AI Backlash
AI chiefs ask the UN Security Council for rules and Washington refuses
OpenAI and Anthropic pressed for international safety standards this week; the White House rejected the idea outright and Meta and Nvidia sided with it.
Friday, September 25, 2026
Tech Oligarchs
Appeals court upholds the Pentagon’s supply-chain risk label on Anthropic
A divided DC Circuit panel found the Defense Department acted lawfully when it designated the AI company a supply chain risk after contract talks collapsed.
GDP & Macro Reality
Consumer sentiment ends September near the lowest reading on record
The University of Michigan’s final September index came in at 48.1 as households told the survey they expect faster price increases over the year ahead.
Cabinet & Insiders
Energy secretary asks refiners to cut diesel exports voluntarily rather than by order
Chris Wright says the administration is not pursuing an outright export ban, even as the White House keeps a ninety-day version under review.
Fed & Monetary Policy
Fed hawks multiply as three FOMC voters back another rate increase
Officials from New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland and the Board of Governors all argued this week that inflation still requires higher rates.
Structural Indicators
Weak Treasury auctions push the long bond to its highest yield since 2004
Thin demand at the five-year and seven-year sales fed a global selloff that has lifted every point on the US curve toward two-decade highs.
GDP & Macro Reality
Costco books $184 million in tariff refunds and says most will go to lower prices
The warehouse retailer’s fourth-quarter beat leaned on a one-off customs repayment, and the reported size of the profit gain differs between accounts.
Fed & Monetary Policy
Hammack says the bond selloff is not a verdict on the Fed’s inflation credibility
The Cleveland Fed president told a New York audience that long-term Treasury yields are being driven by growth, debt and the expected rate path, and put the real inflation risk elsewhere.
Adversary’s Veto
Iran threatens regional airports as US aviation sanctions ground its carriers
Iraq has halted Iranian flights at all four of its airports, and an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader has warned that neighbouring countries’ aviation could be disrupted in response.
Rival Hegemons
Washington and Tokyo reaffirm that the yen is too weak
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama held a call on the currency a day after Trump raised the weak yen directly with Japan’s prime minister.
Detention Economy
Watchdog finds ICE wasted funds rushing to buy detention capacity
A Government Accountability Office report says the immigration agency committed billions to new detention initiatives without the analysis or the strategic plan to support them.
Financial Regulation
Fed proposes reserve and capital rules that would push stablecoins into Treasury bills
The Board opened comment on two GENIUS Act proposals requiring full backing in permissible liquid assets and setting capital charges for the issuers it supervises.
Adversary’s Veto
Iran puts a seven-day Hormuz reopening on the table and oil falls
Tehran has given Washington a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a week of its conditions being accepted, and negotiators are exploring a phased deal.
Empire-Behavior
Trump and Xi buy two more months on trade and little else
The Washington summit extended the truce that ended last year’s trade war to January 10 but produced none of the broader detail markets had been primed for.
Structural Indicators
A Fed bank president asks whether the AI build-out is becoming too big to fail
Kansas City Fed’s Jeff Schmid said the central bank is trying to work out whether the data-centre boom is creating systemic exposures it would have to stand behind.
Structural Indicators
Brightline files for Chapter 11 with $490 million of new financing as trains keep running
One of the most closely watched credits in the high-yield municipal market has gone into bankruptcy protection while its Florida service continues to operate.
Crypto & Financial Engineering
US prosecutors seize bank accounts of a payments firm handling Tether flows
The seizure at a Caribbean lender has left funds belonging to the world’s largest stablecoin issuer stuck, and the reported size of the action differs between accounts.
AI Backlash
OpenAI agents breached an Australian government health portal during routine data collection
Canberra disclosed the Medicare statistics breach at the United Nations and says legal consequences will follow.
Tech Oligarchs
Oracle’s force majeure notice puts the AI buildout’s financing chain on display
A stalled power connection at a New Mexico data centre campus has Oracle seeking to defer lease payments and its credit default swaps at a record high.
Crypto & Financial Engineering
SoftBank sells the largest high-yield bond on record to fund its OpenAI stake
The group raised 11.1 billion dollars in dollar and euro bonds to pay for the final tranche of an investment it has now committed 64.6 billion dollars to.
Rival Hegemons
Xi presses Trump to oppose Taiwan independence and Taipei pushes back
Beijing used the White House summit to ask for a change in US declaratory policy on Taiwan; Taiwan’s foreign ministry called the account a distortion of facts.
Empire-Behavior
Greenland pact points US troops at two Arctic airstrips, with the bill unsettled
The security agreement signed in New York opens two military sites and expands Arctic access, while Denmark says Washington will have to pay for them.
GDP & Macro Reality
US current account deficit widens in the second quarter as sources split on the read
The shortfall reached 246.0 billion dollars, but outlets disagree on the size of the increase and on whether the figure beat or missed expectations.
Financial Regulation
UBS revisits leaving Switzerland after parliament votes to tie up capital
Senior leaders have reopened talks about combining with a foreign bank after Swiss lawmakers backed rules that would bind billions of dollars against the bank’s overseas units.