Wealthy insiders are amassing giant tax-subsidized balances by purchasing cheap startup shares in their retirement accounts. More than 1,000 Americans held individual retirement accounts worth at least $25 million in 2024, more than double the number in 2019.

The net asset value of U.S. private-equity assets stuck in funds at least a decade old reached an all-time high of $348.5 billion at the end of 2025. That is 3.5 times the amount in 2015 and more than 100 times that of 2005. The net asset value in the seven-to-nine-year-old bucket reached $512.7 billion in 2025, more than two times that of 2015.

A yearslong rally in the precious metal came to an end, oddly enough, with the Iran war. Since hostilities began on Feb. 28, gold is down 22%. However, gold’s 12-month price increase, at 21%, is still slightly better than the S&P 500.

Last year, four in every five U.S. stock mutual funds couldn’t beat the S&P 500.

So far this year, companies have sold $344.7 billion of new shares to investors, exceeding the full-year totals for each year from 2022 to 2025. AI hyperscalers are selling shares and debt to fund capital expenditures, which are expected to rise from $450 billion last year to over $800 billion.

Companies making the largest AI investments grew employment by roughly 10% more than otherwise similar companies that hadn’t yet adopted AI.

Forward markets are currently pricing in roughly 1.5 rate hikes by the end of Q1 2027.

Gold fell 13% to $4,022.90 a troy ounce over the past three months, marking its biggest quarterly decline since 2013. Silver dropped 20% to $59.48, its worst quarter since 2020.

The S&P 500 is up 14% and the Nasdaq has jumped 20%—the biggest quarterly rallies for both since the second quarter of 2020.

The dominance of the U.S. dollar, currently used in roughly 80% of international trade finance, has historically given Washington a big advantage in policing global business. Most international transactions denominated in U.S. dollars must be settled by American banks, giving Washington the ability to monitor them—and cut off users’ dollars if necessary, crippling their operations. But when U.S. adversaries use yuan to run their businesses, the transactions don’t enter the U.S.-led banking system, neutering Washington’s powers.