Turkey Dumped 58 Tons Of Gold After Iran War Started, Slamming Price There has been much speculation about the mystery seller(s) that sent gold sliding into a bear market from its January high: was it a sovereign seeking to plug holes in their budget from the recent surge in oil, a "market maker" trying to spark stop loss liquidations, or just retail investors taking profit after one of the best y...
Turkey Dumped 58 Tons Of Gold After Iran War Started, Slamming Price There has been much speculation about the mystery seller(s) that sent gold sliding into a bear market from its January high: was it a sovereign seeking to plug holes in their budget from the recent surge in oil, a "market maker" trying to spark stop loss liquidations, or just retail investors taking profit after one of the best years in history for the precious metal? Today we learned the identity of at least one of the sellers: Turkey’s central bank sold and swapped about 60 tons of gold, worth more than $8 billion, or more than 10% of the country's total holdings, in two weeks after the start of the war in Iran, adding to the sharp downward pressure on bullion prices. Turkish gold reserves showed a decline of 6 tons in the week of March 13 and another 52.4 tons in the week of March 20, marking a sharp drawdown in reserves, according to the latest data published by the central bank. While the composition of the sales is unclear, some of that was sold outright, while the majority was used to secure foreign exchange or liras via swap agreements, according to Bloomberg. It’s not uncommon for central banks to sell spot gold and simultaneously agree to buy it back in the future via swap agreements, effectively a gold-collateralized USD loan, which grants the country cheap dollar funding using the precious metal as collateral. The move comes amid strains on Turkey’s disinflation strategy - meaning the currency isn’t allowed to depreciate at a rate faster than monthly inflation - which relies heavily on maintaining a stable or steadily depreciating lira, including with hard-currency interventions, usually via state-run banks. Rising energy import costs and increased dollar demand since the conflict began have made that approach more challenging to maintain, and forced Turkey to resort to its hard currency reserves. Turkey officials turned to gold sales and gold swap arrangements from the central bank’s $...
An Amsterdam court banned Elon Musk ’s xAI from generating and distributing undressed images of people in the Netherlands without permission, the latest in wider pushback against the controversial feature. XAI’s Grok artificial intelligence tool and the X social media platform may not be used to produce or distribute “sexual imagery that partially or fully undresses individuals without their expli...
An Amsterdam court banned Elon Musk ’s xAI from generating and distributing undressed images of people in the Netherlands without permission, the latest in wider pushback against the controversial feature. XAI’s Grok artificial intelligence tool and the X social media platform may not be used to produce or distribute “sexual imagery that partially or fully undresses individuals without their explicit consent” in the country, according to a Thursday ruling. A representative for X didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Some X users deployed the Grok chatbot to create and publish undressed images of minors and women without consent in December and January, an apparent violation of the company’s acceptable use policy. XAI restricted the feature after an uproar, though governments have moved to explicitly ban similar features in the fallout. The European Union is set to ban AI that creates nonconsensual pictures and videos in draft rules that could be put into law later this year. Read more: EU Moves to Ban AI That Creates Nonconsensual Sexual Images
Elon Musk ’s lawyer says the billionaire didn’t get a fair trial because a San Francisco jury slipped a “bizarre and highly questionable” joke into a verdict form when it concluded he defrauded Twitter Inc. shareholders before acquiring the social media platform. In a letter to the federal judge who oversaw the civil trial, attorney Alex Spiro pointed to the jury’s computation of how much Musk’s t...
Elon Musk ’s lawyer says the billionaire didn’t get a fair trial because a San Francisco jury slipped a “bizarre and highly questionable” joke into a verdict form when it concluded he defrauded Twitter Inc. shareholders before acquiring the social media platform. In a letter to the federal judge who oversaw the civil trial, attorney Alex Spiro pointed to the jury’s computation of how much Musk’s tweets depressed Twitter stock and how the panel highlighted just one number in blue ink — $4.20. The number 420 is cultural slang for pot smoking. The jury found Friday Musk misled the investors in 2022 when he tweeted that Twitter — now called X — had too many fake accounts and then tried to back out of his $44 billion offer to buy the company. The investors who sued claimed Musk acted intentionally and they lost money when the shares fell. Musk’s legal team has vowed to appeal the verdict. The eight-person panel found Musk liable to Twitter investors for misleading them with two tweets he posted in May 2022 stating concerns about the prevalence of fake accounts on the platform. Jurors rejected a claim in the class-action case that a third Musk statement violated federal securities law as well as an allegation that the billionaire waged a broader scheme to defraud investors. Musk’s rare defeat in court — which could cost him billions of dollars — was a “mockery of justice,” Spiro said in the letter. He said the jury “used its verdict to mock Mr. Musk and the process” and made a “numerical joke.” Back on Aug. 7, 2018, Musk caught the attention of federal securities regulators when he tweeted he had “funding secured” to take Tesla Inc. private at $420 a share. Musk, the world’s richest person , co-founded the electric-car maker and is its chief executive officer. Tesla stock shot up, only to plummet when the serial entrepreneur later said the plan was abandoned. Some Tesla investors sued, but a San Francisco jury in that case cleared Musk in 2023 of wrongdoing. In a separate...
US President Donald Trump threatened Iran with intensified military action as the two sides remain at loggerheads on how to end the almost month-long conflict. Iran had “better get serious soon, before it is too late,” Trump posted on social media after Tehran rejected his initial 15-point plan through intermediaries. Though he later claimed Iran’s negotiators were “begging to work out a deal,” du...
US President Donald Trump threatened Iran with intensified military action as the two sides remain at loggerheads on how to end the almost month-long conflict. Iran had “better get serious soon, before it is too late,” Trump posted on social media after Tehran rejected his initial 15-point plan through intermediaries. Though he later claimed Iran’s negotiators were “begging to work out a deal,” during a cabinet meeting at the White House. The Islamic Republic is waiting for a response to its rejection of the truce proposal, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. Iran’s suggestions include the payment of reparations for war damages and the recognition of Iran’s authority over the Strait of Hormuz. Read our live blog for more updates. Trump also criticized NATO during the cabinet meeting , saying its refusal to support US military operations was a “test” for the alliance. He reiterated his ire in relation to the Strait of Hormuz, saying he had asked NATO allies to help reopen it. “They didn’t want to get involved, and I believe that’s going to cost them dearly,” he said. There is pressure internationally for Trump to persuade Iran to reopen the strait to allow the flow of critical oil and gas as part of efforts to stop a global supply shock. He also said in the meeting that Tehran had allowed 10 oil tankers to move through the strait, but this claim could not be verified. Hear from bold thinkers at SXSW London , June 1–6, 2026. Featuring Sir Nick Clegg, Max Jaderberg (Isomorphic Labs), and Ioannis Antonoglou (Reflection AI) on sovereign AI, drug discovery and tech supremacy. The festival for the convergence of technology, business, and creativity that challenges thinking and shapes what comes next. What You Need to Know Today Officials in Germany have started mapping vulnerabilities in US supply chains to identify points where European Union countries could apply pressure. The goal, we’re told, is to create a consensus in the bloc on how to use leverage if...
Get a jump start on the US trading day with Matt Miller and Dani Burger on "Bloomberg Open Interest." Tensins are rising fast in the Middle East as President Trump pushes Iran to get serious as ceasefire signals grow more confusing. Becca Wasser says talks are already dead on arrival, while Dana Stroul, Director of Research at the Washington Institute and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defen...
Get a jump start on the US trading day with Matt Miller and Dani Burger on "Bloomberg Open Interest." Tensins are rising fast in the Middle East as President Trump pushes Iran to get serious as ceasefire signals grow more confusing. Becca Wasser says talks are already dead on arrival, while Dana Stroul, Director of Research at the Washington Institute and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, warns that Tehran sees a path to war, not diplomacy. Plus, a major warning from Wall Street: Lloyd Blankfein flags a potential fire in private markets. And bonuses surge to record highs as trading and dealmaking roar back. (Source: Bloomberg)
Before Google became the front door to the internet, people did something much simpler. They would go directly to websites by typing simple words or names into their browser, hoping it would take them where they wanted. That small behavior created one of the earliest digital land grabs, and Mark Cuban was right in the middle of it. In a recent “TBPN” podcast, Cuban described how he aggressively bo...
Before Google became the front door to the internet, people did something much simpler. They would go directly to websites by typing simple words or names into their browser, hoping it would take them where they wanted. That small behavior created one of the earliest digital land grabs, and Mark Cuban was right in the middle of it. In a recent “TBPN” podcast, Cuban described how he aggressively bought up domain names in the early days of the web, treating them like prime real estate. “I own fina
steverts/iStock via Getty Images Sandisk Corporation ( SNDK ) hasn’t necessarily gone out of the market’s favor, but is definitely losing steam ever since it hit a new all-time high of $777.6 just a few days ago. Today, the stock was down around 6.66% at open, but has since deepened its losses, down over 8% to $622. Seeking Alpha The stock is now down over 12.5% over the past 5 days, but has still...
steverts/iStock via Getty Images Sandisk Corporation ( SNDK ) hasn’t necessarily gone out of the market’s favor, but is definitely losing steam ever since it hit a new all-time high of $777.6 just a few days ago. Today, the stock was down around 6.66% at open, but has since deepened its losses, down over 8% to $622. Seeking Alpha The stock is now down over 12.5% over the past 5 days, but has still had explosive returns over the past 6 months, up around 570%, year to date, up 165%, and over the past year, up around 1100%. Seeking Alpha I last covered the stock in late January, initiating it with a Buy into earnings. That has aged well, with the stock up 31% since, outperforming the market, as the S&P 500 ( SP500 ) was down around 6% during the same period. The Techie My thesis going into earnings was fairly simple: I saw near-term momentum as AI-driven storage demand and supply constraints fall right into Sandisk’s top line, as the company continues to benefit from tight NAND supply, surging memory prices, and hyperscaler SSD demand. At the risk of repeating myself, below was my take. The Techie Still, I did say that this wasn’t a “buy and sleep well at night” kind of investment, “but rather a momentum-driven earnings play.” I think the stock giving out steam at current levels is exactly what I expected at some point. After a 1,100% run over the past year and a fresh all-time high just days ago, the stock was priced for perfection, and perfection is a fragile thing to hold. Why the pullback: The two headwinds hitting Sandisk aren't trivial. Google's ( GOOG ) TurboQuant compression algorithm is a direct shot at the "AI needs unlimited storage" narrative that has been the engine of this entire rally. Micron ( MU ) was also down around 4% on Wednesday, Seagate Technology ( STX ) down another 5.6% on the day, and Sandisk down another 6.5%. The sector wide selloff is continuing on Thursday. While this may not change the fundamentals overnight, it introduces doubt into a s...
Air superiority is supposed to deliver a quick triumph. But history has shown that promise to be written on the wind Middle East crisis – live updates To explore the roots of Donald Trump ’s Iran military strategy and the pugnacious rhetoric of his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth , means looking back 105 years. In 1921, a year before Benito Mussolini and his blackshirts marched on Rome to launch t...
Air superiority is supposed to deliver a quick triumph. But history has shown that promise to be written on the wind Middle East crisis – live updates To explore the roots of Donald Trump ’s Iran military strategy and the pugnacious rhetoric of his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth , means looking back 105 years. In 1921, a year before Benito Mussolini and his blackshirts marched on Rome to launch the Fascist era, an Italian general named Giulio Douhet published The Command of the Air, proposing a revolution in warfare. Victory in the future, he said, would no longer come from the grinding trench combat of the great war. Instead it meant large-scale aerial bombardments, targeting not just combatants but civilians and civilian infrastructure and logistics. Continue reading...
One of the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF’s call options was the eighth-highest Vol/OI ratio in Wednesday’s trading. The software ETF looks to be at a crossroads. The question is whether the call option is bullish or bearish.
One of the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF’s call options was the eighth-highest Vol/OI ratio in Wednesday’s trading. The software ETF looks to be at a crossroads. The question is whether the call option is bullish or bearish.
We hardly knew ye. I was ready to give up on the Galaxy Z TriFold. We had a strong case for getting a refund from the eBay seller - they'd claimed it was the version sold in Taiwan, but the phone that arrived at my door came with a Chinese serial number . That meant no Google services and lots of unfamiliar apps all requesting sensitive permissions. It was weird. Better off just sending this one b...
We hardly knew ye. I was ready to give up on the Galaxy Z TriFold. We had a strong case for getting a refund from the eBay seller - they'd claimed it was the version sold in Taiwan, but the phone that arrived at my door came with a Chinese serial number . That meant no Google services and lots of unfamiliar apps all requesting sensitive permissions. It was weird. Better off just sending this one back and trying again to acquire the US version, I thought. Then Samsung discontinued it . Suddenly, the TriFold on my desk wasn't just a funny thing that happened on the way to getting a real TriFold. It was the only TriFold I was likely to get my hands on, probably e … Read the full story at The Verge.
Douglas Rissing/iStock via Getty Images By Erwan Jacob, Macro Analyst, Datastream & Macroeconomics at LSEG Global inflation dynamics are shifting as recent CPI data, central bank decisions, and energy market developments reshape the outlook across major economies. Disruptions linked to the Middle East conflict are adding new pressures, particularly through higher oil and LNG prices. Read the insig...
Douglas Rissing/iStock via Getty Images By Erwan Jacob, Macro Analyst, Datastream & Macroeconomics at LSEG Global inflation dynamics are shifting as recent CPI data, central bank decisions, and energy market developments reshape the outlook across major economies. Disruptions linked to the Middle East conflict are adding new pressures, particularly through higher oil and LNG prices. Read the insight to find out more about: CPI and central bank trends: The UK, Eurozone, and US show differing inflation paths, with the BoE and ECB maintaining rates amid slowing but uneven disinflation. Energy market disruptions: The conflict in the Middle East is affecting key oil and LNG supply routes, increasing the risk of renewed global inflation. Market reactions: Currency moves, PMI readings, and bond market shifts reflect rising energy prices, a stronger US dollar, and evolving expectations for policy easing. Inflation has remained a key economic theme over the past four years, driven by supply chain disruptions and energy shocks. A central measure of this trend is the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which tracks changes in the prices of a representative basket of goods and services – including food, housing, transport, and energy. It remains one of the clearest indicators of how the cost of living evolves. UK and Eurozone CPI and interest rate levels Recent CPI releases across major Western economies point to a broad slowdown, with several countries reporting softer-than-expected readings. Both the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE) have maintained current interest rates. However, the economic backdrop differs across the two regions. In the UK, inflation remains relatively persistent, with CPI rising 3.4% year-on-year as of December 2025. The BoE revised its 2026 growth outlook from 1.2% to 0.9%, while the unemployment forecast has been adjusted upward from 5% to 5.3%. Global uncertainty and macroeconomic volatility are likely to continue weighing on economic...