S&P futures are unchanged, erasing all overnight losses, extending last week’s choppy price action focused on AI repercussions; Nasdaq 100 futures underperform slightly ahead of an important week that has both the January jobs and CPI report on deck (at least the firehose of earnings is slowing down). As of 8:15am ET, S&P futures are unchanged, and Nasdaq futures dip 0.2% with tech the biggest laggard as Semis come back under pressure and Mag7 names are all weaker.  The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose three basis points to 4.24% after BBG reported that China tells state and local banks to limit/reduce Treasury exposure (does not affect Federal holdings) which according to JPM may raise risk of a “Sell America” trade esp with Japan / APAC poised to rip in the near-term. The dollar dipped 0.3%, supporting gold and silver. Bitcoin slipped below $69,000. Commodities are big with precious metals and gasoline the upside standouts. Today’s macro data focus is on the NY Fed’s inflation expectations release.

In premarket trading, Mag 7 stocks are mixed (Microsoft +0.6%, Amazon +0.03%, Meta -0.1%, Tesla -0.1%, Alphabet -0.3%, Apple -0.1%, Nvidia -0.9%)

• Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) falls 3% after fourth-quarter adjusted Ebitda from the steel company missed the average analyst estimate.
• Eli Lilly (LLY) rises 1% after agreeing to buy US biotech Orna Therapeutics Inc. for up to $2.4 billion in cash.
• Hims & Hers Health (HIMS) tumbles 20% after the telehealth company said it will stop selling its recently launched copycat version of the new Wegovy weight-loss pill.
• Kroger Co. (KR) is up 5% as the supermarket chain named Greg Foran as its chief executive officer. Foran led Walmart US for six years
• Kyndryl Holdings (KD) sinks 40% after the information-technology services company spun off from IBM reported adjusted earnings per share for the third quarter that missed the average analyst estimate.
• Li Auto’s ADRs (LI) fall 3% after JPMorgan downgraded the stock to underweight on a view that new EV models from five other carmakers are likely to pressure the Chinese auto firm’s sales this year.
• Monday.com (MNDY) slumps 14% after the software company forecast revenue for the first quarter; the guidance missed the average analyst estimate.
• SoFi Technologies (SOFI) gains 3% as Citizens upgrades the online personal finance company to market outperform.
• Tegna Inc. (TGNA) rises 9% after President Donald Trump backed television broadcaster Nexstar Media Group’s proposed $3.5 billion acquisition of the company.

In corporate news, Nvidia-backed Firmus Technologies secured a $10-billion loan from a group including Blackstone-led funds to boost its data center rollout. 

Stock futures are jittery after last week’s nosebleeding volatility while Treasuries fell after Chinese regulators urged banks to limit their holdings. It’s a big week for eco data, with delayed January releases for payrolls on Wednesday and CPI due Friday. Stocks will remain choppy, according to Goldman Sachs’ trading desk, with systematic strategies expected to be net sellers. A renewed decline could trigger about $33 billion of selling this week, they said, although that will likely be more than offset by a huge short squeeze after last week saw record short selling of single stocks.

“These moves also make people say, ‘Let me be a little bit more cautious than I had been” and wait for a better opportunity,” said Keith Lerner, chief investment officer at Truist Advisory Services.

The AI debate continues, with Deutsche Bank strategists noting significant rotation out of tech, while Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson sees opportunity in enablers and adopters.  Tech stocks had been caught up in a rout due to worries over the billions of dollars being spent on AI. The release of a new automation tool from Anthropic PBC added to the pressure, as investors ditched stocks seen as vulnerable to AI disruption. 

“Expect swings to continue until we have clearer visibility on the AI monetization, as well as the Fed’s rate path,” said Desmond Tjiang, chief investment officer for equities and multi-asset investment at BEA Union Investment. 

The employment report this week is predicted to show payrolls rose 69k in January, which would be the best in four months. The report will also include an annual revision to the jobs count, which is expected to reveal a notable markdown to payrolls growth in the year through March 2025. CPI may be lukewarm due to prices of cars and medical commodities offsetting a spike in other core goods.

While the US is winning the AI race, “its markets are footing the bill,” write Bloomberg Intelligence strategists Gillian Wolff and Michael Casper. After recent volatility, US tech valuation premiums have narrowed to around 23% versus China and Taiwan tech. After a challenging week for stocks, with rising performance dispersion and single-stock volatility, global equity markets look primed for short-term consolidation, according to strategists at Citi.

In geopolitics, Iran’s President described US nuclear talks as a “step forward.” Bessent cited Chinese traders as a reason behind last week’s wild swings in the gold market. Japanese equities surged to fresh record highs on Monday after PM Sanae Takaichi’s party achieved a landslide victory.

Apollo, Becton Dickinson and Waters are among companies scheduled to report before the market open. Apollo’s AUM are likely to expand 25%, the most since 1Q 2021, helped by continued inflows growth. Earnings from Arch Capital and ON Semi are due later in the day.

The Stoxx 600 is up 0.2% as European stocks rise on Monday, lifted by Novo Nordisk A/S shares after a US competitor scrapped a copycat Wegovy weight-loss pill. Travel and leisure as well as banking shares outperform, while the personal care and retail sectors lag. Here are some of the biggest movers on Monday: 

• InPost shares jump as much as 14% after Advent, FedEx, A&R and PPF announced plans for a €15.60 share buyout.
• Novo Nordisk shares surge as much as 8.6%, reversing some of last week’s plunge, after Hims & Hers Health Inc. pulled a copycat version of the new Wegovy weight-loss pill.
• STMicro shares rise as much as 7% after Amazon deepened its ties with the Franco-Italian chipmaker to secure semiconductor technologies for its data centers.
• Plus500 shares rise as much as 7.1% to a record high as the trading platform says its performance in FY26 is likely to be better than the market expects.
• UniCredit shares gain as much as 6.5% after the Italian lender reported fourth-quarter net income that beat estimates, and said it plans to return about €50b to investors in next five years.
• Coor Service Management shares rise as much as 14% in Stockholm, the steepest gain since December 2015, after newspaper Dagens Industri reports that six new owners have simultaneously built up almost identical holdings in the Swedish company.
• DSM-Firmenich shares fall as much as 5.7% after the firm agreed to sell its animal nutrition and health business to CVC Capital Partners at a lower valuation than some analysts expected.
• NatWest shares fall as much as 5.6% as the UK lender says no further buybacks are likely before 1H 2027 results after it agrees to buy wealth manager Evelyn Partners for an enterprise value of £2.7 billion.
• Greggs shares drop as much as 6% after Jefferies downgraded the bakery chain to hold, noting that the uptake of weight-loss drugs was a headwind to the earnings outlook.
• Ayvens shares fall as much as 3.7% after Oddo BHF cuts the French vehicle rental firm to neutral from outperform over a reset of used car sales results.
• Eramet shares fell as much as 6.3% after the Financial Times reported that the French company suspended CFO Abel Martins-Alexandre last week, days after the board announced it had terminated the mandate of CEO Paulo Castellari.

Earier in the session, Asian stocks gained, as Japanese stocks rallied to a record and South Korea led a wider surge in technology shares.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose as much as 2.5% to a fresh high, with Japanese stocks leading gains after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s ruling party achieved the biggest post-war victory for a single party in a general election. Korean stocks also surged by more than 4% following report that Samsung Electronics will start mass production of HBM4 chips after the Lunar New Year holiday. Stocks also traded higher in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong. The renewed optimism comes as a relief after Asia’s benchmark index posted its first weekly loss in seven. Meanwhile in Japan, Takaichi’s win is expected to benefit sectors including AI, semiconductors and defense on her expansionary fiscal policies. The yen strengthened away from levels seen as a danger zone for intervention. In Thailand, stocks surged as much as 4% to the highest levels since December 2024 after an election win by the ruling party paved the way for more policy clarity. Stocks also gained in India, Indonesia and Malaysia.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s “historic victory gives Prime Minister Takaichi a stable majority, reducing coalition constraints and enabling decisive action on fiscal stimulus, AI, semiconductors, energy security, and strategic reforms,” said Marc Jocum, senior investment strategist at Global X Management. “Markets now have a clear fiscal policy runway through 2028 until the next election.”

In FX, the yen is gaining against the greenback in the wake of Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi’s election victory. Expect this kneejerk reversal, which may have had some help from local authorities to unwind soon. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot index is down 0.2%. While the pound has picked up, it remains near the bottom of the G-10 pile amid a UK political risk premium. This is also being seen in other UK assets with gilts down 35 ticks versus losses of 13 ticks for bunds.

In rates, treasuries are mixed, tracking a curve-steepening gilt selloff following the resignation of a second senior aide to Prime Minister Keir Starmer.US long-end yields are 2bp-3bp higher on the day with shorter maturities little changed, widening 2s10s and 5s30s spreads by about 2bp, triggered by a Bloomberg report noting that China directed banks to limit holdings of US Treasuries. The bond market is also trying to figure out what a Warsh-led Fed will mean, particularly his call for a new accord with the Treasury Department. UK long-end tenors are about 3bp cheaper on the day, steepening its 2s10s curve by 3bp. The delayed January jobs report is ahead on Wednesday and quarterly new-issue auctions start Tuesday.  Treasury coupon auctions resume Tuesday with 3-year notes, followed by 10- and 30-year new issues, totaling $125 billion.

“There is no credible alternative as a global reserve asset at present,” said Geoff Yu, senior macro strategist at BNY. “Our holdings data indicates 72% of global sovereign bond allocations are in US Treasuries, with the euro zone at 11%. There is no comparison.”

Meanwhile, the Treasury is due to offer a combined $125 billion in three-, five- and 10-year debt.
 

“At least two cuts this year, maybe three cuts. Given the easing that we’ve already seen, I think the US economy probably will accelerate this year,” Paul Jackson, global market strategist at Invesco, told Bloomberg TV.

In commodities, precious metals are higher but off best levels with gold and silver showing respective gains of 0.9% and 2.7%. WTI crude futures have picked up throughout the European session, gaining 0.3%. Bitcoin is down 2.5% with selling picking up after slipping below the $70,000 level.  

US economic calendar includes January New York Fed 1-year inflation expectations at 11am. Ahead this week are December retail sales and January employment and CPI.Fed speaker slate includes Waller (1:30pm), Miran (2:30pm, 5pm) and Bostic (3:15pm)

Market Snapshot 

• S&P 500 mini -0.1%,
• Nasdaq 100 mini -0.2%,
• Russell 2000 mini -0.1%
• Stoxx Europe 600 little changed,
• DAX little changed, CAC 40 -0.1%
• 10-year Treasury yield +3 basis points at 4.24%
• VIX +0.8 points at 18.52
• Bloomberg Dollar Index -0.1% at 1189.33
• euro +0.3% at $1.1856
• WTI crude little changed at $63.56/barrel

Top Overnight News

• Democrats won’t pass the remaining DHS funding unless their demands to reform ICE are met, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN. BBG
• Kevin Warsh’s call for a new Fed-Treasury accord has stirred debate in the $30 trillion bond market, raising concerns over central bank independence and potential market volatility. BBG
• Chinese regulators have advised financial institutions to rein in their holdings of US Treasuries, citing concerns over concentration risks and market volatility. BBG
• Japanese stocks swept to all-time peaks while super-long bonds quickly reversed early weakness in an apparent vote of confidence in Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s “responsible, proactive” fiscal policy. BBG
• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent cited Chinese traders as a reason behind last week’s wild swings in the gold market. He said “They’re having to tighten margin requirements. So gold looks to me kind of like a classical, speculative blowoff.” Bessent expects the Federal Reserve to move cautiously in any effort to trim its balance sheet, and to take at least a year to decide what to do. RTRS
• Thailand’s ruling party clinched a surprise election win over the pro-democracy People’s Party. PM Anutin Charnvirakul’s victory marks the first this century for a party aligned with the royalist establishment. Thai stocks and currency rose. BBG
• UK PM Keir Starmer is battling to save his premiership after the dramatic resignation on Sunday of his most trusted aide Morgan McSweeney, as Labour MPs and officials warn that his job is still in grave peril. FT
• The ECB’s Gediminas Simkus said there’s an equal chance that policymakers’ next move will be to raise or lower borrowing costs. BBG
• Big Tech’s AI push and data center building being financed by some of the world’s biggest companies in the AI boom is becoming one of the most momentous capital efforts in US history (as a percentage of GDP). It’s bigger than the railroad expansion of the 1850s, the Apollo space program that put astronauts on the moon in the 1960s and the decadeslong build-out of the U.S. interstate highway system that ended in the 1970s. WSJ
• Trump posted “Record Stock Market, and National Security, driven by our Great TARIFFS. I am predicting 100,000 on the DOW by the end of my Term. REMEMBER, TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING! I hope the United States Supreme Court is watching”.

Trade/Tariffs

• Indian imports of Russian oil could nearly halve following the White House order, Bloomberg reported citing sources. Within the order, it stated that India has committed to stop directly or indirectly importing Russian oil or import tariffs will be raised.
• South Korea’s legislature approves creation of special US investment committee.
• Australia has imposed 10% tariffs on China’s steel ceiling frames, following an investigation by the nation’s Anti-Dumping Commission, according to Bloomberg.

A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk

APAC stocks began the week higher after last Friday’s rally on Wall St, where the DJIA topped the 50k level for the first time, while the Nikkei 225 also hit a fresh record high after PM Takaichi’s landslide election victory and supermajority. ASX 200 rallied with all sectors in the green and the advances being led by broad strength in tech, real estate, miners, materials and resources. Nikkei 225 rose to fresh record highs above the 57,000 level after the Japanese PM Takaichi’s LDP won a supermajority in the lower house election, which would allow it to override the upper house in legislation, while the decisive win paves the way for the government to proc eed with further stimulus and a sales tax cut. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp conformed to the widespread upbeat mood across the region, while it was also reported late last week that China’s Cabinet studied measures to promote effective investment and pledged to boost support for private investment.

Top Asian News

• Japan’s PM Takaichi said that she has received strong mandate for her policies, following the election. Confirms a swift restart of of parliamentary session. Discussions on refundable tax credit will commence. Will not resort to debt to fund the suspension of food sales tax. Will summit bill to establish national information and committee on foreign investment in the next parliament. Want to pursue a coalition expansion with the DPP if they are keen to do so. Want to lay out interim finding at cross-party meeting on food sales tax suspension by around summer this year. Closely watching market moves, including FX.
• Japanese PM Takaichi said the potential of our alliance with the US is limitless and she is sincerely grateful to US President Trump for his warm words.
• US President Trump congratulates Japanese PM Takaichi and her coalition on a landslide election victory.
• Japanese Finance Minister Katayama said will not comment on FX levels, but noted that recent yen moves are somewhat rapid and one-sided.
• Hong Kong court sentences media tycoon Jimmy Lai to 20 years in jail.
• Japan’s top currency diplomat Mimura said closely watching FX moves with a high urgency.

European bourses (STOXX 600 +0.2%) are firmer across the board, as strength across APAC equities filters through into Europe. European sectors hold a positive bias. Travel & Leisure leads, followed closely by Healthcare and Banks whilst Optimised Personal Care and Retail lags. Healthcare is buoyed by gains in Novo Nordisk (+8.3%), which benefits after Hims & Hers said it will stop selling a copycat version of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy weight-loss pill two days after launch.

Top European News

• Norwegian GDP Growth Rate YoY (Q4) Y/Y 2.2% (Prev. 2.1%).
• Norwegian PPI YoY (Jan) Y/Y -7.8% (Prev. -11.4%).
• Norwegian GDP Growth Mainland QoQ (Q4) Q/Q 0.4% vs. Exp. 0.4% (Prev. 0.1%).
• Norwegian GDP Growth Rate QoQ (Q4) Q/Q -0.3% (Prev. 1.1%).

FX

• DXY is on the backfoot and trades at the bottom end of a 97.33-97.76 range; further pressure could see a test of last week’s trough at 97.00. Much of the pressure this morning can be associated with JPY strength (post-election, discussed below) and following a Bloomberg report which noted that China is urging banks to curb US Treasuries exposure amid market risk – whilst this piece pertains to USTs, it renews fears of a “sell America” theme. US data is lacking for the remainder of the day, so focus will be on Fed speak via Waller, Miran and Bostic. Note: Waller is to discuss “digital assets”, markets know what they expect from arch-dove Miran, and Bostic is set to retire. The docket picks up later in the week, where markets will await US NFP (Wed) and then CPI (Fri); as a reminder, recent jobs metrics have been pointing towards a weakening of the labour market.
• JPY is amongst the outperformers this morning. USD/JPY initially gapped higher at the open (157.47), edged lower a few moments later, before reversing back to highs of 157.65. Since, the JPY has been strengthening vs the USD, potentially on a) high expectations of an LDP victory, b) higher JGB yields, c) jaw-boning via Finance Minister Katayama, d) political stability, e) odds of a BoJ hike in April rising to circa. 60% (prev. 54%). For the latter, analysts at Barclays believe that LDP’s landslide victory may allow the BoJ to proceed with normalisation “somewhat” faster. As such, the bank brought forward its expectations of a 25bps hike to April (prev. saw July), and increased its terminal forecast to 1.5% (prev. 1.25%). This morning, PM Takaichi has provided commentary, has reiterated her vows of fiscal stability, noting that she “will not resort to debt to fund the suspension of food sales tax” – another factor which is likely helping the strength in the JPY this morning. [More details can be found on the Newsquawk headline feed at 07:40GMT/02:40ET]
• G10s are broadly stronger against the USD, with JPY, AUD, EUR, and CHF all firmer by around 0.5%. GBP is the laggard this morning, as domestic political woes remain for the PM. On Sunday, Chief of Staff McSweeney resigned from his role following the Mandelson scandal. Irrespective of this, risks remain, as members of the Cabinet are potentially set to call for the PM to resign, and if he doesn’t, they will possibly step down themselves.

Fixed Income

• JGBs gapped lower by 30 ticks from 131.42 to 131.12 at the open, and then continued to trundle lower to a 131.10 trough; there was then a brief bounce overnight, before gradually declining back to the APAC low. Action today can be characterised by concern around potential increased spending and fiscal instability fears, but overall, the response to Takaichi’s LDP securing a super majority has been within recent levels – see the 07:40GMT post for more details and next steps.
• USTs are lower, given the above initially. More recently, pressure is a function of a Bloomberg report that China has urged banks to diversify exposure to US Treasuries amid heightened market risk, guidance that reportedly does not apply to state holdings. A report that pushed USTs to a 111-26 low. Fed speak ahead, though the individuals scheduled are, on face value, not particularly interesting. Reminder, the week ahead has NFP on Wednesday and CPI on Friday.
• Bunds followed the above. Interestingly, while they were initially hit by the Bloomberg report, the benchmark bounced off a 128.03 trough in short order. As the report is, potentially, a net-positive for EGBs long-term, as Chinese banks have to reposition their holdings.
• Gilts hit on the ongoing Mandelson/McSweeney fallout. In brief, while McSweeney has resigned, the pressure around Starmer hasn’t abated. Action that saw Gilts gap lower by 42 ticks before slipping another two to a 90.21 base. Since, the benchmark has rebounded by around 30 ticks, but remains in the red by some 10 ticks. The Spectator highlights that some ministers are concerned that Starmer could stand down at any moment. More likely, we could see Cabinet Ministers, privately initially and then possibly publicly, call for the PM to resign, and then they themselves may resign from Starmer’s cabinet if he does not comply.
• China is reportedly urging banks to curb US Treasuries exposure amid market risk, Bloomberg reported citing sources; guidance does not apply to China’s state holdings of US Treasuries.

Commodities

• WTI and Brent gapped lower but then traded with an upward bias as the morning progressed, to currently trade flat; Brent now trading around USD 68.20/bbl, with a recent bid higher led reports that Qatar is pushing the start of its LNG expansion to the end of 2026. US-Iran meetings last week lacked a material outcome, with the pair agreeing to further talks. For the next meeting, the Trump administration has told Iran to arrive with meaningful substance, following the “good meeting” on Friday.
• Precious metals have continued Friday’s rebound, with spot gold regaining the USD 5k/oz handle. Over the weekend, the PBoC announced its 15th straight month of gold buying, which reinforces the key structural driver of major central bank buying of the gold bullion. The dollar has also weakened at the start of the European session, weighed on by the Bloomberg report that China is urging banks to limit USTs exposure. Silver has gradually bid higher as European trade continues, returning back above USD 80/oz and briefly topping above USD 82/oz.
• 3M LME Copper gapped higher but trades muted in a USD 13.02k-13.14k/t band, heading into the Chinese New Year celebrations.
• US Energy Secretary Wright intends to visit Venezuela soon to discuss the future of PDVSA, Politico reported; focussed on improving the management of the Co. Expects Venezuela to hold elections in 18-24 months.
• Vitol Group forecasts peak oil demand to be pushed back to the mid-2030s, with peak demand reaching around 112mln bpd.
• New Zealand energy minister said has shortlisted proposals related to building a first LNG import plant and facility could be operational by 2027 or early 2028.
• Qatar reportedly pushes the start of its LNG expansion to the end of 2026.

Central Banks

• ECB’s Kocher said that inflation expectations are fully anchored and FX movements are factored in; Europe must prepare for a greater financial safe haven role. Policy is appropriate and it would require a change in the environment to change current policy stance.
• ECB’s Simkus said there’s a 50/50 chance that their next move is a hike or cut; rates are at neutral level with growth near potential. Economic environment is fragile.

Geopolitics: Ukraine

• Indian imports of Russian oil could nearly halve following the White House order, Bloomberg reported citing sources. Within the order, it stated that India has committed to stop directly or indirectly importing Russian oil or import tariffs will be raised.
• Russia’s FSB said an attempted assassination of General Alexeyev was ordered by Ukraine with Poland’s participation, according to Interfax.
• US reportedly aims for a March peace deal in Ukraine, followed by quick elections, according to reported.

Geopolitics: Middle East

• Iran’s advisor to Supreme Leader is to visit Oman on Tuesday, Tasnim reported.
• Iranian Parliament Speaker said they discussed defence and security in a secret session.

CRYPTO

• Bitcoin is on the backfoot and trades around USD 69k, whilst Ethereum remains just above the USD 2k mark.

US Event Calendar

DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap

Chipotle Mexican Grill shares chopped around last week after the fast-casual chain delivered an underwhelming outlook for annual comparable sales forecast. But by week’s end, it was not the earnings print making the rounds on social media; it was a snippet from the CEO’s remarks on the earnings call that went viral on X.

*CHIPOTLE SEES 2026 COMP SALES ABOUT 0%, EST. +1.84%

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) February 3, 2026

First off, X users framed CEO Scott Boatwright’s remarks as if he’d been “caught on a recording.” That’s complete nonsense. He said it openly on an earnings call with Wall Street analysts. But sure, whatever fuels the engagement algo machine on X.

On the call, Evercore ISI analyst David Palmer asked Boatwright:

And I wonder, you’re going to be existing among these giant fast-food players that are rolling out value menus, and you’ve done some things along the way. You have an entry price point cup with the new protein menu. You said you have some price-pointed things. It looks like you have a new style of advertising, where you’ve pointed out, pretty clearly, there’s a difference in the way Chipotle makes its food versus what you’d see at a traditional fast-food place.

I just wonder, is there any, do you feel like, the offense might be working with these price-pointed things and the messaging? And I’m just wondering, if there’s anything you can do to really shorten this cycle — this, reinvestment cycle, rather than just wait for your price to underprice inflation for a while? And thank you.

… and here’s where the outrage on X was triggered.

Boatwright responded:

Yes. Thanks, David. I’ll tell you, with what the momentum we saw in early January, the first part of January, it gives us confidence that the strategy is exactly what our consumer is looking for. I talked earlier about doing this deep-dive on the core Chipotle consumer to really parse out, who that consumer is and what they want.

What we’ve learned is the guest skews younger, a little more higher income is typically a digital native, and that their grounded purpose aligns with our Northstar as a brand around clean food, clean ingredients, high protein, and we are the way they want to eat. And we’re going to lean into that in the most meaningful way.

Now, I’ll tell you, after looking at the data last week, we learned that 60% of our core users are over $100,000 a year in income — in average household income. That gives us confidence that we can lean into that group in a more meaningful way, whether it’s the solo occasion and or group occasions to really drive meaningful transaction performance in the year.

Chipotle CEO: 60% of users make over $100,000 a year in income. 🌯💰 pic.twitter.com/cuezE5rv1K

— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) February 7, 2026

Translation: Chipotle will raise burrito bowl prices even higher. There was a time when these bowls were sub $10 – even less.

Not a great look for the CEO at a moment when the Trump administration is pushing ahead with affordability. But there’s a simple solution for the youngsters: eat at home.

Via Remix News,

The visible decline in production in Europe’s chemical sector could soon have far more serious consequences. Production capacity is disappearing, and the further consequences will be alarming, warn leaders of the largest companies in an industry that recently experienced a period of prosperity.

They are calling for swift and far-reaching changes to EU law, writes Polish Business Insider.

In just a few years, nearly 10 percent of production capacity on the Old Continent has disappeared. Industry representatives are warning that cheaper products from Asia and the Middle East are taking their place, as European companies suffocate under the weight of energy prices, CO2 costs, and a thicket of regulations. This is the view of both state-owned (Azoty), private (Qemetica), and foreign companies operating in Poland (BASF).

The chemical sector accounts for approximately 7 percent of the EU’s total industry and generates over 1 million direct jobs, with 3-5 times as many indirect jobs, primarily in small and medium-sized companies. Meanwhile, according to Katarzyna Byczkowska, CEO of BASF Polska, over the last three years, approximately 9 percent of chemical production capacity has been liquidated in Europe, and in 2023-2024, the European chemical industry alone will shrink by 14 percent. During this same period, chemical production grew in countries such as China, Russia, and the United States.

“In Europe, we’re playing a different game than the rest of the world, but on the same playing field. We’re starting to lose,” warns Kamil Majczak, CEO of Qemetika (formerly Ciech), during a debate organized by Siemens with other representatives of the chemical sector. In his opinion, Europe still believes it can impose its rules on others, while China, the U.S., and India view the world as a field for expanding their spheres of influence and taking over markets.

“We can’t expect developing countries to suddenly make everything green, three times more expensive, because we think it’s the right thing to do,” he adds.

Majczak emphasizes that the consequences of rising costs are already tangible. More and more plants are closing in Europe, and some companies have survived the last two or three years by leveraging previous profits. “This buffer is running out, and once a plant closes, it won’t reopen. People will leave, production capacity will disappear, and it won’t return after a year or two,” warns the CEO of Qemetica.

In the case of fertilizers, the price of gas accounts for 75-80 percent of the product’s production cost. For years, Europe has been an importer, now forced to use much more expensive sources than before. This poses a significant challenge for fertilizer companies like Azoty.

This is especially an issue for the chemical sector, as it is such an energy-intensive industry, says Paweł Bielski, vice-president of Grupa Azoty.

“At certain points, gas in the U.S. was 4-6 times cheaper than in Europe,” recalls Katarzyna Byczkowska, CEO of BASF Poland. The differences in energy costs are immediately visible in the profit and loss accounts of European and American plants, admits Kamil Majczak, CEO of Qemetica, who compares the results of factories in Europe and the US. CO2 emissions fees must also be added to the total, which, Majczak says, are practically nonexistent outside of Europe, with the exception of a specific system in California.

Industry representatives emphasize that they are not questioning the direction of decarbonization, but the pace, scale, and structure of regulatory burdens in a situation where Europe is already starting from a worse position, because it is more expensive in terms of energy.

Katarzyna Byczkowska highlights two levels of regulatory costs.

First, there are direct costs resulting from regulatory compliance, as in the case of the EU’s CLP regulation. The change in font on chemical labels was reportedly costing her company over €300 million before, after a year of intense negotiations, some of the provisions were withdrawn.

Second, there is the increasing structural burden resulting from the sheer number and volatility of regulations, which generate chaos, reduce predictability, and drain resources from research and development.

“In Europe, we already spend twice as much on regulatory compliance as on research and development,” notes the head of BASF Poland. Across the continent, this translates to an 8 percent decline in R&D spending, while in China and the US, spending is rising year over year.

Paweł Bielski, Vice President of Grupa Azoty, points out that the EU climate package and subsequent elements of Fit for 55 were developed under completely different conditions than those in which the industry operates today. “The Green Deal was adopted when no one took into account the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, or the rapid change in Europe’s energy balance,” he argues. In his opinion, the direction of decarbonization will remain unchanged, even if some regulations are formally suspended, but the rules themselves should be improved.

A symbolic example is the ETS system, or emissions trading. Free allowances are shrinking every year, and, as Byczkowska explains, companies are unable to “add” another billion euros a year to purchase certificates in a time of crisis and blocked new investments. “We need someone to stop tightening their grip on us even more,” she says.

The clash between European climate ambitions and the realities of global competition is most acute in the clash with Asian production. “We used to be an exporter, now we’re an importer, and that fundamentally disrupts the balance,” says Majczak. China has built vast, modern production capacities in recent years to satisfy its own market, but the slowdown in demand has freed up a significant portion of this capacity for export. 

Taking advantage of cheaper energy and less restrictive regulations, Chinese producers are aggressively entering the European market, from fertilizers to plastics.

Paweł Bielski points out that until recently, Europe had a strong polymer industry, including the production of polyamides for automotive, construction, and packaging. Today, China’s dominance is overwhelming in many segments — in one of them, as he points out, as much as 67 percent of global production capacity is already located in China. He believes a similar trend is visible in fertilizers: Massive installations are being built in Russia, the U.S., and the Persian Gulf countries, which will not consume all of their production domestically, but will instead direct it to Europe, among other countries.

One positive sign is that technological advances reduce costs. “We’re seeing increased activity from companies investing in solutions that enable faster, cheaper, and safer production,” says Maciej Zieliński, CEO of Siemens Polska.

Read more here…

Political identity in the U.S. is changing, and the divide is increasingly generational.

Younger Americans are stepping away from traditional party labels, while older generations remain more closely tied to the two-party system.

This visualization, via Visual Capitalist’s Niccolo Conte, shows how political affiliation varies across generations, highlighting the growing role of independents in American politics.

The data comes from Gallup. It is based on annual averages from Gallup’s telephone interviews, asking respondents whether they identify as Republican, Democrat, or independent. “No opinion” responses are excluded, and figures may not total 100% due to rounding.

Younger Generations Favor Being Independents

A majority of both Generation Z and Millennials identify as independents. Among Gen Z, 56% say they are independent, compared with just 17% identifying as Republican and 27% as Democrat. Millennials show a similar pattern, with 54% identifying as independent.

Party Loyalty Rises With Age

Political affiliation becomes more evenly split among older generations. Generation X shows a more balanced distribution, with 31% Republican, 25% Democrat, and 42% independent. Among Baby Boomers, party identification nearly overtakes independence altogether.

The Silent Generation is the most partisan group, with roughly seven in 10 identifying as either Republican or Democrat. This cohort came of age during periods when party affiliation was more stable and closely tied to identity, such as the New Deal era and the Cold War.

Implications for U.S. Politics

The rise of independents among younger generations has major implications for elections and governance. While independents may still lean toward one party, their lack of formal affiliation makes voter behavior less predictable. It also complicates messaging for political parties trying to mobilize younger voters.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out The Distribution of Income in America (2024 vs 1974) on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Authored by Daniel Lacalle,

The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has appeared at a summit along with autocratic and undemocratic leaders from Georgia and Burundi to talk about protecting citizens and democracy. Fascinating. It is very revealing.

The president talks about protecting minors from the harms of social networks and launches tirades against alleged techno-oligarchs. However, the evidence shows that beneath the supposedly “noble” goal of protecting minors, there is an agenda that includes the introduction of digital identities, biometric control for all, and prior censorship accompanied by state surveillance.

It is obvious to everyone that the objective is to silence independent media.

If the digital control law had been implemented in 2018, the corruption scandals surrounding the Socialist government would never have come to light. Koldo García, accused of embezzlement, would still be a member of the board of public train company Renfe today; Jose Luis Ábalos, under investigation for various corruption scandals, would still be minister; Salazar, investigated for sexual assault, would be an exemplary socialist; Venezuela’s dictatorship’s Delcy Rodriguez would be a VIP nighttime visitor; and the Socialist party’s number two, Santos Cerdán, would still be “Super Santos.” For Sánchez, all those cases were “disinformation” and “fake news” from the “far right”; do not forget it.

If he really cared about teenagers, he would not condemn them to unemployment and ruin and would give greater responsibility to parents, based on freedom. But he wants to ban access to social media because the goal is to silence dissenters.

It is no surprise that his words have been met with enormous enthusiasm by millionaires such as Alex, the son of George Soros, or by defenders of censorship and propaganda who see their dream of social engineering and control slipping away these days.

Hadn’t this inquisition shifted to Bluesky, with the intention of ending X and establishing the true social majority? They treat Bluesky as though it were a non-governmental organization.

Curiously, what Sánchez calls techno-oligarchs does not bother him if they serve his interests. Elon Musk, when aligned with the Democrats, set a global example. Sánchez courted Soros, Gates, Fink, and anyone he could for years. If anyone has used social networks to spread hate, division, polarization, and disinformation, it has been his government and his far‑left partners. However, it is important to note that his objective is not to restrict young people’s access to communist propaganda messages, but rather to prevent them from voting for the right. They thought teens were ideal and wanted them to vote when they thought they’d vote left. Now, when they see that young people are of no use to them, they launch their other favorite social‑engineering tool: the mass regularization of irregular immigrants.

Sanchez lies on immigration policy by deliberately misleading the public about the regularization of illegal immigrants in the country with the highest unemployment rate in the euro area. This tactic serves as a form of social engineering and control, similar to his digital protection strategy, rather than being based on economic logic.

This is not solidarity. The objective is to create a dependent subclass, buy votes, and inflate GDP through immigration, which is why, according to the IMF, Spain’s per capita GDP is expected to increase by only 1.1% from 2017 to 2026 with 10% “official” unemployment (14% real). It delays all those trying to enter legally and passes the enormous cost and social challenges to taxpayers.

Cornered by corruption and the disastrous management of infrastructure and public services, Sánchez launches yet another smokescreen operation to try to silence independent opinions.

The reality? His flagship socialist propaganda projects have failed, TikTok has not helped them win elections, and freedom is advancing. That is what bothers them.

The far left perceives X as a threat, yet none of their criticisms mention TikTok. One is free, and the other is controlled by a dictatorship. Fascinating.

The left loves social networks and billionaires when they serve its purpose of control.

Just remember how thrilled they were with Davos a few years ago. What bothers them is freedom and diversity of opinion. Furthermore, what fills them with uncontrollable rage is that the Grok community dismantles their propaganda in the notes section.

If Musk calls Sánchez a traitor and a tyrant, it is a grave insult against an elected president and against Spain, according to the extreme left, but if socialists and the far left call the elected president of the United States or of Argentina a murderer, dictator, fascist, Nazi, terrorist, and racist, that is fantastic and normal.

The evidence of X’s independence and plurality is that every time I open the app, I see posts from socialist cheerleaders, whom I neither follow nor search for.

All this crisis is yet another example of Sánchez’s mastery in applying the 11 principles of propaganda, especially that of the single enemy and reversal: demonizing a supposed all‑powerful enemy to present himself as victim and savior, and accusing everyone else of being guilty of corruption and negligence, pointing at others to cover his government’s issues.

Whenever corruption scandals or negligence in infrastructure management put the Spanish government under fire, Sanchez creates a smokescreen and applies the main propaganda principles to shift attention. His favorite tactic is to select a “special enemy” for vilification. The far-left government even fabricated a fake “bomb threat” to portray Sanchez as both a victim and a savior to stay in power at any cost. Sanchez has targeted various groups for vilification, including tech companies, energy companies, banks, supermarkets, social media, the independent press, specific nations, and any political opponent, as well as the far-left government’s favorite tactic, promoting antisemitism. Choose one. Divert attention. Move on.

A man who is incapable of winning elections presents himself as the voice of the social majority. It is ridiculous when he is held hostage by the minorities that keep him in power. And power is the only thing he cares about. That is why he seeks censorship at all costs, to silence the majority that does not suit him.

Sánchez wants to create a state of surveillance and censorship in Spain under the pretext of digital “protection.” To all the Sánchez-aligned press that is defending this outrage against freedom of expression, maybe thinking that being political commissars will benefit them, I would like to remind them that purges come afterwards.

If you believe that supporting Sánchez’s totalitarian whims will be advantageous for you, remember that actions you consider acceptable when “your side” does them can also be used by the opposing side against you.

Disinformation and polarization may happen in a free society, but those risks are 100% certain when information is controlled by the state.

Boston Dynamics has released new footage of its flagship humanoid robot program, “Atlas,” showcasing next-level mobility and reinforcing our greatest fears that when these bots are paired with “brains,” adoption can quickly move from factory floors to offensive defense missions.

“Now that the Atlas enterprise platform is getting to work, the research version gets one last run in the sun. Our engineers made one final push to test the limits of full-body control and mobility, with help from the RAI Institute,” Boston Dynamics, which is owned by Hyundai Motor Group, wrote in the description of a video titled “Atlas Airborne.”

The video shows Atlas pulling off an impressive cartwheel, capped by a near-perfect backflip landing, at the Robotics & AI Institute testing facility. The institute is a research organization focused on solving fundamental challenges in robotics and AI. The video also highlights several other mobility accomplishments.

What’s clear to us is that these humanoid robots are set to march en masse onto assembly lines, warehouses, and other factory floors this year.

As we noted earlier, “robot brains” are already here, accelerating the shift from promotional stunts to real-world use cases and, ultimately, mass commercial adoption across manufacturing settings.

We think there is a rising probability here, frankly high enough that someone should start a Polymarket bet, that humanoid robots for dual use could show up at testing grounds in Ukraine as soon as this year.

We have warned about the dual-use risk even as leading companies, including Boston Dynamics, Agility Robotics, ANYbotics, Clearpath Robotics, Open Robotics, Unitree, and Figure AI, publicly state they will not weaponize their bots.

To our knowledge, Foundation is the only U.S. humanoid robotics developer with an offensive contract with the Department of Defense.

Read the latest on where the humanoid robotics space is headed:

• Humanoid Robots Get “Brains” As Dual-Use Fears Mount

• AI’s Next Frontier Is Physical As Humanoid Robots Begin March On Assembly Lines And Beyond

• Watch: Russian Soldiers Surrender To Gun-Wielding Robot; Humanoid Warfare Nears

• AI ‘Kill Chains’ And Rise Of Skynet-Like Weapons Offer Glimpse Of 2030s Battlefield

These bots have gone from clunky machines that could barely walk in a straight line to running and doing flips in just several years. Our reporting should give readers a framework for the 2030s that makes dual-use humanoid robots unavoidable.

Submitted by Thomas Kolbe

In Groß-Gerau, Hesse, a billion-euro project has been blocked by citizen opposition and the local council’s majority. The town now seems the epitome of Germany’s decline: backward-looking, stubborn, and hopelessly lost in an era that leaves no room for passive solipsism.

With roughly 27,000 residents, Groß-Gerau benefits from direct connections to Frankfurt and Darmstadt, making it an ideal commuter town. Here lives Germany’s traditional middle class: partly insulated from the nation’s economic and social upheavals, yet close enough to major developments to suddenly find itself in the public eye.

CDU Votes for the Project

Last week, the town council rejected a data center from the U.S. company Vantage Data Centers following protests from residents. With votes from SPD, Greens, and the Left, the town turned down a private investment of roughly €2.5 billion. 

The planned facility would have been part of the Rhein-Main region’s digital infrastructure, anchored by DE-CIX, one of the world’s most significant internet hubs. It’s about the world’s new data highways—AI, autonomous systems, autonomous driving, cloud solutions—all the infrastructure major economies like the U.S. and China rely on to escape economic stagnation.

For Germany, these developments are treated as marginal at best. The prevailing attitude cloaks itself in ideological-moral superiority, using regulation to ensure companies and users do not “go too far.” In European politics, the digital sphere is little more than a playground for polemic opposition and petty criticism of the master plan to build a green-socialist ideal state.

With an 18-14 vote, the town council ultimately opposed the project. Only the CDU, alongside the Kombi-FWG, supported it. This illuminates German political dynamics: absent the AfD, the CDU surprisingly acts independently—even defying the so-called “firewall” party cartel. Could this hint at Germany’s potential political liberation? Or was this local CDU action merely a fluke within the party’s otherwise steadfast Brussels-aligned ideology?

The proposed site would have been a few hundred meters from residential areas, separated by an industrial park. Yet this was enough for alleged noise concerns to dominate local discourse. The Greens argued the data center would create “heat corridors” and depress property values—a concern never applied when building wind turbines. While public interest routinely overrode private property during wind farm construction, here ideology replaced rational risk assessment. From the outset, local politics sought excuses to kill the project—driven by avoidance, fear of responsibility, and bureaucratic inertia.

Excuses and Evasion

Justifications for rejecting the investment were as bizarre as they were German: timid, defensive, and devoid of any vision. Expected tax revenues were deemed insufficient, potential jobs minimal—excuse piled on excuse. Bureaucracy has so deeply entrenched itself that private investment is now perceived as a threat rather than an opportunity.

This system has eroded abstraction skills and converted real weakness into moral superiority. The future is no longer seen as malleable, change is perceived as a burden, and imagination is systematically weakened. People learn to follow rules instead of solving problems.

The solution is breaking free from this iron cage of regulation—reviving innovation and building the infrastructure essential for tomorrow’s economy.

The Gaulish Village of Green Ideologues

German politics has never had a serious problem dispossessing homeowners for wind turbines. So-called citizen participation is little more than soothing ointment over real, material losses imposed on residents. Even symbolic compensation schemes in some states fail to address the structural disregard for property rights. Private property is viewed with suspicion and treated as a fiscal quarry for ideological ambitions.

Groß-Gerau’s project could have been a chance to implement a market-oriented model of fair compensation, putting economic principles above ideological command politics. Instead, Germany remains in a psychological “Gaulish village”: perpetually defensive against modernization, with bureaucracy and NGOs nurturing provincialism.

For U.S. companies, this is standard practice: property rights enforce serious negotiations with affected residents, or litigation ensures balance. France offers a contrasting example: President Emmanuel Macron recently poured €30 million into his nation’s “Silicon Valley,” while U.S. private investment dwarfs such state initiatives by hundreds of billions. The lesson is clear: Europe remains shackled by centralization, unable to compete with more agile, market-oriented systems.

It’s high time Germany abandoned climate-socialist rigidity and started embracing new business models. Stubbornness and timidity should no longer prevent the country from recognizing opportunities for growth and innovation.

* * *

About the author: Thomas Kolbe, a German graduate economist, has worked for over 25 years as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination.

Authored by Jordi Pigem via the Brownstone Institute,

“We are going to have fun,” writes Jeffrey Epstein on December 7, 2009.

This phrase is his reply to an email by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Science Advisor (and Scientific Advisor to Bill Gates), Boris Nikolic, who is making a list of “raising stars,” many of them scientists, that they “should visit together.”

By then, everyone must have known that Epstein was a notorious, convicted sex offender. He had been released from jail only a few months before, on July 22. He had been under investigation since 2005: federal officials had identified three dozen girls whom Epstein had allegedly sexually abused (after a controversial plea deal agreed by the US Department of Justice, he was only convicted of two crimes). Why would a high ranking official of Gates’ Foundation want to organize meetings between Epstein and prominent scientists? If it was about money, surely they could find better-looking investors. What, eventually, were they “going to have fun” with?

One of the revelations of the latest batch of Epstein files is his strong interest in viruses, vaccines, pandemics, and mRNA. Two months after getting out of jail, he is writing about viruses, infectious diseases, and something he calls “My BIG idea.”

Or, for instance, in January 2010, he was discussing mRNA and codons.

The latest batch documents of the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, released on January 30, consists of over 3 million pages, with many names redacted. A helpful simulation of Epstein’s inbox has been created, fully searchable and giving access to the contents of over 7,000 emails. With keywords and patience the original documents can then be located on the DOJ website.

The trio Epstein-Nikolic-Gates also features prominently in a long agreement letter sent by Epstein to Gates. According to this 2013 document, Gates “specifically requested” Epstein to “personally serve as the representative” of Nikolic in negotiations over the termination of his work with Gates. The first section of this six-page letter states: “Mr. Gates acknowledges that Mr. Epstein has an existing collegial relationship with Mr. Gates in which Mr. Epstein received confidential and/or proprietary information from Mr. Gates.” An analysis of its contents and wider implications can be found in a detailed article by Sayer Ji on Epstein, Gates, and “Pandemics as a Business Model.”

In March 2017, two and a half years before Event 201, three years before Covid-19 was officially declared a pandemic by the WHO, an email thread involving Gates and bgC3 (Bill Gates Catalyst 3, now Gates Ventures) speaks of “pandemic simulation.”

A number of emails in the Epstein files speak of pandemic preparedness. One of them, from March 2015, explicitly invites to discuss “how to officially involve the WHO” for the sake of “co-branding” (it looks like the “product” to “co-brand” is a pandemic).

In 2017, an email from Boris Nikolic addressed to both Epstein and Gates (four years after the agreement letter about Epstein mediating the rupture between Nikolic and Gates) mentions “pandemic” as a key area for a Donor Advised Fund.

Nikolic was later named as executor in Epstein’s will, signed two days before his death, officially by suicide, in August 2019. (As I’m writing this, a friend points out to me that according to Fortnite Tracker, a player with Epstein’s username, littlestjeff1, was still playing, from Israel, in 2024…)

Epstein was a node in a large network of darkness, and the release of the files may be a threshold into it. In a video interview included in the release, Epstein tells Steve Bannon that he is only “tier-one,” “the lowest level” of sexual predator. As researcher Whitney Webb has stated in conversation with James Corbett:

Jeffrey Epstein was as much a financial criminal as a sex criminal. There’s a very particular reason why mainstream media only wants to talk about his sex crimes between 2000 and 2006. Jeffrey Epstein was also not an anomaly in the network in which he operated. Numerous people engage in sex blackmail and sex trafficking. If you think these issues died with Jeffrey Epstein, you are sorely mistaken. […] And if you were to pull on the Epstein thread, I guess you could say, you start to unravel a lot of the bigger picture.

In early 2020, not everyone knew the word pandemic. Much less familiar still was the word (more common until 1900) pandemonium. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines pandemonium, in its first sense, as “the abode of all demons” and, later on, as “a place or state of utter confusion and uproar.” Covid was a pandemonium: it did generate a “state of utter confusion.” The word was coined by John Milton in Paradise Lost (1667), where Pandemonium is “the palace of Satan,” “the high capital of Satan and his peers,” and “city and proud seat of Lucifer.” Other than the prefix pan- (Greek for “all”), these words are unrelated.

It seems Gates and Epstein were much closer than it had been assumed. Gates brings to mind, among other things, pandemic preparedness (as in CEPI, the “Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations,” and Event 201, both of which had the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as key funder). Epstein brings to mind a darkness that involved horrible violence to children and, most likely, explicit invocation of powerful evil forces — as is increasingly common in the highest tiers of political, economic, and technological power. Gates and Epstein, pandemic and pandemonium, may be closer than we thought.

A final word. We find ourselves in a world that, to a large extent, is morally, cognitively, and spiritually already collapsing. To face this darkness without being bulldozed by it, it is essential to be aware that the primordial Source of reality (call it God or what makes sense to you) is ultimately Light, Goodness, and Truth. And that is what shall prevail at the end.

The U.S. Small Business Administration said Friday it has suspended more than 100,000 California borrowers amid suspected fraud tied to pandemic-era relief programs, a move the agency said represents one of the largest enforcement actions since Covid-19 aid was rolled out.

111,620 California borrowers were linked to suspected fraudulent activity involving Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan funds. Those borrowers received 118,489 loans totaling more than $8.6 billion, according to the agency.

SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said the action reflects a broader crackdown on abuse of emergency lending programs created during the pandemic. “Once again, the Trump SBA is taking decisive action to deliver accountability in a state whose unaccountable welfare policies have created a culture of fraud and abuse at the expense of law-abiding taxpayers and small business owners,” Loeffler said in a statement.

‘WE’RE PROSECUTING’: SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler says the agency suspended more than 111,000 California borrowers after uncovering $8.6 billion in suspected fraudulent activity linked to the COVID pandemic:

“We’re gonna continue to work with our federal partners to ensure… pic.twitter.com/qBg3eHZrJL

— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 7, 2026

The programs were designed to help businesses stay afloat during pandemic shutdowns – however both have been plagued by fraud since their rapid deployment, prompting years of investigations by federal watchdogs and law-enforcement agencies.

The California action follows a similar enforcement effort announced last month in Minnesota, where the SBA said it suspended 6,900 borrowers after identifying what it described as widespread suspected fraud. In that review, the agency flagged nearly $400 million in potentially fraudulent PPP and EIDL loans tied to about 7,900 approvals during the pandemic, according to Loeffler. 

“As we did in Minnesota, we are actively working with federal law enforcement to identify the criminals who defrauded American taxpayers, hold them to account and recoup the stolen funds,” Loeffler said. “As we continue our state-by-state work, our message is clear: Pandemic-era fraudsters will not get a pass under this administration.”

The SBA has previously said at least $2.5 million in PPP and EIDL funds were linked to a Somali-connected fraud scheme based in Minneapolis, underscoring how organized networks exploited gaps in oversight as billions of dollars were rushed out the door during the public-health emergency.

Loeffler said the scale of the California suspensions highlights what she characterized as years of insufficient enforcement. The announcement criticized what she described as tolerance of fraud under the Biden administration, while framing the current actions as part of a renewed push under the Trump administration to recover misspent funds and pursue criminal accountability.

The SBA said its review of pandemic lending is ongoing, with additional state-by-state actions expected as investigations continue.

Authored by Andrew Korybko,

Russia and China are expected to reciprocally respond to the US’ potential development of new nukes and/or new nuke tests after it just let the New START lapse, which could be exploited by European and East Asian countries to develop their own nukes, thus emboldening some Muslim ones to follow suit.

RT reported on German politician Sahra Wagenknecht’s condemnation of a prominent AfD politician for claiming that Germany “needs nuclear weapons”, which followed ruling CDU lawmaker Roderich Kiesewetter calling for their country to participate in a European nuclear umbrella. The context concerns France’s proposal last year of extending its own such umbrella over the EU amid newfound fears among some European elites that a US invasion of Greenland could lead to it removing the EU from its umbrella.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz just confirmed that Berlin is exploring this. NBC News cited six European officials a week prior to report that options “include improving France’s nuclear weaponry, redeploying French nuclear-capable bombers outside of France, and beefing up French and other European conventional forces on NATO’s eastern flank. Another option under discussion is to equip European countries that do not have nuclear weapons programs with the technical abilities to acquire them.”

RT’s report reminded readers that “Germany is prohibited from developing nuclear weapons under international law, including the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Two Plus Four Treaty”. Nevertheless, international law is only upheld if there are credible enforcement mechanisms or the political will to unilaterally enforce international law if the aforesaid no longer exist, which is arguably the case at present due to the UNSC’s dysfunctional deadlock over the past decade.

So long as Germany is under someone’s nuclear umbrella and they have the political will to uphold their commitment, whether that’s the US, France, and/or the UK, then it’s unlikely that Russia would risk World War III by attacking Germany if it begins developing nukes. The same goes for any other European country like Poland or the Nordics, the first of which already strongly implied its future intent to develop nukes while a Norwegian lieutenant colonel introduced the second in an article at War On The Rocks.

The “publicly plausible” pretext for either extending France’s and/or the UK’s nuclear umbrella over the EU, including to reinforce the US’ if it isn’t removed, and/or the abovementioned countries developing nukes could be Russia’s reciprocal response to the US’ potential development of new nukes and/or new nuke tests. Trump 2.0’s decision to let the New START with Russia lapse instead of agree to Putin’s proposal for extending it another year releases the US from its legal obligations not to do any of that.

It’s therefore possible that a nuclear arms race could erupt between not only the US on one side and Russia (and China) on the other, but also between the EU and Russia, possibly with the US being the one that transfers nuclear technology to its EU allies. In that scenario, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Turkiye might no longer restrain themselves either, the first two driven by perceived threats from China and/or North Korea and the last two by those from Israel (possibly with technical support from Pakistan).

The world is on the brink of a global nuclear arms race. John Mearsheimer argues that “nuclear weapons are a superb deterrent” since “no state is likely to attack the homeland or vital interests of a nuclear-armed state for fear that such a move might trigger a horrific nuclear response”, but this assumes that states are rational, which some EU ones arguably aren’t. Instead of stabilizing the world and preserving peace, a global nuclear arms race might destabilize it and spike the risk of an accidental nuclear war.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.