Author: Jordan

In a recent Wall Street Journal Article, Alex Pollock and I proposed using financial defeasance to unlock the mortgage market.  Existing home sales volume has been severely depressed since September 2022, when mortgage interest rates increased to more than 6 percent. Homeowners who financed or refinanced their home using a conventional mortgage originated in years when these mortgages had exceptionally low interest rates will face a substantial financial loss should they sell their home. Many WSJ comments were critical of our abbreviated explanation necessitated by the tight word constraints of a WSJ opinion article. To make amends, I have written…

JPMorgan has some lists. One is its new managing director list, which comprises 135 people in banking and markets, up from 118 last year. We will have a separate article on this, soon.💥Follow us on WhatsApp for news alerts.💥The other is a naughty list, which is not being circulated but is said to exist. Both lists are referred to by Business Insider. The alleged naughty list is a tech thing. Business Insider reports that JPMorgan has created a dashboard where it tracks engineers’ use of GitHub Copilot. A screenshot seen by BI suggests JPMorgan’s engineers don’t really use GitHub Copilot all…

Metaplanet has announced a new bond issuance worth 8 billion yen, or about $50 million, to fund more Bitcoin purchases. The Japanese Bitcoin treasury firm said the bonds carry zero interest. Summary Metaplanet issued 8 billion yen in zero-interest bonds to fund future Bitcoin purchases. EVO Fund fully subscribed to the bond sale, marking Metaplanet’s 20th bond issuance. Metaplanet held 40,177 BTC as of March 31 after buying 5,075 BTC in Q1. The bond issuance was fully subscribed by EVO Fund, a Cayman Islands-based investment firm. EVO Fund has also supported earlier Metaplanet offerings, making this the company’s 20th bond…

“In terms of leasing for sheds across the UK over 100,000 square feet (big box), Q1 2026 take-up totalled 7.6 million square feet, which is 11% higher than the same quarter last year,” said Lewis Rapley, Logistics Research Associate, Commercial Research, at Savills. “It was also 16% higher than Q4 2025, which showed momentum continued into the new year. “While the full impact of the war in Iran is still too early to tell, it is encouraging to see demand and viewings/enquiries remain robust.” Vincent Scammell, director of sales and operations at BizSpace, said demand for industrial premises was continuing despite…

Valterra Platinum Ltd – Rosebank, Johannesburg-based company formerly known as Anglo American Platinum Ltd – Non-Executive Director Lwazi Bam will step down on May 1 to take up an executive director role outside Valterra. Bam has been a board member since April 2023.Current stock price in London: 6,327.25 pence, down 1.3% on Friday12-month change: up from 2,890.00p in June 2025Current stock price in Johannesburg: ZAR1,416.17, down 1.8%12-month change: more than doubled from ZAR719.83By Artwell Dlamini, Alliance News senior reporter South AfricaComments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.comCopyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Corporate News Mining Construction & Materials Valterra Platinum…

Asher Craig is a former politician, civic leader, strategist, and advocate for equity and sustainability, with a career that bridges grassroots activism, city governance, and global collaboration. Asher is the CEO of the Pathway Fund – a pioneering wholesale social investment vehicle designed to expand inclusion, drive racial equity, and increase investment into Black and Ethnic Minoritised/led organisations and communities across the UK.  As Co-founder & Chair of the Bristol Legacy Foundation (BLF)she leads the organisation’s mission to address the systemic marginalisation of African Heritage Communities (AHC) in Bristol and to advance reparatory justice , cultural, educational, and civic initiatives.…

Happy Friday! Gold loan fintechs are moving towards building their own loan books. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.Also in the letter:■ How to train your robot?■ Nasscom’s new chair■ Flipkart’s Minutes app planGold loan fintech startups build own loan books as RBI tightens norms Gold-loan fintech startups are shifting from pure sourcing and distribution to building their own loan books as the RBI tightens rules for the sector.Driving the news: Players such as Indiagold and Oro, both of which now hold NBFC licences, are scaling their own lending businesses and exploring co-lending partnerships.Until now, these startups largely…

Visitors from overseas enamored by Chinese-style ornaments crafted with the precious metalA shop assistant arranges jewelry at a Lao Feng Xiang Jewelry store in Shanghai on April 9, 2026. (GAO ERQIANG / CHINA DAILY)A video of Maye Musk, the mother of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, purchasing handcrafted gold jewelry in Shanghai earlier this year sparked an online buzz.But long before Ms Musk’s trending post, Chinese-style gold jewelry — carrying thousands of years of craftsmanship — was already on the shopping lists of many overseas tourists, along with tea, silk and other cultural souvenirs.Shanghai Yuyuan Tourist Mart, a key check-in for…

Takeaways The rally has lost its internal momentum as positioning becomes crowded and systematic flows fade, shifting the focus from chasing upside to managing downside risk Oil may gradually reassert itself as the macro driver, and the longer disruptions persist, the greater the risk that equities are forced to reconnect with energy reality Geopolitical noise is evolving into structural risk, and if the assumption of a short-lived conflict breaks, it becomes the catalyst that finally moves the market out of its holding pattern Oil Risk Creeps Back to Levels That May MatterThe tape is no longer climbing a wall of…

After a blistering near-vertical surge that added almost 40% to its value between late 2025 and early 2026, gold’s recent pullback is anything but a sign of weakness, according to experts. The precious metal remains firmly underpinned by resilient central bank demand and volatile geopolitical currents, even as rising real yields and currency fluctuations temper its advance.Pullback as digestion, not weakness“Contrary to what many think, gold has not fallen on evil times. What is happening since early 2026 is much more of digestion following a remarkable rally than the opposite of the underlying trend,” Eugenia Mykuliak, founder and executive director of…