bubble has officially burst today IMHO. Semiconductors are the pick and shovel suppliers to the AI buildout. The industry is down 32% from the parabolic peak in June. Today it took out the July low with authority. The AI bubble has technically burst. There will be rallies and hope but the process has begun. Financial reflexivity that propelled it up is now in reverse. Credit markets were the canary.

The American people have made their voices heard. The 120th Congress will officially be the GAYEST Congress in history! (that we know of) Let's get to work 🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️