Democracy's Road to Tyranny

Blue Owl Stock Slides After Moody's Cuts Outlook To "Negative" On Surging Redemption Requests Blue Owl stocks is getting slammed this morning, erasing all early gains, after Moody's Ratings cut its outlook on a $36-billion Blue Owl non-traded fund to "negative" from "stable" on Tuesday, citing redemption requests that were significantly higher than at peers in the first quarter. Moody's also said the change in the outlook on Blue Owl Credit Income Corp (OCIC) is ​due to the majority of the redemption requests coming from a very limited number of investors,...

"No More Mr. Nice Guy": US Strikes, Seizes Iranian Cargo Ship Trying To Break Blockade Summary Trump renews threats if no deal is reached: "No More Mr. Nice Guy" Trump says U.S. struck and seized Iranian-flagged cargo ship in Gulf of Oman Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has ground to a halt after multiple incidents (Iran renewed threats to close the Bab al-Mandeb Strait) Vance to lead negotiations with Iran, along with Witkoff and Kushner, on Tuesday or Wednesday "We are still far from the final discussion,"  said speaker of the Iranian parliament Ghalibaf US...

Regulators Circle StanChart After CEO's AI Layoff Comments Spark Uproar It has been a tumultuous week for Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters. Winters appeared out of touch with the growing anxiety surrounding mounting white-collar AI-related job losses. He described the bank's AI adoption push as "not cost-cutting," but rather as "replacing lower-value human capital with financial and investment capital." Such language ignited a firestorm for the CEO and the bank, and by the end of the week, regulatory scrutiny had descended on the firm. Reuters reports that authorities in Hong Kong and...