The three main U.S. stock indexes turned in a positive performance on Friday but not even the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 500-point leap was enough to overcome ongoing worries about heightened tensions in the Persian Gulf and the implications of the bond markets’ midweek sell-off over fears of deteriorating U.S. fiscal conditions.
Category: 25 August 2026
SPOTLIGHT: PANIC IN THE BOND MARKET
On 18 August, investors dumped government bonds amid heightened fears that inflation will continue to rise, government deficits are out of control, and a flood of AI-related bond issues are diluting bond values, the Financial Times reported.
SPOTLIGHT: AI BORROWING TESTS ITS LIMIT
We have greatly detailed that in the very near future, possibly this October, there will be a Dot-com Bust 2.0 that will crash the equity markets and spike gold prices.
WALMART REPORTS SLOWEST SALES GROWTH IN SIX YEARS
In its latest second quarter, Walmart’s sales grew 2.6 percent, the slowest rate since the COVID year of 2020 as worried consumers cut back purchases.
U.S. BUSINESSES WERE BUSIER IN AUGUST, PMI SHOWS
Companies in the U.S. private sector did more business in August than in July, according to S&P Global’s flash purchasing managers index (PMI) this month.
DIESEL PRICES REBOUND, THREATENING A NEW ROUND OF INFLATION
On 18 August, the price of diesel fuel averaged $5.47 a gallon, bouncing higher on renewed fears of an extended Iran war.
TWILIGHT’S LAST GLEAMING
There is a point in the decline of republics when the problem is no longer that the government breaks its own laws. Governments will always behave unlawfully.
NEW STUDY FOUND THAT FEDERAL SPENDING DID NOTHING TO MAKE HOMES MORE AFFORDABLE
Open The Books, a watchdog, found that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) spent about $460 billion on various housing programs in the last decade but could not prevent home ownership from becoming more elusive for Americans.
AMERICANS ARE GETTING HIGH TO GET BY
A newly released study in the U.S. found that more than 9 percent of men have shown symptoms of cannabis-use disorder, along with 6 percent of women, according to The New York Times.
SPOTLIGHT: BIGS GETTING BIGGER
Payment processing company Stripe will put up $8 billion in cash and stock to take over OpenRouter, a startup that allows companies to switch among various AI models to find the one that is cheapest or best suited to a particular need.









