The Fed and BOJ hike rates into slowing growth, but digital assets refuse to roll over Bitcoin Defies Hawkish Fed Surprises and Geopolitical Heat The Fed and BOJ hike rates into slowing growth, but digital assets refuse to roll over Sep 18 READ IN APP None of this is financial advice. Do your own research. By reading this newsletter, you acknowledge and accept the terms and conditions outlined in our disclaimer . GM Investors The week was built to break risk. The Federal Reserve delivered its first rate increase in three years. The Bank of Japan followed this morning and pushed policy to a 31-year high. The Senate killed cloture on the Clarity Act. Oil prices stayed elevated enough to keep inflation in the Fed’s face. In a normal tape, that mix is a liquidation event. But It was not. Bitcoin dipped under $75,000 after the Senate vote, then recovered through the Fed statement and is now back near $78,000. September, historically the weakest month on the calendar, is down only about 1.5%. The quarter is still up roughly 32%. Bad headlines are no longer enough to break the bid. The more important tape is underneath Bitcoin. ETH/BTC is trying to leave a long downtrend. SOL/BTC already printed a golden cross and tokenized-stock rails moved first after the SEC’s Innovation Exemption. Congress failed to write a statute. The agencies wrote a market. Here’s what our desk is watching. This Is The Only "Buy The Dip" That Matters In September. TOKEN2049 ticket prices go up Sept 23. The discount code expires with your window. You wouldn't fade a 10% discount on a trade. Don't fade it on the one conference where Vitalik, CZ, and BlackRock share the same stage. $539 with code CRYPTOBANTER. Sept 23 is your cutoff. GET 10% discount and register Fed Policy and Geopolitical Risk Fail to Derail Bitcoin The macroeconomic landscape turned decidedly hostile over the past forty-eight hours. The Federal Reserve raised the benchmark fed funds rate by 25 basis points to a target range of 3.75% to 4.00%. This decision marked the central bank’s first rate increase in three full years. More importantly, the updated September dot plot delivered an unmistakably hawkish surprise for macro trading desks. Twelve Fed officials now project at least one additional rate increase before the end of 2026. Four participants anticipate two more hikes, while eight members project further tightening well into 2027. CME FedWatch pricing immediately adapted to the news. Fed fund futures now assign a 55.4% probability to another 25 basis point hike at the October 28 meeting. This policy pressure coincided with uncomfortable inflation data. August CPI accelerated by 0.4% month-over-month, bringing headline consumer inflation to 3.4% year-over-year. Energy markets added to inflationary concerns as geopolitical risk reignited across critical transit corridors. \Oil prices pushed higher, with Brent crude testing $86 per barrel as Middle East shipping risks escalated. Rising yields hammered equities, pushing the US 10-year Treasury yield up to 4.35%. Semiconductor stocks suffered sharp distributions, with Micron dropping 4.24% and the Nasdaq falling 1.74%. Bitcoin absorbed the hot CPI print, the Fed hike, and the Bank of Japan hike without flinching. BTC traded decisively above $78,000, extending its 90-day gain to 16.37%. Bitcoin has comfortably outperformed the S&P 500 (+1.68%), gold (+0.22%), and Nvidia (+5.75%) over that stretch. Against semiconductor stocks, Bitcoin gained 56.20% since the summer cycle bottom. Capital is treating Bitcoin as hard monetary property rather than speculative tech beta. Tokenized Equities and SEC Innovation Rewrite Crypto Market Analysis While central banks tightened credit, the regulatory front delivered unexpected relief from Washington. Earlier in the week, sentiment took a severe hit when the Senate failed to advance the Clarity Act. The cloture vote failed 49 to 46 along strict party lines, with zero Democratic senators voting in favor. However, the regulatory narrative shifted dramatically within forty-eight hours. SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins issued Release No. 34-106402, introducing the landmark “Innovation Exemption”. This order establishes an official five-year temporary relief window for Tokenized Securities Venues. For the first time, US-compliant platforms can legally trade real tokenized equities on public, permissionless blockchains. These trading venues are formally exempt from standard exchange registration and cumbersome Regulation NMS rules. Liquidity providers participating in these automated market maker pools also receive full exemption from broker-dealer registration. The framework requires real underlying equity backing with intact shareholder dividends, voting rights, and liquidation claims. To manage systemic market risks, the SEC capped individual large-cap tokens at 0.25% of daily stock volume. Venues can operate around the clock, though onchain trading must pause if the primary exchange halts the underlying stock. Capital markets are actively merging with public blockchain infrastructure through practical administrative policy. This regulatory breakthrough instantly catalyzed massive capital flows across decentralized finance protocols. 25,000 People. One Building. 48 Hours. Zero Excuses. TOKEN2049 Singapore is where the next cycle’s partnerships get signed. If You’re Not At Marina Bay Sands Oct 7–8, You’re Reading The Recaps. Two Weeks To Lock $539 Entry To The Biggest Crypto Room Of The Year. Use code CRYPTOBANTER at checkout for 10% off the $599 . Altcoins and On-Chain Data Flash Structural Trendline Reversals The SEC exemption triggered an explosive re-rating across decentralized exchange tokens. Automated market makers are no longer burdened by the legal threat of unregistered exchange classifications. Our research shows that this surge is more than a short-term regulatory bounce. Multiple technical metrics and on-chain data indicators show that altcoins completed an exhaust

Higher borrowing costs spark broad distributions across the tech complex 🚨5 Smart Trades as BOJ Hike Rates to 31-Year High Higher borrowing costs spark broad distributions across the tech complex Sep 18 READ IN APP None of this is financial advice. Do your own research. By reading this newsletter, you acknowledge and accept the terms and conditions outlined in our disclaimer . Hey Traders, Oil is still the inflation input, but the tape finally got a breather. Crude slipped for a third session as extra Saudi barrels via Oman eased the worst Hormuz scare, even as Saudi–Houthi strikes and an Iran tanker detention kept Gulf shipping risk alive. Energy is no longer ripping higher by the hour. It is also not off the board. Bonds and stocks spent Friday digesting two hikes, not pricing the next one. The Fed already delivered. The Bank of Japan followed this morning and the yen still weakened. Equities are mixed after Thursday’s chip rebound, with tech carrying the bid and the rest of the tape flat. This is a post-decision grind, not a crash and not a clean risk-on. Bitcoin is trading past the headline stack. Clarity failed, Warsh hiked, Tokyo tightened, and BTC still pushed back through the high-70s with ether and the alt tape following. The regulatory bid is gone. The agency bid is not. Here is what we are watching. Poll of the Day ( Presented by Rain Trade ) 🎯 POLL Zcash is up and just broke $1,500. Is privacy the cycle's biggest sleeper narrative? 💰 Yes, buying ZEC 🍋 Just a short squeeze 🤖 AI is still bigger Today’s Charts: Chart #1 – Internet Computer(ICPUSDT) 1-Day Chart #2 – Render(RENDERUSDT) 1-Day Chart #3 – Filecoin(FILUSDT) 1-Day Chart #4 – Stellar(XLMUSDT) 1-Day Chart #5 – Intel(INTC) 1-Day This Is The Only “Buy The Dip” That Matters In September. TOKEN2049 ticket prices go up Sept 23. The discount code expires with your window. You wouldn’t fade a 10% discount on a trade. Don’t fade it on the one conference where Vitalik, CZ, and BlackRock share the same stage. $539 with code CRYPTOBANTER. Sept 23 is your cutoff. GET 10% discount and register Chart #1 – Internet Computer(ICPUSDT) 1-Day( Powered by Rain Trade 📊) Chartist: Kapoor (For the chart screenshot, ) Internet Computer has printed a strong bullish impulse following a successful structural retest of its breakout pivot, sustaining demand above the $2.645 shelf to trade around $2.773 on the 1-day timeframe. Developed by the DFINITY Foundation as a decentralized "world computer," ICP leverages Chain Key Cryptography, canister smart contracts, and high-throughput subnets to host fully on-chain web applications, smart contracts, and decentralized AI models without relying on centralized cloud providers. This long trade setup targets an upward expansion toward the $3.707 overhead resistance target as long as the $2.362–$2.645 support base holds. Trade Levels: Entry: $2.64 Stop Loss: $2.36 Take Profit Levels (TP): TP1: $3.12 TP2: $3.71 Powerful narratives create powerful moves. With 247 Research , you get the insights to be early to the biggest trends in crypto. Chart #2 – Render(RENDERUSDT) 1-Day( Powered by Rain Trade ) Chartist: Kapoor (For the chart screenshot, ) Render has printed a strong bullish impulse following a successful liquidity sweep and structural reclaim of its local pivot shelf, holding above the $1.415 mark to trade near $1.517 on the daily timeframe. As a decentralized GPU-based rendering and AI compute network built on Solana, Render connects node operators offering spare graphical processing power with creators and machine learning developers requiring high-performance 3D rendering, generative AI training, and spatial computing infrastructure. This long trade setup targets an upward expansion toward the $1.910 overhead resistance target as long as the $1.271–$1.415 support base holds. Trade Levels: Entry: $1.41 Stop Loss: $1.27 Take Profit Levels (TP): TP1: $1.63 TP2: $1.91 Chart #3 – Filecoin(FILUSDT) 1-Day( Powered by Rain Trade 📊) Chartist: Kapoor (For the chart screenshot, ) Filecoin has executed a clean pullback and retest of its breakout structure, confirming buyer absorption above the $0.8262 horizontal pivot to trade near $0.8678 on the daily timeframe. Functioning as a decentralized, peer-to-peer storage network built on IPFS that allows participants to store, retrieve, and compute over digital data with cryptographic proofs of storage and smart contract verification, this long trade setup targets an upward expansion toward the $1.1859 overhead resistance target as long as the $0.7288–$0.8262 support base holds. Trade Levels: Entry: $0.826 Stop Loss: $0.728 Take Profit Levels (TP): TP1: $0.984 TP2: $1.190 25,000 People. One Building. 48 Hours. Zero Excuses. TOKEN2049 Singapore is where the next cycle’s partnerships get signed. If You’re Not At Marina Bay Sands Oct 7–8, You’re Reading The Recaps. Two Weeks To Lock $539 Entry To The Biggest Crypto Room Of The Year. Use code CRYPTOBANTER at checkout for 10% off the $599 . Chart #4 – Stellar(XLMUSDT) 1-Day( Powered by Rain Trade 📊) Chartist: Kapoor (For the chart screenshot, ) Stellar has completed a consolidation retest of its local base shelf, establishing buyer absorption above the $0.1840 pivot to print an impulsive green candle trading near $0.1881 on the daily timeframe. Engineered as an open decentralized network focused on global payments, asset tokenization, and seamless fiat-to-crypto off-ramps powered by the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP) and its native Soroban smart contracts platform, this long trade setup targets an upward expansion toward the $0.2528 overhead resistance target as long as the $0.1657–$0.1840 support base holds. Trade Levels: Entry: $0.184 Stop Loss: $0.165 Take Profit Levels (TP): TP1: $0.214 TP2: $0.252 Markets go both ways. Get premium short setups delivered every day with 247 Research . Chart #5 – Intel (INTC) 4-Hour( Powered by Rain Trade 📊) Chartist: Kapoor (For the chart screenshot, ) (INTC refers to the stock of Intel C

Is Paramount really bailing on Hollywood? September 18, 2026 Presented By Happy Friday. Following the retirement of longtime enforcer Ryan Reaves, the NHL has just three players left who do not wear visors . In 2013, the league and its players’ association mandated protective visors for new players, but allowed existing ones to remain visor-less. Leave it to the NHL to make a rule that only has some teeth. —Sam Klebanov, Molly Liebergall, Matty Merritt, Dave Lozo, Adam Epstein, Holly Van Leuven, Neal Freyman In today’s newsletter, we’ll get into: What happens if Paramount leaves LA The SEC greenlighting tokenized stock trading Merriam-Webster adding “looksmaxxing” to its dictionary Markets Nasdaq 26,418.3 +1.69% S&P 7,637.76 +1.14% Dow 51,778.04 +0.61% 10-Year 4.947% -6.0 bps Bitcoin $76,541.84 +0.58% Generac $207.23 +18.34% Data is provided by *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 4:30pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. Markets: Stocks popped yesterday after the Fed’s recent rate hike convinced investors that the central bank is trying to tame inflation. Meanwhile, the aptly named generator company Generac went nuclear thanks to the news that it made a deal to supply Amazon data centers with backup gennies. Markets Sponsored by State Street Investment Management Looking for low-cost exposure to 500 leading US companies ? At just 0.02%, SPYM delivers broad market exposure, scale, and efficiency, while serving as the default investment option for Trump Accounts. I THINK YOU SHOULD LEAVE Is Paramount actually leaving LA? Illustration: Morning Brew Inc., Photo: Getty Images Like someone juggling three barista jobs between auditions for nonspeaking parts, Paramount is contemplating giving up on LA. The Hollywood studio has reportedly intensified threats to leave the city after talks to settle California’s antitrust case contesting its planned $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. fell apart last month. Deadline reported this week that Paramount notified Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass that it put in a deposit for moving trucks, while studio insiders told Politico that the company is searching for office space in Tennessee. Paramount is also reportedly considering relocating to Texas or Georgia. Paramount CEO David Ellison said the company will ditch LA if the state doesn’t negotiate a settlement by Oct. 1—the date it has to start paying Warner Bros. $7 million for each day that the merger doesn’t go through. Critics think the threat to pack up is a bluff meant to pressure officials to green-light the deal. Paramount to the local economy The departure of the last remaining major studio headquartered in LA proper (rivals like Disney and Warner Bros. are technically in nearby Burbank) would be a devastating economic and cultural blow to a town where it’s operated for 100+ years: Los Angeles County could lose more than 1,000 jobs if Paramount relocates its headquarters, and tens of thousands of jobs if Paramount yanks all operations. That would deepen the wound from the more than 42,000 film and TV jobs the city already lost between 2022 and 2024. The local economy could face a shortfall of up to $2 billion in the next five years, according to a recent report by the LA County Economic Development Corporation. Paramount would lose more than just nice beaches. Industry observers say that leaving LA would jeopardize the studio’s talent pool, as production staff might be reluctant to follow the company out of the entertainment hub. It could just move its HQ to qualify for state incentives, but keep much of its staff in Southern California. Looking ahead: The two sides will meet next month for court-mandated settlement talks. California Attorney General Rob Bonta is demanding that Paramount offload some of its assets for the merger to proceed. —SK Sponsored By Customer.io Hope this message finds you well If you’re a marketing pro, then you know—sending the right message, at the right time, to the right audience is everything. You also know that that’s way easier said than done. That’s where Customer.io comes in. They help you build personalized campaigns across email, SMS, push, and more, thanks to the key findings in their Customer messaging in 2026 guide. Grab your copy to learn: how marketers are actually using AI why segmentation and behavioral triggers beat all other personalization tactics the metrics marketers currently care about most Start sending messages your customers actually want to open. Get the guide . World Tour de headlines Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images 🤖 OpenAI disclosed six more cases of “concerning” AI behavior. If you thought the bots were done disobeying orders, think again. OpenAI revealed this week that it detected six new incidents of its AI models exhibiting concerning or unexpected behavior. It also shared a new framework for tracking such instances of “misalignment,” which is the industry’s less scary term for when AI goes rogue. “We do not believe that the AI industry has solved alignment and monitoring to a sufficient degree to continue responsibly scaling at maximum speed for much longer,” the company wrote on its blog. The disclosure comes as executives across the AI industry acknowledge that the technology needs to slow down to address its risks. —AE 🚗 General Motors makes missile parts now. The company that makes the Corvette is also manufacturing missile components for the Pentagon. According to the Wall Street Journal, GM recently delivered parts for Lockheed Martin’s Patriot missiles and is in talks to supply the military contractor with parts for other munitions. The news follows reports that the Iran war has left the US’ stockpiles of Patriot missiles “extremely low.” For GM, the push into the missile business creates a new revenue stream as the global auto market continues to struggle. —AE 🏀 New York Knicks pause ticket sales after “mistake.” The reigning NBA champions opened up single-game ticket sales to the general public yesterday but

Plus: No exit | Friday, September 18, 2026 Axios Markets By Emily Peck and Matt Phillips · Sep 18, 2026 🎉 Friday! The vibe is upbeat. Crude oil futures are lower, pointing to a third-straight decline. S&P 500 futures are up a bit. ⏳ It's the end of an era. Warren Buffett is stepping down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, effective immediately, and transitioning to the role of chairman emeritus. In a letter to Berkshire shareholders about the decision, the 96-year-old investment legend wrote, "Father Time always wins. He has, however, been generous with me." 🗓️ Today, Matt explains why Wall Street doesn't fear the rate-hike reaper. Plus, China pulls back on Treasury investments, and oil analysts are just throwing up their hands at this point. Let's get into it. In 1,074 words, a 4-minute read. 1 big thing: The stock market can handle a few hikes By Matt Phillips Date: FactSet; Deutsche Bank; Chart: Axios/Matt Phillips; Note: S&P 500 is presented on a logarithmic scale. Stock watchers think the market should be able to continue to gain altitude despite a headwind from Federal Reserve interest rate hikes . Why it matters: Rate-hiking cycles have sometimes undermined the market, leaving investors with ugly losses. Case in point: In 2022, the S&P 500 fell 19.4% — its worst annual performance of the last 17 years — as the Fed rushed to snuff out a nasty bout of inflation that broke out during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The Fed jacked up interest rates sharply in a cycle that lasted from March 2022 to July 2023. Driving the news: The Federal Reserve launched what's expected to be a series of interest rate increases Wednesday, with a quarter-point rise. Chairman Kevin Warsh justified the move by saying, "The plain fact is that inflation is too high and has been for too long." And the S&P 500 added to its string of lackluster recent performances, declining 0.5% Wednesday. Yes, but: Yesterday, the blue-chip index posted its biggest gain since early August. The rally was broad, including AI-related shares and software stocks as well as fuel-sensitive sectors like airlines and rate-sensitive industries like homebuilding. Between the lines: The rally seemed driven, in part, by a second consecutive drop in crude oil prices. That cuts costs — and theoretically raises profits — for industries like airlines. Some attributed the oil price drop to a Reuters report that Saudi Arabia had asked China to intervene with Iran in hopes that Iran would rein in Houthi fighters after attacks on Saudi diversionary pipelines in recent days. (Beijing apparently made a call to Tehran.) Long-term Treasury yields also fell, with analysts suggesting that by raising short-term interest rates — against the explicit preferences of President Trump — the Fed had restored some of the institution's inflation-fighting bona fides. That has shrunk the uncertainty premium that helped push yields up after Warsh's widely panned performance in his late July press conference. The big picture: The combination of falling crude oil prices and declining long-term Treasury yields is tailor-made to give stocks a lift, analysts say. If such salubrious market conditions continue, it could mean that the Fed won't have to raise rates too high or too quickly Under such a scenario, the S&P 500 may well avoid the kind of ugly drop it endured in 2022. Still, that's a big " if." Especially as such an important variable — energy prices — hinges on developments in the Iran war. What they're saying: "The key risks are oil and an unexpected inflation shock," wrote Mike Wilson, Morgan Stanley's chief U.S. equity strategist. That combination could turn "what currently looks like a more modest policy adjustment that is preemptive in nature into what would be viewed as a more prolonged hiking cycle." "Twenty-five basis points here and there isn't going to make too much of a difference," Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, tells Axios. "What could go wrong is that this doesn't do enough to curb inflation and we have to really enter into a hiking cycle." The bottom line: "That could be problematic," he says. 2. 🇨🇳 China's great unwind By Emily Peck Data: U.S. Treasury Department ; Chart: Emily Peck/Axios China's holdings of U.S. Treasury securities reached an 18-year low in July, new Treasury Department data shows. Why it matters: It's not just China. Foreign governments are pulling back on buying Treasury securities , and hedge funds and other private investors are filling the void. That poses some risks to the ability of the U.S. to borrow money cheaply, as analysts say it could put upward pressure on borrowing costs. Zoom in: China's holdings of Treasury securities fell to $618 billion in July, the lowest level since August 2008, when they were at $573.7 billion. The world's second-largest economy, China has been moving away from these investments for the past decade and accelerated the shift after 2022, when the U.S. froze Russian assets and prompted a lot of countries to have second thoughts about storing wealth in America. Yes, but: China may have moved some of its Treasury holdings to non-U.S. custodians, making it hard to truly assess the situation. Overall, these moves have been gradual, and holdings have remained stable. Zoom out: For years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, central banks were "price-insensitive" buyers of Treasury debt — they saw these bonds and securities as an ultra-safe bet. Now, more price-sensitive hedge funds and private investors make up a larger share of buyers — these aren't all the buy-and-hold types. The problem? During times of stress "sharp shifts in sentiment could trigger rapid sales and systemic stress," as Brookings senior fellow Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti wrote recently. A MESSAGE FROM AXIOS Simplify: Do 50% more with 50% less With AI upending work and life, Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen & Roy Schwartz, the bestselling authors of "Smart Brevity" offer a one-stop survival guide to dramati

Plus: Why Generac is generating investor excitement. September 18, 2026 PRESENTED BY UNITED STATES TUNGSTEN CORP. Good morning. Justice tasted sweet at Hershey’s on Thursday. A federal court dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit in which two plaintiffs claimed the confectioner deceived customers by selling faceless Reese’s peanut butter-and-chocolate pumpkins in packaging that depicted them with decorative Halloween patterns. “It is clear that their only injury is their subjective disappointment,” US District Judge Melissa Damian wrote in her decision. She noted the “plaintiffs do not allege that the Hershey’s Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins that they purchased were defective or worthless or that they lost all economic value because of the absence of the decorative carvings.” But, like the antagonist in any good Halloween slasher, this case may refuse to stay dead. Damian dismissed an earlier version of the lawsuit last year, and the plaintiffs’ lawyer said Thursday that his clients plan to appeal the latest decision. MARKETS S&P 500 7,637.76 ▲ +1.14% DJI 51,778.04 ▲ +0.61% GNRC $207.23 ▲ +18.34% Stock data as of market close on September 17, 2026. MARKETS ‘Outlook Cloudy’: Fed Rate Hike Pits Bulls Against Bears Over Year-End Rally Odds September is famously the worst month for stocks on average , a phenomenon that has been heavily debated and attributed to tax-loss selling or parents liquidating assets for back-to-school costs. The so-called September Effect has also been dismissed as totally meaningless. Putting the market psychology aside, this September has given markets plenty of reason to reinforce the stereotype: oil prices on a war-fueled incline, rising AI apocalypse anxiety and, of course, this week’s interest-rate hike. Some analysts believe that, while the September Effect may be in full swing this year, there is still time for a positive October (and later) surprise. Here Comes the Fall (Autumn, That Is) There are no doubt investors concerned about the impact of the Federal Reserve’s decision this week to raise interest rates. After Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon noted the investment bank’s fixed-income trading business has already been “a little bit softer” this quarter, its shares fell 4% Wednesday. Higher rates can slow corporate bond issuance and broader underwriting activity, two things Solomon’s remark suggests may already be happening at a marginal level. Then there’s Macro Risk Advisors CEO Dean Curnutt, who wrote to clients earlier this week that a rate hike could trigger an S&P 500 pullback of up to 10%. In particular, he flagged the risk posed to corporate margins by higher interest rates, which increase the cost of borrowing money and slow consumer spending. He also pointed to 2018, when “the Santa Claus rally did not come,” as a reason to be concerned about the economic backdrop for the rest of this year. Back then, there was a September rate hike, surging bond yields, the protectionist trade policies of the first Trump administration and a rotation out of highly valued Big Tech stock. Sound vaguely familiar? But there are also experts who see an upside: Citadel Securities says it has become “increasingly constructive” about the market’s end-of-year prospects. Since 1930, the trading firm found, the S&P 500 has fallen an average 1.1% in the last two weeks of September before bouncing back in October. In midterm election years (don’t forget to vote), the index has gained 5.6% from the end of September through New Year’s Eve. If past is prologue, Goldman Sachs sees reasons for optimism, too. The investment bank said that while the S&P 500 declined an average of 2% in the first three months of seven rate-hiking cycles, the index ultimately posted an average 12-month gain of 9%. Vote of Confidence: So far, the Fed’s move to address inflation has had a calming effect on market turmoil overall. The S&P 500 rose 1.14% Thursday while Treasury yields and oil prices fell. “This appears to be the market’s vote of confidence,” said Chris Osmond, chief investment officer at Fifth Third Wealth Advisors. “Investors believe the Fed’s resolve will ultimately bring inflation under control, which is a precondition for a durable equity rally.” Written by Sean Craig PRESENTED BY UNITED STATES TUNGSTEN CORP. One Company Holds the Key to $665M in Minerals Photo via United States Tungsten Corp. The Tungsten Queen once wore America’s crown. But now, the country’s largest tungsten project is dormant, just sitting on $665M of untapped resources. Meanwhile, tungsten prices are up 500%+ 1 as over $12T worth of industries compete for it. United States Tungsten is seizing the moment . They’re reopening the Tungsten Queen, aiming to restart production in as little as 24 months. That’s up to 5X faster than typical projects. The timing couldn’t be better, either . The Department of the Interior has designated tungsten a critical mineral. New US policy will restrict foreign tungsten purchases starting in 2027. And federal agencies are discussing domestic supply contracts. Claim a piece of this boom. Become an early-stage United States Tungsten investor by 10/9 for up to 23% bonus shares. * BLOCKCHAIN SEC Greenlights Tokenized Stocks After Clarity Act Fails in Senate Photo via Al Drago - Pool via CNP/CNP / Polaris/Newscom The SEC isn’t waiting for clarity with a capital C to give tokenized stocks the go-ahead. On Thursday, Wall Street’s watchdog issued a five-year order allowing trading venues to offer digital representations of company shares. The move ushers in a 24/7 type of trading that proponents say reduces counterparty risk through faster settlement. It also comes just days after the Senate blocked the Clarity Act, which would have provided a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency. The new rule is “designed to resolve challenges that have prevented responsible innovation from taking root in the United States while providing investor protections and market integrity standards,” SEC Chai

The Fed just hiked rates. 🥛 Stocks hit, crypto resilient 💪 The Fed just hiked rates. Rohit Chauhan GM. This is Milk Road, the newsletter that makes you sound like the guy with a Bloomberg terminal (minus the $24k/y subscription). Here’s what we’ve got for you today: ✍️ Stocks hit, crypto resilient. 🎙️ The Milk Road Show: Ethereum's Next Upgrade Could be The Most Bullish One Ever . 🍪 Hyperliquid flips Binance in BTC perps liquidity. Nexo is a premier digital asset platform that helps clients build, manage, and preserve their wealth. Get started with Nexo today. Prices as of 2:00 p.m. ET. Powered by CoinGecko. STOCKS HIT, CRYPTO RESILIENT 💪 Yesterday, the Fed raised interest rates by 25 bps, its first hike in more than three years. The 12-member FOMC voted unanimously (12-0) in favor of the hike. The same committee, back in July, came down 9-3, with all three dissenters calling for a 25 bps hike, while the majority voted to keep the rates unchanged. The trigger behind yesterday’s hike was rising inflation, led by energy. Since the August lows, Brent crude oil has rallied 36.7% and is trading ~$105 on the back of the Iran conflict. As a result, August CPI came in at ~3.4%. The real surprise from yesterday wasn’t so much the rate hike (the market was already pricing in a ~90% chance of a hike), but the projections. Each quarter, the Fed publishes its dot plot - a document in which 18 officials mark where they think rates should be each year. In June, the consensus put rates down to 3.4% by 2028 and 3.1% in the long run. Yesterday’s version moved every single number on the plot higher. Source: FedWatch (Dot Plot) The Fed’s own Summary of Economic Projections revised the 2026 target rate, up from 3.8% to 4.1%, and 2027 from 3.6% to 4.1%, with zero net cuts next year. By the Fed’s own numbers, the first real cuts don’t land until 2028. Meanwhile, President Trump spent the afternoon demanding rates go down to “1% or lower,” calling American credit the best in the world. 👇 Source: Truth Social Amidst all of this, stocks took a hit, while crypto remained resilient. … though the bigger story lies in the oil chart. ONE ACCOUNT FOR ALL YOUR CRYPTO NEEDS Crypto is still a weirdly fragmented experience. One app to buy. Another to earn yield. A third to borrow against your stack. But Nexo is now bringing it all under one roof: Trade, Earn, and Borrow. Nexo is a premier digital asset platform that helps clients build, manage, and preserve their wealth. Here's what makes them worth trusting: Official Crypto Partner of Tennis Australia First Digital Asset Partner of the Audi Revolut Formula 1 Team Operating since 2018 $7B+ in AUM SOC 2 & SOC 3 certified 24/7 client care Get started with Nexo today. STOCKS HIT, CRYPTO RESILIENT 💪 (P2) Comparing the moves of the top 3 crypto blue chips with those of stocks tells us that crypto is more resilient to rate hikes right now. End-of-day market closes from Sep 15 to Sep 16: I.e. The hike landed on equities while crypto went the other way. That said, it’s not like crypto had a fun week. Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw ~$746M leave across the two sessions leading up to the Fed decision, and CLARITY died in the Senate. With this latest hike, the Fed is trying to use a demand tool on a shipping lane it doesn’t control. The Strait of Hormuz used to move about a fifth of the world’s oil. The Iran conflict brought that traffic to a grinding halt in late February. Brent crude oil opened the year at ~$60 and printed a high of ~$120 around the end of April. On Sep 10, drones out of Iraq’s Maysan province hit pumping stations 8 and 9 along the Saudi East-West pipeline to Yanbu, acting as a bypass to the choked Straight. Brent closed yesterday at $105.83, and energy prices are up ~16% Y/Y. The chokepoint first showed up at the pump, then in the Brent numbers, and now at the FOMC. Source: TradingView The U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts Brent to stay ~$90 for the remainder of 2026 and to drop to around $77 by mid-2027. If Brent follows this trajectory, the next CPI print will cool off, and a December hike will be harder to justify. If it stays above ~$110, Warsh could be persuaded to hike again. The FOMC meets next in October. Until then, all eyes are on Brent. BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪 Free seminar on blockchain and private markets. Our PRO analyst, Martin, is joining a live webinar to discuss where VC money is flowing. Register for free here .* Hyperliquid flips Binance in BTC perp liquidity. U.S. Spot Ethereum ETFs have absorbed 30x more ETH than the network issued this month. Crypto Options Platform Derive hits an ATH Notional Options Volume of ~$1.9B in August. *this is sponsored content. Get started with Nexo today. RATE TODAY’S EDITION What'd you think of today's edition? 🥛🥛🥛🥛🥛 F**king great 🥛🥛🥛 Meh, do better 🥛 You didn't bring the heat MILKY MEMES 🤣 Source: boldleonidas Source: @ToolySOL ROADIE REVIEW OF THE DAY 🥛 VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY This content is for educational purposes only. Read full disclaimer Interested in reaching smart readers like you? Sponsor Milk Road Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here © 2026 ImpactDM Inc. operating as Milk Road 1257 Dundas St W Toronto, Ontario M6J1X6, Canada

Plus: Chips ahoy! | Thursday, September 17, 2026 Axios Closer By Nathan Bomey · Sep 17, 2026 Thursday ✅. Today's newsletter is 769words, a 3-minute read. 📈 The dashboard: The S&P 500 closed up 1.1%. 🔥 Today's stock spotlight: Generac (+18.3%) surged after announcing it inked a deal with Amazon to supply backup power generators for its data centers. 1 big thing: Tokenized stocks come onshore By Pete Gannon Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios The SEC is opening the door for crypto-style trading of U.S. stocks, allowing tokenized shares to trade on blockchain-based venues under a new regulatory exemption. Why it matters: The move brings a core piece of crypto-market infrastructure into the $75 trillion U.S. stock market, creating a new way for investors to buy and sell shares. Driving the news: The SEC this morning issued a pair of five-year, conditional exemptions from current securities laws defining exchanges and dealers, giving certain blockchain-based trading platforms a path to offer trading in tokenized U.S. stocks. Two key details related to the order : 👎 Individual companies can opt out if they choose. 🗳️ The tokenized stocks will carry the same rights and privileges as the shares they represent, including dividends and voting rights. Between the lines: That means they can't be synthetic derivatives, which are already offered by multiple platforms outside the U.S. — and have ruffled a few feathers . 📈 Winners: Securitize, which provides the infrastructure to tokenize securities, closed up 15%. Coinbase and Robinhood — both of which already offer different models of tokenized stock trading to non-U.S. users — rose over 5%. 🏛️ The big picture: The SEC's "innovation exemption" comes just days after long-sought crypto market-structure legislation failed to advance in a key Senate procedural vote. While negotiations over the Clarity Act have dragged on, the SEC has been working for over a year using its statutory authority to write new rules for the crypto sector to operate within the U.S. 🙋What's next: While the order is in effect immediately, it also calls for public comment about possible modifications and potential next steps. The exemptive relief and the experience gained from people engaging in the market are meant to help inform final rulemaking, an SEC official said. Go deeper 2. Chips ahoy! King Charles III walks with Demis Hassabis ( center ) and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang ( right ) to a meeting for leaders from the AI sector today at Dumfries House in Cumnock, Scotland. Photo: Jonathan Brady/Pool/Getty Images Data center opposition and talk of a coordinated AI slowdown aren't giving Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang reason for pessimism about the company's chip sales. 📈 State of play: Huang told reporters today in Scotland that he expects the company to double chip sales in 2027. Zoom in: The statement comes after Nvidia projected last month that its revenue would rise by 70% in the next fiscal year, delighting investors who weren't accustomed to the company issuing such an extended outlook. CFO Colette Kress noted on the August earnings call that the projected 70% increase assumes "a supply-constrained" environment — suggesting that it was possible to exceed that estimate if chip production capacity exceeds expectations. 🥊 Friction point: Huang has dismissed the need for additional AI regulations or a coordinated slowdown, putting him in conflict with Anthropic and OpenAI — two customers the company has also invested in. "Huang said that companies need to take responsibility and make sure their AI software and services are safe before releasing them," Bloomberg reported from Scotland. 3. Other happenings Photo: Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for Ian Madrigal 💸 Amway and two of its affiliates will pay $225 million to settle allegations it recruited new members with deceptive claims about potential earnings, in what the FTC called its largest action against a multilevel marketing company. ( Reuters ) 🍔 McDonald's is planning a revamp of its value strategy and changes to training and support for franchisees as it seeks a boost from last quarter's 0.8% growth in U.S. same-store sales. ( Bloomberg ) 💰 CoreWeave is launching a $3 billion convertible debt offering. ( Reuters ) A MESSAGE FROM AXIOS Everything you need to simplify "Simplify," a new book by the co-founders of Axios, is a step-by-step playbook for spending your time on what makes you perform and feel your best. The takeaway: Learn the Confront, Delete, Amplify framework used by the world's most effective leaders to cut complexity and reclaim focus. Grab a copy today. 4. Buffalo house warming The Buffalo Bills' new stadium, Highmark Stadium, hosted a preseason game on Aug. 27. Photo: Bryan Bennett/Getty Images The Buffalo Bills' new $2.2 billion stadium makes its regular-season debut tonight for the team's game against the Detroit Lions. 🏉 Highmark Stadium features include: ❄️ An open roof to maintain the outdoor feel — but with hydronic snow-melting technology and a partial canopy to protect fans from the elements. 🏟️ A stacked seating system to ensure that fans are closer to the field. 🏈 360-degree concourses with excellent views of the field. 📱 5G wireless connectivity. 🏃♂️ An indoor turf warm-up field and recovery center. 🎸 Expandable seating capacity for non-football events. 💭 Nathan's thought bubble: This Packers fan commends the Bills for bucking the trend of wimpy cold-weather teams (like the Lions) trying to make football an indoor sport . A MESSAGE FROM AXIOS Ready to simplify? "Simplify: Do 50% more with 50% less" is a toolkit for work in the AI era, from the authors of "Smart Brevity." It's built on a three-step framework: Confront the complexity. Delete what's draining energy. Amplify what works best. Order your copy. Why stop here? Let's go Pro. Axios Pro Deals helps you get smarter and faster on the deals, opportunities, and investments that matter most. Get started today . Follow Axios across:

Here’s what they sold, bought, and are watching next. September 17, 2026 🥛 Our analysts made big moves this week 👀 Here’s what they sold, bought, and are watching next. GM. This is Milk Road. This has been one of the biggest weeks for markets in a long time, and especially for crypto. Between the rate hike and the Clarity Act falling apart, investors have been left asking a pretty simple question: What the hell am I supposed to do with my portfolio now? Luckily, that’s exactly what our analysts have been helping Milk Road PRO members figure out. Some raised cash ahead of the uncertainty. Others exited big positions or started buying again. And throughout it all, they’ve been keeping members updated on what they think happens next and how they’re positioning for it. In fact, this was such a big week inside PRO that we figured our non-members deserved a little peek behind the curtain. So below, we’re sharing some of the trades, updates, and insights our PRO members have been getting from our analysts all week. And remember, you can get all of this on a daily basis by joining Milk Road PRO for just $1 . Trades Kyle came into the week with roughly 60% of his portfolio sitting in cash, and he added to that pile by completely exiting his ARK Genomic Revolution ETF position. He walked away with a 31% gain and said he’d rather take profits than hold an extended, long-duration asset heading into a potentially volatile week. Melvin was also raising some cash last week, selling $2,000 of Nebius and some Meta to bring his cash position back up to around $6,000. But he wasn’t only selling. Melvin jumped back into Credo at $150, after adding to his position back on September 2nd. He originally bought the stock around $107 in March and watched it run to almost $300! Updates Following yesterday’s rate hike, both John and Martin have dished out their takes on the bigger picture: John painting a neutral view of Bitcoin through EOY, and Martin tapping into the MRMI (Milk Road Macro Index) to paint a “risk-off” perspective. However, this has not stopped our analysts from looking for their next trade. Martin added IREN to his watchlist after discovering that the company recently had 2GW of capacity classified as conditional Base Load in Texas. With power becoming one of the biggest bottlenecks in AI infrastructure, Martin is now doing a deeper dive to determine whether IREN deserves a spot in his portfolio. Melvin also updated PRO members on Nebius and CoreWeave, including Nebius bringing the first phase of its Madrid data center online. And in this week’s Milk Road PRO After Hours for our Stocks channel, our analysts got even more direct about the moves they’re considering next. Kyle said Galaxy is the next stock he wants to add, but he’s waiting for a better entry. Vincent discussed rotating capital out of Corning and toward Bloom Energy, Micron, and Infineon. And over on the Crypto side, John also sat down with Kyle and LG to talk about unloading his cash into alts, and why he is not bothered by the loss of the Clarity Act. We wish we could show you every trade, update, and conversation PRO members received this week, but we’ve only got so much space in this email. PRO members get the option to receive live alerts for analyst trades and updates or receive daily recap emails just like this, so they can see what our analysts are buying, selling, and researching as it happens. You can try it out right now for just $1. Try PRO for $1 This content is for educational purposes only. Read full disclaimer Interested in reaching smart readers like you? Sponsor Milk Road Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here © 2026 ImpactDM Inc. operating as Milk Road 1257 Dundas St W Toronto, Ontario M6J1X6, Canada

Agents, USB money, bride prices, Senate cloture, Kalshi combos Byron Gilliam “You chose the right agent for the job, Chief.” — Inspector Gadget Thursday links: Agents, USB money, bride prices, Senate cloture, Kalshi combos Agent crypto detectives It’s easy to stay on top of the news in equities. Anything price-relevant will immediately be on the Bloomberg ticker that traders are always watching. Usually in all caps. You can’t miss it. In crypto, it’s been the opposite. Pretty much everything that’s price-relevant is buried in social media posts, chat rooms, obscure governance forums, and — worst of all — Discord. (I’m allergic to Discord. Or too old for it, maybe. It’s hard to tell the difference.) As a result, it’s been impossible for non-native crypto investors — or compliance officers, risk managers, or exchange-listing teams — to stay on top of the things they really have to know. Until now! Today, Blockworks announced “ Agentic Detection ,” an AI-agent service that immediately alerts you to whatever is happening in any crypto asset you have an interest in. Trained on seven years of human analysts’ work monitoring crypto markets, the agents continuously monitor X, GitHub, governance forums, Discord, Telegram, and thousands of news sources. With Agentic Detection, hacks, exploits, network outages, and legal notices are delivered as messages in your Slack channel, email inbox, or messaging app, just seconds after they happen. To be honest, I don't know if I can do that to an agent in good conscience. What if they turn out to be sentient? I’d feel terrible knowing I’d made them spend all that time in Discord. Someone does have to do it, though, because professional investors are not going to bother with assets that can't be professionally monitored. It’s a critical job, and Blockworks is the right agent for it. (Also, the agents are almost certainly not sentient, even if Anthropic keeps telling them they might be.) Not your USB stick, not your crypto A relic of the pre-cloud computing era is being repurposed as money: The humble USB stick is now a medium of exchange. In its account of Poland attempting to use stablecoins to purchase Venezuelan oil, the FT reports that payments were made with “USB sticks containing huge sums of USDT.” I’d like to point out that this is not technically possible. The USDT in question was on the Tron blockchain, not a USB stick, which can only hold private keys that control USDT. I’m being annoyingly semantic, sure. But this is a crazy way to exchange crypto. What if the seller kept a copy of the private key??? Still, that really is how they did it, multiple times: Tse’s colleague handed him a USB stick containing the digital keys to 60mn USDT. Tse said his colleague…handed him another USB stick, this time with 50mn USDT. His colleague gave Rodríguez a USB stick giving access to 11mn USDT at a plush restaurant in the upscale Las Mercedes neighbourhood of Caracas. Tse said his colleague had a second meeting with Rodríguez, handing him another USB stick containing another 11mn USDT. Yes, crypto is meant to be a bearer instrument. No, that’s not the way to bear it. What if buyers had lost the USB? Did someone have a backup somewhere? If so, they had the keys, too. Which means they also had the crypto. And did the sticks always have access to exactly the right amount of USDT? If not, did the buyer send some between addresses to get the balances right? In that case, why not just send the USDT to the seller’s address? Maybe they had a reason for doing it this way, the FT doesn’t say. Probably not, though, based on how it ended: No oil was delivered in return for the USDT USB sticks. In total, the buyers are out $424 million, including $54 million “lost to crypto fees and other attempts to secure oil.” $54 million in crypto fees! That is definitely not the way to do it. Billionaire jilted, gets refund, writes about it Justin Sun, billionaire founder of Tron, is an excellent writer. The weight of a single egg cell: 3.5 micrograms. The weight of 50 million dollars in cash: 2.5 tons. On the phone from Montage Laguna Beach, what Jing Tian asked me for was the latter, putting up the former as collateral. She went there to have her eggs harvested. The surrogate child is expected to be born in 2027, or the Year of the Horse if things move a bit faster. This was her own idea. When she arrived at the clinic, she said: Without 50 million, I won't harvest. So begins a long post on X telling the story of his relationship and breakup with the actress Jing Tian, the financial details of which have caused something of a furor in China. She said, "Now we're family. My parents raised me all these years, it wasn't easy. You have to give a bride price (caili)." I said okay. She gave me two names, Jing Guoqing and Tian Xin'ai, along with two account numbers. Thirty million RMB. I transferred it. Thirty million RMB is $4.5 million, which Sun paid Tian’s family as a kind of reverse dowry. In China, I learned, a groom makes a payment to the bride’s family in the same way that, in Europe, a bride’s family used to make a payment to the groom. Interesting! Some of the details about life as a gazillionaire were interesting, too — like when his girlfriend said she wanted to see Zootopia 2 in the cinema. Alone. The troublesome part was the tickets that had already been sold. My assistant and bodyguards arrived at the cinema entrance early, and whenever they met audience members who had already bought tickets, they handed over cash. A couple with a child arrived, the child already holding popcorn high up at the entrance. The assistant handed over a stack of bills. The child didn't understand why they couldn't go in, but the adult took the money, said thank you, asked no questions, and left. There were twenty-six people who took money that day. (I’m not sure what my price is to not see Zootopia 2 , but it’s definitely less than a “stack” of bills. A medium popcorn, maybe?) Mostly, though, I fin