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6 Things That Caught My Attention Today...
1. America's emergency oil reserve just fell to its lowest level in 44 years. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve dropped another 3.7 million barrels last week to 289.7 million, down more than 125 million barrels since late February as releases continue following disruptions around Iran and the Strait of Hormuz. The SPR is now only around 41% full.
2. Gold and silver have added almost $5 trillion in market value in August alone. Gold is up roughly 15% this month, while silver has gained around 19%, driven by a weaker dollar, fiscal concerns, geopolitical uncertainty and renewed institutional demand. Bitcoin has joined the move, trading toward $80,000, while IBIT attracted around $1 billion of inflows last week. Even prediction markets are getting involved: Polymarket was recently pricing roughly a 63% probability that gold touches $5,000 before year-end. That's a remarkable shift in positioning in only a few weeks.
3. The options market suggests Bitcoin traders are leaning heavily toward further upside. IBIT call volume reached a record 1.58 million contracts last Wednesday, after exceeding 1 million contracts in each of the previous two sessions. Call skew also recorded its largest three-day increase in at least two years.
4. Professional fund managers aren't exactly sitting on the sidelines either. Bank of America's August Global Fund Manager Survey showed cash allocations falling to just 3.5%, close to record lows, while equity allocations reached their highest level in roughly five years. 56% of managers now expect the global economy to avoid a downturn.
5. Here's another AI indicator I think is worth watching: credit default swaps. The cost of insuring Big Tech debt against default has been climbing as companies borrow heavily to fund the AI buildout. Nvidia's CDS reportedly more than doubled from around 42 basis points in mid-June to 85 basis points last Friday, while Oracle's five-year CDS has recently traded above 200 basis points. Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Oracle issued roughly $195 billion of bonds in the first half of 2026 alone, around 80% more than they issued during all of 2025.
Even the BIS has highlighted rising credit risk and increasingly debt-financed AI investment. That's a very different signal from simply watching the Nasdaq.
6. Which brings us to Nvidia. NVDA fell 2.9% on Monday, Micron dropped 5.8% and the Nasdaq lost around 0.8% as semiconductors weakened ahead of Nvidia's Wednesday earnings. Wall Street is looking for roughly $92 billion of quarterly revenue, but at this point simply beating estimates may not be enough.
Patience, React, Don't Predict.
6 Things That Caught My Attention Today...
1. America's emergency oil reserve just fell to its lowest level in 44 years. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve dropped another 3.7 million barrels last week to 289.7 million, down more than 125 million barrels since late February as releases continue following disruptions around Iran and the Strait of Hormuz. The SPR is now only around 41% full.
2. Gold and silver have added almost $5 trillion in market value in August alone. Gold is up roughly 15% this month, while silver has gained around 19%, driven by a weaker dollar, fiscal concerns, geopolitical uncertainty and renewed institutional demand. Bitcoin has joined the move, trading toward $80,000, while IBIT attracted around $1 billion of inflows last week. Even prediction markets are getting involved: Polymarket was recently pricing roughly a 63% probability that gold touches $5,000 before year-end. That's a remarkable shift in positioning in only a few weeks.
3. The options market suggests Bitcoin traders are leaning heavily toward further upside. IBIT call volume reached a record 1.58 million contracts last Wednesday, after exceeding 1 million contracts in each of the previous two sessions. Call skew also recorded its largest three-day increase in at least two years.
4. Professional fund managers aren't exactly sitting on the sidelines either. Bank of America's August Global Fund Manager Survey showed cash allocations falling to just 3.5%, close to record lows, while equity allocations reached their highest level in roughly five years. 56% of managers now expect the global economy to avoid a downturn.
5. Here's another AI indicator I think is worth watching: credit default swaps. The cost of insuring Big Tech debt against default has been climbing as companies borrow heavily to fund the AI buildout. Nvidia's CDS reportedly more than doubled from around 42 basis points in mid-June to 85 basis points last Friday, while Oracle's five-year CDS has recently traded above 200 basis points. Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Oracle issued roughly $195 billion of bonds in the first half of 2026 alone, around 80% more than they issued during all of 2025.
Even the BIS has highlighted rising credit risk and increasingly debt-financed AI investment. That's a very different signal from simply watching the Nasdaq.
6. Which brings us to Nvidia. NVDA fell 2.9% on Monday, Micron dropped 5.8% and the Nasdaq lost around 0.8% as semiconductors weakened ahead of Nvidia's Wednesday earnings. Wall Street is looking for roughly $92 billion of quarterly revenue, but at this point simply beating estimates may not be enough.
Patience, React, Don't Predict.