Sunday links: buyback blowback

Quote of the Day "This bond buyback program while running a $2T deficit is like someone who is on Ozempic and intentionally eats 4,000 calories a day. These two things don’t work together to achieve the goal you’re trying to achieve." (Cullen Roche) Chart of the Day The credit card business has been a profitable one. (chart via YCharts) Markets - Oil markets are tuning out Trump's statements. (axios.com) - Companies in the Stoxx Europe 600 index saw an 18% rise in Q2 earnings. (wsj.com) - Markets lie less than politicians. (howardlindzon.com) ETFs - Bryan Armour, "Single-stock exchange-traded funds are the hoverboards of finance. They provide no real utility and might catch fire and explode at any moment." (morningstar.com) - T Rowe Price ($TROW) is buying F/m Investments. (etf.com) Companies - There is still a ways to go before the Moderna ($MRNA)-Merck ($MRK) cancer vaccine goes commercial. (wsj.com) - YouTube and Netflix ($NFLX) are on a collision course. (spyglass.org) - Why is Visa ($V) still so profitable? (fiscal.ai) Spending - How is the $1 trillion defense budget being spent? (propublica.org) - How the DHS is spending its rapidly growing budget. (slate.com) Subsidies - Why politicians love corporate subsidies. (boondoggle.substack.com) - Why some governors have flip-flopped on data centers. (wsj.com) Stay in touch - Work in wealth management? Sign up for our exclusive Talking Wealth newsletter. (talkingwealthpod.com) - Don't miss a thing! Sign up for our daily e-mail newsletter. (abnormalreturns.com) Voting - Just how much pressure the Trump administration put on Colorado to free Tina Peters. (ms.now) - Donald Trump voted by mail, again. (nytimes.com) The military - The Pentagon fired the publisher of 'Stars and Stripes.' (stripes.com) - Nobody really knows what the National Guard is doing in Washington D.C. (theatlantic.com) Policy - The National Park Services' spending priorities have changed, a lot. (theatlantic.com) - The U.S. Forest Service is aiming to open more than 44 million acres of national-forest land to logging and road construction. (wsj.com) - The CIA is swamped with retirements, so much so that HR can't keep up. (washingtonpost.com) Trade - The U.S. and Canada trade war is back on. (wsj.com) - On the commonalities of recent Trump administration 'trade deals.' (newsletter.platypuseconomics.com) Economy - The era of low interest rates is over. (nytimes.com) - The economic schedule for the coming week. (economicweekly.substack.com) Earlier on Abnormal Returns - Top clicks last week on Abnormal Returns. (abnormalreturns.com) - What you missed in our Saturday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)