Trump Sanctions win: USA sells captured Venezuela oil tankers for scrap
Bank of America just launched a $250 billion AI & energy infrastructure blitz
Hello Capitalists!
Get the edge on what you need to know today:
Trump Sanctions win: USA sells captured Venezuela oil tankers for scrap
Bank of America just launched a $250 billion AI & energy infrastructure blitz
Norway’s Wealth Fund soars: $184B in half year profits off tech and SpaceX
Google puts DeepMind boss in charge as Pixel 11 goes Gemini-first
Lilly sues six sellers of black-market weight-loss miracle drug
China’s Boeing rival C919 makes historic first international flight
Mortgage rates finally dip and applications jump back to life
Sponsored by Health Sciences Institute
Support The Capitalist, become a paid subscriber today:
Trump Sanctions win: America sells captured Venezuela oil tankers for scrap
The U.S. government has sold a Venezuela-linked oil tanker seized after a dramatic high-seas chase, clearing the way for the dark-fleet vessel to be demolished by its new owner.
Chase spanned the Atlantic: The sanctioned Bella 1 fled a Caribbean blockade, changed names, and painted a Russian flag before its capture off Iceland.
Captain sentenced last week: A U.S. district court sentenced the ship’s captain for refusing Coast Guard orders during the weeks-long pursuit.
Treasury licenses enabled sale: Vessel-specific licenses allowed Global Marketing Systems to buy the tanker without dealing with sanctioned owners.
Recycling aims to block return: Officials and the buyer said demolition prevents the vessel from re-entering illicit trade and removes environmental risk.
Buffett's ‘Rule’ Could Make This Company Soar
Warren Buffett famously said that “If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.”
But what if your phone could do it for you? 📲
That’s exactly what Mode Mobile has created - technology that turns idle phone time into passive income. With 490M+ users in their ecosystem and $1B in earnings and savings, their EarnPhone is being called the Uber of smartphones.
With 32,481% revenue growth, they were named the fastest-growing software company in 2023 by Deloitte, and with 7 billion smartphones worldwide their market could be significantly larger than Uber’s.
They’ve just secured their Nasdaq stock ticker $MODE, and you have until August 14 to invest in their pre-IPO offering at $0.52/share.
⚠️ Last chance to invest. Price changes on August 14.
Bank of America just launched a $250 billion AI and energy infrastructure blitz
Bank of America said Wednesday it will deploy $250 billion by July 2027 to finance U.S. digital and infrastructure projects, aiming to support economic growth and create tens of thousands of jobs.
Three core investment pillars set: Funding will target digital infrastructure including data centers, energy and power projects, and core transportation and natural-gas assets.
Timeline runs 18 months total: The commitment is measured from January 1, 2026, through July 4, 2027, coinciding with the nation’s 250th anniversary period.
Follows similar peer announcements: The move comes days after Morgan Stanley outlined a $1.5 trillion decade-long technology and infrastructure financing plan.
Integrated capital solutions emphasized: Bank executives stressed the need for combined corporate and project-level financing across public and private markets.
Norway’s Wealth Fund soars: $184B in half year profits off tech and SpaceX
Norway’s $2.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund reported a record half-year profit of more than $184 billion Wednesday, fueled by Asian technology stocks, and disclosed its SpaceX stake for the first time.
SpaceX holding tops $1.2 billion: The fund revealed a 0.05% stake in SpaceX valued at just over $1.2 billion in its first-half report.
Nvidia leads massive tech bets: A 1.3% position in Nvidia alone was worth $61.8 billion, with Apple and Microsoft also among top holdings.
Equities delivered 12.95% return: After a first-quarter drop, equity investments rebounded 15.98% in the second quarter for a strong half-year result.
CEO issues stark fortune warning: Nicolai Tangen said the fund could disappear and no country has ever held a large financial fortune forever.
Meta and Nvidia just seized the open-weight AI crown
Meta and Nvidia released open-weight AI models this week, joining a U.S. tech push to compete with Chinese labs while urging policymakers against premature restrictions on the technology.
Meta opens Muse Glimmer: Meta released Muse Glimmer on Monday and plans to open the weights of its more powerful Muse Spark 1.2 model for free developer access.
Nvidia debuts Nemotron Lightning: Nvidia followed with Nemotron 3.5 Lightning, publishing training datasets, techniques, and model weights as truly open-source offerings.
Tech letter defends openness: More than 20 U.S. companies recently urged officials to avoid premature restrictions on open-weight models, including those developed in China.
Domestic models gain appeal: Box CEO Aaron Levie said the releases plant a firm flag that America will field near-frontier open-source models suitable for sensitive users.
The Capitalist is a reader-supported publication, we exist for you, because of you!
Google puts DeepMind boss in charge as Pixel 11, goes Gemini-first
Google named Koray Kavukcuoglu head of DeepMind on Wednesday to close the frontier AI gap with OpenAI and Anthropic while launching the Pixel 11 series centered on agentic Gemini Intelligence in its battle with Apple.
DeepMind leadership shift: Koray Kavukcuoglu becomes SVP overseeing Gemini models, frontier research, apps and developers, reporting to Sundar Pichai as Demis Hassabis moves to chair amid efforts to catch competitors.
Pixel 11 Gemini focus: The new lineup of Pixel 11, Pro, Pro XL and Pro Fold puts the most agentic Gemini yet at the center, enabling actions across messages, calendars and maps.
Differentiation from Apple: Devices chief Rick Osterloh said Pixel and iPhone are going in very different directions with unique Android Gemini features, even as Apple rebuilds Siri using Google models.
Catch-up and cost pressures: Google lags after no frontier model since early 2026 while OpenAI and Anthropic advanced; memory shortages are forcing industry price hikes that Google will match.
Polymarket@PolymarketJUST IN: Google hikes prices of all Pixel 11 models by $100 amid surging memory costs.2:30 PM · Aug 12, 2026 · 38.8K Views38 Replies · 12 Reposts · 177 Likes
CoreWeave stock rockets 18% as Q2 revenue more than doubles
CoreWeave shares jumped as much as 20% after the AI cloud provider reported second-quarter revenue of $2.6 billion, up 112% from a year earlier, as CEO Michael Intrator declared an important inflection point.
Backlog hits record scale: Revenue backlog stood at $104 billion as of June 30 excluding $25 billion in new third-quarter commitments, which the CEO said is virtually the size of the backlog a year earlier.
Adjusted profits beat views: Adjusted operating income came in at $128 million versus the $66 million consensus estimate, while losses per share of -$1.14 improved on the expected -$1.41 figure from analysts.
Full-year targets expand: The company forecasts full-year revenue of $12.4 billion to $13.2 billion and adjusted operating income between $960 million and $1.15 billion even after a $49 million operating loss.
Citi calls it cleaner: Analysts at Citi labeled it one of the cleaner quarters since the IPO, pointing to robust demand, stronger pricing power, better margins, and upward profitability guidance revisions.
Quiet summer, big fear: bulls scramble for crash insurance
Despite the S&P 500 at all-time highs and the VIX near year-to-date lows, traders are loading up on deep out-of-the-money puts for crash protection after a quietly violent summer.
Record call buying meets put demand: Nasdaq options logged one of the most bullish days in ten years even as deep out-of-the-money puts stay elevated.
Semiconductor swings left scars: A 25% pullback in the semiconductor group triggered the heaviest put buying in VanEck Semiconductor ETF history.
Small-caps act as volatility haven: Russell 2000 volatility fell to a second-percentile low of the past five years after a strong year-to-date rally.
Tail hedges remain unusually high: The ratio of 10-delta puts to 25-delta puts sits in the 66th percentile of the past five years, signaling lingering fear.
Geely’s $15k EV crushes Tesla as China goes 65% electric
Electric vehicles tightened their grip on China’s car market, with Geely’s Xingyuan hatchback topping sales in the six months through July while new-energy vehicles hit 65.1% of July passenger-car sales.
Geely Xingyuan claims top spot: Nearly 197,500 units of the sub-100,000-yuan electric hatchback made it the best-selling model over the six-month period.
Tesla Model Y holds strong second: More than 180,000 Model Y SUVs sold, outpacing Li Auto and Xiaomi models despite a higher price range.
BYD models slip in ranking: Three BYD vehicles still made the top 10, yet the best of them only reached fifth place amid a double-digit sales drop.
Volkswagen remains sole foreign survivor: The German brand’s gasoline Lavida was the only traditional foreign model to crack the top 10 list.
Lilly sues six sellers of black-market weight-loss miracle drug
Eli Lilly filed six lawsuits Wednesday against U.S. companies it accuses of illegally selling black-market versions of its experimental obesity drug Retatrutide, which remains unapproved and in Phase 3 trials.
Targets include spas and pharmacies: The suits name compounding pharmacies, medical spas, and online sellers that marketed Retatrutide products to consumers.
FDA already banned unapproved sales: In June the FDA stated that sales of Retatrutide and other unapproved GLP-1 versions to consumers are illegal.
More than 200 referrals made: Lilly has referred over 200 individuals and entities to the FDA, Justice Department, and state authorities.
Customs seizures surge sharply: U.S. Customs intercepted more than 1,400 shipments and nearly 90,000 vials of illicit GLP-1 drugs in July alone.
China’s Boeing rival C919 makes historic first international flight
China’s COMAC C919 completed its first scheduled international commercial flight Wednesday, flying from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar as the state-owned maker seeks to challenge the Boeing-Airbus duopoly.
Daily Beijing-Ulaanbaatar service begins: Air China will operate the narrow-body jet on the route every day after the inaugural departure just after 3 p.m. local time.
Foreign parts still limit reach: The aircraft relies on foreign components and lacks U.S. or European certification, restricting sales outside China.
Delivery pace lags far behind targets: COMAC delivered only 15 C919s last year against a goal of 75, well below Boeing and Airbus output.
Analysts question competitive speed: Experts say production remains too slow and in-service support must still match established rivals for real impact.
Mortgage rates finally dip and applications jump back to life
After five weeks of increases, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate edged down to 6.77% last week, prompting a 3.6% rise in total mortgage application volume.
Refinance applications climb 5%: Refinance volume rose for the week yet remained 22% below the same period a year earlier when rates were lower.
Purchase applications also improve: Applications to buy homes increased 3% week-over-week but stayed 1% lower than the year-ago level.
August remains seasonally weak: High home prices and economic uncertainty continue to weigh on what is typically one of the slowest sales months.
CPI report looms over rates: Market participants are watching Wednesday’s consumer price index for potential larger moves in borrowing costs.