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Stolen $586,000 Copper Shipment Found Hours Later At Kentucky Warehouse

Zero Rss
2 weeks 3 days ago
Stolen $586,000 Copper Shipment Found Hours Later At Kentucky Warehouse

A load of copper worth nearly $600,000 was recovered on Sept. 11 after investigators followed a trail from Illinois to Kentucky and Ohio, wrapping up the initial search only about eight hours after the theft was reported, according to Yahoo News.

The case began when a shipment scheduled to travel from DeKalb, Illinois, to Rock Hill, South Carolina, never made it toward its intended destination. Authorities believe whoever collected the freight had presented themselves as an established trucking company, using genuine business information to make the pickup appear legitimate.

The breakthrough came from location data tied to Schneider National equipment involved in the haul. Rather than heading southeast toward South Carolina, the freight was traced to Prestonsburg, Kentucky, where police found the entire six-pallet copper shipment inside a warehouse. Three people were detained in Kentucky.

Photo: FreightWaves/Yahoo News

Meanwhile, investigators continued following the equipment used to move the load. A Schneider chassis and container were located in Chillicothe, Ohio, while state troopers separately intercepted the tractor associated with the pickup. One additional person was taken into custody in Ohio.

Yahoo reports that the operation involved authorities in Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio, along with Schneider National and CargoNet, which had helped flag the theft. Information about the truck, trailer and driver was quickly distributed among agencies as investigators attempted to follow the shipment across state lines.

Police are now examining whether the incident may overlap with another theft involving Schneider equipment and whether the people or trucking identities involved could be part of a wider cargo-theft operation. So far, authorities have not publicly identified the four people detained or disclosed what charges they may face.

The episode also illustrates how freight theft has evolved beyond simply stealing unattended cargo. Criminals can use authentic company information to appear legitimate long enough to take control of valuable shipments. In this instance, rapid reporting and tracking technology allowed investigators to locate both the cargo and much of the equipment before they could disappear further into the supply chain.

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Tyler Durden Sun, 09/20/2026 - 14:00
Tyler Durden

'Keep Digging'... Says Shovel-Salesman Jensen Huang

Zero Rss
2 weeks 3 days ago
'Keep Digging'... Says Shovel-Salesman Jensen Huang

Submitted by QTR's Fringe Finance

Maybe it’s the bullshit detection genes that were passed down to me from my mother, but I simply can’t wind up trusting a word Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says about how much AI regulation the United States needs.

Just call it a gut reaction from me. It doesn’t mean Huang is necessarily wrong about AI. It’s just that I look at him and all I can see is one of the most financially conflicted people on planet Earth to ask about AI regulation.

According to CNBC, Huang has increasingly gained President Trump’s ear on AI policy, appearing alongside him repeatedly and pushing a relatively simple message as concerns about AI safety mount: keep moving, keep building and don’t let regulation get in the way.

What an astonishing coincidence that this also happens to be fantastic policy for Nvidia, which sits at the nerve center of a multi trillion dollar AI infrastructure boom…which itself sits at the nerve center of an even larger global economic ponzi scheme (hereinafter referred to as: the global economy).

Nvidia’s chips are effectively the picks and shovels of the entire operation. Every hyperscaler racing to build another data center, every AI lab trying to train a larger model and every corporation terrified of being left behind has helped create extraordinary demand for Nvidia’s hardware. In return, Nvidia has “invested” in a countless number of other operations that rely on its hardware. One big happy circle jerk family.

And one of the most spectacular corporate ascents in history for Nvidia. It has become one of the central pillars of the AI trade, which itself has become enormously important to the U.S. stock market. Nvidia and the other mega cap technology companies tied to the AI boom carry enormous weight in major indexes owned by investors around the world.

There is a staggering amount of money riding on the proposition that the AI spending boom continues. And sitting directly in the middle of it is Jensen Huang. It’s been the reason for my (somewhat) tongue-in-cheek opinion that Nvidia will never miss an earnings report again, because the powers that be would rather see them commit egregious accounting fraud than tell the truth about shitty numbers and watch the global economy collapse.

And now Huang is apparently becoming one of the president’s most influential voices on precisely the question that could determine how quickly this machine is allowed to keep running. You almost have to admire the efficiency.

CNBC reports that Trump has increasingly echoed Huang’s views on AI safety, while Huang has publicly dismissed some of the more apocalyptic warnings surrounding artificial intelligence. His preferred solution to many safety concerns is essentially “good old fashioned engineering.”

Maybe he’s right. But forgive me if I’m not eager to treat the CEO of Nvidia like an objective third party monk who has been summoned down from a Nepalese ashram to offer Washington philosophical wisdom about the future of humankind. The guy is a CEO of the company selling the hardware required to run the experiment.

Nvidia makes extraordinary amounts of money when OpenAI, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and everyone else decides they need more compute. It makes money when data centers get larger. It makes money when models get larger. It makes money when the AI arms race accelerates. Somehow, I assume, it even makes money when I use my toaster to make an english muffin in the morning.

Presumably, Nvidia would face a less favorable commercial environment if policymakers imposed rules that materially slowed that race. Or altered my breakfast plans.

That doesn’t mean Huang is lying. It doesn’t mean his policy arguments are necessarily wrong. And it certainly doesn’t establish some secret conspiracy between Nvidia and the White House. But it does mean the conflict of interest is so enormous you can practically see it from space.

This is why I find Huang’s growing proximity to Trump far more interesting than another photograph of two powerful men smiling at dinner.

CNBC reports that Huang is expected to attend the president’s state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping. The administration, meanwhile, has emphasized accelerating American AI development and resisting restrictions it believes could weaken the United States relative to China. Those positions can align extremely well with Nvidia’s commercial interests.’

Maybe that alignment produces good policy. But investors should understand who is sitting at the table and what they have riding on the outcome.

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If Exxon’s CEO became one of Washington’s most influential voices on whether America should restrict oil drilling, I wouldn’t simply write down his opinion and call the matter settled.

If JPMorgan’s CEO were advising the president about whether banks needed additional capital requirements, I’d probably keep JPMorgan’s balance sheet somewhere in the back of my mind.

And when big pharma figured out a way to “find” clinical studies questioning ivermectin’s safety record in the middle of a pandemic where they were trying to sell vaccines, despite ivermectin being on the WHO’s Model List of Essential Medicines and having been used successfully in 3.7 billion doses for the last 39 years, I didn’t trust that either. The timing was just too…perfect.

So when the CEO of the company arguably benefiting more than anyone else from the AI capital spending explosion tells the president that fears surrounding AI are overblown and additional regulation could be counterproductive, I’m going to apply precisely the same standard.

Huang’s job is not to protect my portfolio, the stock market or civilization. His job is to run Nvidia, and he has been extraordinarily good at it. That is exactly why I don’t understand the impulse to treat his pronouncements about AI policy as though they arrived on stone tablets.

The stakes here are much larger than Nvidia.

AI enthusiasm has become deeply embedded in the market’s valuation structure. Trillions of dollars of market capitalization are tied directly or indirectly to assumptions about continued AI investment, continued infrastructure spending and eventual returns on an almost unimaginable amount of capital being poured into the sector.

Anything that threatens that narrative, including disappointing returns, slower model development, power constraints, tougher regulation, customers deciding they have bought enough GPUs for a while and/or me discontinuing use of my toaster in the morning, potentially threatens much more than one semiconductor stock.

AI will also play a massive role in the upcoming midterm elections. There is also a very real case that if we pass a certain point waiting to regulate AI, we may not have a chance to in the future. And there’s also arguments that AI CEOs are calling for regulation to stifle competition. Whatever the case, we have to go about regulation ideas in a more objective fashion.

Jensen Huang may ultimately be correct that engineers can manage these risks without heavy government intervention. He may be correct that excessive regulation would damage American competitiveness. Those arguments deserve to be evaluated on their merits.

But they should also be evaluated alongside the economic incentives of the person making them. There is something almost comical about watching the man standing closest to the cash register explain why everybody needs to keep shopping. You don’t need a conspiracy theory to be skeptical in this situation.

Follow me one more time. Huang runs a company whose fortunes are intimately connected to the continuation of the AI boom. The Trump administration has publicly emphasized American AI dominance, economic growth and strong financial markets. Where those interests overlap, Nvidia has every reason to make its case as aggressively as possible.

And Huang could be doing exactly that. Good for him. But I’m not confusing excellent corporate strategy or political relationship building with an independent assessment of whether AI poses serious risks or requires additional oversight.

When the CEO of the company selling the picks and shovels tells Washington that the gold rush shouldn’t be slowed down, I don’t hear the voice of an impartial referee…I hear the guy selling the shovels telling everyone to keep digging.

--

QTR’s Disclaimer: Please read my full legal disclaimer on my About page here. 

 

Tyler Durden Sun, 09/20/2026 - 13:30
Tyler Durden

Ocean Container Freight Costs Explode, Rivaling COVID-Era Crisis Highs

Zero Rss
2 weeks 3 days ago
Ocean Container Freight Costs Explode, Rivaling COVID-Era Crisis Highs

A worsening ocean freight price shock is reviving concerns about the supply-chain disruptions seen during the pandemic and the 2024 Red Sea crisis.

If continued through the fall and winter, higher shipping costs could intensify inflationary pressure, squeeze corporate margins, and weaken growth. Together, these factors raise the risk of a broader economic shock, particularly if diesel prices remain elevated. 

Bank of America retail analyst Lorraine Hutchinson warned in a note Saturday that ocean freight rates have jumped 201%, approaching the 250% spike seen during the 2021 container ship shortage. Meanwhile, AAA national average diesel prices near $6.50 a gallon are crushing truckers' margins and boosting rates on the nation's highways. 

"Most contracts are set in the spring, but we're watching this for those using spot rates and as a potential headwind for 2027," Hutchinson said.

Beyond container rates, the Baltic Dry Index, which tracks freight rates for several vessel classes, including Capesize, Panamax and Supramax vessels, has jumped to December 2023 highs. 

"We see the current surge as something of a perfect storm, with vessel supply tightening and demand firing in both basins at the same time," Thurlestone Shipping analysts said.

A prolonged freight price shock could carry today's shipping squeeze into the 2027 contracting cycle, exposing businesses to higher transportation costs and increasing pressure to pass those costs on to consumers.

Tyler Durden Sun, 09/20/2026 - 13:00
Tyler Durden

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