Matt Peterson

Stock chart of Consolidated Edison (ED), down sharply at the end of trading.

Trump and Mamdani said they talked about Con Ed. Trump:

DJT: "We have to get Con Edison to start lowering the rates."
ZM: "Absolutely."

Walmart doesn't have stores in New York City.

Mamdani addresses tomorrow's meeting, says he and Trump were elected for similar reasons: “I know that for tens of thousands of New Yorkers, this meeting is between two very different candidates who they voted for for the same reason, they wanted a leader who would take on the cost of living crisis”

Family Affair: Commerce Secretary’s Sons Cash In on A.I. Frenzy

NEW: As Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick drives billions of dollars in foreign payments to help build AI data centers in the US, his sons help run a company earning tens of millions in fees helping finance AI data centers. A NYT investigation. (Free link)

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/u...

Foreign students spent $55 billion last year, about a quarter of all foreign consumer expenditures in the US.

The 10-year Treasury is trading near 4.1%, down from 4.6% at the start of Trump’s term. But Trump is making it clear that he expects Bessent to go further. “The rates are too high, Scott, and if you don't get it fixed fast, I'm going to fire your ass,” the president said. His tone suggested he was joking about the firing. But where Powell and the Fed are concerned, nothing could be more serious.

Wrote a bit about Trump's Kennedy Center rant about Bessent and Powell. It matters that the president is explicitly directing the Treasury secretary to lower rates. Bessent has power here. www.barrons.com/livecoverage...

🧑‍🎓 New foreign student enrollment at U.S. colleges and universities is down by 17% over last year: “American universities have suffered one of the sharpest ever declines in foreign enrollments in the face of tough policies from President Donald Trump, with the number of new international students falling 17 percent this year.”

The White House just blasted this out under the headline "Good News You May Have Missed"

The facts are complicated, but here’s a summary of what appears to have happened based on the filings and today’s hearing:

Bedrock Robotics' technology-in a partnership with Sundt Construction-is being used to automate excavators' mass earth removal for site preparation of a 130-acre Southwest U.S. manufacturing facility supporting the domestic energy market. Bedrock's autonomous systems have moved more than 65,000 cu yd of earth and rock by loading human-operated articulated rock trucks with the same workflow used in manual operations-trucks stopping to be loaded by an excavator taking scoops from a stripped pile. The integration demonstrates commercial viability for autonomous construction, Bedrock says. The technology is now installed across multiple excavator models ranging from 20- to 80-ton machines on the large site, adapting its systems from compact units to large-scale earthmovers.

What is AI good for? Movin’ dirt. My brother’s robotics company continues to do actually useful work, and I love it. www.enr.com/articles/619...

"Tariffs, once they're put on, are hard to take off," Raimondo said Wednesday. "No one wants to be the American president accused of letting down the American worker. Tariffs protect the American worker. And I think Al makes it more so of a politicar reality."

If your starting point is “tariffs help workers” it’s going to be hard to end anywhere else

🤷‍♂️

After Mr. Musk exited Washington — upset about the administration's domestic policy bill and humiliated by the withdrawn nomination of a top ally, Jared Isaacman, to lead NASA — he promised that he would start a third party to challenge Republicans. It would be called the America Party, he said, and on July 5, he told his more than 200 million followers that the America Party had been "formed." In truth, Mr. Musk then made no moves to do so. Even in the immediate aftermath of his angry pronouncements, Mr. Musk's friends detected in private conversations with him that he was not particularly aware of how expensive and complicated it would be to create a viable third party, according to four people who spoke with him at the time.

Elon Musk has made no discernible efforts to start the third party he promised, the Times reports www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/u...

How Trump and Nvidia’s C.E.O. Became Partners on the International Stage

“Much as the United States offered nuclear technology in the 1950s to countries that agreed to use it peacefully, the Trump administration has discussed selling A.I. technology to countries that end conflicts, including Armenia and Azerbaijan, said two people familiar”

Elon Musk is in attendance at tonight's U.S.-Saudi dinner with Trump and MBS, WH pool reports.

“The bill will be signed whenever it gets to the White House,” a senior White House official says, in the wake of the rapid passage by the Senate.

The Trump family’s holdings at their peak in mid-May 2024 were worth nearly $6.5 billion. Their value has fallen by more than $5.3 billion since then. DJT stock has repeatedly hit all-time lows over the past few trading days, falling as part of a broader meltdown in the crypto market. In August, Trump Media announced it had acquired $2 billion in Bitcoin and related securities, making it one of the largest “digital asset treasury” companies, similar to Michael Saylor’s Strategy, and tying its fate to the crypto market. Since then, the bet has turned sour. Bitcoin prices on Tuesday briefly dipped below $90,000, and despite a modest rebound the asset’s gains for the year have been wiped out.

Meanwhile, the crypto crash continues to erase Trump family wealth. With DJT stock trading at all-time lows, the Trumps' stake is worth $5.3 billion less than its peak, Joe Light writes. www.barrons.com/articles/djt...

Trump again floats the possibility of Scott Bessent as the next Fed chair, "but he’s not going to take the job. he refused," Trump says.

This of course raises the question why Trump would continue to raise the possibility of Bessent taking the job. If Trump insisted, would Bessent still refuse?

Trump on Jamal Khashoggi: "A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. And whether you like him or not, things happen."

A planned Larry Summers event on Wednesday at the Economic Club of NY has been "postponed until further notice," the club tells me. Summers is under scrutiny for his appearance in Jeffrey Epstein's emails. He was to appear with former CEA Chair Glenn Hubbard.

CNBC: Will we get a Fed chair announcement this year?

Kevin Hassett: "I think some of it might depend on when Chairman Powell announces that he's going to resign."

Powell has the right to stay on the Fed board after his chair term expires in May. Trump folks want him to resign. He hasn't said.

Opinion | The Federal Reserve’s Broken Leadership Americans would have higher pay and greater purchasing power if the Fed got its act together.

Fed chair contender Kevin Warsh: "The Fed’s bloated balance sheet, designed to support the biggest firms in a bygone crisis era, can be reduced significantly. That largesse can be redeployed in the form of lower interest rates..." But if the Fed can't reduce the balance sheet, would he still cut?

Janet Yellen Says the US Is Undermining Its Economic Success The former Treasury secretary warns that Trump’s attacks on the rule of law, the Fed and universities threaten the foundations of American prosperity.

Former Fed Chair and Biden Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on risks to Fed indendence: "We’re in danger of becoming a banana republic here. And I strongly believe that.”

Kugler Resignation From Fed Board Followed Disclosures of Improper Stock Trades New disclosures show that Kugler made several stock transactions that violated Fed policies and prompted an ethics probe.

The Adriana Kugler stock-trading story will disappoint the zillions of people in the markets who were _convinced_ that she was secretly bullied out of her job over a mortgage allegation.

A screenshot of a line chart in greens and blues with black text. The header text reads, "Following Bitcoin Down. The Trump family has stakes in financial assets that are influenced by the price of Bitcoin." The chart tracks tracks the percentage losses of four assets since Oct. 3, 2025: Trump Media & Technology Group/DJT, American Bitcoin/BTC, Bitcoin, and World Liberty Financial Token. The line graph show all four falling in value since Oct. 3.

"With the digital assets market faltering, so is the wealth that President Donald Trump’s family has won from cryptocurrencies." By Joe Light.
www.barrons.com/articles/bit...

I'll die with you on this hill, Peter.

The Trump family’s wealth is now tied to Bitcoin, which is falling.

Fun fact, the debt crossed $38 trillion during the shutdown.

US drew $900mn from IMF account as Argentina debt payment loomed Buenos Aires’s reserves rose by the same margin as Washington seeks to bolster Javier Milei’s government

FT story here ($) www.ft.com/content/2730...

The FT appears to be right that the U.S. looks to have transferred $870 million in SDRs to Argentina. So is this a grant or a loan? If it's a loan, what's the collateral?

Bessent says the swap line is profitable. That would be at most ~$40-50m. A lot less than $870m. But maybe we'll get it back.

May be Mark Pulte, father of current Fannie/Freddie chair Bill Pulte www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/t...