Today, tech remained the backbone of equity strength, with the Nasdaq continuing to hold record territory while small-caps reversed course, sliding back as they flirted with resistance from recent highs.

And then there was the labor revision…  with alarming numbers that moved markets sharply: nearly 911,000 jobs were overstated in prior months, prompting re-thinks on growth prospects. The dollar hit a seven-week low but bounced back into the green quickly, creating a measured day in Gold's otherwise unstoppable march higher. The energy sector led the S&P, riding the back of the continued rally in oil we pointed to this morning.

Still, we see a clear picture of investor anxiety, not celebration… and today’s global trade instability and political turbulence did not help ease the risk profile. France’s government collapse produced volatility in European bonds, while India’s mounting diplomatic standoff with the U.S. over steep tariffs continues to cloud investment environments. Overall, the macro tape today feels tectonic, not tranquil.

At the same time, global markets are digesting a massive piece of geopolitical M&A: Anglo American’s $53B merger with Teck Resources into a copper powerhouse geared for booming demand in EVs and AI infrastructure. That deal’s reverberations underscore the supply-chain-driven dynamics underpinning resource stocks today and traders looking to succeed in that space should pay very close attention to how this one plays out.

Trader eyes are now locked on key days ahead: PPI and CPI mid-week, alongside a $39B 10-year Treasury auction. Markets could swing violently either way… soft data may unlock a rally, while any surprise inflation print or auction hiccup could re-trip volatility. With policy risks and geopolitical undercurrents still thick in the air, tomorrow’s session could reset the narrative entirely.

In this sharp, data-driven essay, Lada Nuzhna dismantles the dream that biotech will produce the next Apple or Amazon.

Despite the hype, the economics of drug discovery are fundamentally broken. Since 1950, the productivity of pharma R&D has collapsed, and the number of new drugs discovered per $1B invested has halved roughly every nine years. Today, big pharma’s return on investment has dipped below its cost of capital, meaning that throwing more money at the problem often destroys value rather than creating it.

Even breakthrough blockbusters (those rare drugs pulling in $20B+ annually) haven’t translated into trillion-dollar valuations, because the pipelines behind them keep shrinking. Nuzhna also deconstructs the industry’s favorite “savior stories,” from genetic targeting to AI-driven discovery, showing why none have meaningfully bent the cost curve yet. 

The contrarian insight: in tech, scale fuels innovation; in biotech, scale often kills it. Without a truly revolutionary leap in how we discover medicines, expecting an “Amazon of biotech” may be little more than wishful thinking.

In this MacroVoices episode, macro strategist Jim Bianco drops a wake-up call: markets are wildly underestimating both inflation’s persistence and the Fed’s appetite to hold the line. Contrary to consensus bets on imminent rate cuts, Bianco insists that core inflation remains stubbornly high, and slashing rates now could backfire… juicing long-term yields instead of taming costs. 

He digs deeper, showing how long-lasting, structural shifts from the post-COVID economy (think de-globalization, stronger labor leverage, and sustained fiscal overspending) are rewriting the inflation playbook. 

The dream of effortlessly returning to pre-pandemic 2% inflation and zero rates? Bianco argues it’s flying blind. Markets might be getting lulled, and (let’s be honest here) who knows where the political circus show takes us… but his warning is clear: expect higher-for-longer, not a dovish pivot anytime soon.