Aggregator

Jon Gruden blamed the Los Angeles Chargers' 0-2 start on a concerning issue between quarterback Justin Herbert and his coaches.

NY Post readers discuss Yale freshman being more critical of Israel than China and more.

Bessent Hails "Very Successful" China Talks As Trump-Xi Summit Puts AI, Rare Earths And Energy On The Table

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent emerged from roughly eight hours of talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York on Sunday calling the meeting "very successful," with Washington and Beijing agreeing to new mechanisms covering trade and artificial intelligence just days before President Donald Trump hosts Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington.

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, shakes hands with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Sept. 20, 2026. Bai Xueqi/ | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

The talks, held at JPMorgan Chase headquarters, were intended to lay the groundwork for the Trump-Xi summit later this week. Working-level discussions are continuing as the two sides try to lock down whatever can be agreed before the leaders meet.

On paper, the immediate deliverables were relatively modest. In practice, the timing is anything but.

The two sides agreed to establish a U.S.-China AI dialogue, with Washington proposing a notification mechanism for AI incidents serious enough to reach the national-security level. Bessent framed the concept as an effort to move the world's two leading AI powers from opacity toward greater transparency and establish some common understanding of threats.

As we noted Friday, artificial intelligence was already emerging as one of the summit's most consequential issues, sitting alongside trade, semiconductors, Taiwan and rare earths. The two governments also moved to operationalize the previously proposed Board of Trade. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said negotiators are looking for baskets of "non-sensitive" goods that could potentially be treated separately from future trade restrictions. Washington is considering lower-tech Chinese consumer goods, while Beijing is looking at U.S. energy, agricultural products and potentially medical devices.

There was no announced breakthrough, however, on some of the much larger outstanding disputes, including Chinese rare-earth flows, additional purchases of U.S. agricultural goods or Boeing aircraft. Advanced AI-chip export restrictions were also not part of Sunday's AI discussion.

Perhaps more revealing was how little Beijing itself said about AI. Xinhua described the talks as "candid, in-depth and constructive" before relegating the subject to the final sentence of its brief readout: "They also held dialogues on AI-related issues."

Chinese state media Xinhua has a very brief report on the Bessent and He Lifeng meeting in New York.

AI only mentioned in last line: “They also held dialogues on AI-related issues.” pic.twitter.com/HsUQmdujJ3

— Kyle Chan (@kyleichan) September 21, 2026

But Xi is also heading to Washington against a considerably different geopolitical backdrop than the one surrounding Trump's May visit to Beijing.

For starters, two of China's most attractive sources of discounted crude have been sharply constrained. Venezuela had become an important supplier of cheap heavy crude to Chinese refiners, but those flows fell dramatically after Washington's intervention in the country's oil trade earlier this year. As we noted at the time, Chinese refiners initially compensated by increasing purchases of heavily discounted Iranian barrels.

Meanwhile, the renewed U.S. campaign against Iran's oil exports disrupted shipments to Asia and left tens of millions of barrels in transit or floating storage. As we reported in July, roughly 63 million barrels of Iranian crude were at one point either moving or idling aboard tankers as sanctions pressure intensified. That does not mean China is running out of oil. Beijing accumulated large inventories and can source replacement barrels elsewhere, but the combination of reduced Venezuelan flows and disrupted Iranian supply has diminished some of the cheap-energy advantage Chinese refiners previously enjoyed.

Russia can fill part of that gap, but its own energy infrastructure remains under pressure from Ukrainian long-range attacks on refineries, export terminals and storage facilities. Earlier this month, Goldman estimated that the attacks had taken roughly 300,000 barrels per day of Russian refining capacity offline during August and early September. China has also encountered setbacks around another strategic chokepoint. Panama's Supreme Court voided Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison's concessions to operate the Balboa and Cristobal ports at opposite ends of the Panama Canal. As we noted in January, the ruling stripped the legal basis from a China-linked operator at two port facilities adjoining one of the world's most important shipping routes.

Then there is Greenland. Washington announced Friday that it had reached a security agreement intended to guarantee a long-term U.S. role on the island while preventing Russia, China and other non-NATO countries from establishing military bases there. The arrangement would strengthen the U.S. position in an Arctic region that both Washington and Beijing increasingly view as strategically important. On Monday, Denmark confirmed that the Trump-Greenland deal would boost arctic security. 

The political landscape across parts of Latin America has shifted as well. Reuters described Colombia's June election of Abelardo De La Espriella as part of a broader regional movement to the right that has also included Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, Panama and Peru.

Brazil is now the major unresolved contest. As we noted last week, Polymarket pricing recently moved in favor of Senator Flavio Bolsonaro over President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Prediction-market prices are not opinion polls, however, and Monday's BTG Pactual/Nexus survey showed Lula at 46% and Bolsonaro at 45% in a hypothetical runoff, within the survey's margin of error.

Markets, meanwhile, entered the weekend already showing signs of pressure. According to Newsquawk, the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield closed Friday 6.5bps higher at 5.004%, while the two-year rose 7.5bps to 4.745%, producing a modest bear flattening of the curve.

Yet Xi is hardly arriving in Washington without leverage of his own.

China still controls roughly 70% of global rare-earth mining and more than 85% of refining capacity, leaving Beijing with substantial influence over supply chains critical to U.S. autos, semiconductors, aerospace and defense. As we noted this weekend, disrupted Chinese yttrium shipments alone have already forced Western aerospace, energy and semiconductor companies to scramble for alternatives. Beijing also retains enormous manufacturing capacity, large accumulated energy inventories and considerable purchasing power over everything from American agricultural commodities to aircraft.

In other words, Thursday's summit is taking shape less as a grand reconciliation than an attempt by two heavily intertwined rivals to fence off portions of the relationship before the next confrontation.

Washington arrives with greater influence over Venezuelan oil flows, intensified pressure on Iran's exports, a strengthened strategic position around Greenland and reduced China-linked influence around the Panama Canal, while the political map across portions of Latin America has changed considerably.

Beijing arrives with its own formidable counters: dominant critical-mineral supply chains, a resilient manufacturing and export base, substantial energy reserves and enormous leverage as a buyer of U.S. goods. Oh, and let's not forget - open-weight AI models that have completely upended the frontier AI model. 

Tyler Durden Mon, 09/21/2026 - 12:00

What does a Knicks championship mean when you’ve waited your whole life for it? Brooklyn rapper and lifelong New York Knicks fan Skyzoo joins Dexter Henry on NY Got Game to talk about finally seeing the Knicks win it all, a summer of blue-and-orange celebrations, and watching his song “Blue and Orange Everything” become part...

The Voice returns with a three-night premiere!

Are the Giants getting enough respect from the betting market?

Deposit $10, get $25 in trade credits using Novig promo code NYPOST.

Deposit $10, get $25 in trade credits using Novig promo code NYPOST.

Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber’s 27-year-old son, Presley, passed away from an overdose at a rehab facility, while Patrick Clancy and his new wife spoke out on 60 Minutes about their future and the horrific loss of his children. Meanwhile, an influencer got his wrist broken by a 6-foot humanoid robot in a brutal ring...

"It's been a minute since I've posted," the model wrote via Instagram in November 2025 after a short hiatus.

"It's been a minute since I've posted," the model wrote via Instagram in November 2025 after a short hiatus.

NY Post readers discuss Macklemore being dropped from Ed Sheeran’s tour after his comments on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

MLB umpire Laz Diaz is opening up as he approaches retirement.

The 71-year-old designer is teaming up with Revolve Group on a beauty and fashion venture launching next year.

The 71-year-old designer is teaming up with Revolve Group on a beauty and fashion venture launching next year.

Maxx Crosby finally was put in position to do what he's always wanted

The Brooklyn school was rife with severe academic challenges that were only exacerbated by rampant safety concerns involving bullying and teacher assaults, charged a change.org petition in 2023.

The Peter Krause primetime drought is over.

Bitcoin Soars Above $85k (Jan Highs) As Saylor Sees Clarity Act Collapse 'A Win'

Bitcoin has surged above $85,000 this morning for the first time since late-January...

The rally comes alongside advances in stocks and bonds, as falling oil prices and optimism ahead of a summit between US President Trump and China’s Xi Jinping are buoying markets more broadly. Rival digital assets have also bounced.

Ether, the second-largest token, has spiked up to almost $2750, while other cryptocurrencies including XRP, Solana and Monero also posted gains...

Bitcoin’s gains build upon a recovery that began late last week, when crypto absorbed the failure of the landmark Clarity Act (up around 14% since) to establish a clearer understanding of industry regulation as well the Fed's first interest-rate increase in more than three years.

“Financial markets have rediscovered a risk-on frame of mind after being consumed with worry about government bond yields, debt piles and the prospect of a return to tighter policy at the world’s most powerful central bank,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at investing and trading platform IG.

A green light on Thursday from the Securities and Exchange Commission for digital versions of securities to start trading in the US helped to brighten the mood. 

Interestingly, Bitcoin treasury founder and pioneer Michael Saylor has said that the blockage of the Clarity Act is actually good for the digital asset space. 

Writing on X on Saturday, the Strategy founder and chair said that legislation can make restrictions permanent just as easily as rights. 

The Digital Assets industry is better off moving forward with supportive rules from the SEC, CFTC, Treasury, and banking regulators than accepting the restrictions in the final CLARITY compromise. We have an administration willing to modernize financial markets. We should use the next two years to put better financial products into people’s hands.

Our safest path forward is to create products that delight customers and deploy them broadly. Lower costs, easier access, useful services, and greater control over money give people a direct interest in preserving innovation. The strongest constituency we can build is a public that benefits from what we create.

Legal certainty matters. So does the freedom to compete. A law can make a restriction durable just as easily as it can make a right durable. Before celebrating permanence, we should examine what we are making permanent.

The September CLARITY compromise would have restricted covered providers from paying customers simply for holding payment stablecoins, while allowing qualifying activity rewards. It also would have directed Treasury to restrict certain rewards upon specified findings of substantial, detrimental deposit transfers from community banks.

Protecting a bank from a liquidity crisis and protecting it from a better competitor are different objectives. Financial stability requires sound oversight. Competition requires that customers be free to choose a better service. When technology reduces the cost of delivering financial services, consumers should share in the savings.

Read more here...

Additionally, Saylor’s Strategy purchased Bitcoin for the first time in three weeks, acquiring $75.7 million of the original cryptocurrency after seeking to rebuild investor confidence by reshaping its balance sheet and building out reserves.

The original Bitcoin treasury company - co-founded and run by Saylor - also repurchased $174 million of its STRC perpetual preferred shares, part of its effort to lift the price above par so that the securities can be used again to finance future Bitcoin purchases. Cash was used to fund both transactions, Strategy said in a filing on Monday. The preferred trade just below $99.

Strategy is now (846,002) just 1363 BTC below its all time high holdings from June 22 when it was 847,365...

“The crypto market capitalization has risen to $2.8T, its highest level since the end of January this year,” said Alex Kuptsikevich, the FxPro chief market analyst.

“Although Friday’s rally was followed by increased selling pressure, buyers have once again been dominating the cryptocurrency market since Sunday.”

Bloomberg reports that bitcoin open interest on the options trading platform Deribit was heavily dominated by calls, signaling bullish sentiment. The platform showed more than 272,000 contracts for the right to buy the token compared with over 154,000 for puts, or the right to sell.

“Bitcoin options market is positioned to capture the upside,” said Pratik Kala, a portfolio manager at digital-asset hedge fund Apollo Crypto.

“People are repositioning from downside protection to wanting to capture the upside.”

But not all traders are convinced the momentum can last given the difficult macroeconomic headwinds, with crude oil still above $100 a barrel and US Treasury yields elevated.

Bitcoin is well off its 2026 high of over $97,000 in mid-January, and even further from its October record. Retail enthusiasm has also proven hard to rekindle as artificial intelligence stocks and other AI-linked trades compete for the same pool of speculative capital.

“For this week, there aren’t any big catalysts to watch out for per se, but any hawkish or dovish remarks by Fed officials could impact the market,” said Jeff Mei, chief operating officer of BTSE.

 Finally, we note that ETF inflows have re-accelerated...

Various investor cohorts also returned to aggregate profit, including Bitcoin corporate treasuries, holdings of which have a cost basis of around $80,500. Now, price is approaching its cost basis for investors in US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Per data by onchain analytics platform Glassnode, this cost basis currently sits at $85,638...

In a departure from the norm, the largest Bitcoin ETF, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), did not account for the lion’s share of inflows. Instead, most investors piled into Fidelity Investments’ Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), which accounted for $310 million of the total. In their analysis of recent market developments, the onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant discussed this change in ETF netflow composition. 

“The key change is therefore not simply positive ETF activity, but a clear redistribution of flow leadership: IBIT went from dominating FBTC by nearly six times on September 3 to FBTC recording almost three times IBIT’s holdings netflow on September 18,” CryptoQuant stated in a blog post.

After reacting positively to the announcement of US bond-market interventions in August, Bitcoin market participants continue to monitor any events surrounding yields. In a report for CME on Sept. 16, Jim Iuorio, CEO of JI Financial Strategies, argued that interventions may represent a liquidity tailwind for Bitcoin and crypto markets.

“Perhaps markets viewed these actions as being dollar-negative, pushing money back into dollar hedges like gold and Bitcoin,” he said.

Tyler Durden Mon, 09/21/2026 - 11:45

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announces a state of emergency ahead of a forecast El Niño event Monday.