🇺🇸 31 new highs in the S&P 500 ($SPX) so far this year...

That's the 20th most since 1957, and there's still a whole final quarter.

🌐 CHART WATCH 🌐

🇯🇵 The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has decided upon a conservative stalwart for next Prime Minister of Japan in former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi over the more neoliberal Shinjiro Koizumi.

Takaichi was once a close ally of Shinzo Abe; Koizumi serves as Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and is more likely to bring up diversity, tolerance, and other noxious claptrap. A shift in votes in the run-off round caused this sudden & dramatic upset in the betting markets. So what gives?

There is little doubt the growing popularity of Sanseitō (a 5-year-old party committed to Japanese nationalism, political conservatism, right-wing populism, and resistance to mass immigration) has in some way forced this outcome.

Takaichi, 64, a staunch conservative and vocal China hawk, defeated her moderate rival Shinjiro Koizumi by 185 votes to 156 in a runoff at LDP headquarters in Tokyo. The victory makes her Japan’s first female party president and, almost certainly, its first female prime minister since the LDP remains the largest bloc in parliament and opposition parties are too fragmented to mount a united challenge.

The confirmation vote will be in October.

🗳 CHART WATCH 🗳

🇺🇸 "Announced US job cuts fell 37% in September vs the previous month, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement firm. Year to date, however, the number of announced cuts is the highest since 2020."

“Right now, we’re dealing with a stagnating labor market, cost increases, and a transformative new technology. With rate cuts on the way, we may see some stabilizing in the job market in the fourth quarter, but other factors could keep employers planning layoffs or holding off hiring,” said Andy Challenger, senior vice president at the firm."

📈 CHART WATCH 📈

🇺🇸 Trump approval rating falls to 41 percent from 42 in the latest Reuters-Ipsos poll.

Grain of salt. It is the latest Reuters-Ipsos poll, after all...

📈 CHART WATCH 📉

🇺🇸 More interestingly, this Reuters-Ipsos survey included polling on party preferences on a slew of issues.

Republicans are most trusted on crime (+20), immigration (+18), foreign conflicts (+12), and the economy (+10). Democrats are most trusted on the environment (+14), women's rights (+13), and healthcare (+9).

In the middle, we have a hodgepodge. Democrats are slightly up on "respect for democracy" (+2) while the GOP secured minor wins in corruption (+6), gun control (+4), and "political extremism" (+4).

Again, remember. It's Reuters-Ipsos. Caution is warranted.

📈 CHART WATCH 📉

🌐 $TOTAL3, which is the total cryptocurrency market capitalization with the caps for Bitcoin ($BTC) and Ethereum ($ETH) subtracted, is breaking out of horizontal resistance.

If it can hold $1.13T, then it's all price discovery from there...

💫 CHART WATCH 🪑

🤑 Whale selling pressure has eased significantly in the Bitcoin ($BTC) markets of late...

🐋 CHART WATCH 🐋

🇺🇸 🇨🇦 Pop goes the weasel...

$TMQ Trilogy Metals of Northwest North America for +211% on Tuesday.

⛏ CHART WATCH ⛏

🇺🇸 $1.65 trillion wipe out...

🚨 CHART WATCH 🚨

🇮🇱 🇵🇸 These are the results of a March poll commissioned by Pennsylvania State University, conducted by the Israeli polling firm Geocartography Knowledge Group, and published by Haaretz in May.

“Some nations have descended into such depths of evil and corruption that the only solution is to eradicate them completely, leaving no trace.”

~ Rabbi Moshe Ratt, West Bank settler 'intellectual' in a December 2023 Facebook post

Needless to say, the trend is not good...

🔻 CHART WATCH 🔻

🇺🇸 Share of most traded currencies in 2025 vs. 2022:

🟢 💲 💸 💸

🔴 💶 💸

💱 CHART WATCH 💱

🇺🇸 The CBOE Options Expiry Calendar

📆 CHART WATCH 📆

🇬🇧 The Approval-Disapproval Ratings of the government of the United Kingdom

14% approve of Two-Tier Kier. 69% do not appreciate the job the rent boy enthusiast has been doing. 17% are confused (15-20% are always confused; they can still vote, and by all appearances, do).

By the way, it's YouGov, so 🧂. It could be even worse for them...

✅ CHART WATCH ❌

🪙 WHALE WARS: New Whales (Short-Term Holders) vs. Old Whales (Long-Term Holders)

With 97% of circulating supply in profit, long-term holders have been realizing gains. Generally this represents the final phase of a Bitcoin bull market, but this cycle has been a bit different.

Much of this selling pressure is being absorbed by new phenomena in the market: the boon in stablecoins produced by the Trump Administration, the rapidly increasing by large institutional investors, and, of course, the potent inflows from a whole spate of exchange-traded funds ($IBIT in particular) premised on spot Bitcoin holdings.

Will we end up near the top soon anyway? Or is this a new, slower, and more stable type of cycle?

🐋 CHART WATCH 🐋

🇺🇸 You think it would be fair to say online gambling saved the NFL?

The left axis tracks NFL TV ratings year-to-year, and the right axis tracks the number of states that had legalized online gambling by that year.

After peaking in 2015, the NFL shed millions of viewers. In 2018, the Supreme Court tossed the prohibition, launching the trend. 45 states now allow the one-time illegal vice (except when the State does it with rip-off lotteries—that's kosher), and NFL ratings topped their 2015 high in 2024.

I think it's safe to answer "yes."

🏈 CHART WATCH 🏈

🇺🇸 Usage of the names for girls & boys most in sync in each decade.

👶 CHART WATCH 👶