Fannie and Freddie have added more than $55 billion in mortgage principal balances to their combined holdings, an increase of more than 30%. Japan's government securities have dropped by ¥47.9 trillion (-8.1%).

The commentary in this “post” reflects the personal opinions, viewpoints, and analyses of the Ritholtz Wealth Management employees providing such comments. The losses are becoming quite serious for “someone” since Nov 24 th , the accumulated losses by the silver shorts is a staggering $14. Since May, Fannie and Freddie have added more than $55 billion in mortgage principal balances to their combined holdings, an increase of more than 30%. Thats taken their combined mortgage holdings to a whopping $234 billion, the highest in four years. Analysts say their holdings could expand an additional $100 billion next year. Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), will now permit gold, silver, and other commodities to diversify holdings. Major food companies are increasingly investing in or partnering with alternative protein ventures. Since the peak in the December 2023 quarter, holdings of Japanese government securities have dropped by ¥47.9 trillion (-8.1%) The BOJ stopped buying ETFs and J-REITs in Q4 2023. This is worse than the “plata o plomo” (silver or lead) deal Latin American drug cartels are famed for offering in their shakedowns of government officials. President Donald Trump said in a social-media post Friday that he would cap credit-card interest rates at 10% for the next year. Dealing with Trump is a difficult challenge for Delcy Rodriguez and other Latin American leaders, but they should all understand by now that caving to Trump or letting him pick them off one by one is a path to ruin. Barry Ritholtz: The gaslighting is off the charts,” dismissing all criticism as lies. Barry L. Ritholtz: GSEs ramp up debt-financed MBS purchases after years of running such holdings down. NAR report showed that median home sales in November was up just 12% from a year earlier. Barry L. Ritholtz: Why Trump wants Greenland and whats standing in his way. The data center rebellion is here, and its reshaping the political landscape. U.S. National, 10-City Composite, and 20-City. Composite Indices continued to report negative month-over-month changes in October. Noah Smith debates Brian Merchant on the robot future in a live debate. The Age of Twitter is finally ending. Recent AP-NORC poll shows poor numbers for Trump, including on economy and immigration. China is trying to kneecap Indian manufacturing. The Washington Post declared it would become “the most diverse and inclusive newsroom in the country’s. CNN pledged a “sustained commitment” to race coverage, while Bon Appétit confessed that “our mastheads have been far too white for far too long” Japan used the “ developmental state ” to great effect in its postwar miracle, and I believe this can help to produce another, smaller miracle today. On-chain data from CryptoQuant indicates that XRP holdings on Binance have dropped to 2.6 billion tokens, the lowest recorded balance since January 2024. Spot ETH ETFs posted roughly $200 million in net inflows. Metaplanet buys 4,279 bitcoin, lifts total holdings to 35,102 BTC. SharpLink Gaming deploys $170 million worth of ETH to Ethereum layer-2 scaling network Linea. Dogecoin, Bonk, Pepe, and ZCash, which posted double-digit gains in the first week, have followed top cryptos lead and tanked. Bitcoin and Ethereum consolidate after a strong start to 2026, while a select group of altcoins is posting significant weekly gains. Pushes Asian Premium to 8-Month High Venezuelas Oil in Floating Storage Soars to 29 Million Barrels. TotalEnergies Lands Key Offshore Exploration Permit in Lebanon. Andreessen Horowitz raised $15B. and international players such as Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Continental Resources, Halliburton, HKN Energy, Valero, Marathon, Shell, Trafigura, Vitol, Eni, Aspect Holdings, Tallgrass, Raisa Energy, and Hilcorp. Pushes Asian Premium to 8-Month High Venezuelas Oil in