Readings — 16 August 2026

Macro: The Interest Bill couldn’t be reverified this edition — the block has stopped loading entirely, a regression from the $39.91T reading (as of 12 Aug) confirmed at the last SitRep, so treat that figure as [Unconfirmed] pending a fix rather than current. Manic Mr Market’s Buffett Indicator holds at 218.1% (2026 Q1), unchanged since deploy — a quarterly series with no new quarter posted yet [Confirmed unchanged]. The Melting Anchor wasn’t reverified this session; its last confirmed reading stands [Unconfirmed]. The US Treasury Dashboard’s baked panels are unchanged since 31 Jul (Federal Debt $39.77T, 10-year 4.75%, 30-year 5.27%) — the gap against the Interest Bill’s own live figure has widened to roughly $140bn while that panel is offline [Confirmed unchanged, Inferred increasingly stale].

Micro: Utopia’s Eleven wasn’t reverified this session [Unconfirmed]. Cape Fear and Mathematical Scenarios both hold at CAPE 42.18, unchanged since the last monthly refresh [Confirmed unchanged]. The High Water Mark and Leg by Leg weren’t reverified this session [Unconfirmed]. The Debt Garden wasn’t reverified this session [Unconfirmed].

Demos: The Mood of the Crowd’s US reading moved sharply — UMich’s August preliminary crashed to 51.0, down from July’s 55.2 [Confirmed via UMich direct]; the UK composite wasn’t reverified this session. The Camel’s Back carries no live feed — nothing to update. Hot or Not carries no live feed — nothing to update.

Polis: The Watchtower is unchanged this edition. A new row for the Fed’s Jackson Hole symposium (27–29 Aug, Chair Warsh’s first keynote as Fed Chair on the 28th) has been proposed but not yet added to the live sheet, pending sign-off. The Long Fuse carries no live feed — nothing to update.

Flows: The Net Liquidity Tracker is still frozen at $5.92T (as of 22 Jul for WALCL/TGA, 24 Jul for RRP) — four consecutive weeks unchanged despite the weekly refresh task firing on schedule, logged as an open fault rather than a real reading [Unconfirmed]. The Tide Table wasn’t reverified this session [Unconfirmed]. Mind the Gap wasn’t reverified this session; its last confirmed reading stands on its usual quarterly cadence [Unconfirmed].

A thinner-than-usual edition: this week’s Observatory screenshot refresh hit a genuine site fault on The Interest Bill and returned unreliable results on several other checks, so most readings above carry last-known values explicitly flagged rather than fresh confirmations. Detail logged in this week’s Golden Retriever update.