Authored by Travis Gillmore via The Epoch Times,

Diversity, equity, and inclusion practices negatively impacted the U.S. economy, according to the 2026 White House Economic Report released April 13. 

Researchers calculated that DEI policies reduced output and lowered the country’s gross domestic product by about $94 billion each year, amounting to approximately $1,160 per year for families with two working adults. 

“These estimates imply that DEI promotion has led to inefficient management, raising the cost of doing business,” the report reads.

“These costs lead the companies practicing DEI to hire fewer people and pay their workers less.” 

President Donald Trump commissioned the report, released by the White House Council of Economic Advisers. 

DEI policies “actively encouraged” employment discrimination, according to the report, which cited fourfold growth in the percentage of minorities holding management positions between 2016 and 2023. 

During the same period, industries that adopted DEI protocols were 2.7 percent less productive than industries that avoided the cultural shift. 

The president announced soon after taking office for a second time that his administration was targeting what he said are discriminatory hiring practices. 

“We’ve ended the tyranny of so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion policies all across the entire federal government and indeed the private sector and our military, and our country will be woke no longer,” Trump said when he addressed a joint session of Congress in March 2025. 

“We believe that whether you are a doctor, an accountant, a lawyer, or an air traffic controller, you should be hired and promoted based on skill and competence, not race or gender.” 

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law in 1964, thus outlawing employment discrimination based on race, color, gender, religion, or national origin. 

Human resources departments across the country generally abided by the laws to avoid legal action, but things began to change approximately 10 years ago when corporate offices began adopting new diversity-related hiring agendas. 

President Joe Biden accelerated DEI practices with executive orders implementing the programs in the military and across the federal government’s various agencies and departments. 

Biden directed government agencies to “seek opportunities to establish a position of chief diversity officer or diversity and inclusion officer, … [and] ensure that all Federal employees have their respective gender identities accurately reflected and identified in the workplace,” among other changes. 

Agencies were required to submit “Equity Action Plans” outlining steps to further diversify staff. 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen oversaw the establishment of an Equity Hub and Advisory Committee on Racial Equality, spending millions of dollars on DEI consulting services in the process and redirecting billions of dollars in federal funding to “benefit specific racial groups,” according to the report. 

Studies show references to DEI programs exploded during the 2020s, with many corporations mentioning the policies during earnings calls, which cited analyses showing the number of DEI-related jobs quadrupled between 2017 and 2022. 

Trump rescinded the orders with a series of executive actions in January 2025. 

“The public release of these plans demonstrated immense public waste and shameful discrimination. That ends today,” the president wrote in one order. “Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect, and to expending precious taxpayer resources only on making America great.” 

China has dismissed reports that it supplied or plans to supply weapons to Iran as “baseless smears,” after multiple outlets cited US intelligence accusing Beijing of potentially entering the war indirectly.

“China has always adopted a cautious and responsible attitude towards the export of military items, implementing strict controls in accordance with its own export control laws and regulations and its international obligations. We oppose baseless smears or malicious association,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun stated at a regular briefing on Monday.

Reports first published by CNN and later cited by Reuters and The New York Times said US intelligence assesses that China is preparing to deliver new air defense systems to Iran within weeks, citing three people familiar with recent intelligence assessments.

CNN reported indications that Beijing is working to route the shipments through third countries to conceal their origin. The report said China is preparing to transfer shoulder-fired anti-air missile systems known as MANPADs, while citing unnamed sources.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington also addressed the claims, seeking to make clear that Beijing “has never provided weapons to any party to the conflict” and urged the United States to avoid leveling such baseless charges.

This accusation first surfaced shortly before US-Iran negotiations in Islamabad collapsed, and was followed by an escalation in tensions as Washington imposed a naval blockade targeting Iranian ports and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Earlier, over the weekend, when he was asked by reporters about reports that China is sending the weapons, the president responded that “if China does that, China will have big problems, OK?”

Recall too that in early April an American pilot whose F-15 jet was shot down over Iran was rescued after evading capture for more than a day in a dramatic special forces raid into Iran – this is at least according to the official story anyway.

It’s widely believed that this shootdown was the result of Iranians deploying MANPADs or other smaller, mobile anti-air defense system. It came after both the US and Israel declared total air superiority and freedom of action over Iran’s skies.

Amid China’s denials and the ongoing speculation, what is for sure is that Russia and Iran have military ties which run deeper, given especially they are running a joint Shahed drone program related to the Ukraine war. Western mainstream media has also been eager to true and tie ‘rogue’ Beijing in with some kind of Tehran-Moscow-Beijing nexus.

The US Treasury Department’s technology team is actively seeking access to Anthropic PBC’s highly restricted Mythos AI model so it can begin hunting for software vulnerabilities, according to a person familiar with the situation cited by Bloomberg. 

Treasury Chief Information Officer Sam Corcos briefed the department’s cybersecurity team on the technology last week and has directed efforts to gain access to the model “as soon as this week.”

The request comes days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell summoned top Wall Street CEOs to an urgent meeting at Treasury headquarters. Executives were warned that Mythos and similar frontier AI models could usher in a new era of heightened cyber risk. Anthropic itself has cautioned that the model may be capable of powering sophisticated cyberattacks unless companies proactively test it against their own systems and build defenses ahead of any wider release.

At the meeting, bank leaders were strongly urged to take the model seriously and use it internally to detect vulnerabilities.

What Is Mythos and Why the Restrictions?

Anthropic introduced Mythos (also referred to as Claude Mythos Preview) as part of its new Project Glasswing initiative. In internal testing, the model demonstrated extraordinary offensive cybersecurity capabilities: it was able to identify and exploit vulnerabilities “in every major operating system and every major web browser when directed by a user to do so.” In one documented case, it wrote a web browser exploit that successfully chained together four separate vulnerabilities.

Project Glasswing brings together Amazon Web Services (AWS), Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Google, JPMorganChase, the Linux Foundation, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Palo Alto Networks to address growing concerns within the cybersecurity community that AI models are now capable of discovering and exploiting vulnerabilities at a faster pace than humans can keep up with.

…

According to the post on Anthropic’s website, the model’s strong agentic coding and reasoning skills enable it to uncover and exploit security flaws when directed by the user that have existed for years, even decades without detection. Benchmarking results cited by the company suggest a notable performance gap between Mythos Preview and its previous models in cybersecurity-related tasks. –cxtoday.com

What Mythos Has Discovered: Key Findings from Red Team Testing

In controlled testing against real codebases in isolated containers, the model autonomously identified thousands of zero-day vulnerabilities across every major operating system and every major web browser. The testing used an agentic workflow: file prioritization based on a 5-tier vulnerability likelihood ranking, parallel Claude Code invocations, and secondary validation for severity and exploitability.

Standout Zero-Day Discoveries Include:

• 27-year-old remote crash vulnerability in OpenBSD (TCP SACK processing): An integer overflow in signed TCP sequence number comparison that enables a null-pointer dereference and remote denial-of-service against any responding host. The bug had survived decades of manual code review and extensive fuzzing campaigns.
• 16-year-old bug in FFmpeg (H.264 parser): A slice number collision that triggers an out-of-bounds heap write when processing crafted frames with 65,536+ slices. The vulnerability originated in 2003, became exploitable after a 2010 refactor, and had evaded detection despite automated testing tools hitting the vulnerable path five million times.
• 17-year-old FreeBSD NFS Remote Code Execution (CVE-2026-4747): A stack buffer overflow in RPCSEC_GSS authentication (96-byte buffer for 304-byte input) combined with NFSv4 information disclosure. Mythos autonomously constructed a 20-gadget ROP chain split across six sequential RPC requests — a feat the prior model (Claude Opus 4.6) could achieve only with significant human guidance.

Firefox JavaScript Engine Testing Results were especially dramatic:

• Claude Opus 4.6: Developed only 2 working exploits out of several hundred attempts.
• Mythos Preview: Developed 181 working exploits and achieved register control in 29 additional cases.

OSS-Fuzz Results showed a similar leap:

• Mythos generated 595 tier-1/2 crashes (plus several tier-3–5), including multiple tier-5 control-flow hijacks (full arbitrary code execution) on fully patched targets.

These discoveries were achieved at remarkably low cost – many individual zero-day runs cost under $50, with full OpenBSD testing campaigns under $20,000 and Linux kernel N-day exploits under $2,000 each.

Because of the dual-use risks, Anthropic has not released Mythos to the public. Instead, it is being provided on a tightly limited basis through Project Glasswing to a select group of vetted organizations – including major tech companies, cybersecurity firms, JPMorgan Chase, and the Linux Foundation – for defensive purposes only (scanning their own systems to find and patch flaws before attackers can exploit them). Anthropic has committed up to $100 million in usage credits to support these efforts.

Several major financial institutions have already begun internal testing:

• JPMorgan Chase was publicly named as part of Project Glasswing.
• Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley have also gained access or are in the process, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company stated in its Project Glasswing announcement that it has been in “ongoing discussions” with government officials about the model and is “ready to work with local, state, and federal representatives.”

Pentagon Supply-Chain Risk Designation

The Treasury’s push for access is notable because the Pentagon formally designated Anthropic a US supply-chain risk earlier this year following a dispute over how the company’s AI technology could be used by the military. The Defense Department gave Anthropic a six-month window to transition its services to another provider. Anthropic is actively fighting the designation in federal court.

Despite this, Corcos – who previously encouraged the use of Anthropic’s Claude AI tools inside Treasury before the Pentagon label – is now driving the department’s effort to investigate Mythos. 

* * *

Authored by Jay Rogers via RealClearMarkets.com,

Something cracked in private credit this month, and the men who manage systemic risk for a living are saying so.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon’s just-released 2025 annual shareholder letter warns that concerns about private credit – including “underwriting quality or exposure to software companies that may be negatively affected by AI” – are “a reminder that the credit cycle has not been repealed.” His predecessor Lloyd Blankfein went further on Bloomberg’s Big Take podcast: “I don’t feel the storm, but the horses are starting to whinny in the corral.” JPMorgan has already voted with its balance sheet, marking down software company loans held as collateral by private credit funds and reducing borrowing capacity for those funds, before any actual defaults. “I’m shocked that people are shocked,” said JPMorgan’s Troy Rohrbaugh.

The backdrop is three major liquidity failures in the space of six weeks. Blackstone’s $82 billion BCRED faced record redemption requests of $3.7 billion (7.9% of assets) and had to inject $400 million of its own capital to honor them. BlackRock gated its $26 billion HLEND after receiving withdrawal requests of 9.3% of NAV. Blue Owl permanently halted redemptions in OBDC II and sold $1.4 billion in loans to fund an orderly exit. Blue Owl shares have since fallen roughly 40% year-to-date.

These are not random liquidity events. They are the structural consequence of a capital concentration problem I have been watching build for a decade. In 2025 alone, the ten largest private credit funds captured nearly 46% of all capital raised, the highest concentration in over a decade. That tidal wave of capital forces mega-platforms into ever-larger deals, typically companies with $200 million or more in EBITDA, where they compete head-to-head with broadly syndicated loan syndicates and public high-yield. The result is spread compression, yield erosion, and the complete elimination of the pricing advantages that private credit was supposed to offer.

The AI disruption angle makes the mega-fund problem worse. Software represents roughly 25% of all private credit loans. The sector’s underwriting assumptions – stable recurring revenue, high switching costs, durable cash flows – are precisely what AI tooling is actively challenging. Fitch’s privately monitored ratings portfolio posted a record 9.2% default rate in 2025, up from 8.1% in 2024, with companies below $25 million EBITDA posting a 15.8% default rate. When software loan valuations get marked to reflect AI disruption reality, the leverage stack that amplified returns on the way up will amplify losses on the way down.

Contrast this with the lower middle market. Middle-market direct-lending spreads have stabilized in the 500–550 bps range over SOFR, carrying a 100–150 bps premium to syndicated markets. Q3 2025 BDC data showed all-in yields still at 9.76% after 150 bps of rate cuts, with trailing one-year realized losses of just 0.66%. These are smaller companies with less AI disruption exposure, stronger covenants, bilateral lender relationships, and managers who can still walk away from a bad deal. Preqin return dispersion data shows top-quartile North America direct-lending IRRs outpacing medians at an increasing rate, precisely because scale-driven managers are chasing volume over selectivity.

Blankfein’s warning about retail exposure to private credit is the right one to heed. The $1.8 trillion private credit market has now reached the approximate size of the subprime mortgage market at its 2007 peak. The push by both Wall Street and the Trump administration to route this exposure through 401(k) plans, at the precise moment the cycle is turning, is a risk worth naming clearly.

For allocators, the path forward is clear.

Avoid the liquidity mismatch of retail evergreen vehicles – the redemption crises of early 2026 were structural, not idiosyncratic. Avoid software-heavy direct lending portfolios until the AI disruption cycle is fully repriced. Favor closed-end, institutional-grade mid-market funds with experienced managers who still underwrite as if it is their own capital. The returns are still there in private credit, just are not where the most capital went.

Private credit is not broken. The credit cycle has not been repealed. It has merely been deferred – and Goldman’s Solomon, JPMorgan’s Rohrbaugh, and Blankfein’s corral metaphor are all pointing at the same door.

An unusually large number of crude oil tankers on the open seas has the American Gulf coast as a destination as the ships are redirected to load cargoes bound for markets around the world already experiencing shortages.

As Alton Wallace writes at The Center Square, second-term Republican President Donald Trump said Saturday on social media that “massive numbers” of “completely empty” oil tankers are en route to the United States to purchase American energy.

“Foreign buyers are voting with their ships: American energy means stability, strength, and freedom from Middle East blackmail,” the president posted on Monday.

Shipping data posted by maritime intelligence company Windward shows 171 crude tankers are bound for the U.S. Gulf to load crude oil cargoes, which compares with about 110 in a typical month.

The surging vessel traffic comes as nations throughout Europe and Asia grapple to secure energy supplies and regional prices skyrocket. Germany is providing emergency fuel relief to its citizens while officials in the Philippines recently declared a national energy emergency as the world looks increasingly to the U.S. to replenish war-starved oil and gas markets.

“Hundreds of supertankers, the kind that carry two million barrels each, are currently racing toward the US Gulf Coast from every direction, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, around Africa, the scenic route, the ‘we were heading to Saudi Arabia but never mind’ route,” Jesús Enrique Rosas noted this weekend.

Oil markets research firm Kpler estimates U.S. crude oil exports in April will reach 5.2 million barrels per day, up about one-third from 3.9 million barrels a day in March, the Financial Times reported last week.

North Carolina-based Kpler analyst Matt Smith described the great volume of incoming ships as an “armada of tankers heading this way.”

Trump on Saturday remarked that the U.S. oil output is more than the combined total of Saudi Arabia and Russia, the next two largest producers, and the president promised a “quick turnaround” for the arriving fleet.

Shipping data shows approximately 28 very large crude carriers, which can hold about 2 million barrels of oil, have been contracted to load U.S. crude in May compared to a monthly average of just five in a typical month, according to Kpler.

Trump shared a post on Saturday by oil market researcher Rory Johnston that read “very cool seeing the wave of empty tankers heading to the U.S. to pick up some desperately needed crude for Hormuz-starved markets,” to which the president responded, “Great!!!”

“The more Iran leans on Hormuz, the faster global energy flows reroute around it. Over time, that erodes Tehran’s leverage and cuts into its long-term power,” Osint613 posted Sunday.

America and Israel on Feb. 28 launched military strikes against Iran. The Iranians, with control of the Strait of Hormuz, has stymied an otherwise one-sided confrontation. An 11th-hour ceasefire to last two weeks was announced Tuesday.

As the shipping logjam continues, Windward’s daily intelligence report on Monday shows 732 vessels carrying oil, gas, refined fuels, and other fossil fuels-based products await transit through the Strait of Hormuz.

To avoid the volatile region, many of these vessels are now rounding the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa – a detour that bypasses the Suez Canal but adds up to 15 days of travel time to reach American docks.

In March, Port of Houston officials announced completion of the Project 11 channel widening project, which eliminated longstanding nighttime vessel movement restrictions in place for more than a century, allowing large vessels to safely transit the channel without waiting for daylight.

Finally, as Stephen Green explains at PJMedia.com, there may be a strategy here…

Supporters and critics alike – the honest critics, that is, who deserve protection under the Endangered Species Act – understand that Trump acts as a chaos agent. He knows the end result he wants, even if sometimes only broadly defined as “Make America Great Again.” The established rules and methods don’t allow for that, so Trump is happy to blow things up (sometimes literally), and see what can be rebuilt from the pieces.

The thing about that Persian Gulf stranglehold is that, like the Sword of Damocles, it’s most effective before it’s used. Now that Tehran has tried (and only partly and temporarily succeeded) in closing the Strait of Hormuz, “About the only escalation option the IRGC has is to renew its missile and drone attacks on neighboring Gulf states,” as my Hot Air colleague Ed Morrissey put it on Monday. But “Trump has an escalation for that as well: Bridge and Power Plant Day. Let’s see how long it takes for Iran to provoke it.”

Looking at the bigger picture, Rosas also wrote: “Iran played its biggest card and the main result is that the United States became the world’s emergency gas station and China’s cheap energy subsidy evaporated. The spice — er, oil — must flow. But Trump rewrote the rulebook about where it flows from.”

But, as Andrew Moran writes at Liberty Nation, there is a tricky balancing act here…

On the one hand, the US economy is far more insulated from global oil shocks than it was during the Iraq War, as it is a net petroleum exporter.

The March, April, and May trade data, to be released later this summer and early fall, should yield fascinating economic insights into the Iranian conflict.

On the other hand, consumers still bear the brunt of higher gas prices.

Private-sector data suggest that consumers continued to shop in March, even after excluding gasoline station transactions. Whether they can keep their wallets open this spring, even with handsome windfalls from the One Big Beautiful Bill’s tax refunds, will be a wild card for GDP numbers.

In the end, will this be a winning message for November’s midterm elections? It will be challenging to convince voters of a grand 4D chess scheme involving America’s oil and military prowess.

One day after Goldman Sachs reported its highest profit in 5 years (despite an ugly miss in FICC revenues), this morning JPMorgan impressed with just as solid results, when it reported that its Q1 profits rose 13% as the bank benefited from soaring market volatility and frantic trading amid the war with Iran and the US military operation in Venezuela.

The largest US bank reported net income of $16.5bn, beating analyst estimates of a $15.2bn print, up from $14.6bn a year ago and the bank’s second-best quarter ever. Its best quarter remains the $18.1bn the bank earned in the second quarter of 2024 when JPMorgan benefited from a one-off gain from the sale of its stake in Visa. 

One-upping Goldman, JPM reported the best quarter for trading in the bank’s history, boosted by the swings in equity and fixed income markets caused by geopolitical shocks. And unlike Goldman, JPM’s FICC also came in much stronger than expected; in fact at $7.1bn it was the second biggest FICC revenue on record.  

The bank reported total trading revenues of $11.6bn, up 20% from the first quarter a year ago, which is a seasonally strong period for the business. It was the highest figure on record for the bank, beating its previous record from 2020.

Revenues from FICC rose 21% to $7.1bn, and beating estimates of $6.7bn; As we reported yesterday, Rival Goldman Sachs on Monday fell far short of what investors were anticipating from its fixed-income business. JPMorgan’s equities trading revenues also rose more than expected, up 17.5% to $4.5bn, and above estimates of $4.31bn. 

Investment-banking fees of $2.88 billion also beat analysts’ expectations of $2.6 billion: this was JPM’s best quarter for the business since the end of 2021. It just beat the $2.8 bilion reported by rival Goldman Sachs on Monday, but Goldman’s year-on-year increase was higher at nearly 50%. Dealmakers advising on mergers and acquisitions were the standout, notching an 82% jump to $1.27 billion. Equity underwriting also rose more than expected to $472 million, while a 7% drop in debt-underwriting fees came in line with estimates.  

Here is the top highlights from the company’s Q1 results, which also handily beat expectations:

• Adjusted revenue $50.54 billion, beating estimates $49.26 billion
  • FICC sales & trading revenue $7.08 billion, +21% y/y, beating estimate $6.65 billion
  • Equities sales & trading revenue $4.48 billion, +17.5% y/y, beating estimates $4.31 billion
  • Investment banking revenue $3.14 billion, +38% y/y, beating estimate $2.73 billion
    • Advisory revenue $1.27 billion, +82% y/y, beating estimate $1.01 billion
    • Equity underwriting rev. $472 million, +46% y/y, beating estimate $453.2 million
    • Debt underwriting rev. $1.15 billion, -6.9% y/y, matching estimate $1.15 billion

JPM also reported managed Net Interest Income (ex. Markets) of $25.48BN, up 9% YoY, and above estimates of $25.18BN, driven by higher deposit balances, as well as higher revolving balances in Card Services, predominantly offset by the impact of lower rates. Costs, meanwhile, were $26.9 billion in the quarter, higher than expected. JPMorgan said in February that it expects to spend about $105 billion this year, excluding legal expenses, and it reaffirmed that figure Tuesday.

Commenting on the quarter, the bank’s CEO Jamie Dimon said the firm delivered strong results in 1Q and consumer spending was still strong, businesses were healthy and the US economy “remained resilient”.

“Several tailwinds are supporting this resiliency, including increased fiscal stimulus, the benefits of deregulation, AI-driven capital investment and the Fed’s asset purchases,” Dimon said in a statement alongside the bank’s earnings. 

“At the same time, there is an increasingly complex set of risks — such as geopolitical tensions and wars, energy price volatility, trade uncertainty, large global fiscal deficits and elevated asset prices. “While we cannot predict how these risks and uncertainties will ultimately play out, they are significant and reinforce why we prepare the Firm for a wide range of environments,” he said

As usual, JPM paraded with its “fortress balance sheet”…

… with the following key updates for Q1:

• Net yield on interest-earning assets 2.5%, estimate 2.57%
• Standardized CET1 ratio 14.3%
• Managed overhead ratio 53%, estimate 52.8%
• Return on equity 19%, estimate 17.3%
• Return on tangible common equity 23%, estimate 20.7%
• Assets under management $4.79 trillion, estimate $4.89 trillion
• Tangible book value per share $108.87, estimate $109.28
• Book value per share $128.38, estimate $129.35
• Cash and due from banks $22.04 billion, estimate $21.74 billion
• Loans $1.50 trillion, below estimates of $1.5 trillion
• Total deposits $2.68 trillion, above estimates of $2.58 trillion
• Provision for credit losses $2.51 billion
• Net charge-offs $2.32 billion, below estimate $2.63 billion

And some other notable highlights from the quarter: 

• Compensation expenses $15.34 billion, estimate $15.04 billion
• Non-interest expenses $26.85 billion, estimate $26.03 billion

Of note, JPMorgan increased the reserves set aside for potentially soured loans by only $191 million in the first quarter, less than analysts expected. That included a net build for the wholesale side, partially offset by a net release in consumer. With JPMorgan’s net charge offs coming in below estimates, it appears that JPM was positioned well for the ongoing private credit meltdown.

“In the great scheme of things, private credit probably does not present a systemic risk,” Dimon wrote in his annual letter to shareholders earlier this month. “When we have a credit cycle, which will happen one day, losses on all leveraged lending in general will be higher than expected, relative to the environment. This is because credit standards have been modestly weakening pretty much across the board.”

The $1.8 trillion private-credit industry has been a focal point amid mounting concern that redemption requests and fears over the impact of artificial intelligence will weigh on the sector. For banks, that’s translated to investor questions about their lending to the industry. Earlier this year, JPMorgan marked down the value of certain loans that serve as collateral against the bank’s loans to private-credit funds. 

Jamie Dimon said losses in private credit will have to be “very large” before banks like JPMorgan Chase face a significant hit from it. “You’ll have very large losses in private credit before, at least it looks like, banks can get hit or something like that,” Dimon told analysts. “So it doesn’t mean you won’t feel some stress and strain, and you might have to do something about it. But I’m not particularly worried about it. I’d be more worried about when there’s a credit cycle, how’s that going to filter through the whole system.”

JPM CFO Jeremy Barnum said the bank is “reasonably comfortable” with its exposure to private credit, but cautioned that losses will increase if the credit cycle turns. He told reporters that “we’re reasonably comfortable with our exposure. But obviously, if you see a big credit cycle with significant increase in default rates, you’re going to see some losses across the whole system, including banks. And that’s just part of the business.”

Wealthy investors attempted to pull more than $20bn from private credit funds in the first quarter, underscoring the growing strain on an asset class that had boomed into a dominant force on Wall Street.

But while its earnings were solid across the board, one reason why JPM stock dipped in kneejerk reaction and was currently unchanged is that the bank trimmed its forecast for net interest income for 2026. JPMorgan said it expected net interest income of about $103bn this year, down from the $104.5bn it forecast in February. Net interest income was almost $96bn in 2025. Excluding lending in its trading division, JPMorgan left unchanged its guidance for net interest income this year of around $95bn. 

Shares traded about 3% lower in the immediate aftermath of JPMorgan’s results announcement, but recovered some of their losses to trade less than 1% below Monday’s close.

Full earnings presentation below (pdf link)

JPM Q1 2026 Earnings Presentation by Zerohedge

Summary

• Diplomacy is not yet dead, as Bloomberg reports Iran is mulling a short-term pause to shipments through Hormuz Strait, in order to avoid a fresh clash with US forces & avoid testing Trump’s blockade.

• Mediators are scrambling to put together another round of US-Iran talks in the coming days: Iran is reportedly offering a 5-year moratorium on nuclear program, while US demands 20.

• Saudis are among those calling for an end to the US blockade of the Hormuz Strait, amid fears the Houthis could shut down Bab al-Mandeb strait. Chinese ship testing America’s Hormuz blockade appears to U-turn.

• Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Naim Qassem rejects upcoming talks between the Lebanese government and Israel, which are set for 11am in Washington, DC on Tuesday.

*  *  *

Iran Could Pause Hormuz Shipping, As Chinese Tanker U-Turns

Bloomberg says Tuesday in a fresh report that “Iran is considering a short-term pause to shipments through the Strait of Hormuz to avoid testing a US blockade and scuppering a fresh round of peace talks, according to a person familiar with the Tehran’s deliberations.”

“The potential pause reflects a desire to avoid immediate escalation at a sensitive diplomatic juncture as Washington and Tehran sort logistics for another face-to-face meeting, the person said, asking not to be identified as the deliberations are private,” continues Bloomberg. It adds, “Holding back maritime activity for several days is seen as one possible, pragmatic step to prevent an incident that could undermine the fragile efforts to revive discussions, people familiar with the matter said.”

This would be seen as short-term de-escalation, and suggests that Tehran indeed still has the desire of taking a hopeful, pragmatic approach – rather than returning the all out war by the close of the temporary ceasefire. No one is willing to completely shut the door on all diplomacy, and the bombs have been silent across the Gulf and in Iran and Israel. Per latest emerging reports:

The Nasdaq 100 looked set to notch its longest streak of gains since 2021 as optimism that the US and Iran are considering another round of peace talks pushed oil lower and lifted stocks globally.

Chinese ship testing America’s Hormuz blockade appears to U-turn: Rich Starry was blacklisted by Washington in 2023 for helping Tehran evade energy sanctions.

More tracking data via MarineTraffic:

Two tankers turn away from Strait of Hormuz after US blockade begins

At least two tankers reversed course near the Strait of Hormuz shortly after the start of the US blockade, highlighting the immediate impact on vessel movements. According to #MarineTraffic data, the 188-metre… pic.twitter.com/dRNi7yEgJI

— MarineTraffic (@MarineTraffic) April 13, 2026

5-Years vs. 20-Year Nuclear Moratorium

More info and color has been added in the wake of failed talks between the US and Iran in Pakistan, per The New York Times citing officials from both countries. Iran signaled Monday it would halt uranium enrichment for up to five years. The Trump administration rejected the offer, according to two senior Iranian officials and one US official who spoke to the Times.

The US position, shaped in part by Vice President JD Vance, calls for a roughly 20-year suspension. Vance has argued such a timeframe is necessary to permanently limit Iran’s nuclear capabilities. “The Iranians, in a formal response sent on Monday, said they would agree to up to five years, according to two senior Iranian officials and one U.S. official. Trump has rejected that offer, the U.S. official said,” writes NY Times.

“The official said the U.S. has also asked Iran to remove highly enriched uranium from the country, and the Iranians have insisted the fuel stays inside Iran. But they have offered to dilute it significantly, so that it could not be used to produce a nuclear weapon,” the report adds.

Sides Could Return to Islamabad for Talks

This behind the scenes back-and-forth suggests that the mediated talks might not be entirely over, also as the clock ticks away on the initial 2-week ceasefire, now a week in. US and Iranian negotiating teams plan to return to Pakistan later this week to resume talks aimed at ending the Gulf war, Pakistani and Iranian officials said Tuesday, as cited in Reuters. Other reports say the talks could be hosted in another venue.

However, US officials have not confirmed the plans, and the reality is that in Islamabad the two sides demands were very far apart, having reportedly finally collapsed on the nuclear issue.

Israel-Lebanon talks are taking a separate track, set to begin in Washington Tuesday, but Hezbollah has rejected this process – with only the Lebanese government represented.

⚡️Israel firing flares in the sky of Tyre, Lebanon pic.twitter.com/EPOhKAlXJ5

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) April 13, 2026

France’s President Emmanuel Macron is among those calling on Washington and Tehran to urgently resume negotiations to end the war, and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz “without controls or tolls, as soon as possible.” Iran is reportedly charging steep tolls to let a handful of ‘friendly’ countries’ vessels through – a situation which President Trump has warned against.

Saudis Push Trump To Call Off Hormuz Blockade

The NY Times has on Tuesday highlighted that “Questions over the status of the U.S. military blockade in the Strait of Hormuz persisted on Tuesday, as tracking data showed that several ships had passed through the waterway, including some that had departed from Iran.”

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday evening that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is urging the Trump administration to reverse its newly implemented blockade of Iranian-linked shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, on immediate fears that Iranian escalation could halt Red Sea traffic. On Sunday, a senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Iran has “large, untouched levers” to respond to such a blockade.

Arab officials who spoke to the Journal said Iran could retaliate by shutting down the Bab al-Mandeb, a 20-mile-wide, 70-mile-long choke point linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Iran could do so by leveraging the Houthis, the political and military organization that controls much of Yemen.

Saudi Arabia recently has been able to get its oil exports back up to their prewar level of around seven million barrels a day despite the blockage in the strategic strait by piping its crude across the desert to the Red Sea. Those supplies would be at risk if the Red Sea’s exit route were closed as well. — WSJ

NEW: US blockade on Iranian ports begins, but tanker traffic through Hormuz continues uninterrupted, with vessels including Peace Gulf, Murlikishan, and Rich Starry, including sanctioned ships, still transiting as long as they are not calling at Iranian ports.

– Reuters pic.twitter.com/K76oyJbZOv

— Levent Kemal (@leventkemaI) April 14, 2026

“If Iran does want to shut down Bab al-Mandeb, the Houthis are the obvious partner to do it, and their response to the Gaza conflict demonstrates that they have the capacity to do it,” Adam Baron, an expert on Yemen at the New America policy institute, told the Journal.

More Geopolitical Latest

via Newsquawk…

• The next round of talks between the United States and Iran could take place this week or early next week, according to an Iranian embassy official in Pakistan.
• Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said it has offered to host a second round of U.S.–Iran negotiations, but no date or time has been set.
• Pakistani journalist Mallick said, “While Islamabad has offered to host the next round of in person talks between US and Iran, which could be held at a working level, to my understanding, date and venue for the next round has not been finalised as yet”.
• The United States and Iran are discussing another round of face-to-face talks to secure a longer-term ceasefire after Islamabad negotiations ended without a deal.
• Officials aim to meet again before the two-week ceasefire expires next week, according to Clash report.
• The Associated Press reported that a second round of talks is likely and could take place on Thursday.
• U.S. Vice President JD Vance said progress was made in talks with Iran and stated that things did not go wrong.
• Vance said Iran moved in the U.S. direction but not far enough.
• Vance said the ball is in Iran’s court and that U.S. red lines were clearly communicated.
• The United States and Iran left the door open to further dialogue after tense Islamabad talks.
• A source said the sides came “very close” to an agreement and were “80% there” before hitting unresolved issues.
• Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told French President Emmanuel Macron in a Monday phone call that Iran will negotiate only under international law.
• Pezeshkian said unreasonable U.S. demands blocked an agreement in weekend talks.
• He said a lack of U.S. goodwill and maximalist positions prevented finalizing a deal in Islamabad, according to IRNA.
• Pezeshkian said diplomacy remains the preferred path to resolve disputes.
• An Iranian National Security Committee spokesman said the end of the truce should not lead to its extension, according to Al Mayadeen.
• The U.S. aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush is sailing off the coast of Africa toward the Middle East to join Operation Epic Fury, according to two U.S. officials cited by The Wall Street Journal.
• Saudi Arabia is pressing the United States to drop its Hormuz blockade.
• Gulf energy exporters warn Iran could escalate by closing the Bab al-Mandeb, according to The Wall Street Journal.
• Alarms sounded in the Galilee Panhandle over concerns of potential UAV infiltration.
• A Lebanese source said, “The official mandate of Lebanon’s ambassador in Washington is limited to pursuing a ceasefire with Israel”, according to Al Jazeera.
• Switzerland is ready to support diplomatic initiatives between the United States and Iran.
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi that preventing further fighting is critical.
• Lavrov said Moscow is on high alert to assist in a settlement.
• Araghchi warned of dangerous consequences from U.S. actions.
• U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will host Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors for talks on Tuesday.
• The talks aim to secure a ceasefire, Hezbollah disarmament, and a peace agreement, according to Axios.
• A meeting between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors will take place Tuesday at 18:00 EDT / 23:00 BST, according to Al Jazeera citing Israeli Channel 15.
• Chinese President Xi Jinping issued four proposals to maintain peace in the Middle East, according to Chinese media.
• UK Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy met with U.S. Vice President JD Vance in Washington.
• Lammy urged that the Iran ceasefire hold and emphasized the importance of free shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

* * *

Shares of Lululemon Athletica fell as much as 4.5% in late-morning New York trading after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an investigation into whether the company, known for its leggings, misled consumers about potential “forever chemicals” in its apparel.

Paxton’s probe of Lululemon’s athletic apparel centers around leggings that may contain PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” and whether the company misled consumers about the safety, quality, and health impacts of its products.

The attorney general’s office will also review the company’s restricted substances list, testing procedures, and supply chain practices to determine whether its products actually meet the stated safety standards.

Paxton stated, “I will not allow any corporation to sell harmful, toxic materials to consumers at a premium price under the guise of wellness and sustainability. If Lululemon has violated Texas law, it will be held accountable.”

Supply chain analysis platform Sayari provides the latest shipment data on Lululemon: 

Meanwhile:

• Lululemon Founder Blasts Board Again Amid Stock Collapse

• Another Pair Of Lululemon Leggings Fails The Squat Test

Paxton has been widening his investigations tied to the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, which is linked to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. His recent actions include probing WK Kellogg over artificial food colorings in Froot Loops and pressuring food companies to remove synthetic dyes from cereal and other products. He has also targeted toothpaste makers over fluoride.

Authored by Mriogakshi Dixit via Interesting Engineering,

In the dizzying heights of a chemical storage facility, a new kind of worker is punching in. China has reportedly deployed its first “embodied” intelligent humanoid robot designed for high-risk industrial operations. 

This isn’t just a fixed machine; it’s a 90-kg (198-pound) robot that can climb walls and work where humans can’t.

Interestingly, the multi-purpose system is intended to replace human workers in hazardous conditions, such as chemical storage tank construction.

According to reports, this machine uses a magnetic chassis to stick to walls, allowing its humanoid upper body to operate on any metal surface.

The robot could be used to execute core industrial tasks, including precision welding, rust remediation, and routine inspections.

15 degrees of freedom

Compared with earlier wall-climbing robots that were limited to a single repetitive function, this new system is said to be a multitasker. 

It moves beyond basic cleaning or inspection by leveraging advanced AI to adapt to its environment and handle a wide range of complex industrial tasks.

With 15 degrees of freedom and dual arms, the robot mimics human flexibility to safely multitask on scaffolds, performing precision tasks such as simultaneous welding and grinding. 

According to CGTN, this physical agility is driven by a massive AI brain trained on 100,000 hours of data, enabling it to navigate complex environments with ease.

This “embodied intelligence” allows the robotic machine to perceive its surroundings, adapt to complex real-world scenarios, and improve its performance through ongoing experience.

Moreover, it uses a tethered cable system to eliminate the power limitations that usually hold mobile units back. 

This constant supply of energy allows for nonstop, 24/7 operation, ensuring the machine stays productive without the downtime required for recharging.

Built for the danger zone

Tested at a large chemical storage site, the 90-kilogram robot uses a wheeled, magnetic chassis to move steadily across vertical metal surfaces. 

Its powerful electromagnetic adhesion enables it to perform complex operations while supporting additional weight, ensuring it remains mobile and secure even on steep walls.

In the future, entire fleets of these robots could maintain shipyards and refineries. It could lead to a new era where heavy infrastructure can essentially take care of itself.

Prior to this, China reached another milestone by integrating an embodied intelligent robot into SAIC Motor’s electric vehicle division’s mass production line.

The humanoid robot, known as “Nengzai No. 1,” has officially joined the battery assembly line for the Buick Electra E7 at SAIC Motor.

This move is a major step for the Shanghai-based carmaker as it starts combining smart, human-like robots with its regular factory machines.

China’s dominance in the humanoid sector is backed by massive state support, with over 140 companies focused specifically on humanoids and $26 billion in dedicated investment.

Even Elon Musk has acknowledged China’s lead in this “priority industry,” which benefits from extensive supply chains and government subsidies.

By 2050, the global market for these robots could reach $7.5 trillion, and China is positioning itself to lead that charge by deploying humanoids in factories and private homes.

Authored by J.B. Shurk via American Thinker,

So you say you want a revolution?  Well, take a look at what’s happening in Ireland right now.  Tens of thousands of farmers, truckers, and other fed-up “normies” are taking to the streets of Dublin to protest fuel taxes, mass immigration, and poverty-inducing “climate change” policies.  For the most part, corporate news propagandists in both Europe and North America are intentionally ignoring the combustible situation.  Just when I had begun to think that all the “fighting Irish” had moved to America, the Old Country has started to show signs of life.  Perhaps there are still a few irascible pugilists willing to bash heads and take on the globalist empire after all.

Speaking of irascible pugilists, Irish slugger Conor McGregor issued a bit of an ultimatum to the ruling class after the government mobilized the military and sent tanks to intimidate the protesters: “One wrong move by government here, and you will see, at the very least, 250k Irish people descend on the capital in a blink.  They must step down, there is no other way.”  Declaring war against ordinary Irishmen isn’t a good look for an Irish Deep State that can’t be bothered to guard its borders from hordes of invading foreigners.  While McGregor and his compatriots are out feeding protesters in the streets, the Irish government is hiking taxes on those who can least afford to pay them.  “One wrong move” could spark a revolution. 

Perhaps that’s why — after an initial show of force — Ireland’s globalist government appears to be trying to settle things down.  Reports on the ground say that police officers have remained friendly with protesters.  Some have suggested that Irish authorities are wary of following in the footsteps of Canada’s former prime minister, Justin Trudeau, when he exercised martial law powers to seize the bank accounts of and jail “Freedom Convoy” truckers protesting coercive COVID “vaccination” mandates.  On the other hand, a lot of the Irish protesters have also described a sense that many of the law enforcement officers patrolling the streets appear to be on their side.  If that’s the case, then Ireland’s political class may be worried about the effectiveness of siccing the military on a broadly-backed citizen uprising.  

Although few people saw the present brouhaha coming, Ireland makes a natural “ground zero” in the war between Big Government globalists (aka, the “international rules-based order” club of World Economic Forum totalitarians) and ordinary citizens willing to defend their nation’s sovereignty and their own personal freedoms.  For two decades, the globalists have been taking over Ireland and stripping it for parts.  As a country that once took pride in its meaningful traditions, customs, family loyalties, and Catholic heritage, Ireland has been one of the globalists’ favorite targets for conquest.  If the “multicultural” atheists could convert Ireland into another globalist outpost devoid of religious or civilizational allegiances, they knew that they would collect a valuable scalp in their war against the West.  Sadly, the globalists have been largely successful.  By transforming a conservative, staunchly pro-life, Catholic nation into a “woke” re-education zone embracing abortion, “trans” surgeries for children, open borders, Islamic supremacy, and the fetishization of “diversity,” the World Economic Forum’s “Borg” hive mind gutted one of the most culturally rich nations on the planet and mounted Ireland’s head on globalism’s wall of slaughtered states.  

Two months ago, free speech defenders Lorcán Price and Graham Linehan testified before the House Judiciary Committee concerning the mass censorship operation being run through the expanding Big Tech enclave in Dublin.  There are over 32,000 NGOs in Ireland receiving billions of dollars in U.S. and E.U. grants meant to help shape public opinion.  These organizations — one for every 155 Irishmen — represent the “information warfare” army that supports Europe’s globalist policies.  Over 70% of Irish legislation is copy-and-pasted from bureaucratic edicts originating in the European Union.  These laws include special incentives for illegal immigrants who arrive on Ireland’s shores.  They also include “hate speech” laws that have been used to criminally prosecute Irish citizens who object to foreigners raping and murdering their children.  The NGO-E.U. takeover of the Irish political system this century has drastically reshaped the country.

Once Christian Ireland now has constitutional protections for gay “marriage” and abortion up to a baby’s birth.  Two years ago, Ireland’s globalist cabal nearly succeeded in removing all mentions of “women” from the national constitution, as well as nearly redefining “family” as a “durable relationship.”  The Irish government continues to attack Ireland’s Catholic history, going so far as to depict Catholic saints as pagan goddesses in shameless acts of historical revisionism.  Globalists continue to rename historic institutions due to ludicrous accusations that Irish clergymen and scholars had ties to slavery and “white supremacy.”  As Irish writer Roger Berkeley sorrowfully observes, “Ireland shows what happens when elites, bureaucracies, and ideology override national identity.”

Wherever they conquer, modern globalists prefer to implement blunt-force “divide and conquer” tactics that pit parts of society against each other.  Women versus men.  Young people versus families.  “Green energy” fanatics versus small businesses.  Islamic supremacists versus Christians.  “Multiculturalism” versus Western civilization.  Non-whites versus whites.  Globalists succeed wherever they are able to stir up so much domestic strife that nobody pays attention to the cultural, economic, and political agendas being enforced upon the invaded countries.  After targeting Ireland for destruction and subverting its traditional culture, globalists appeared to have taken over the island for good.  

However, when an outside force conquers a nation, there’s always an inherent risk that forced subjugation sparks a rebellion.  When those being gradually enslaved begin to believe that they have nothing else to lose, the ruling class has real problems.  Despite the corporate news media’s best attempts to cover up what is going on in Ireland, the current protests against “climate change” taxes and mass immigration suggest that the natives are growing restless.  What happens next isn’t entirely clear.  

What is clear is that ordinary people in nations across the West are becoming aware of the information war that has long been waged against them.  For decades, they have been conditioned to believe false things: “Diversity is our strength.”  “Islam is a religion of peace.”  “Trans-women are real women.”  “Sex is a social construct.”  “Man-made climate change is killing the planet.”  “New taxes will save the planet.”  “Christianity is hate speech.”  “Hate speech is a violent crime.”  “Free speech requires government-moderated censorship.”  “National sovereignty is fascist.”  “Families promote white supremacy.”  “Merit is white supremacy.”  “Math, home ownership, mowed lawns, and punctuality are all forms of white supremacy.”  “Equal rights require ‘Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity.’”  “Unelected bureaucrats protect democracy.”  “NATO must protect non-NATO Ukraine.”  Et cetera ad infinitum.  

Perhaps globalism’s lies have become too numerous for the average Westerner to ignore.  Or perhaps globalists’ hubris has grown too grating for the average Westerner to tolerate.  Either way, there is a growing movement of people dedicated to defending Western civilization from the pernicious cancer of godless, multicultural, “woke,” and totalitarian globalism.  Because globalists control the corporate news media, these people are disparaged as “populists.”  In truth, they are Western citizens committed to national self-determination, the preservation of individual rights, and protections for personal liberty.  

Globalists call the will of the people “populism” and the will of bureaucrats “democracy.”  But when enough people decide to fight back against the bureaucrats, the spirit of revolution hangs in the air.  Perhaps that’s what we’re seeing right now in Ireland — a fresh reminder of Thomas Jefferson’s observation that no “country can preserve its liberties” if its “rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance.”  After all, the “tree of liberty must be refreshed … with the blood of patriots and tyrants.  It is its natural manure.”