Welcome back!

Here’s your must-read news this morning:

  • Epstein’s in-house trader revealed

  • Nvidia powering ā€œmind-readingā€ machines

  • Britain exporting censorship worldwide

I’ve got all the details for you, so let’s dive in.

— Josh

MARKETS

(Credit: State of Florida)

Market Roundup

šŸ¦ Economy

  • ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) clashed with Bessent at a House hearing, at one point angrily asking if someone could "shut him up." (FOX)

  • China could boost U.S. soybean purchases after a ā€œvery positiveā€ call between Trump and Xi. (RTS)

  • Trump said Kevin Warsh shares this view that the Fed should soon cut interest rates. (NBC)

  • Trump hailed his high-stakes phone call with China’s Xi as "excellent."

šŸ“ˆ Hot Stock Picks

  • ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Goldman Sachs' February Conviction List spotlighted five top stock picks with significant upside potential, including Abbott Laboratories. (WS)

  • InsiderMonkey highlighted 12 travel stocks that hedge funds see as undervalued, including Choice Hotels International. (IM)

  • Morningstar said the stocks of four major advertisers, including Intuit, are worth buying before the Super Bowl. (MS)

  • Zacks listed Cameco Corporation and Modine Manufacturing as top stock picks for the week. (ZIR)

šŸ¢ Industry

  • ⭐ Editor’s Pick: The Washington Post laid off about one-third of its workforce, including more than 300 journalists. (NR)

  • Alphabet beat Q4 earnings expectations with EPS of $2.82 versus $2.63 estimated and revenue of $113.83 billion versus $111.43 billion estimated. (CNBC)

  • Brad Karp resigned as chairman of Paul Weiss over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. (WSJ)

  • McDonald's is offering free limited-edition "McNugget Caviar" kits for Valentine's Day. (TDY)

šŸ›¢ļø Energy & Commodities

  • ⭐ Editor’s Pick: Vance confirmed that the U.S. will set up a price‑floor system for critical minerals. (MIN)

  • The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will change its rules to boost investment in reactors and support Trump‑era goals to expand nuclear power. (RTS)

  • U.S. gasoline inventories climbed to their highest level since June 2020. (INV)

  • Spot silver slumped as much as 16.7% to $73.5565/oz. (INV)

šŸŒ• Crypto

  • ⭐ Editor’s Pick: The crypto market value has dropped by $467.6 billion since Jan. 29. (BBG)

  • Multicoin founder Kyle Samani stepped back from his venture capital firm. (CD)

  • House Democrats launched an investigation into a reported $500 million UAE-linked investment in the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial. (CN)

  • Bitcoin dropped under $71,000, hitting its lowest level since October 2024. (TB)

TECH

(Credit: NVIDIA GeForce)

Tech Roundup

🧠 AI

  • ⭐ Editor’s Pick:Ā Anthropic pledged Claude will stay fully ad-free, contrasting OpenAI's ChatGPT ad tests. (CNBC)

  • The Wall Street Journal argued that AI won't destroy the software industry, but fears of it doing so have already contributed to the IGV index dropping 30% from its peak. (WSJ)

  • Amazon plans to use AI tools at Amazon MGM Studios to accelerate TV and film production. (RTS)

  • Meta's internal memos described its Avocado AI model as the company's "most capable pre-trained base model to date," with 10x compute efficiency gains. (IT)

  • U.S. snowboarder Maddie Mastro is using AI powered by Google DeepMind's computer-vision models to prepare for the 2026 Winter Olympics. (WSJ)

  • A new AI math startup called Axiom announced that its system AxiomProver solved four previously unsolved mathematical problems. (WIR)

šŸ¤–Ā Robots

  • ⭐ Editor’s Pick:Ā The FDNY is harnessing robotic dogs to drastically improve firefighter job safety. (ABC)

  • A dancing humanoid robot entertains visitors at the Chinese National Olympic Committee's team house ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics. (ABC)

  • Faraday Future unveiled its first humanoid and quadruped robots. (INS)

šŸ’°Venture Capital

  • ⭐ Editor’s Pick: AI chipmaker Cerebras raised approximately $1 billion in Series H funding led by Tiger Global at a $23 billion valuation. (BBG)

  • Lunar Energy, which develops software to aggregate home batteries into virtual power plants, raised $232 million in funding. (BBG)

  • Adaption Labs, focused on building learning AI systems, raised $50 million in seed funding led by Emergence Capital Partners. (FOR)

  • Supply chain security startup RapidFort raised $42 million in Series A funding led by Blue Cloud. (SA)

FREEDOM

(Credit: Kirsty O'Connor/ No 10 Downing Street)

Freedom Roundup

šŸ›ļø Policy & Culture

  • ⭐ Editor’s Pick: The Trump administration canceled $1.5 billion in federal grants to blue states, citing waste and mismanagement. (FBN)

  • The Trump administration is planning to make it easier to fire roughly 50,000 career officials in senior positions. (WSJ)

  • Nike’s diversity initiatives are under federal investigation over its alleged discrimination against white workers. (FBN)

That's a wrap! You're officially caught up on all things tech, markets and freedom. Subscribe to CAPITAL below.

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DISCLAIMER: The CAPITAL newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or professional advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. The CAPITAL newsletter and its owner and operator, Josh Caplan, are not liable for any loss or damage resulting from reliance on this information. The CAPITAL newsletter is solely owned and independently operated by Josh Caplan, separate from any employer affiliations.

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