Joseph Belbruno Blog

  Investors risk billions trying to ‘buy the dip’ in chip rout Lever aged single-stock ETFs continue to attract net inflows despite plunging during sell-off Financial Times Europe26 Aug 2026EMILY HERBERT AND STEVE JOHNSON Addi tional report ing by Ram say Hodg son Investors poured bil lions of dol lars into risky lever aged funds track ing semi con -ductor com pan ies dur ing July and August, even as those products suffered heavylosses, as they tried to pos i tion for a pos sible rebound in the sec tor. The biggest lever aged exchange traded fund track ing chip stocks — called Direx ionDaily Semi con ductor Bull 3X Shares — attrac ted almost $7bn of net inflows dur ingJuly and the first two weeks of August, accord ing to Morn ing star data. The ETF offers triple-lever aged expos ure to the NYSE Semi con ductor Index, a groupof 30 US chip com pan ies. While the index fell more than 20 per cent from its peak,the fund plunged 70 per cent between its June peak and sub sequent low. Single-s...

  The drip-drip US debt crisis Financial Times Europe26 Aug 2026Chris Giles chris.giles@ft.com Make no mis take, the US is suf fer ing a debt crisis. It is, of course, not an acute emer -gency like Argen tina’s mul tiple defaults this cen tury or Greece’s woes in the 2010s,but it has the char ac ter ist ics of a chronic dis aster that every one can see com ing butthe admin is tra tion never does enough to avoid. The most rel ev ant meas ure of US fed eral gov ern ment debt, that held by the pub lic,has risen from $3.4tn in 2000 to $32.3tn now, or a rise from 33.7 per cent to morethan 100 per cent of GDP in just over 25 years. More import antly, the bur den of ser -vi cing that debt has doubled, from 11 per cent of tax rev en ues in 2000 to 21.5 percent in the first 10 months of the cur rent fiscal year. Because long-term bor row ingcosts are high, the US Treas ury is increas inglyfin an cing the debt with short-termbor row ing and the pres id ent is again pres sur ing the Fed eral Res...

The risks of data centres Wall Street players that have extended themselves to finance this colossal new asset class are now looking to limit their exposure, as insurers’ wariness threatens to create a drag on Big Tech’s ambitions. Financial Times Europe26 Aug 2026By Michelle Chan, Martha Muir, Rafe Ros ner-Uddin and Lee Har ris Addi tional report ing by Eric Platt in New York. Data visu al isa tionby Eva Xiao The AI revolu tion may change the world, but it comes with a 13-fig ure price tag. By2030, tech com pan ies are expec ted to pour $7tn into data centres — enough moneyto feed every per son in China for three years. So great are the sums involved that even Big Tech groups with tens of bil lions ofdol lars in cash need to fund the infra struc ture with debt. This is present ing major lenders with a com plex set of cal cu la tions as they stretchthem selves to fin ance and under write an entirely novel asset class. The pos sible returns are enorm ous, con vin cing some of the world...

  Tell us who shaped anti-Muslim definition It’s highly concerning if government is concealing the involvement of extremist Islamist groups Melanie Phillips, @melanielatest Melanie Phillips When a government department starts shredding the evidence behind its decisions, it’s a fair bet that it has something to hide from the public. In March, the government introduced a non-statutory definition of “anti-Muslim hostility” as a way of weaponising the charge of “Islamophobia” without being seen to do so. Islamophobia is a term introduced by the Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood to silence all criticism of Islam or the Muslim world under the guise of outlawing prejudice. The government set up a working group which invited people to make submissions aimed at defining Islamophobia. This provoked horror from critics who claimed it would create a blasphemy law by the back door for Islam. The group eventually scrapped the term “Islamophobia” in favour of “anti-Muslim hostility” in an effor...

  1/3 Gli effetti dalla nostra inviata a Tel Aviv Greta Privitera A Teheran gente stremata dai prezzi che s’impennano: «Non si mangia più carne» Per un dollaro ci vogliono ormai 2 milioni di rial Q uando passano tre settimane senza mangiare carne, Amina va al mercato principale di Teheran e compra zampe di gallina. «Sono scarti, ma sono proteine», scrive. Suo figlio Ashkan le guarda con diffidenza, più per l’aspetto che per il gusto, e lei cambia ricetta ogni volta, per convincerlo. Un pollo non se lo può più permettere. Lavora, ma lo stipendio arriva tardi e, quando arriva, non basta mai. Nel carrello restano riso, farina, patate, pane, poca frutta. «Ogni settimana c’è qualcosa che scompare dalla nostra tavola. I prezzi cambiano alla velocità della luce», dice. Ormai, un dollaro vale 1,992 milioni di rial sul mercato non regolamentato, il minimo storico. In meno di una settimana la moneta iraniana ha perso un altro 4,5 per cento, dopo l’annuncio di Donald Trump di una «devastante ...

  L'editoriale di Goffredo Buccini FANDONIE E VERITÀ M ancavano novantasei ore all’invasione. Il 20 febbraio 2022 un’ultima telefonata intercorse tra Vladimir Putin ed Emmanuel Macron. Mentre i suoi carri armati già scaldavano i motori per tentare il blitz su Kiev, il presidente russo offrì tre «rassicurazioni» all’omologo francese che si stava spendendo per la pace. Primo: le esercitazioni al confine ucraino, che avevano mobilitato 190 mila soldati e sollevato grande allarme in Occidente, erano «finite». Secondo: al confine sarebbe rimasta solo «una presenza militare». Terzo: lui avrebbe incontrato volentieri Joe Biden. Fandonie al limite della beffa (le esercitazioni erano davvero quasi finite... ma solo perché stava per iniziare l’attacco). Putin le incartò come sempre in una di quelle dissimulazioni di cui è maestro dai tempi del Kgb: si disse d’accordo sulle linee generali, rimandando però i «dettagli» ai suoi «consiglieri». Una formula di rinvio che ormai dovremmo avere impar...