🇻🇪 The Caracas Stock Exchange fell 45.76% from the recent all-time high (just after Maduro's capture) on the 9th of January through the 28th. It had been up 300% month over month.

Since, $IBC has regained 67.2%. Venezuela has a long road to recovery ahead of it.

The socialists took power on the cusp of the 00s bull run in oil. Mistaking high oil pricing for the bounty of their revolutionary endeavor, they embarked on an enormous welfare state. And I'm not kidding: healthcare, literacy, food, housing programs; energy and food subsidies; straight up cash transfers; price controls; and even discount oil for all of their LatAm allies.

Then the price dropped by over two-thirds. Poor management (loyalists aren't always the best leaders), purges of experienced staff (for going on strike, which you might consider ironic, and it is, but it's also a normal reaction in communist nations), and underinvestment in maintenance led to production declines even before the price rolled over. This created enormous budgetary shortfalls.

Instead of trimming back, they took it as a short-term obstacle (because of course they did; it's always the path of least resistance to corruption) and began borrowing to sustain the massive welfare state. What they got instead was a massive, debilitating inflation culminating in a 344,510% headline rate in February 2019.

And so, now, in 2026, Venezuela's GDP has dropped 70% since 2012.

📈 I N T E L R U N N E R 📈

🟠 Bitcoin's price has had one the worst days in its history, dropping 14% over the last 24 hours.

We're now at a 52% drawdown from the October 6th all-time high with a 31% drop year to date.

📉 I N T E L R U N N E R 📉

🇺🇸 NJ-11 Special Election Democratic Primary Winner [Results & Polymarket]

We had a surprise underdog victory in the special election in New Jersey's 11th District. Leftist Analilia Mejia defeated AIPAC candidate & former Lieutenant Governor Tahesha Way as well the favorite & the primary target of AIPAC, former representative Tom Malinowski.

In a three-way format that's becoming increasingly common in Democratic competitions, one candidate accepted piles of Jewish money to support Israel, one candidate came out against Israel, and another offered both support & mild criticism while striking a moderate tone.

In Israel lobby politics, the latter is treated exactly the same as outright opposition. They expect 100% compliance on votes & rhetoric or they're intolerant of you.

Malinowski dominated the prediction markets until the very end. Believing the leftist had little chance in this very wealthy city of executives & professionals (97th percentile), the Israel lobby focused their ire & surreptitious spending on Malinowski. (They set up cutout organizations with generic political names like "Americans for New Jersey" and attack their opponents on everything but foreign policy).

This has backfired on them as their candidate failed to reach 10,000 votes while two they don't like topped 16,000.

Mejia beat Malinowski by only 108 votes at last counting. Mejia will have to run again in the June primary if she intends to retain her new seat.

🎱 I N T E L R U N N E R 🎱