Hello Capitalists!
Get the edge on what you need to know today:
Capitalist Insider: Trump crashes Nvidia CEO live on stage
Together with Kalshi
Cracker Barrel’s ousted CEO leaves with $4.63M and personal security
Cracker Barrel will pay outgoing CEO Julie Masino $4.63 million in severance and keep covering protective services after a failed rebrand drove her from the top job.
Severance clock starts later: An SEC filing says Masino receives $4.63 million over the two years after employment ends. She left the CEO job Aug. 10 and stays an adviser through Oct. 9.
Security outlasts the job: The chain will keep paying for her protective services for a “reasonable period of time” after that advisory role ends, the filing said, with no dollar cap.
Rebrand still bruises traffic: Last year’s $700 million overhaul across 660-plus restaurants dropped the “old timer” logo and decluttered dining rooms before a reversal. Third-quarter comps fell 2.6%, traffic 6.7%.
Deno inherits the recovery: David Deno is CEO. Chairman Carl Berquist thanked Masino for a smooth transition. CFO Craig Pommells said traffic is still negative versus last year but the trend is improving.
Trump rejects the AI slowdown and calls the fears a hoax
President Trump spent Monday attacking AI leaders who want a development slowdown, calling safety fears a hoax and saying the only guardrail needed is a “strong and smart” president.
Guardrails are the president: “The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump wrote Monday.
Oblivion and bankruptcy warning: He asked when industry leaders ever sought rules that, “if strongly implemented, will drive them into oblivion and bankruptcy,” and said China would benefit if the U.S. hits the brakes.
Pentagon already punished Anthropic: Anthropic was blacklisted by the Defense Department earlier this year and in June ordered to disable two models. Trump’s June executive order only asked firms to submit models voluntarily.
When does “Claude” go public?
Odds say sooner rather than later.
As one of the leading names in the AI space Anthropic has seen its fair share of drama. Not least with its CEO’s recent comments and high profile revelations.
AI IPO Drama: With Sam Altman declaring that OpenAI will not seek to go public in 2026 all eyes now turn to Anthropic.
A Pattern Emerging: Previously the bet had been between “before November 1st “ and “before December 1st” but recently there has been a spike in the odds on the line “Before October 24th.”
When do you think Anthropic will officially announce their IPO?
Get $25 in credit on Kalshi after you sign up using our code “brawl” or by using our link.
Meta-Manus was the warning. China exit bans start today
Beijing imposed sweeping exit curbs on Chinese citizens Tuesday and new entry rules for foreigners, explicitly linking travel bans to export-control violations in the U.S. tech race.
Months or years barred: Citizens can be stopped from leaving for months or years over “criminal activities abroad” that threaten national interests, or export-control breaches that harm “industrial and technology security.”
First explicit export link: Ting Peng of Shenzhen’s BZW Law Firm said this is the first time China has explicitly tied export-control violations to exit bans. The State Council announced the package in July.
Foreigners face entry bans: Beijing can deny visas to foreigners on several sanctions lists and block people on Chinese counter-sanctions lists. False statements or illegal entry or exit can mean a 5-year entry ban.
Talent and official travel: The Journal says the rules aim to curb AI talent and know-how as Xi tightens national security. Officials and military face tighter overseas-travel oversight; private agencies must report unlawful cases.
Altman flags two AI threats and kills an OpenAI 2026 IPO
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said losing control of alignment or concentrating power in one lab or country are the two threats to avoid, and told Fortune a 2026 IPO would be ill-advised.
Sunday warning on X: Altman wrote Sunday that the field must stay on “Team Humanity,” warning that one country or one lab with too much power could produce “extremely dystopian” results.
Federal framework gets welcome: He said OpenAI would welcome a federal framework of consistent frontier-AI safety rules and now writes explicit safety cases before reinforcement-learning runs expected to lift capabilities.
Confidential S-1, no 2026: The ChatGPT-maker confidentially filed an S-1 in June. Altman told Fortune “we’re not rushing into an IPO” and that a listing will not occur in 2026.
Independent evaluators get access: He agreed with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on independent evaluators with employee-like access. “We will do the same. We’ll have more to share soon,” Altman wrote.
Dimon and Solomon star in Treasury’s Trump praise tape
Treasury on Monday night released a roughly one-minute G20 video of Jamie Dimon, David Solomon and other CEOs praising Trump-era deregulation, taxes, and U.S. manufacturing.
Barnacles on a boat: Dimon said the U.S. has “been regulating nonstop for years like barnacles on a boat” and that deregulation can “free up capital, free up liquidity and make the system safer.”
Asheville clips, Monday drop: The interviews were taped at the G20 ministerial in Asheville, North Carolina, on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1. Treasury posted the package on its X account.
More CEOs on tape: The video also features David Solomon, Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks, 3M CEO Bill Brown, and John Deere CTO Jahmy Hindman. Ricks cited U.S. plants “for the first time in over 40 years.”
Scale of the chorus: The featured firms employ about 550,000 people and generate about $376 billion in revenue. The White House cites $11.2 trillion in pledged U.S. investments.
Bitcoin slips as Clarity Act odds crash to 19%
Bitcoin fell to $76,890 and Cathie Wood’s ARK sold crypto names Monday as Senate Clarity Act odds of passing this year dropped to 19% on Polymarket ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
Vote day, fading odds: The Senate votes Tuesday afternoon on the Clarity Act. GOP senators made an 11th-hour push for Democratic votes, but Polymarket odds of 2026 passage fell to 19% from 31%.
Bitcoin gave back ground: Bitcoin dropped 1.6% over 24 hours to $76,890, per CoinDesk data in the Barron’s report. It is up 31% since the start of July and still down 12% in 2026.
Ether, XRP, stock proxies: Ethereum slipped 1.9% to $2,475 and XRP edged 0.2% lower to $1.40. Coinbase was down 3.9% premarket after a 9% rally. Strategy fell 3.8% after gaining 4.6% Monday.
Wood lightened the sleeve: ARK Invest sold shares Monday in CoinDesk owner Bullish, Coinbase, stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group, and Ethereum treasury firm Bitmine Immersion Technologies.
Goldman: buy the new AI winners. Fade last year’s names
Goldman Sachs told top clients the AI momentum trade is splitting at a five-year extreme, as three-month winners surged and 12-month leaders sold off after Monday’s chip rout.
Short-term beat long-term: Guillaume Soria told Goldman’s top sales and trading clients that 3-month momentum (GSPRHMO3) rose 5% while 12-month momentum (GSPRHIMO) fell 6.7%, the largest underperformance in 5 years.
Old leaders get dumped: ZeroHedge said the regime shift flagged about a month ago is accelerating: short-term winners have diverged from longer-term winners at unprecedented levels as old outperformers get kicked aside.
SOX still holds 10,800: The Market Ear said the SOX puked Monday but still sits above 10,800 support. Momentum is poor, and the 50-day/100-day moving-average cross is not bullish.
Next support is thin: A close below 10,800 would leave little support until the 200-day moving average and the longer-term trend line, The Market Ear said, as software ripped and semis sold.
After the AI scare, Europe’s chip rebound is messy
European semiconductor stocks were mixed Tuesday after a Monday selloff that Barron’s tied to calls for a slowdown in advanced AI models over safety concerns.
Safety calls hit demand: Barron’s said those slowdown calls weighed on global chip stocks Monday as investors worried slower AI development could cut semiconductor demand.
Dutch equipment bid higher: ASML Holding rose 0.4% and smaller rival ASM International gained 0.3%. BE Semiconductor Industries, a Dutch assembly-equipment supplier, was also up 0.4%.
Germany and STM slipped: Infineon Technologies declined 0.6%. STMicroelectronics shares fell 0.7% as the European tape tried to stabilize after Monday’s washout.
Monday’s fear was pace: Investors treated weekend and Monday AI-safety warnings as a demand risk for chips, Barron’s reported, leaving Tuesday’s bounce uneven across the group.
Whatever happened to being fired and told don't let the door hit you in the arse?
Read between Lin’s lines