Xi Says "Global Order Crumbling Into Disarray" As Trump Turns Up Pressure Campaign On China

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in a post on X on Thursday that inflating the Pentagon budget by nearly 50% to $1.5 trillion for 2027 was a “fiscally responsible investment” as the Trump administration attempts to justify its record-shattering military budget request. “Thanks to President Trump’s $1.5 trillion defense budget, this War Department has […]

Japanese Bond Yields Surge To 30 Year High On Report Tokyo May Hike Defense Spending To 3.5% Of GDP Just in case Japan's bond yields weren't high enough already, Bloomberg reports that Japan is considering a new mid-term defense spending target of 3.5% of GDP in line with NATO and other US allies. Such a move would send a shockwave through financial markets concerned about Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s spending plans at a time when Japan is preparing to trim tax receipts even more by cutting consumption tax to 1%. Japanese defense officials...

Banks Curb FOMO-Chasing Levered Bets On Korean Tech Firms SK Hynix has been THE poster-child for 'Vol Up, Spot Up' FOMO-chasing over the past few months of exuberant semi-shortage panic-buying... And volumes in levered Semi trades has been astronomical... With SK Hynix standing out among the most-levered bets... Driven by massive speculative momentum (margin loans at record highs)... ...which faced huge forced liquidations amid the recent volatility... So it really should not be a surprise that Bloomberg reports that global banks are curbing hedge funds’ leveraged bets on Asia’s top chipmakers including SK Hynix and Samsung. According...