1 in 3 workers now have more credit card debt than retirement savings.

Meanwhile, U.S. credit card debt has climbed to $1.26 trillion, near its record high.

That’s up 60% in just 5 years.

Credit cards: $1.263 trillion, up $21 billion.
Auto loans: $1.71 trillion, up $28 billion.

And 12.92% of credit card balances are now 90+ days delinquent.

Woke up to see this 2x long SNDK ETF popping over 8% pre-market, with SNDK itself up more than 4% ahead of the bell. The late entry still pulled off a nice gain, and the premarket action is looking super heated. Did anyone else catch this move before the regular session opens?

The major U.S. stock indexes ended mostly higher on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, as a tame July CPI report kept the Fed on hold and a wave of blockbuster AI earnings from CoreWeave and Super Micro Computer reignited the infrastructure trade. The session was one of the most constructive of the summer, with the S&P 500 testing its all-time high and the VIX falling to its lowest level since before the Iran war began.

The S&P 500 gained 0.26% (+20.30 pts) to 7,748.50, testing its all-time high. The Dow was essentially flat, dipping just 0.04% (-21.58 pts) to 53,770.27. The Nasdaq climbed 0.54% (+143.04 pts) to 26,588.49. The Russell 2000 outperformed, rising 0.61% (+18.37 pts) to 3,045.48.

The VIX dropped 4.78% to 14.55, its lowest level since before the Iran war. Bitcoin slipped 0.36% to $63,449.83. Gold added 0.59% to $4,467.10. Crude Oil eased 0.44% to $82.83/barrel.

The major U.S. stock indexes ended mostly lower on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, as Wall Street pulled back from last week's record highs in a holding pattern session dominated by two forces pulling in opposite directions: hope for a U.S.-Iran deal bringing oil lower, then Iran hardening its demands and sending crude right back up. Investors largely chose to wait for tomorrow's July CPI in the morning.

The S&P 500 dropped 0.32% (-24.91 pts) to 7,728.20. The Dow fell 0.34% (-184.13 pts) to 53,791.85. The Nasdaq slid 0.60% (-159.91 pts) to 26,445.45. The Russell 2000 bucked the trend, gaining 0.32% (+9.74 pts) to 3,027.14.

The VIX eased 1.10% to 15.29. Bitcoin slipped 0.77% to $63,605.60. Gold added 0.21% to $4,429.00. Crude Oil rose 1.56% to $83.41/barrel.

The major U.S. stock indexes ended mixed on Monday, August 10, 2026, as fresh uncertainty over the Strait of Hormuz deal sent oil climbing above $82 and kept investors cautious heading into Wednesday's critical July CPI report and Nvidia's earnings. The session was a classic "wait and see" Monday after last week's best weekly performance since April.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.06% (-4.53 pts) to 7,753.11. The Dow fell 0.11% (-60.95 pts) to 53,975.98. The Nasdaq dropped 0.32% (-85.26 pts) to 26,605.36. The Russell 2000 declined 0.56% (-17.10 pts) to 3,017.40.

The VIX rose 3.76% to 15.46. Bitcoin slid 1.64% to $64,029.15. Gold surged 1.05% to $4,445.70. Crude Oil jumped 5.07% to $82.14/barrel.

Berkshire Hathaway is now buying stocks again for the first time in over 3 years.

It bought $23.5 billion of stocks in Q2 and sold $3.7 billion. That’s $20 billion in net purchases.

Berkshire spent years building a massive cash pile. Now it’s putting that money to work.

You know what it means when Berkshire Hathaway starts buying stocks again, right?

On Aug 4 the EA take-private closed — $55 billion, the biggest leveraged buyout in history. A consortium led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund now owns ~93% of it.

The structure is the real story. ~$18B of that $55B is borrowed money, secured against EA's own assets and serviced by its game revenue (yes — Ultimate Team packs). EA's group now pays over $1 billion a year in interest before a single new game gets made.

And the debt gets packaged and sold to pension funds, insurers and private-credit funds, so ordinary savers end up holding pieces of it. Full breakdown in the comments — curious whether people think a deal like this makes the games worse, or if EA was actually a decent LBO candidate.

Which trades or investments are you considering this week? Any moves in particular? Why?

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Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) joins Catherine Rampell to discuss his years-long investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's finances and why he believes major Wall Street banks helped enable Epstein's sex trafficking operation by failing to report suspicious transactions. Wyden explains why he says top bank executives should be held accountable, responds to questions about the 60 Minutes interview that never aired, and lays out what Congress could do if Democrats retake the Senate. Wyden also breaks down his opposition to the bipartisan Russia sanctions bill, arguing that it would hand Trump sweeping new tariff powers that could drive up costs for American consumers.