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Today's Summary

US debt-to-GDP ratio rose to 122% in Q4, highest since Covid Spike. Growing debt means a more leveraged government, and a higher burden on the economy. Diversifying with Manmanaged FuturesETFs is the most bang for the buck. US data centers are sprouting like mushrooms, on top of the demand from the rising share of EVs in the national vehicle fleet. Solar, wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, and biomass – combined – rose by 9.6% to a record 1,162,090 GWh. US natural gas production Jumps to Record, Exports via LNG & Pipeline Spike to Record in 2025. The 30-day-plus delinquency rate on credit cards issued by all commercial banks declined to 2.94% at the end of Q4, seasonally adjusted (SA) The 30 day delinquency rates are the lowest since Q3 2023. Credit card balances rose by $69 billion year-over-year, or by 5.7%, to $1.28 trillion. Consumers are earning record amounts of income and there is a record number of consumers , and theyre PPI for “core” goods, which excludes food and energy products, spiked by 0.68% (+8.5%), the most since 2022. The worst inflation impulses were in services in January, and the services PPI weighs 68% of the overall PPI. Long-term bond yields are down today, some substantially down. The company can cut them to zero and the principal of your investment then crashes. US natural gas production jumps to record, exports via lng & pipeline spike to record in 2025. The fracking revolution is the best thing that has ever happened for US energy independence. The effects of fracking are still to be determined, Wolf Richter says. US imports crude oil from Mexico in 2025 and exported 1.1 MMb/d of petroleum products to Mexico. Exports of propane, ethane, butane, and natural gasoline soared by 7.0% to 3 We must prepare to live with even deeper uncertainty about whether emerging infectious threats are natural or man-made. We need significantly more funding to tackle emergent and re-emerging infections and bioterrorism threats. The disconnect between employment and output growth is probably greater than it looks, says Macroduck. Barry Ritholtz talks with Jeff Chang, President and Co-Founder of Vest. We discuss the benefits of hedging via ETFs and the current state of the Venture Capital space. Barry talks about the impact of the recent Winter Storm Fern in some areas hit hard by the storm. Jeff Chang: While weve had a tremendous amount of growth in, in kind of the option space of downside protection and income generation part, I think a lot of the market is still, thinking two dimensionally in the stocks and bonds. Paul Krugman: Zepbound is FDA-approved to help adults with obesity lose weight and keep it off when used alongside diet and exercise. Author: Chinese leaders are more careful planners and long-term thinkers than U.S. leaders. China is still struggling with a real estate bust, and the government has decided that exports are a way to cushion the impact on the real economy. Long-duration bonds have underperformed, dramatically underperforming cash and generating outright negative returns. Julian Zelizer says the MAGA movement and the progressive movement seem to portend long-term weakness. 36 States and D.C. have seen price declines as of January. BART ridership has plummeted in recent years; it did not even come close to fully bouncing back after the pandemic. Fannie and Freddie: Single Family Delinquency Rate Increased in January. Jason Furman says he lost it with Jon Stewart. Bitcoin price action can keep behaving like it did in the initial shock: sharp wicks first, then a slower grind lower once weekday liquidity audits the move. China and Latin America dominate the worlds fishing industry. The theory that countries pollute less as they get richer seems to hold true for air and water pollution.