"Squatty Potty" Millionaire Charged With Possession Of Child Porn Hoard

Robert Edwards, the inventor of the "Squatty Potty" and a contestant on the show "Shark Tank", has been charged with the possession of a digital hoard of child pornography materials including videos and images. 

Edwards, 50, was arrested for allegedly buying and receiving countless images of child sexual abuse between March 2021 and November 2025, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Utah announced Monday.  The entrepreneur was indicted by a federal grand jury Feb. 10 and arrested Feb. 12 in Washington County, Utah.

In March 2021, an undercover FBI agent joined a group chat used to trade child abuse materials. In the group chat, there was a meeting room where members viewed a collection of the horrific content being streamed, federal authorities detailed.  Participants, including a user later identified as Edwards, were visible in the meeting, according to the DOJ. 

In May 2025, FBI agents also learned that Edwards may have purchased additional illicit materials through his PayPal account, which was flagged for four suspicious transactions.  In November, law enforcement executed a search warrant on Edwards and his home and confiscated multiple devices that “contained videos and images of child sexual abuse material,” some of which was downloaded only two weeks prior, officials alleged.

Edwards reportedly lives with his male partner and "co-parents" four children.  There is no information on their status, and he refers to them as his "step children".  

Robert Edwards is best known for his appearance on Shark Tank with his mother, in which he pitched his idea for a foot rest designed to help people with bowel movements.  

Interestingly, one member of the Shark Tank board was noted as saying there was "something" about Edwards that she did not trust because of his odd and shifty behavior.  Her observation might have been more prescient than she realized. 

Squatty Potty is also known for cutting ties with Kathy Griffin as a spokesperson after she released her infamous promotional pictures in which she is seen holding a fake severed head that looks like Donald Trump.  The decision was a company move and not a unilateral firing by Edwards, though he noted that Griffin "crossed the line".

Edwards ultimately sold Squatty Potty in 2021 and walked away a multi-millionaire.

Edwards is also know for his advocacy work with an NGO called "Equality Utah", the largest LGBT youth advocacy group in the state.  He received an "Excellence In Advocacy" award from them in 2017 and would go on to serve on their board.  It should be noted that high profile pedophiles are often found working within NGOs that deal with children's issues; LGBT children's groups are particularly targeted. 

After the news of Edwards' arrest and the nature of the charges, Squatty Potty's viral "unicorn poop" commercial takes on even more suspicious undertones.

  

In 2019, he was a keynote speaker at the Utah LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce's annual "Gay-La" event (a membership drive and networking gala supporting the state's LGBT business community) and participated in their LGBTQ+ Economic Summit, sharing his business story in an LGBT-focused context.

In a 2020 interview with St. George News following the Supreme Court's Bostock v. Clayton County decision (protecting gay and transgender workers from discrimination), Edwards publicly supported equal protection under the law for LGBTQ individuals.  

His recent arrest is likely to bring into question his previous advocacy work and his true motives.    

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/26/2026 - 14:05

Hillary Clinton Says She Knew Nothing About Jeffrey Epstein's Crimes

Hillary Clinton told members of Congress on Feb. 26 that she does not have knowledge about crimes carried out by the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Munich, Germany, on Feb. 14, 2026. Johannes Simon/Getty Images

“I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein. I never flew on his plane or visited his island, homes, or offices,” the former first lady and secretary of state said in her opening statement to the House Oversight Committee.

As Zachary Stieber reported for The Epoch Times, Clinton said she was horrified to learn about the crimes and was disappointed that Epstein only received 13 months in prison in 2008 after pleading guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution.

Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, was also slated to testify to the panel in its investigation into Epstein. The Clintons agreed to testify after the House of Representatives was prepared to hold them in contempt for originally declining to answer questions on the matter.

[ZH: of course, some might say she's a COMPLETE LIAR (that no reasonable prosecutor who likes breathing would prosecute)...]

“Hillary Clinton: ‘I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein.’”

Meanwhile, Epstein once said Hillary Clinton was “much prettier in person.”

No recollection, though. pic.twitter.com/xY3XnPCbpp

— Gina Milan (@ginamilan_) February 26, 2026

Epstein died by suicide in federal prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse young girls.

Bill Clinton flew on Epstein’s plane in 2002 and 2003, according to flight logs and photographs. Court documents stated he went to Epstein’s island, where authorities say Epstein repeatedly abused minors.

Maxwell told Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in 2025 that she was friends with Bill Clinton and that the former president never went to the island.

“He never, absolutely never went. And I can be sure of that because there’s no way he would have gone. I don’t believe there’s any way that he would’ve gone to the island had I not been there,” she said. “Because I don’t believe he had an independent friendship, if you will, with Epstein.”

Epstein also went to the White House multiple times while Clinton was president. Maxwell also attended the wedding of the Clintons’ only daughter in 2010.

Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrive for former President Donald Trump's inauguration as the next president of the United States in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington on Jan. 20, 2025. Shawn Thew/Reuters

Bill Clinton’s spokesperson told New York Magazine in 2002, “Jeffrey is both a highly successful financier and a committed philanthropist with a keen sense of global markets and an in-depth knowledge of twenty-first-century science.”

A spokesperson for Bill Clinton said after Epstein was arrested by federal authorities that the former president “knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York.”

The spokesperson said that the trips on Epstein’s plane included stops for Clinton Foundation work and that Bill Clinton briefly visited Epstein’s home in New York and met with Epstein in a Clinton office in the city.

“He’s not spoken to Epstein in well over a decade and has never been to Little St. James Island, Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico, or his residence in Florida,” the spokesperson added.

A letter from lawmakers to the Clintons said they wanted to question them, given their family’s past relationships with Epstein and Maxwell. Lawmakers also told Hillary Clinton, “Given your past service as Secretary of State, the Committee believes that you may have knowledge of efforts by the federal government to combat international sex trafficking operations of the type run by Mr. Epstein.”

“The American people have a lot of questions,” Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told reporters in Washington as lawmakers prepared to question the Clintons. “To my knowledge, the Clintons haven’t answered very many, if any, questions about their knowledge or involvement with Epstein and Maxwell.”

Comer said that no one is accusing the Clintons at this time of wrongdoing but that the committee is trying to find answers regarding Epstein, including how he accumulated so much wealth and whether he worked for the government.

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/26/2026 - 13:45

Average 7Y Auction Stops On The Screws Amid Stock Rout

After yesterday's mediocre 5Y auction, we had just one coupon sale left: 7Y paper at 1pm today. And with today's wholesale post-Nvidia, risk-off move it was expected to be an easy sale, which is more or less what it was.

The Treasury sold $44 billion in 1 Year notes at a high yield of 3.790%, down sharply from 4.018% last month, and the lowest since November. The auction also priced on the screws with the When Issued, which was also at 3.790%. It followed 5 auctions in the past 6 months which tailed so relatively speaking, an improvement. 

The bid to cover was 2.498, up from 2.454 and also over the recent average of 2.461.

The internals were a bit weaker, with Indirects awarded 63.6%, down from 66.9% in January but above the recent average of 62.6%. And with Directs taking down 26.91%, which was right in line with the six-auction average, Dealers were left with 10.4%, a small drop from last month's 10.9%. 

Overall, this was a solid, if hardly, stellar auction, with average foreign demand and mediocre metrics, which in itself is rather surprising since the money from the equity selling has to be going somewhere and bonds should be seeing more demand, if only in theory. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/26/2026 - 13:28

Travel Stocks In Focus After Cartel Chaos Erupts In Mexico

The U.S. State Department has lifted its "shelter in place" alerts for Americans after Mexican special forces, aided by U.S. intelligence, killed a top drug cartel boss, sparking cartel-related chaos across at least one key tourism town in the third-world country just south of the U.S. southern border.

Helicóptero del ejército mexicano operando ayer en Puerto Vallarta (Jalisco) contra el Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación.
Instagram/Cornett pic.twitter.com/ADcgqnusdW

— Niporwifi © (@niporwifi) February 23, 2026

On Sunday, Mexican Army Special Forces carried out a decapitation strike against the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), killing Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera Cervantes. The operation triggered dangerous cartel-related uprisings shortly after that, which extended into Monday and Tuesday, with 250 blockades recorded, many of them in Jalisco state.

Footage from Puerto Vallarta, the popular tourist town in Jalisco, was on the front cover of many major U.S. newspapers and sent a chill through the American travel industry that funnels tourists into the region. What Americans saw was cartel gunmen torching vehicles and buildings in an immediate response to the death of El Mencho, reinforcing what everyone has known all along: Mexico is a third-world hellhole.

Officials say at least 62 people died in the raid that caught “El Mencho,” longtime head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, and violence that followed. This @vantortech satellite image of yesterday shows thick smoke across Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. More in thread.… pic.twitter.com/Cztlz8IWGY

— Christiaan Triebert (@trbrtc) February 23, 2026

Assessing the impact on the US travel industry is Goldman analyst Lizzie Dove, who found the biggest effect has been on airlines, not cruises or hotels.

For airlines, most U.S. carriers have limited exposure to Mexico. For most, less than 3% of their flights in early 2026 are tied to the country. But if travelers stay cautious, some may shift their plans to safer destinations, including Florida, the Caribbean, and other parts of Latin America.

Focusing on the airline impact, here's an excerpt from Dove's note:

Bottom line: There were significant cancellations in select airports following the events in Mexico over the weekend; however, these cancellations were in-line with or lower than cancellations at airports impacted by Winter Storm Hernando. Separate from the cancellations over the last couple days, the larger question in our view is if there will be a lasting impact on demand. We take no view on the length of the unrest in Mexico. While not directly comparable, we note that other recent geopolitical events have had a short-lived impact, if any, on demand for travel. As such, while there could be an impact from recent events, we could see the dissipation of demand headwinds fairly quickly if the situation is resolved (Volaris, one of the largest airlines in Mexico, resumed normal operations Monday 2/23). In the short-term, Sun Country has the highest exposure to Mexico, with ~10% of 1Q 2026 capacity scheduled to fly to various airports in Mexico. We note that February and March in particular represent seasonally high demand months for North to South travel to warm weather destinations as various regions of the US have spring breaks over this period. It is possible that some trips planned for Mexico could instead be re-booked to a domestic warm weather destination or elsewhere in Latin America/the Caribbean if there are lingering concerns around Mexico over the next couple months.

Cancellations were elevated on Sunday 2/22 and Monday 2/23, but largely driven by Winter Storm Hernando. On Sunday 2/22 and Monday 2/23, the industry saw an elevated level of cancellations, some of which were related to the ongoing unrest in Mexico, but with the majority driven by Winter Storm Hernando (see Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2). For example, JetBlue had significantly higher cancellations than its peers on 2/22, with 44% of flights canceled vs. its competitors canceling less than 10% of flights, but JetBlue has <2% of capacity deployed to Mexico in 1Q 2026. Cancellations at select airports in Mexico were material, even from a global perspective, with Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara among the top 20 airports with the highest cancellation rates across the world on Sunday 2/22 and Puerto Vallarata in the top 20 again on Monday 2/23 (see Exhibit 3 and Exhibit 4).

Recent geopolitical events showed short-lived impact to demand. While not directly comparable, if we look to two recent events we see potential for limited lasting impact to air travel demand. For example, while likely complicated by the broader post-pandemic recovery, following the events in Russia/Ukraine in February 2022, global air travel continued to recover (see Exhibit 5) and Delta had not seen any impact for travel to broader Europe as of April 2022. Following the events on October 7, 2023 in the Middle East, there was similarly a limited lasting impact to air travel (Exhibit 6; year-over-year global industry air traffic growth continued to improve following October 2023, and while there was a step-down in Middle Eastern air traffic growth in November and December 2023, January 2024 saw a marked step-up in traffic growth. We acknowledge each event may be different, and look for evidence of whether any potential demand headwind will similarly dissipate fairly quickly.

Mexico exposure is <3% of 1Q 2026 capacity for most US Airlines, except Sun Country. Looking across the US Airlines with greater than 0.1% domestic market share, Sun Country (Not Rated), Alaska (Buy), Frontier (Not Covered), and American (Sell) have the most scheduled capacity exposure to Mexico directly (see Exhibit 7). We do not currently expect a broader impact across Latin America and Caribbean demand, and believe some Mexico trips could be re-booked to other Latin American/Caribbean destinations if there are lingering consumer concerns around Mexico travel over the next couple months. Of the US Airlines with greater than 0.1% market share, JetBlue (Sell), Sun Country (Not Rated), and Spirit (Not Covered) have the most 1Q 2026 capacity scheduled to Latin America (see Exhibit 8). If there is demand to re-book Mexico vacations, domestic warm weather destinations could benefit.

Dove's view on the impact of hotels appears limited for now, but if travel warnings last, demand could weaken over time. Only a small share of the rooms at major hotel companies are in the affected Mexican states. Hyatt has the highest exposure, while Choice has very little. Hyatt could also soften the blow by moving travelers to its other all-inclusive resorts outside of Mexico.

As for cruises, she said the impact is also minor so far. Only a few Puerto Vallarta port stops have been canceled. Cruise lines do have some Mexico exposure, but many itineraries include multiple destinations, which helps reduce the risk if one Mexican port becomes problematic.

Related: 

• Cartel Kingpin "El Mencho" Dead. Here's A Shortlist Of Possible Successors

• Mexico's Cartel Decapitation Strike Fallout: "Not The End, Just The Beginning"

The full travel-impact note is available to Professional Subscribers on our new Marketdesk.ai portal.

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/26/2026 - 13:20

EPA To Reform $5 Billion 'Clean School Bus' Program

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is revamping the Biden administration’s Clean School Bus (CSB) program, which focused on installing electric buses at U.S. schools, the agency said in a statement released on Feb. 19. The overhauled program will focus on providing school districts with “increased choice and affordable options” for school buses.

School buses bring in players from the Burbank Bulldogs and the Pasadena Bulldogs before their game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., on March 19, 2021. Harry How/Getty Images

In 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act directed the EPA to create the CSB program and provide $5 billion over fiscal years 2022–2026 to replace existing school buses with zero-emission school buses. The Biden administration distributed about $2.7 billion in these funds, 90 percent of which was to fund electric school buses. The rest went toward propane-fueled vehicles.

“There are multiple well-documented examples of one particular bus manufacturer failing to deliver buses altogether despite preemptively receiving tens of millions of tax dollars from the CSB program,” the EPA said.

“To fix these issues, the Trump EPA will seek public input on the availability, cost, and performance of alternative school bus fuels and technologies. This feedback will help reform the program to bring consumer choice back to schools and deliver results for American families, while still fulfilling congressional intent.”

The EPA cited the case of Lion Electric, a Canadian electric vehicle company that was granted $159 million to build 435 battery-powered buses between October 2022 and May 2024.

However, Lion Electric filed for bankruptcy in December 2024. In August 2025, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the company still hadn’t delivered school buses to 55 districts, worth approximately $95 million.

The Epoch Times reached out to Lion Electric for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

In its latest statement, the EPA said it had issued a request for information that seeks feedback from school officials, fleet operators, energy producers, and manufacturers on a wide range of fuel options that can be used by school buses, including biofuel, hydrogen, liquefied natural gas, and compressed natural gas.

In 2023, almost 450,000 school buses were operating in the United States, the Department of Energy said, citing data from the World Resources Institute. As of July 2025, more than 5,100 electric school buses were serving roughly 265,000 students, the Electric School Bus Initiative said in a post published in July 2025.

Biden’s CSB Program

In a February 2023 EPA report submitted to Congress, the Biden administration highlighted the environmental requirement for the CSB program.

Most school buses emit nitrogen oxides and particulate matter in diesel exhaust, which contribute to poor air quality and negatively affect people’s health, especially children, who have a faster breathing rate than adults and whose lungs are not yet fully formed, the report said.

The agency’s CSB program funds the replacement of existing school buses with zero-emission and clean school buses, which will “ensure cleaner air for students, bus drivers, school staff working near bus loading areas, and the communities through which the buses drive each day,” according to the report.

Last year, a group of 17 Democrats in the U.S. Senate, along with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), sent a letter to Zeldin regarding the EPA’s decision to freeze CSB program funds, according to a Feb. 28, 2025, statement from the office of Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

The lawmakers said that CSB funding would support the electric bus manufacturing boom in the United States and create good-paying jobs.

They said that CSB provided health and cost-saving benefits, and they urged the EPA to distribute funding for CSB program recipients with signed agreements, according to the statement.

In its latest statement, the EPA accused the previous administration of intentionally limiting the availability of these fuel options so it could push for electric buses.

“By providing more options to school districts, EPA will ensure they can purchase the right types of school buses for their specific needs,” the agency said.

The data collected from the request for information will be used to revamp the CSB program for the 2026 grant funding round that prioritizes child safety and reliable buses, according to the EPA. The agency said that updating the program is expected to bring auto jobs back into the United States and unleash domestic energy production.

“The Clean School Bus program has been a disaster of poor management and wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars,” Zeldin said.

“At the Trump EPA, we have zero tolerance for reckless spending. Today, EPA takes the next step to set the program straight.

“Americans can rest assured that moving forward, the program will be safe, effective, and use reliable forms of American energy.”

According to the EPA, revamping the CSB program strengthens oversight and compliance actions in a way that aligns with President Donald Trump’s executive orders.

On Jan. 20, 2025, Trump signed the “Unleashing American Energy” executive order, which sought the removal of incentives for electric vehicles and promoted market choice for consumers.

In November 2024, the EPA’s Office of Inspector General released a report saying the agency didn’t have adequate oversight to record CSB program rebates for fiscal years 2023 and 2024.

“We found that the EPA failed to implement internal controls to make sure funding was properly allocated for the 2022 Clean School Bus Rebates Program,“ the report said. ”The Agency recorded the full amount paid to the Clean School Bus rebate recipients as an expense, instead of an advance, prior to the recipient expending the funds.”

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/26/2026 - 13:00

After WaPo Axed 30% Of Staff, We Now Learn They Lost $100 Million Last Year - Again

The The Washington Post lost more than $100 million last year, WSJ reports, citing people familiar with the matter - which explains why Jeff Bezos axed 30% of the newspaper's workforce three weeks ago, including CEO and publisher Will Lewis. 

The 2025 loss matches 2024 - when it also lost $100 million, which followed a $77 million loss in 2023, the people said. So, nearly $300 million in losses in three years. 

The Post, long associated with its reporting on the Watergate scandal and publication of the Pentagon Papers, has struggled to adapt to a media landscape defined by declining web traffic, shifting reader habits and intense competition for digital advertising. Like many legacy publishers, it has sought to build a sustainable subscription business while navigating the dominance of large technology platforms in distributing news.

In a staff meeting Wednesday, acting Chief Executive and Publisher Jeff D’Onofrio and Executive Editor Matt Murray outlined what they described as years of overspending and falling productivity. The presentation marked their first major address to employees since the layoffs.

According to people who attended, D’Onofrio said expenses exceeded revenue between 2022 and 2025, reflecting a hiring surge in earlier years that added hundreds of staff members. He did not detail the full extent of the losses during the meeting.

The number of news stories published has declined by 42% since 2020, D’Onofrio said, even as newsroom costs in 2025 were 16% higher than in 2020. The figures highlight the strain of maintaining a large reporting staff amid slowing audience growth.

Murray, who previously served as editor in chief of The Wall Street Journal and took the top editorial role at the Post in June 2024, acknowledged what he called “the painfulness of the moment.” He signaled a shift in editorial priorities, urging staff to be more selective.

“We don’t want or need to do every story or jump on everything that happens,” Murray said, according to attendees. “We’re not a paper of record; there’s no such thing anymore in today’s world.”

Matt Murray at an earlier meeting with Washington Post staff. Robert Miller/Washington Post/Getty Images

Still, he emphasized ambition. “We want to be distinctive, urgent, must-read with every chance we have,” he said.

D’Onofrio assumed his current role earlier this month following the departure of publisher and chief executive Will Lewis. He told staff he is developing a broader strategic plan to stabilize the organization.

“Bear with me, because that will take some time and obvious care, but I’m keen to get going on it,” he said. “And we are going to go after it, and we’re going to go after it hard, because we owe it to this place to do that.”

Three weeks ago in a staff call, Murray told employees that the company had been losing too much money for too long, and had not been meeting readers' needs. As a result, all sections will be affected in some way, and what rises from the ashes would be a publication more focused on national news and politics, business, and health, and less on other things.

"If anything, today is about positioning ourselves to become more essential to people’s lives in what is becoming a more crowded, competitive and complicated media landscape," Murray said. "And after some years when, candidly, The Post has had struggles."

Murray also said that search traffic has plummeted nearly in half over the last three years, partly due to the rise of generative AI - and that the Post's "daily story output has substantially fallen in the last five years."

The Atlantic, of course, painted WaPo's mass firings as a 'murder' - as opposed to a suicide. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/26/2026 - 12:40

Even Banks Now Bow To A Golden Master

Authored by Matthew Piepenburg via VonGreyerz.gold,

Although I never expected to say this, if you are still wondering about gold’s future price direction, just ask the big banks…

Getting Real

Emerging from a 2025 in which gold saw 53 all-time-highs and an annual move of 55%, some wondered if this was just another blow-off asset akin to any other, from dot.com stocks to crypto manias.

Such a misunderstanding of gold’s fundamental profile as a strategic monetary metal gained a bit more momentum on Silver Friday, when the CME engineered yet another temporary and entirely artificial price dip/manipulation to bail out the big banks caught in the mother of all silver short-squeezes.

This was not an end to the rise of precious metals, but a capitulation by the COMEX short-sellers (i.e. bullion banks) to get out their surging way.

Of course, when it comes to the legalized fraud in the COMEX or an openly rigged banking system, my thoughts, pen and voice have been consistently and transparently unkind.

Ever since insiders like Larry Summers helped to repeal Glass Steagall and effectively turn commercial banks into levered portfolio managers using depositor funds, the fractional reserve banking system became anything but a trusted counter-party for so-called “wealth management” in general or gold ownership in particular.

In other words, when it came to understanding gold, banks were the last place to find an honest broker or candid price projection.

The great irony behind all the recent bank squeezes and Comex mechanizations, however, is that they signaled an otherwise carefully hidden truth, namely: The big banks already knew that gold’s price moves had only just begun.

The Big Banks: From Gold Deniers to Gold Buyers

For decades, of course, bankers intentionally downplayed gold for obvious and self-serving reasons.

First, gold’s price direction was a direct threat to the “King Dollar” narrative which every banker from the BIS and the Fed to JP Morgan relied upon to compliantly ensure their employment.

Secondly, pushing gold, or even bank gold storage, was not nearly as profitable as pushing the far riskier yet consensus-safe template of topping private equity bubbles and cancerously sick private credit pools.

But as we enter 2026, the greater irony is that even the big banks can no longer hide what sophisticated gold investors have always known, namely: Rock now beats paper.

A Gold New World

In world in which fiat currencies are quantifiably and objectively melting like an ice cube under the heat of over $354T in global private and public debt, as well as $38T of embarrassing U.S. sovereign debt, the jig is up on the declining purchasing power of the paper currencies by which wealth is falsely (and dangerously) measured.

Gold, alas, is not a “rising trend,” it’s the de-facto new Tier-1, primary reserve asset and FX reserve currency in a changing world openly losing trust in paper currencies and sovereign IOUs.

In this changing world, the banks have been forced to change as well.

In 2025, for example, even Morgan Stanley, once fined for illegal price manipulation in precious metals, was suddenly yet correctly recommending a 20% allocation to gold over the “return-free-risk” of USTs.

The Latest from the Big Boys

Even more telling, however, are the still media-ignored messages percolating out of Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.

Goldman, for example, just made its 2026 year-end forecast for gold at $5400. Key to note, is that Goldman was careful to call this a “forecast” rather than “target.” This is because they wanted to avoid appearing too bullish.

But Goldman deliberately added the words “with significant upside risk” to their forecast, which translates to they actually expect a much higher year-end price move.

JP Morgan spoke far more directly/bullishly, announcing a $6300 gold price as their “base case” for year end, and went on to confess an upside as high as $8500.

Folks, seeing such gold price confessions from two pillars of a banking system historically terrified of rising gold is beyond telling; it’s in fact revolutionary in its implications.

To see banks suddenly joining the gold narrative is not only a confession of the dollar’s declining global role, it’s a signal of a global financial system in open flux.

In other words, even the big banks can no longer ignore the signals we have been revealing for years.

Seeing What We’ve Always Known

This is especially true of the open breakdown in the COMEX exchange, a devolution we’ve been tracking well ahead of their public learning curve.

With precious metals pouring out of the COMEX to a world openly thirsty for physical gold and silver, the exchange simply lacks enough of the physical metals to lever prices effectively downwards.

Take the COMEX silver inventories, which have fallen to 82M ounces. That’s a 75% decline from 2020.

Equally beyond denial for the commercial banks like Goldman and JP Morgan, is the dramatic stacking of physical gold by the world’s central banks, another bank-ignored fact we’ve been tracking for years.

Winds of Dramatic Change – From Dollar Debasement to Gold Stacking

Of course, the primary winds behind these changes had been obvious long before the TBTF banks finally admitted as much to themselves (or their clients).

The most obvious wind has been the hitherto ignored yet openly obvious matter of currency debasement.

When the M2 money supply skyrocketed 40% from $15T to 21T during the Covid hysteria, followed by another surge thereafter to $22T, was it really any surprise to see such an over-supplied dollar so debased (and hence your wealth so constructively stolen) by 2026?

Debasement, though bad for wealth preservation, sure is good for broke governments. Interest payments for Uncle Sam’s bar tab have grown by greater than 3X in the last five years, making it DC’s 2nd largest federal expenditure.

With U.S. debt at historically unprecedented as well as unpayable highs, such debt can be made worthless by making money more worthless—a win for Uncle Sam but open robbery for Joe Sixpack.

Gold, of course, has been quietly keeping score of this rigged game.

Relative to the M2 money supply, it is still grossly undervalued. The M2/gold ratio stands today at 4.5, not even close to the 2.5 level of the 1980’s, which means gold has a long way higher to go in price.

Further QE measures, which have already begun in 2026, will only add more dilution to the USD and more tailwinds to gold. In periods of excessive money printing, gold surges.

In the 1970’s, for example, gold rose 2300% (from $35 to $850). After the 2008 crisis, it moved upwards by 170% ($700-$1900), and during the Covid nightmare, shot up 40% (as the Fed’s balance sheet added $4.6T of mouse-clicked dollars) and would have traveled much further but for the then-current BTC hysteria, which distracted many…

More Winds…

Another wind of change, of course, has been the central bank gold stacking alluded to above. Ever since the watershed turning point in Q1 of 2022 when the US decided to weaponize the world’s neutral reserve currency, distrust in USDs and faith in gold has risen irrevocably higher.

Since that seminal event, and as we warned from day 1, central bank gold purchasing has risen by 5X, from 17 tons/month in 2022 to over 107 tons/month today.

Goldman Sachs estimates that for every 100 tons of gold purchases, gold’s price climbs by 2%.

Given that global central banks from Poland, China and Turkey to India and Russia will conservatively reach at least 750 tons annually, gold’s future price “forecasts” are not hard to measure.

Of course, such central bank buying doesn’t even include the retail sector, which is the last to catch on, ironically due to the fact that their bankers have been telling them for decades that gold was too volatile, despite the fact that it has outperformed the S&P in total return for a quarter of a century…

Despite record inflows to ETF gold in 2025, the average global allocation to gold is still less than 1%, and only just beginning to pick up towards prior median levels of 2%, or even prior highs of greater than 6%.

This growing retail trend (and awareness surge) will only add to gold’s longer-term and secular price momentum.

Bowing to a New Master

Based on these now obvious winds of change, gold’s direction is becoming far less of a debate or the contrarian trade of old.

Instead, the winds and signals in the gold market are calling paper money’s bluff. Gold is now emerging, as it always has throughout history, as a core allocation and superior store of value than paper promises or paper dollars.

As Gresham’s law reminds from as far back as the 1500’s, once investors are made to feel the difference between “good money” (gold and silver) and “bad money” (debased paper currencies) they eventually replace the later with the former.

What we have been tracking for years among the actions (rather than words) of the central bankers confirms this now undeniable pattern.

And what we are finally witnessing among the commercial banks today is that not even these former servants of paper products can deny the new direction of monetary metals.

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/26/2026 - 12:20

'Nude Photos, Video Tapes & Sex-Slave Manuals': Epstein Rushed Evidence Into Secret Storage Unit Before Raid

Jeffrey Epstein paid private detectives to remove items from his Palm Beach property and store them in a secret storage locker shortly before he was raided by police in 2005. The storage unit contained three computers, 29 address books, a three-page list of Florida masseuses.

The stash also included nude photographs believed to be of Epstein's victims, VHS tapes, DVDs 'eroticising teenagers' and porno mags, The Telegraph reports.

An 8mm video cassette tape was also locked away in the storage unit, apparently containing footage of someone in the shower and a woman in lingerie, as well as a 2005 calendar, greeting cards, letters and laboratory results.

The investigators also hid sex toys, body massagers, lingerie, cash, a concealed weapon permit, and a Harvard ID card. The inventory was emailed to Epstein and his lawyers in August 2009, a month after he was released from jail for soliciting a minor for prostitution. 

Also interesting, some of the computer material 'appeared to be missing,' including 'equipment that would have linked to surveillance cameras.'

That fuelled speculation that Epstein might have been recording explicit covert material without people’s knowledge, either for his own sexual gratification or for blackmail purposes.

And what do we have here? A guy who was installing recording equipment on Epstein's island in 2014, and was named as a $1 million beneficiary in Epstein's trust. 

Ruan worked for Epstein on the island property known as “LSJ” and was the primary technology person handling cameras and networking. He later transitioned the island to Ubiquiti equipment starting in late 2017.

Ruan was also named as a $1 million beneficiary in Epstein’s trust…

— IredcapI (@IredcapI) February 26, 2026

According to the report, the FBI did have copies of the two computer drives.

The Palm Beach storage unit was just one of at least six such lockers across the United States that Epstein used to store files, computers and other items from his multiple properties - but search warrants reviewed by The Telegraph "suggest that US authorities never raided these lockers, raising the possibility that they contained unseen evidence relating to Epstein and his associates."

US authorities have long suspected that Epstein was tipped off before the October 2005 raid at his Palm Beach mansion, with former Palm Beach police chief Michael Reiter commenting that "the place had been cleaned up."

Meanwhile, French Police have released previously unseen pictures from Epstein's Paris apartment, including one featuring a massage table and pictures of naked women hanging on the wall.

Pictures released by police show Epstein’s Paris home

Many victims have long alleged that Epstein secretly recorded encounters inside his homes, possibly for blackmail.

Yet an internal FBI memo released in a later document tranche stated that investigators found no evidence supporting the theory that Epstein maintained video recordings of abuse involving other powerful figures.

“We are aware of the theories circulated in the media and online that Epstein video recorded the abuse of his victims, including by other men, but we have found no evidence to support that theory,” the memo said.

The agency added that if such material had existed, it would have been used in criminal prosecutions.

Copies of two hard drives from the Palm Beach locker were eventually recovered at Epstein’s New York residence following his 2019 arrest, but the original computers are believed to have never been found. An FBI forensic analyst later testified that the drives contained photos of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and a job advertisement written by “GMax” seeking a massage therapist - but no explicit recordings of abuse.

Meanwhile, emails show Epstein repeatedly ordered staff and associates to wipe computers and shred tapes in the years leading up to his death.

In a 2014 email, associates discussed destroying computer equipment housed in a server room at his Manhattan mansion. That same year, according to previously reported emails, Epstein allegedly directed staff to install hidden cameras inside Kleenex boxes - with one message noting, “The Russians may come in handy.”

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/26/2026 - 11:55

Biden-Appointed Judge Rules Illegal Immigrants Can Dispute Third Country Deportations

Authored by Stacy Robinson via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge ruled on Feb. 25 that the government cannot deport illegal immigrants to so-called third countries without giving them “meaningful notice” and an opportunity to dispute their removal.

In Wednesday’s ruling, Massachusetts District Judge Brian Murphy (nominated by President Biden on March 21, 2024) declared unlawful two policy memos, one by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and another by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Those memos said that if the U.S. had received credible diplomatic assurances from a third country that deportees would not face persecution or torture, they could be sent there without any extra procedures.

“[DHS] has adopted a policy whereby it may take people and drop them off in parts unknown ... and, ‘as long as the Department doesn’t already know that there’s someone standing there waiting to shoot ... that’s fine,’” he wrote.

“It is not fine, nor is it legal.”

Murphy ruled that federal regulations required that illegal immigrants be deported to either their home country, or another country as designated by an immigration judge.

They also have the right to “raise a country-specific claim” against being deported to a third country, he wrote.

The case started last March, when four plaintiffs filed a class-action suit after the government tried to deport them to countries other than their home nation, without notice or opportunity to object to their destination.

In April, the judge expanded the class of plaintiffs to include anyone with a final removal order to a third country after Feb. 18, 2025.

Murphy blocked those removals on April 18, but on May 21 he found the government had violated his order by removing six individuals to South Sudan in Africa. He ordered the government to provide them with lawyers and hearings on whether they were afraid to live in that country.

In the meantime, the federal government appealed to the Supreme Court, which stayed Murphy’s order in June.

In its stay application, the government said the lower court proceedings were “usurping the Executive’s authority over immigration policy,” and “ wreaking havoc on the third country removal process.” It characterized some of the deportees as “criminal aliens who had been in the country for years or decades after receiving final orders of removal, despite having committed horrific crimes,” including sexual assault and murder.

The same day the Supreme Court stayed his April ruling, Murphy issued an order saying his May directive was still in effect, since the government had not included it in their petition. The justices had to issue a follow-up clarification saying it had intended to invalidate both of the judge’s rulings.

In a brief, unsigned order, the majority said Murphy was attempting to use his May directive—granting the deportees lawyers and hearings—to enforce the ruling from April, which he could not do.

Justice Elena Kagan, in a short opinion, noted that she didn’t want to halt Murphy’s decision from last April.

“But a majority of this Court saw things differently, and I do not see how a district court can compel compliance with an order that this Court has stayed.”

Murphy has suspended his own Feb. 25 ruling for 15 days, giving the government time to ask an appeals court to halt it for a longer period. He wrote that he didn’t think the government’s legal argument was strong, but noted that the Supreme Court had stayed his previous, temporary block on the DHS policy.

“Ultimately, this Court could be missing something in the final analysis,” he wrote.

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/26/2026 - 11:40

One Battle After Another

By Michael Every of Rabobank

One Battle After Another

US and Iranian negotiators meet in Geneva today to hear Tehran’s final offer but reports of what they have to say suggests we should prepare for the worst even if Iran sees a “good outlook” for today’s talks. The Kan news agency claims it will only agree to lower uranium enrichment from 60% to 3.67% for seven years, won’t hand over previously enriched material, dismantle the ballistic missile program President Trump just stated can already hit Europe and will soon be able to reach the US, and won’t stop its support for regional terror proxies.

US negotiator Witkoff, seen by critics as a soft touch, says a nuclear deal should last indefinitely while the above is a rehash of the JCPOA Trump spent years deriding (and whose backers often fail to note coincided with Iran processing uranium far beyond the agreed limits in secret underground bunkers). Indeed, VP Vance claimed there’s evidence Iran is trying to rebuild its nuclear program, which provides a US casus belli. It’s already imposed new sanctions on it.

In terms of the framing, Politico claims White House officials believe “the politics are a lot better” if Israel strikes Iran first, which would allow the admin to sell a defensive action in support of an ally. That’s unlikely to be an obstacle to action as soon as Indian PM Modi, who yesterday addressed the Knesset to stand firmly behind Israel “at this moment and beyond”, is wheels up to home later today. Also note the US Navy fleet in Bahrain has taken to sea to avoid a potential Pearl Harbor scenario, and another 12 F-22s are about to leave the UK heading east, joining 11 already there. Pay additional attention to Iran’s threat to escalate if attacked, breaking precedent not to do so regionally beyond Israel and/or token efforts: this is not the same playbook as the past.

This week also saw reported concerns an attack could involve US casualties and deplete munition stockpiles needed against contingencies in Asia. It would be a shocking error if either thought wasn’t front of mind before military pressure began: that points to underlying confidence in what the US has in store, and Iran doesn’t, or a gamble. Yet at this point the US cannot retreat without losing crucial global deterrence power: Iran is a military minnow compared to the States and any stand down would see supplies of Chinese weapons to Tehran step up so a repeat US exercise in years to come would be far more risky and/or unlikely.

In short, the US may be hoping to flip Iran into its camp via regime change. That would be a stunning geopolitical coup. Yet things could go wrong on multiple fronts, which could prove the coup de grace for much of what Trump is trying to achieve on them all.

One other thing needs to be underlined: US success would entrench Trumpism and demolish planned global alternatives; yet failure would do nothing to return ‘rules-based order’ or a benign free-trade backdrop for under-armed and over-dependent ‘middle powers’. It would instead open a Pandora’s Box of instability and volatility across geographies and sectors. As just one example, the IMEC (India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor) Modi fulsomely backed in Israel --which will initially involve Cyprus, Greece, and likely Italy, Bulgaria, and Romania-- can hardly thrive with a destabilised or antagonised Iran at its centre. There’s a lot more for markets to think about than oil and gas, important and volatile as they are (as the Saudis boost oil output and exports for an Iran attack contingency, and Iran has ramped up oil tanker loadings for the same reason).

US-Ukraine discussions will also continue in Geneva today: it’s unclear if we will see any breakthrough there either given Russia also needs to sign off – and again note talks are happening in Europe, without Europe. Markets don’t seem to be focusing on that dynamic vs the so-called ‘Sell US’ trend, but in the long run it matters. Also note Hungary’s Orbán has deployed troops to guard energy sites over an alleged Ukraine threat to them.

It's hardly quiet elsewhere: Cuba sunk a US vessel that had strayed into its waters, killing four Americans; Afghanistan threatened Pakistan and accused the latter of supporting ISIS; and UK PM Starmer’s controversial Chagos deal descended into chaos, with a minister telling MPs the process has been paused, then No 10 and the Foreign Office saying it’s still proceeding.

In geoeconomics, the USTR underlined that the US aims to keep China tariffs steady in a 35-50% range ahead of the Xi-Trump meeting, while the universal tariff will be hiked from 10% to 15% “where appropriate.” The USTR also underlined the US wants a deal with Canada where it imposes some sectoral tariffs --as Canada long has on the US-- and Ottawa agrees to prevent transshipment from China and Vietnam, etc.; that’s as the Chinese press suggest threatening Canada with a USMCA exit may push it into Beijing’s arms “as a hedge.” Which would then threaten North American geopolitics/economics being dragged through a hedge backwards. Chancellor Merz called for rebalancing Germany’s “unhealthy” trade ties with China. ‘How?’ is the question, as some note that many of the German CEOs travelling with him are still keen on shifting their domestic manufacturing to China and exporting it home from there.

Crucially, Zimbabwe imposed a ban on all exports of all raw minerals and lithium concentrate, as it wants crucial midstream processing to be done domestically to help it move up the value-added ladder in our new resource-centric global great game. Who will respond to that faster – China or the US? (Europe is not yet being mentioned in the mix.) Unrelated, the CME had to halt trading on its flagship metals market for more than an hour again yesterday due to “technical” issues. That does speak to how what we once thought was the global architecture is rapidly breaking down.

In AI space, the Pentagon reportedly took its first step toward blacklisting Anthropic; China’s DeepSeek is to withhold its latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, an interesting reversal; Canada told OpenAI to boost safety measures or be forced to by the government; and further upstream, France and Sweden are pushing to kill the mechanism to pay for massive EU grid upgrades needed to run AI at scale, among other things.

In the background, higher defence spending helped lift global debt to a record $348 trillion in 2025, according to the IIF --what could go wrong there on either defence or debt?-- as the IMF urged Trump to change course on economic policy and stop cutting government jobs. Do these two agencies talk much? And against that backdrop, the Australian financial press today reports: ‘‘Astounding’: No affordable houses for first home buyers in any city’. Let’s just say some of us aren’t astounded by it at all.

Let’s finish with some related Fed-speak. Outgoing Atlanta Fed President Bostic yesterday published his farewell essay, in which he noted, “…the legal and rhetorical battles raging around the central bank right now have caused people across a wide cross-section of our population to begin to doubt the Fed’s independence. This is a major concern…. I won’t be part of the Fed when we see resolutions of these battles. I will be watching closely and hoping that wisdom grounded in the profound success of the US economy over many years prevails.”

Indeed, may wisdom --and good luck-- prevail on multiple fronts. I fear we are going to need it.

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/26/2026 - 10:20

World Economic Forum Boss Borge Brende Quits As Epstein Fallout Deepens

The Jeffrey Epstein fallout continues to spread across the corporate and political worlds, with new headlines daily. Bill Gates told foundation staff earlier this week, "I did nothing illicit." Goldman Sachs' top lawyer, Kathy Ruemmler, stepped down last week over her ties, and former Prince Andrew was arrested on suspicion of misconduct related to sending Epstein trade documents.

Now, the World Economic Forum chief executive, Børge Brende, is stepping down following an investigation by the organization into his connections with the convicted sex offender.

WEF released a statement on its website announcing that Brende has decided to step down, and that Alois Zwinggi will serve as Interim President and CEO.

"After careful consideration, I have decided to step down as President and CEO of the World Economic Forum," Brende wrote in a statement.

He said, "I am grateful for the incredible collaboration with my colleagues, partners, and constituents, and I believe now is the right moment for the Forum to continue its important work without distractions."

The WEF launched a probe into Brende earlier this month, or at least publicly announced one, over his connections to Epstein, including attending at least three "business dinners" and exchanging emails and text messages with the sex offender.

Brende and Epstein communicated over email between 2018 and 2019 about meeting at the sex offender's New York mansion for dinner.

And this. 

WEF CEO Borge Brende plotting with Jeffrey Epstein to position WEF as the global governance structure

It should be called “Epstein’s Great Reset” henceforth pic.twitter.com/kDwjuRhgU0

— Jesse Matchey (@JesseMatchey) February 5, 2026

In April 2018, Brende wrote, "Missing you, Sir. Borge."

In a previous statement, Brende said he was "completely unaware of Epstein's past and criminal activities."

Perhaps Brende's assistant should have run a background check on Epstein, or at the very least, a very simple Google search. Epstein was first arrested by Palm Beach, Florida, authorities in 2006. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to two prostitution-related charges, one involving a victim under 18. He was arrested again in 2019 on federal sex-trafficking charges.

This is yet more negative press for the WEF cult, which has a unified vision in which people own nothing, eat bugs, and are told to be happy about it. That left-wing globalist agenda is fundamentally at odds with an America First worldview. Perhaps the Trump administration should host its own rival gathering next year - an "American Economic Forum."

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/26/2026 - 10:00

Biden's FBI Secretly Obtained Kash Patel And Susie Wiles' Phone Records, But NYT Says It's Cool

When Special Counsel Jack Smith was investigating Donald Trump and people in his orbit, he ended up surveilling then-private-citizen Kash Patel, and Trump Chief of Staff Susie Wiles during 2022 and 2003.

Patel, now head of the FBI, told Reuters on Wednesday that he found out about this, and the FBI buried the files in a "Prohibited" category deep within the bureau's computer system so they would be extremely difficult to find.

Getting down to it - the subpoenas targeted metadata showing who called whom and when - called 'toll records,' as well as a recorded a call between Susie Wiles and her lawyer - which her lawyer knew about and didn't tell her, according to Fox News. Technically, under federal law, the government can obtain toll records with just a subpoena and no warrant. Investigators insist they routinely pull toll records from prominent figures to establish timelines and verify involvement. Smith himself testified to Congress that records seized from Republican senators during the January 6 probe helped confirm the timeline of events, that no content was captured, and that his office followed all legal requirements. 

Hours after Kash told Reuters his side of the story, insiders on team blue ran to the NY Times to let them know that Patel has sacked 'about 10 FBI employees, some veteran agents' as part of a "rolling revenge" tour on members of Smith's team. 

The boys jumped into action:

The firings are part of a rolling barrage of retribution aimed at those who worked on the two federal prosecutions of Mr. Trump after his first term in office. They came hours after Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, told Reuters that as part of the documents inquiry, the bureau had subpoenaed phone metadata for himself and Susie Wiles, currently the White House chief of staff. -NYT

To summarize:  

Team Trump: The Biden FBI surveilled Kash and Susie, then tried to hide it. 

Team NYT leakers: That was perfectly normal, Kash is drunk on power and getting revenge. 

And of course, the NYT assures us: 

Requests for phone records are common in complex criminal investigations to establish timelines and provide proof of communication. It remains unclear if the F.B.I.’s Trump-appointed leaders have accused employees of wrongdoing. In the past, they have not. In some cases, firings have violated procedural safeguards created to protect agents from politically motivated dismissal, according to agents and their lawyers.

But, wait a sec - the Reuters story had the 'prohibited' category aspect front and center...

And yet, NYT:

Which is odd, because the 'prohibited' designation made them deliberately difficult to locate and effectively shielded them from oversight. He says he discovered the records only after taking over as FBI director and has since eliminated the bureau's ability to classify files that way. 

The seizure of the phone records was essentially covered up, which is not something you tend to do if it was all above board.

"It is outrageous and deeply alarming that the previous FBI leadership secretly subpoenaed my own phone records - along with those of now White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles — using flimsy pretexts and burying the entire process in prohibited case files designed to evade all oversight," Patel said.

Smith’s spokesperson declined to comment on Wednesday about Patel's specific allegations. Neither Joe Biden, former Attorney General Merrick Garland, nor former FBI Director Christopher Wray offered any comment for the story.

Nevertheless, the timeline raises its own questions.

Patel was called before a grand jury in 2022 after receiving limited immunity, during which he told prosecutors that Trump had declassified the documents taken to Mar-a-Lago. Wiles, for her part, became a close Trump adviser after his 2021 departure from office and eventually co-managed his 2024 presidential campaign. The record collection stretched into that campaign period.

Reuters could not independently establish what records the FBI obtained or who approved the subpoenas. The news agency also couldn’t ascertain if Patel or Wiles themselves were under investigation and, if so, why. Both were close to Trump during this period, as he built toward and ultimately launched his campaign to reclaim the presidency in 2024.

Both Patel and Wiles were known to have been interviewed by investigators as part of Smith’s investigation into Trump’s retention of classified documents following his first term.

In 2023, the FBI recorded a phone call between Wiles and her attorney, according to two FBI officials. Wiles' attorney was aware that the call was being recorded, and consented to it, but Susie Wiles was not.

Smith was appointed special counsel in November 2022 to lead two federal probes: one into Trump's handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, and another into alleged efforts to “overturn” the 2020 election. He charged Trump with felonies in 2023 on both fronts. A federal judge dismissed the case involving the documents. Smith dropped the election interference appeal after Trump won the November 2024 election.

This latest bombshell comes in the wake of another stunning disclosure: internal FBI emails from around the time of the August 2022 raid on Mar-a-Lago, which appear to directly contradict the Biden administration’s insistence that then-President Joe Biden had no prior knowledge of the search of President Donald Trump’s home. The records also revealed just how hard the Justice Department leaned into the push for a search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate—despite concerns within the FBI about whether the evidence actually justified such an aggressive move.

Patel says he doesn't know why investigators wanted his and Wiles' records. That's notable for someone who now sits atop the FBI. The bureau collected phone metadata on two of Trump's closest allies — one of whom would go on to run his presidential campaign — and filed it away where it couldn't easily be found.

Fox News reports that at least 10 FBI employees were fired on Wednesday in connection with this latest disclosure. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/26/2026 - 09:25

Hindenburg Alarm: Another Rotation Or Worse?

Via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

In early November, we sounded the alarm about a recent Hindenburg Omen. Per the Commentary’s summary:

Bottom line: market breadth is horrendous and will likely lead to a rotation favoring out-of-favor sectors and stocks.

Thus, it’s not surprising that the Hindenburg Omen was triggered. If we continue to see more of these Omens, the threat of a drawdown grows.

At the time, Mega-Cap stocks were grossly outperforming the market, while many sectors lagged the market.

Since that Hindenburg Alarm, our expectations have come to fruition. We have, in fact, seen a “rotation favoring out-of-favor sectors and stocks.”

The graphic below, courtesy of SimpleVisor, shows the significant change in fortunes between sectors.

The first column shows each sector’s excess returns (vs. the S&P 500) since the Hindenburg Omen on October 29th.

The second column shows the excess returns over the 50-day period preceding the alarm.

The Hindenburg Omen has sent 6 alarms over the last month.

The last batch of Hindenburg alarms signaled drawdowns in the leaders and strong performance in the laggards.

Is this Hindenburg Alarm signaling a rotation back to large-cap growth?

Or might it be more ominous for the entire market?

The last time this technical indicator triggered six times in a month was preceding the Pandemic crash of 2020.

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/26/2026 - 09:05

Futures Flat Despite Blowout Nvidia Earnings

US equity futures managed to erase overnight losses and were trading flat after Nvidia and Salesforce failed to assuage fears about an overheated AI economy while traders awaited color from today's round of US / Iran talks. As of 8:00am S&P futures were unchanged and nasdaq futures were down 0.1%, with NVDA up 1% premarket but well off overnight highs after its earnings report and guidance smashed expectations while CEO Jensen Huang talked about “exponentially” growing computing demand and “skyrocketing” adoption of AI agents. It wasn’t enough, especially as software companies Salesforce and Snowflake both provided lukewarm sales guidance to an already-nervous market. “Aside from fireworks, champagne and dancing robots, we are not quite sure what more Nvidia could have done on the 4Q call to get the market re-excited,” said Jim Fontanelli, co-founder of Arete Research. Discretionary, Financials, and Industrials are outperforming with notable weakness in Energy and Materials. In premarket trading, Mag7 names were mostly weaker ex-NVDA though, as JPM says, bulls should not panic as we await Long Only demand once the market opens. AI-related plays are higher pre-mkt. Bond yields are flat, the USD is flat; in commodities lithium prices surged after Zimbabwe, one of the world’s top producers, suspended concentrate exports. Brent crude edged lower as nuclear talks take place between the US and Iran while silver stalled as it reached nearly $90/oz. Today’s macro data focus is on jobless claims, KC Fed, and several Fed speakers. 

In premarket trading Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) rises 1.3% after its latest sales forecast drew a muted response from investors. Other Magnificent Seven stocks are mixed (Amazon -0.1%, Apple -0.04%, Microsoft -0.06%, Alphabet -0.06%, Tesla -0.6%, Meta -0.6%)

• Array (ARRY) drops 22% after the renewable energy company’s 2026 adjusted Ebitda guidance missed the average analyst estimate.
• C3.ai (AI) slumps 25% after the AI company cut its revenue guidance for the full year, missing the average analyst estimate.
• Celsius Holdings (CELH) rises 12% after posting sales which more than doubled from a year earlier following its acquisition of Alani Nu, allaying concerns that a change in distribution channels would disrupt sales.
• FTAI Aviation (FTAI) falls 4% after the aerospace company reported total revenue for the fourth quarter that missed the average analyst estimate.
• GoodRx Holdings (GDRX) falls 15% after the health-care platform forecast revenue for 2026 that fell short of Wall Street’s expectations. It also gave an estimate for the lower bound of 2026 Ebitda that would be below expectations. Multiple analysts said they were surprised by the scale of margin deterioration implied by the profit outlook.
• IonQ (IONQ) rises 13% after the quantum computing company reported fourth-quarter results that beat expectations.
• Janus Henderson Group (JHG) climbs 6% after Victory Capital offered to acquire the company for $57.04 per share.
• Krispy Kreme Inc. (DNUT) climbs 15% as the company expects leverage to decline further this year as it advances its turnaround plan following the end of its US partnership with McDonald’s Corp.
• Nubank (NU) slips 2% after the lender reported higher costs and provisions that analysts say offset net income increase in the fourth quarter.
• Nutanix (NTNX) rises 18% after Advanced Micro Devices said it will buy $150 million in the software company’s stock as part of a new partnership. The news was seen as overshadowing a reduced full-year forecast.
• Papa John’s (PZZA) falls 5% after the pizza chain reported weaker-than-expected sales results, which reflect a “weak consumer backdrop and elevated promotional environment.”
• PROCEPT BioRobotics (PRCT) sinks 24% after the medical equipment maker forecast revenue for 2026 that fell short of Wall Street’s expectations. The firm also posted results for the fourth quarter that Leerink Partners called a “painful miss.”
• Salesforce Inc. (CRM) falls 3% after the company gave a lukewarm outlook for sales growth in the new fiscal year, fueling investors’ worries that the software giant will lose out to new competitors in the age of AI.
• Synopsys (SNPS) falls 3% after the electronic design automation software company’s Design IP revenue came in below expectations. The company also forecast weaker-than-expected free cash flow for the full-year.
• Trade Desk (TTD) declines 14% after the advertising technology company gave a first-quarter forecast that was weaker than expected. The report is adding to concerns about competition from Amazon and AI-related disruption.

In corporate news, Apollo and BNP Paribas are said to be nearing a deal to partner up in Europe’s private credit market. Apple is in discussions with key Indian banks and global card networks in preparation to start Apple Pay in the world’s most populous country. American Airlines will invest $1 billion in a concourse expansion at Miami International Airport to bolster its position at its top international gateway.

Despite Nvidia's estimate-busting guidance, and CEO Jensen Huang talking about “exponentially” growing computing demand and “skyrocketing” adoption of AI agents, it wasn’t enough, especially as software companies Salesforce and Snowflake both provided lukewarm sales guidance to an already-nervous market. Yet there is one group of winners: memory chipmakers Samsung and SK Hynix jumped in Asian trading. A huge jump in supply-related commitments by Nvidia “likely reflects a deliberate effort by Nvidia to tie up valuable components,” according to Vital Knowledge analyst Adam Crisafulli. 

Nvidia’s shares “not doing much was quite instructive, especially within the context of one of the other companies that reported — Salesforce,” said Gary Paulin, chief investment strategist at Northern Trust Asset Management. “The concern is that the more success Nvidia has, the more concern there is in the market that there is more disruption.”

For Mohit Kumar, chief strategist for Europe at Jefferies, markets are being “too sanguine” about risks of a limited strike by the US on Iran and an increase in short-term tensions. While a long-drawn war is unlikely, the issue could weigh on markets over the coming days.

“We have reduced our risk profile into the weekend,” Kumar wrote. “Our medium-term view remains bullish and we would be looking to add at better levels.”

Private credit continues to be rattled by the software selloff, with Marathon AM Chairman Bruce Richards saying the asset class is way too exposed to the sector, though he sees little risk of contagion to the wider market. The Fed’s Bowman, meanwhile, said banks need “flexibility” to compete with non-bank financial institutions, which continue to increase their share of the total lending market.

In tariffs, the US vowed to maintain high duties on China hours after Beijing warned against any future hikes. Canadian PM Mark Carney’s visit to India this week will cement a diplomatic reset and unlock a wave of new trade opportunities, including in nuclear power, oil and critical minerals, India’s top diplomat to Canada said.

In earnings, out of the 453 S&P 500 companies that have reported so far in the earnings season, 74% have managed to beat analyst forecasts, while 21% have missed. Royal Bank of Canada, Vistra and Warner Bros. Discovery are among companies expected to report results before the market open. Bloomberg Intelligence expect to see continuing wealth growth and sustained profitability in capital markets at RBC, offsetting muted personal and commercial loan growth. Earnings from Dell, Intuit and Monster Beverage follow later.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 inches higher and is on course for a record close. Financial services stocks outperform while miners and construction shares lag. Here are the biggest movers Thursday

• Rolls-Royce shares rise as much as 8.4%, hitting a record high, after the UK-based engine maker said it was planning a major share buyback and raised its mid-term earnings targets
• Engie shares rose as much as 7.6% after it agreed to buy the UK’s largest power-distribution network for £10.5 billion ($14.2 billion) from Hong Kong billionaire Victor Li’s CK Group
• Indra shares soar as much as 20%, to its highest intraday level on record, after the Spanish defense company’s fourth-quarter results “beat across the board,” according to Morgan Stanley
• Howden Joinery shares surge as much as 11%, the most since July, on what Panmure Liberum analysts call “impressive” full-year results by the kitchen seller that beat the average analyst estimate for profit
• Puma gains as much as 9.1% after the German sporting goods and apparel retailer posted results that showed early signs of a long-awaited recovery, particularly driven by a strong performance in its Asian market
• Syensqo fell by a record after the chemicals maker reported fourth-quarter earnings that missed estimates with an outlook for this year that points to more struggles
• Hikma Pharmaceuticals sinks as much as 18%, the most since February 2016, after the drugmaker’s 2026 core operating profit guidance came in below expectations
• Freenet drops as much as 12%, most since May, after its fourth-quarter results missed expectations. Citi said this can be attributed to impact from a single mobile network operator agreement in which the firm fell short of a gross profit commitment
• Scout24 drops as much as 7.8% amid disappointment over a lack of earnings upgrades as fears of AI-driven displacement continue to weigh

Asian stocks extended gains to a fourth-straight day as South Korean chipmakers extended their rally, offsetting investor caution in the wake of Nvidia’s results. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed as much as 1.1%, on course to close at another record, with Samsung and SK Hynix among the biggest boosts. South Korea’s Kospi index jumped as much as 3.8% closing at an all-time high, buoyed by the chip heavyweights. Japan’s Topix and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 also climbed, while benchmarks fell in Hong Kong and Singapore. Nvidia’s results and outlook failed to impress investors amid concerns about an overheated AI economy, and some analysts also flagged concerns over competition. While the Korean memory makers gained, most Asian chip-related stocks slipped. Beyond tech, Asian markets largely shrugged off a US threat to raise global tariffs to 15% “where appropriate” in the coming days. The region’s stocks have been resilient this year, with the key MSCI APAC index up about 15%, far outpacing global peers.

Emerging-market stocks continued their outperformance, with MSCI’s gauge of EM equities up 15% in dollar terms this year. Rallies in memory chipmakers such as Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. fueled gains on Thursday, pushing South Korea’s Kospi index up more than 50% in dollar terms so far in 2026.

A report from Citigroup Inc. found that money managers had added to long positions in emerging markets across Asia, Latin America, as well as Europe, the Middle East and Africa. They also favor emerging currencies against the dollar.

In FX, the yen is the best-performing G-10 currency, rising 0.2% against the greenback after some hawkish BOJ remarks.

In rates, treasuries are steady, with US 10-year yields near flat at 4.05% as US trading day begins, after plying narrow ranges during Asia session and European morning. US 10-year yield is near 4.05% with curve spreads likewise little changed. Gilts outperform as the pound weakens, with UK yields 1bp-2bp richer across maturities. This week’s Treasury auctions conclude with $44 billion 7-year notes at 1pm New York time; Wednesday’s 5-year sale tailed by 0.7bp

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index is little changed.

In commodities, US crude futures fall 1.6% to their lowest level this week as the US and Iran start a third round of nuclear talks in Geneva. Some major Middle Eastern producers have also been boosting exports, as concerns about a potential conflict in the region create uncertainty about future supply. Precious metals are mixed with silver down nearly 2% while gold is slightly higher. Lithium prices surged after Zimbabwe, one of the world’s top producers, suspended concentrate exports. Brent crude edged lower as nuclear talks take place between the US and Iran. Bitcoin falls 1%.

US economic data slate includes weekly jobless claims (8:30am) and February Kansas City Fed manufacturing activity (11am). Fed speakers scheduled for the session include Miran (8:45am), Bowman (10am) and Goolsbee (2:30pm)

Market Snapshot

• S&P 500 mini little changed
• Nasdaq 100 mini little changed
• Russell 2000 mini +0.2%
• Stoxx Europe 600 little changed
• DAX +0.1%, CAC 40 +0.8%
• 10-year Treasury yield little changed at 4.05%
• VIX +0.1 points at 18.01
• Bloomberg Dollar Index little changed at 1187.55
• euro -0.1% at $1.1796
• WTI crude -1.3% at $64.55/barrel

Top Overnight News

• The US and Iran kicked off nuclear talks in Geneva with days to go until Donald Trump’s deadline for a deal. Satellite images show Iran is already rebuilding nuclear facilities damaged by American and Israeli attacks last June. BBG
• The Pentagon asked two major defense contractors on Wednesday to provide an assessment of their reliance on Anthropic's AI model, Claude — a first step toward a potential designation of Anthropic as a "supply chain risk": Axios 
• Iran’s atomic program hasn’t advanced significantly since the U.S. and Israel struck its three main nuclear sites last June, according to experts and diplomats, despite Washington’s top negotiator saying Tehran could make fissile material for a bomb within days. WSJ
• Pentagon officials and Hill lawmakers are increasingly warning that prolonged Iran strikes could stress U.S. military stockpiles to the brink and make the country more vulnerable. Politico
• The US will maintain high tariffs on China, at a range of 35% to 50%, according to USTR Jamieson Greer. Beijing warned it would take “all necessary measures” if new levies are imposed. BBG
• Suppliers to U.S. aerospace and semiconductor firms face worsening rare earth shortages, with two turning away some clients, industry insiders said, weeks before U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for a summit in Beijing. RTRS
• With deflation now firmly in the rearview mirror, the path is clear for the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates sooner rather than later, said policy board member Hajime Takata. WSJ
• Christine Lagarde repeated that the ECB has succeeded in taming consumer prices, while cautioning that policymakers must watch elevated perceptions of inflation. BBG
• The UK’s top banks are resisting a regulatory initiative to boost lending by lowering their capital levels, people familiar said. BBG
• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Wednesday markets have miscalculated the AI threat to software companies, hours after the chip behemoth issued an upbeat sales forecast on strong AI demand. Instead, he expects a broad swath of software firms to use agentic AI to develop their software and boost efficiency. CNBC

Trade/Tariffs

• German Chancellor Merz on his conversation with Chinese President Xi, said there are many challenges to overcome; Economic Minister will conduct a follow up visit.
• India's Trade Minister after hosting US Commerce Secretary Lutnick, said both parties engaged in "very fruitful" discussions to expand trade and economic partnership

A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk

APAC stocks are mostly positive as the majority of the region took its cue from gains on Wall Street, where tech led the advances and NVIDIA posted stronger-than-expected earnings after hours. ASX 200 mildly gained as the outperformance in tech, telecoms and healthcare offset the losses in energy and industrials, while better-than-expected private capex data also provided some encouragement. Nikkei 225 initially rallied to a fresh all-time high north of the 59,000 level but then pulled back from record levels as the yen gradually strengthened and after BoJ hawkish dissenter Takata called for gradually hiking rates. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were ultimately mixed with the Hong Kong benchmark the laggard amid weakness in tech, consumer discretionary and insurers, while the mainland was indecisive as price action was contained with very little in the way of fresh catalysts.

Top Asian News

• Japanese Coincident Index Final (Dec) 114.3 (Prev. 114.9).
• Japanese Leading Economic Index Final (Dec) 111 vs. Exp. 110.2 (Prev. 109.9).
• Australian Private Capital Expenditure for 2025-26 (AUD)(Estimate 5) 199.3B (Prev. 191.3B).
• Australian Private Capital Expenditure for 2026-27 (AUD)(Estimate 1) 158.4B.
• Australian Private Capital Expenditure QoQ (Q4) Q/Q 0.4% vs. Exp. 0.0% (Prev. 6.4%).
• New Zealand ANZ Activity Outlook (Feb) 52.6 (Prev. 51.6).
• New Zealand ANZ Business Confidence (Feb) 59.2 (Prev. 64.1).

European bourses (STOXX 600 +0.1%) are mixed, with France's CAC 40 (+0.4%) leading its peers while the IBEX 35 (-0.3%) lags. European sectors do not offer any additional bias. Financial Services (+1.3%) and Retail (+1.0%) top the sector list, while Basic Resources (-2.0%) suffer as silver prices fall. LSEG (+6.7%) supports the Financial sector, as the Co. unveiled a new GBP 3bln share buyback programme. For Retailing, Howden Joinery (+7.5%) released a positive FY report, with pretax profit rising annually. However, the boost in the Co.'s shares comes from the announcement of a GBP 100mln share buyback.

Top European News

• EU Consumer Confidence Final (Feb) -12.2 vs. Exp. -12.2 (Prev. -12.4).
• EU Consumer Inflation Expectations (Feb) 25.8 (Prev. 24.2, Rev. From 24.1).
• EU Economic Sentiment (Feb) 98.3 vs. Exp. 99.8 (Prev. 99.3, Rev. From 99.4, Low. 98.5, High. 100).
• EU Selling Price Expectations (Feb) 11.5 (Prev. 10.0).
• EU Services Sentiment (Feb) 5.0 vs. Exp. 7.5 (Prev. 7.2, Low. 6.8, High. 7.9).
• Italian Consumer Confidence (Feb) 97.4 vs. Exp. 97.2 (Prev. 96.8).
• Italian Business Confidence (Feb) 88.5 (Prev. 89.2).
• Swiss Non Farm Payrolls (Q4) 5.544 (Prev. 5.532).
• Swedish Consumer Confidence (Feb) 96.3 (Prev. 95.3).

FX

• DXY is modestly firmer after finding support around the 97.50 mark overnight before attempting to recoup some of yesterday's losses, with macro newsflow on the lighter side as US-Iran nuclear talks get underway. So far, Omani Foreign Minister said Iran and the US have welcomed proposals in the Geneva talks. On the data front, the Chicago Fed will release its labour market indicators; weekly jobless claims are seen at 215k from 206k; continuing claims (which coincide with the traditional BLS survey window for the February jobs report) are seen at 1.86mln from 1.869mln. DXY currently trades within a 97.49-97.72 range, vs Wednesday's 97.62-98.00 parameter.
• JPY is the current outperformer as USD/JPY continued to pull back overnight after climbing to its best levels in over two weeks, on Wednesday, following the Takaichi government's reflationist picks for the BoJ board. The pair was not helped by the lack of fresh drivers and the absence of tier-1 data from Japan, while there were comments from BoJ Governor Ueda, who reiterated the hiking bias, and hawkish dissenter Takata also stated that they must conduct further rate hikes in a gradual manner.
• GBP takes a breather after advancing in tandem with high-beta FX. Newsflow for the UK has been on the lighter side, with price action fitting with the subdued/cautious tone. UK focus will likely be on the Gorton and Denton by-election: analysts suggest that a heavy defeat for the ruling Labour Party could trigger volatility in Sterling. Some suggest a loss in what has been a safe Labour seat for nearly 100 years could re-ignite speculation regarding UK PM Starmer's leadership.
• Antipodeans are subdued following the recent outperformance that was facilitated by their high-beta statuses. Overnight, quarterly capex data from Australia topped forecasts, which feeds into next week's GDP release.

Central Banks

• ECB's Lagarde said we continue to expect inflation to stabilise at the 2% target in the medium term, will continue to follow data-dependent and meeting-by-meeting approach.
• BoJ's Governor Ueda said basic stance is to continue hiking interest rates if the likelihood of our economic, price forecasts materialising heightens, according to Yomiuri. Underlying inflation has not yet fully reached 2% and policy will be guided to get underlying inflation to around 2%, while avoiding it exceeding 2% on a sustained basis.
• BoJ's Takata said no preset pace for rate hikes and future moves depend on economic environment and data.
• BoJ Board Member Takata said fears of Japan's economy returning to deflation have been dispelled and believes it's necessary to move the BoJ's focus more to upswing in prices. Proposed a rate hike in January on the view that BoJ must continue adjusting real interest rates, which remain significantly lower than the rates seen overseas.
• Bank of Korea keeps base rate unchanged at 2.50%, as expected. Raises 2026 GDP growth forecast to 2.0% from 1.8% sees 2027 growth at 1.8%. Raises 2026 CPI forecast to 2.2% from 2.1% and sees 2027 CPI at 2%.
• BoK said rate decision was unanimous and median projections show base rate is seen at 2.5% in six months. Said the Bank will make policy decisions supporting a recovery in economic growth. Growth momentum is to remain favourable. Strong chip exports supporting growth.
• BoK Governor Rhee said no board member expects rates to be increased in three months time, also noted that US tariff ruling is to have a limited impact on exports for now.

Fixed Income

• USTs are flat and currently holding within a 113-04+ to 113-09 range. Really not much driving things for US paper this morning, and this has been reflected by the lacklustre price action. After-market on Wednesday, saw the release of stronger-than-expected NVIDIA earnings, with the name a touch firmer pre-market – but had little follow through from a sentiment perspective. On the data front, the Chicago Fed will release its labour market indicators; weekly jobless claims are seen at 215k from 206k; continuing claims (which coincide with the traditional BLS survey window for the Feb jobs report) are seen at 1.86mln from 1.869mln. From a geopolitical perspective, US-Iran talks have reportedly begun in Geneva. A breakdown in talks could spur some haven inflows in USTs, given the increased likelihood of a US strike on Iran.
• Bunds follow the sideways action across global peers, and hold within a 129.57 to 129.69 range. Lack of catalysts for German paper this morning, with commentary from ECB President Lagarde also failing to spur action. She reiterated the usual data-dependent and meeting-by-meeting approach.
• Gilts ditto peers. Currently flat and within a narrow 92.82-92.90 range. Markets were expecting some remarks via BoE’s Lombardelli, though nothing thus far. UK focus will likely be on the Gorton and Denton by-election, with some analysts suggesting that a Labour loss, in what has been a safe seat for nearly 100 years, could re-ignite speculation regarding UK PM Starmer's leadership. Hence, this could weigh on Gilts in the short-term.
• Italy sells EUR 6.5bln vs exp. EUR 5.5-6.5bln 2.85% 2031 and 3.45% 2036 BTP & EUR 2.5bln vs exp. EUR 2.0-2.5bln 1.468% 2035 CCTeu.
• Abu Dhabi is set to issue two benchmark USD bonds, Bloomberg reported. 5-year note offered at a spread +50bps over USTs. 10-year note offered at a spread +55bps over USTs.
• UK government debt sales are anticipated to decline for the first time in four years as large banks forecast GBP 247bln of gilt issuances in the approaching fiscal year amid Chancellor Reeves seeks to rein in borrowing, according to FT.

Commodities

• Crude benchmarks traded lower on the commencement of the US-Iran talks in Geneva. As updates from that meeting got announce, WTI and Brent dipped to fresh session lows and now trade off by around 1.5% and 1.3% respectively. Two main takeaways from the meeting, including the Omani Foreign Minister suggesting that Iran and the US have welcomed proposals in the Geneva talks. Elsewhere, Al Jazeera reported that the “Iranian negotiating delegation meets IAEA director” – this would be necessary for a market-friendly sustainable deal. Brent May’26 is now shy of USD 70.00/bbl, with the low currently a moving a target at the time of writing.
• Precious metals are trading mixed this morning, with spot gold trading firmer and silver lower. XAU and XAG trades within a narrow range of USD 5155.59-5205.58/oz and USD 86.33-90.34/oz, respectively.
• Base metals are lower this morning, tracking headwind from its largest buyer, China, which saw mixed to weak sentiment, pinning down price action for base metals. Sentiment in Europe has done little to shake off sentiment in the base metal complex, with European equities trading mixed this morning. 3M LME copper trades within the lower range of USD 13.23-13.35k/t.
• Nordic countries investigate a threat to the region's energy infrastructure, according to TV4 citing sources. “According to the threat, the actor may strike in the near future,” says an informant.

Geopolitics: Middle East

• Omani Foreign Minister says Iran and the US have welcomed proposals in the Geneva talks.
• "Iranian negotiating delegation meets IAEA director at the headquarters of the negotiations in Geneva", via Al Jazeera.
• Omani mediator in Geneva said that US and Iran are open to new and creative ideas, AFP reported.
• Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the country will move to the nuclear negotiation site in half an hour, our negotiating team has reasonable amount of flexibility in the US nuclear talks in Geneva.
• "Reported in Iran that the Omani foreign minister, who is in Geneva, conveyed to the American side the Iranian proposal for an agreement.", according to journalist Kais.
• White House officials reportedly argue it would be best if Israel makes the first move regarding striking Iran, according to POLITICO.
• US Secretary of State Rubio said Iran poses a grave threat and seeks nuclear capability, adds talks on Thursday will focus on the nuclear programme and that Iran also poses a conventional weapons threat designed to target the US.
• US VP Vance said we see evidence that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon.

Geopolitics: Ukraine

• Russian Foreign Minister says they do not have a deadline for reaching a Ukraine settlement, but does confirm they are working to resolving them.

Geopolitics: Other

• South Korea's presidential office states it will continue working towards peaceful coexistence with North Korea, according to News1.
• US Secretary of State Rubio said the US will investigate a deadly speedboat shooting off Cuba after the Cuban Interior Ministry reported its forces killed four people who allegedly opened fire from a Florida-tagged vessel.

US Event Calendar

• 8:30 am: United States Feb 21 Initial Jobless Claims, est. 216k, prior 206k
• 8:30 am: United States Feb 14 Continuing Claims, est. 1858k, prior 1869k
• 8:45 am: United States Fed’s Miran on Fox Business
• 10:00 am: United States Fed’s Bowman Testifies Before Senate Banking on Regulation
• 2:30 pm: United States Fed’s Goolsbee Appears on Fox News

DB's Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap

After 4 months of non-stop rain, we had a mini heatwave in London yesterday. I hope you've survived the highs of 16 degrees Celsius if you were in the UK and parts of Europe. Even before this "heatwave", I've been on maximum strength hay fever tablets for weeks now as it's unfortunately that time of year for me again. There were no streaming eyes for the markets yesterday though as we saw another decent session, with the S&P 500 (+0.81%) closing within half a percent of its record high last month, whilst the STOXX 600 (+0.69%) hit a new all-time high. That was primarily driven by easing fears around AI, which meant that software and other tech stocks continued their rebound from Monday’s sell-off. Indeed, software stocks in the S&P were up +3.05% on the day, and the VIX index (-1.62pts) fell to a two-week low of 17.93pts. But the recovery in risk appetite was clear more broadly, with Bitcoin (+7.65%) bouncing back to $68,945, whilst US IG and HY spreads tightened back in from their YTD highs.

The tech mood did fade a bit after the US close though even as Nvidia’s results delivered a stronger-than-expected revenue guidance for the current quarter ($78bn s $72.8bn est.). The initially positive reaction faded as the company’s conference call offered limited detail on the revenue outlook, leaving the chipmaker’s shares little changed by the end of extended trading. So perhaps a sign of investors’ increased anxiety over AI valuations, even as the world’s most valuable company delivered a remarkable 73% year-over-year revenue growth with 75% gross margins. Meanwhile, we saw mediocre results from Salesforce, whose guidance for $46bn of revenue in the current year just about met analysts’ expectations but failed to assuage lingering worries over the outlook for software revenues. The company’s shares fell by about -4.5 % in extended trading. This has left futures on the NASDAQ down -0.34% overnight, with those on the S&P 500 a more modest -0.20% lower.

Ahead of those results, it had been a decent session on both sides of the Atlantic, with Nvidia (+1.41%) itself up to a 3-month high. That came alongside a broader recovery in the tech space, with the NASDAQ (+1.26%) and the Magnificent 7 (+1.53%) both advancing, alongside Europe’s STOXX Technology index (+1.48%). There wasn’t a single headline driving that, but the rebound came amidst growing scepticism about the scenario painted by Citrini Research, which outlined a situation where US unemployment reached double digits by mid-2028. Indeed, as Adrian and I outlined in our Tuesday note (link here), even our own AI tool said it was “a work of persuasive, emotional rhetoric”, with a reliance on emotional framing to create a sense of alarm.                     

Yesterday’s equity gains were also helped by some of the other names that had slumped following the Citrini paper, such as Doordash (+5.28%) and Capital One (+4.70%). Blue Owl (+5.78%) recovered for a second day from Monday’s two-and-a-half year low, with an improved credit market mood also seeing US IG and HY credit spreads narrow by -1bp and -4bps from YTD highs. However, the breadth of equity gains was narrower than on Tuesday, with the equal-weighted S&P essentially unchanged (+0.03%). The S&P homebuilder index (-3.69%) was a notable laggard, weighed on by underwhelming earnings from home improvement retailer Lowe’s (-5.59%) and the absence of new housing measures in President Trump’s State of the Union address the previous evening.

Still, the growing optimism on the near-term outlook (and diminishing fears of mass unemployment) led to a clear risk-on move for several asset classes. A notable feature yesterday was that investors kept dialling back the likelihood of an H1 rate cut. The odds of a cut by the June meeting (the first with a new Chair) fell beneath 50% for the first time this year to end the day at 48%, suggesting more doubt about an immediate rate cut by Kevin Warsh, particularly now core PCE is back to 3.0%. And with investors pricing out rate cuts, that meant US Treasuries struggled across the curve. So the 2yr yield (+0.9bps) was up to 3.47%, whilst the 10yr yield (+2.3bps) rose to 4.05%. The moves in the belly and at the long-end also weren’t helped by a soft 5yr auction that saw $70bn of bonds issued +0.7bps above the pre-sale yield, with primary dealer take up rising to its highest since last March. So some signs of a softening in Treasury demand after the recent rally, with a 7yr auction today the next test. Having said that, yields have edged back down just shy of a basis point this morning across the curve.

Earlier in Europe, sovereign bonds had put in a stronger performance, with a fresh tightening in sovereign bond spreads too. So yields on 10yr Italian BTPs (-0.6bps) hit their lowest since December 2024, and those on French OATs (-1.2bps) fell to their lowest since July. By contrast, 10yr bund yields (+0.1bps) were steady, but that also meant France’s 10yr spread over Germany fell to just 55bps, the tightest since Macron called the snap legislative election back in June 2024.

Looking forward, UK politics will be back in the spotlight today, as a by-election is taking place in the Greater Manchester seat of Gorton and Denton. That’s a significant one, because the governing Labour Party won it convincingly at the general election in 2024 but opinion polls suggest they could lose it today, which would put Prime Minister Starmer’s position under growing pressure. That matters for gilt markets because of concerns about a new PM easing the fiscal rules and borrowing more. So there’s been a clear pattern of gilt sell-offs when questions around Starmer’s survival have resurfaced, and today’s vote represents another moment where that could happen.

Asian equity markets continue to rise overnight with the KOSPI (+3.11%) again leading the way, and again achieving another record high, primarily driven by chipmakers Samsung and SK Hynix. It's just over a percentage point shy of +50% YTD before the end of February! Elsewhere, Japanese stocks are also at fresh record highs, with the Nikkei (+0.10%) and the Topix (+0.94%) continuing to build on gains from the previous session as investors have adjusted their expectations regarding further interest rate increases by the Bank of Japan. The S&P/ASX 200 (+0.50%) is also performing well, reaching a record high due to ongoing strength in mining and banking shares. Conversely, mainland Chinese equities are experiencing slight declines, with the CSI (-0.17%) and the Shanghai Composite (-0.08%) both dipping marginally, taking a moment to consolidate after significant rallies in the last two sessions. The Hang Seng (-0.81%) is also in negative territory as local technology stocks have retreated after gains earlier this week.

In monetary policy action, the Bank of Korea (BOK) kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2.50% while signalling that policy would stay unchanged for the next six months as a chip boom in exports and steady inflation allow policymakers more time to assess financial stability risks. Meanwhile, the central bank raised its growth forecast for 2026 to 2.0% from a previous estimate of 1.8% citing stronger-than-expected chip exports. Following the decision, yields on the policy-sensitive 3yr government bonds fell -4.6bps to trade at 3.12% as we go to print.

Over on the tariff front, there hasn’t been much in the way of concrete news, but we did get a few comments from US Trade Representative Greer on the path forward yesterday. He said that President Trump would raise the current 10% rate to 15% “where appropriate”, and when it came to the deals already agreed, he said they wanted “to give continuity and be able to be in a position where we can honor the deals”. So that suggested that a country like the UK, which agreed a 10% tariff deal with the US last year, might not be affected by a rise in the global rate to 15%. That had been a concern earlier in the week, as the new global rate had raised fears of fresh retaliation, with the EU already having paused ratification of the deal they agreed with the US last year.

Looking at the day ahead now, data releases include the US weekly initial jobless claims, the Euro Area M3 money supply for January, and the European Commission’s economic sentiment indicator for the Euro Area in February. From central banks, we’ll hear from ECB President Lagarde and the ECB’s Dolenc, along with the Fed’s Bowman and the BoE’s Lombardelli. Finally in the UK, there’s a parliamentary by-election in Gorton and Denton.

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/26/2026 - 08:40

Jobless Claims Continue To Show No Signs Of Labor Market Stress

Initial jobless claims continue to hover near multi-decade lows, refusing to show any signs of labor market stress.

Last week saw 212k American file for jobless benefits for the first time (below the 216k expected). Unadjusted claims tumbled to the lowest since September...

Source: Bloomberg

Michigan and New York saw the largest drop in initial jobless claims last week while Rhode Island and Oklahoma saw the bigger rise in claims...

The number of Americans filing for continuing jobless claims also dropped last week to 1.833 million (well below the 1.9mm Maginot Line)...

Source: Bloomberg

It seem the 'no fire' side of the 'no fire-no hire' economy continues to support trend growth.

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/26/2026 - 08:37

Ten Cuban Nationals Aboard U.S.-Linked Speedboat Intended "Armed Infiltration For Terrorist Purposes," Cuba Claims

The Cuban Embassy's official X account says a Florida-registered speedboat carrying 10 Cuban nationals residing in the U.S. entered Cuban territorial waters armed with assault rifles, body armor, improvised explosive devices, camouflage uniforms, and telescopic sights, in what the government says was a "foiled armed infiltration" into the Caribbean island nation.

Late Wednesday afternoon, the embassy's account reported that Cuban border guards aboard a vessel had fired on a U.S.-linked speedboat off Cuba's north coast, killing four people and injuring six others.

By late Wednesday, the embassy provided additional details about what the group of "Cuban nationals residing in the United States" was allegedly attempting to do, describing it as an effort to "carry out an infiltration for terrorist purposes."

Here's what the embassy said:

Participants in Foiled Armed Infiltration in Villa Clara Identified

As part of the ongoing investigation into the armed attack against a patrol vessel of the Border Guard Troops of the Ministry of the Interior, in the northeastern area of the El Pino channel, at Cayo Falcones, municipality of Corralillo, Villa Clara province, the following update is provided:

Authorities have confirmed that the intercepted speedboat, registered in the State of Florida under number FL7726SH, was carrying 10 armed individuals who, according to preliminary statements by those detained, intended to carry out an infiltration for terrorist purposes.

The following items were seized: assault rifles, handguns, improvised explosive devices (Molotov cocktails), body armor, telescopic sights, and camouflage uniforms.

. . .

All participants are Cuban nationals residing in the United States. Most have prior records involving criminal and violent activity...

Participants in Foiled Armed Infiltration in Villa Clara Identified

As part of the ongoing investigation into the armed attack against a patrol vessel of the Border Guard Troops of the Ministry of the Interior, in the northeastern area of the El Pino channel, at Cayo Falcones,… pic.twitter.com/s9IFmUkqvk

— Cuban Embassy in US (@EmbaCubaUS) February 26, 2026

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio commented on the incident, saying, "What I'm telling you is we're going to find out exactly what happened and who was involved. We're not going to just take what somebody else tells us. I'm very confident we will be able to know the story independently."

SECRETARY RUBIO on CUBA: What I’m telling you is we’re going to find out exactly what happened and who was involved. We’re not going to just take what somebody else tells us.

I’m very confident we will be able to know the story independently. pic.twitter.com/965ul2lC8b

— Department of State (@StateDept) February 26, 2026

The Trump administration's current posture toward Cuba is geared toward increasing pressure on Havana and ridding the island of communism. As noted yesterday, the key question is how the administration frames the narrative around the maritime incident, whether it uses it to shape public opinion, and whether this marks the early stages of a new narrative that supports future intervention to topple the communists in Havana.

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/26/2026 - 08:25

Fed Independence Is Sacred... Or So We've Been Told

Authored by Richard Roberts via RealClearMarkets.com,

For the better part of a year, many had become convinced that the Federal Reserve's independence was in its final days.

The narrative rested on two prongs.

• First, an FOMC browbeaten by relentless public attacks, threats of removal, and a Justice Department criminal probe into Chair Jerome Powell. The pressure, many argued, had grown so intense that Fed decisions would no longer be trusted to reflect economics rather than politics.

• Second, a new chair expected to arrive in May 2026, widely projected to be a Trump loyalist, would finish what the pressure campaign had started.

Both prongs have problems.  

• On the first, the captured FOMC: the January minutes. Several Fed officials raised the possibility that an interest rate increase might be appropriate if inflation continues tracking above target. Not fewer cuts. A hike. This from a committee supposedly beaten into submission. If the Fed has lost its spine, someone forgot to tell the Fed.

• On the second, the Trump loyalist: the evidence does not support it. After an initial market jolt, analysts largely concluded that nominee Kevin Warsh represented a mainstream, independent choice. Warsh himself has said publicly that independent operations in the conduct of monetary policy are essential. Those who dismissed him as Trump's instrument did so without the kind of evidence they would demand in other contexts. As an aside, while at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York during the Global Financial Crisis, I noted Warsh as a leader who was calm under pressure, analytically sharp, and unwilling to bend to the moment's politics.

So, Fed independence seems on solid ground. The doomsday scenario looks considerably less likely than the headlines suggested.

Which Makes This the Right Moment to Ask an Uncomfortable Question

If the battle is not coming, we lose the chance to test empirically what we have long assumed: that a Fed stripped of independence would cause serious and lasting economic harm. That makes the underlying question more urgent, not less. If crisis will not force the examination, intellectual honesty should.

Do we actually have compelling evidence that the Fed must be independent in the first place, or have we simply repeated that claim long enough to mistake consensus for proof?

A moment of relative calm is exactly the right time to ask it honestly.

Correlation Is Not Causation

The story economists tell is clean and confident. Independent central banks produce lower inflation. Political interference leads to time-inconsistency problems: governments prefer cheap money before elections, stoking inflation that becomes ruinously expensive to reverse. When the Fed bent to political pressure under Arthur Burns during the Nixon years, inflation spiraled. A brutal recession was eventually required to bring it back under control. Lesson learned. Independence enshrined.

It is a compelling narrative. But compelling narratives are not robust empirical proof.

The foundational academic work, Alesina and Summers in 1993 and Cukierman's cross-country analysis, found that more independent central banks were associated with lower inflation.

Associated.

Critically, the same research found little evidence that political control had any meaningful impact on growth or unemployment. Countries with stronger institutions tend to have both more independent central banks and better inflation outcomes for reasons that may have little to do with independence itself. After 2000, as inflation fell almost everywhere, the statistical relationship weakened further. The broader literature is not silent, but it is far from conclusive.

Yet the doctrine is treated as settled fact.

A Different World

The financial world of 2026 looks nothing like the world those models were built to describe. Capital moves instantly across borders. The dollar anchors global reserves. Inflation is driven as much by supply chains as by domestic money supply. Bond markets discipline policy in real time; the vigilantes are not a 1980s relic, they are embedded in global capital flows.

The case for independence was built on a world that no longer exists. That is not an argument against it. It is an argument for reexamining it.

What Warsh Should Do

I have previously written about modernizing inflation measurement, still relying on frameworks that predate the data revolution, and rethinking a regional Fed architecture built for a financial system that no longer exists. The independence doctrine belongs on that same list.

Warsh has an opening here, one he should take before the political noise makes any examination look like capitulation. A serious review would start with the right commission. Not an internal working group, but a balanced body drawing on academic economists, market practitioners, former Fed officials, former members of Congress, and institutional scholars, given one narrow question: is the current independence framework optimally designed for modern conditions?

Then ask the hard questions. Does the empirical evidence support the current degree of independence, or would a more structured accountability framework deliver equivalent outcomes? Are there intermediate models, enhanced transparency requirements, formal congressional review mechanisms, structured communication protocols, that preserve credibility while improving democratic accountability? What can be learned from how peer central banks, the ECB, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, structure independence differently?

Then commit to publishing findings with teeth. A review that produces conclusions no one is bound to act on is just theater.

An Honest Reckoning

I am not arguing that independence should be abandoned. I am arguing that it should not be treated as beyond question simply because it has been around for decades. The profession prides itself on empirical rigor, and it has applied that standard to almost everything except its own institutional assumptions.

If independence is truly indispensable, honest examination will confirm it. If it needs updating, better to find that out deliberately than in the middle of a crisis.

Sometimes the Fed asks hard questions about everything except itself. Warsh can change that.

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/26/2026 - 08:05

Zimbabwe Lithium Disruption Has Goldman Eyeing This Trade

Earlier news from Bloomberg that Zimbabwe has suspended exports of lithium concentrates and raw minerals to force miners into local processing has caught the attention of Goldman analyst James McGeoch. He sees a potential trading opportunity in a mineral-exploration company that could be positioned for upside.

Let's begin with the report that Mines Minister Polite Kambamura told reporters earlier that the export ban is effective immediately until further notice. Zimbabwe has one of the largest lithium reserves in Africa and is among the top global producers.

Zimbabwe Suspends Export of Raw Minerals and Lithium Concentrates.

Mines Minister Hon. Dr. P. Kambamura has ordered the immediate suspension of all exports of raw minerals and lithium concentrates, including consignments already in transit, to enforce in-country value addition… pic.twitter.com/acX0CmntoX

— Zimbabwe Economic Review (@ZimbabweReview) February 25, 2026

IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION OF EXPORT OF RAW MATERIALS AND LITHIUM CONCENTRATES

The Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Hon. Dr. P. Kambamura (MP), has announced an immediate suspension on the export of all raw minerals and lithium concentrates, effective immediately.… pic.twitter.com/Mw1Ua4yfIl

— Nick Mangwana (@nickmangwana) February 25, 2026

Zimbabwe has become a global powerhouse in supplying lithium to Chinese refineries.

The latest USGS data shows Zimbabwe produced an estimated 22,000 metric tons of lithium in 2024, versus a reported world total of 240,000 metric tons. That works out to about 9.2% of reported global mine output.

Such a disruption piqued McGeoch's interest:

REMEMBER this : Its Africa - recetn example is Cobalt - Feb 2025 put an export ban in place, Oct 2025 they announced export quotas, rolled them forward into 2026 - end Feb they have exported c.3k tonnes v typical of 20kt. Expect the mkt will price this disruption as per the below and there was already a willingness/desire to own Lithium which will amplify basis this.

Continue to point to GSCBGLLI Index...... Want a small cap i have been keeping an eye on QTWO CN

McGeoch pointed out Zimbabwe's trade and production data and how Chinese lithium prices are already reacting to the disruption:

In terms of production, GIR had forecast 160kt LCE (Lithium Carbonate Equivalent) of production in Zimbabwe for 2026 – this accounts for roughly 10% of ex-China supply.

To put this chart into context, in LCE terms, 2025 exports of Zimbabwe Spodumene to China totalled 160kt LCE, virtually all their production.

What does this mean for price action?

Post Chinese New Year holiday, GFEX prices were up 10% (close on close), evidence of supported prices before this headline in an already fundamentally tight market. On the Wuxi exchange (a private onshore exchange that trades around the clock), lithium carbonate prices have rallied 14% today post-headline, from roughly 160k CNY/MT to 185k CNY/MT. We expect GFEX prices (onshore lithium carbonate exchange) to move higher on this tomorrow.

McGeoch wrote in a separate note, "Zim is the marginal spodumene supplier. The ban will only be lifted if miners comply with government requirements. ...Zim is 8% on our 2026 supply numbers."

He added:

Team just running some numbers. More recently the Lithium price closed today at RMB 166k , we are 13% off the highs of 190k in Jan. Clearly will be limit up, WUXI is +12% on this headline. already .... We expect new highs without a doubt here, China came back and bought it pre this headline, now we all catch up. Its been an ESS story and i see that theme getting stronger not weaker.

Here is where China's 99.5% battery-grade lithium carbonate prices stand after the 2021-22 boom-and-bust.

McGeoch and Goldman's commodities desk have certainly taken an interest in lithium this morning. Professional subscribers can read the full note at our new Marketdesk.ai portal.

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/26/2026 - 07:45

Fusion Power Needs To Be American-Born

Authored by Lawrence Kadish via The Gatestone Institute,

Perhaps not since Teddy Roosevelt have we had a president who thinks as big as Donald J. Trump.

From his projection of military power that protects our national interests to his understanding of how a complex economy powers the greatest nation on earth, President Trump has demonstrated a unique appreciation of what America must do to maintain its global leadership.

It is for that reason that he has assumed a quiet but strategic leadership role in advancing our country's pursuit of fusion energy -- the same process that powers the sun and one that could literally provide America with unlimited energy far into the future.

While scientists have been able to create fusion energy in a lab setting, much work still needs to be done to make it commercially viable.

For a president who has staked his legacy on American greatness, there is no more important strategic achievement than ensuring that fusion is American-born.

Trump has made this pursuit of energy a national priority — not for ideological reasons, but for deeply practical ones.

The geopolitical stakes could not be higher.

China has dramatically increased its investment in fusion research, committing billions to state-backed programs with one goal: to beat America in delivering commercial fusion power to their national electrical grid.

The country that cracks fusion first will not merely solve its own energy needs — it will hold the keys to powering our world for generations to come.

The president knows allowing China to reach that finish line first would represent one of the greatest geopolitical surrenders in American history. It is unthinkable.

Fusion energy brings total energy independence.

No OPEC with the Middle East holding us hostage. No hostile regimes choking supply routes for oil and gas. No price shocks at the pump driven by some terrorist group attacking oil tankers.

A fusion-powered America would be permanently energy independent.

Trump has much on his plate, but fusion energy is the biggest possible bet he can make on America's future and a legacy that will be chronicled by historians for generations to come.

The race is already underway. Our nation needs to win it. Fusion energy must be American-born.

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/26/2026 - 07:20

South Africa Expresses 'Heartfelt Gratitude' For Putin Returning 17 Citizens Trapped In Warzone

BRICS allies Russia and South Africa are taking steps to heal tensions related to the Ukraine war and allegations that groups of South African men were 'lured' to fight on behalf of Moscow.

Last December, a Reuters investigation documented that South Africans were being recruited into the Russian armed forces under false pretenses. People were allegedly promised high-level jobs and elite training in Russia, only to find out they unwittingly joined the Russian military, and eventually found themselves fighting in Ukraine soon after documents were hastily signed. In these cases the implication is that these South African individuals are in desperate financial straits.

Presidents Putin and Cyril Ramaphosa, via TASS.

The South African government had first confirmed in November its officials had received "distress calls" from 17 men who were trapped on the front line in Ukraine's Donbas, after in some instances having mistakenly joined mercenary groups.

The Reuters report had said young men were offered training programs in Russia which would lead to high paying jobs like personal security protection. But instead they were given low-level positions like trench-diggers or tasked with hauling ammo or high risk logistical endeavors - all while "dodging bullets" according to the report.

But the saga is coming to a close and with some diplomatic healing as Russia has promptly returned the 17 men. South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday issued a statement of "heartfelt gratitude" to President Vladimir Putin for resolving the issue quickly.

"President Ramaphosa has expressed his heartfelt gratitude to President Vladimir Putin, who responded positively to his call to support the process of returning the men home," the presidency said in a statement.

"The investigation into the circumstances that led to the recruitment of these young men into mercenary activities is ongoing," it added.

According to the latest via Fox:

Four of the men have already returned to South Africa, while 11 are expected to arrive soon. 

Two remain in Russia — one receiving treatment at a hospital in Moscow and another being processed before finalizing travel arrangements.

The South African government had previously acknowledged that the "process to retrieve those young men remains a very sensitive process" - for which it was giving the highest priority.

"They are afraid that Russian military or Russian soldiers might kill them."

Thulani Mahlangu, a representative of parents of South African mercenaries fighting for Russia, tells @SkyYaldaHakim they have no way home if they decide to leave.https://t.co/YXMcOOyMkZ pic.twitter.com/zXlvbHFbre

— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 17, 2025

The government has also admitted the the reality that many South Africans have also traveled to fight for Ukrainian forces. But this has been seen as less of an issue because it was more transparent they were either volunteering or getting paid specifically to fight on behalf of Ukraine. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 02/26/2026 - 06:55