Readings — 20 September 2026
MACRO — THE ECONOMY
The Interest Bill: FYTD gross interest unchanged at $1.27T (still the 31 Aug print); the debt itself eased slightly to $40.09T (17 Sep), from $40.11T (15 Sep). [Confirmed]
Manic Mr Market: unchanged at 218.1% (2026 Q1), still Significantly Overvalued — no new quarter posted yet. [Confirmed unchanged]
The Melting Anchor: live gold eased further to $4,050/oz (was $4,335); the dollar’s 1971 gold value ticked up to 0.86% (was 0.81%). [Confirmed]
Red Ink Rising: unchanged — FY2025 net interest $970.1B, 13.84% of the federal budget.
The Wiggle Room: unchanged — FY2025 reading holds at 1.9¢ left of every revenue dollar; CBO’s FY2036 baseline still projects −10¢.
US Treasury Dashboard: unchanged since the last edition, still dated 17 Aug (yields) and 14 Aug (dollar index, federal debt $39.93T) — now well over a month behind The Interest Bill’s own debt figure above, still not reconciled. [Confirmed, stale]
The Snowball: unchanged — FY2025 net interest ($970.1B) remains 54.7% of that year’s deficit; no new fiscal-year data posted since the last edition.
A Trillion Here, A Trillion There: unchanged — same 2 September snapshot ($40.12T, ~135 days per trillion at the trailing pace).
MICRO — THE STOCKS
Utopia’s Eleven: combined empire rose to $28.41T (from $27.83T); NVIDIA itself rose to $5.36T (from $5.15T), still the largest holding. [Confirmed]
Cape Fear / Mathematical Scenarios: unchanged at CAPE 42.18 (Jul 2026 print), seventh edition running. [Confirmed unchanged]
The High Water Mark / Leg by Leg: steady at 205 companies tracked; average % of high rose to 75.5% (from 72.4%). [Confirmed]
The Debt Garden: unchanged at $28.6B; Ares Capital still largest at $13.9B.
The Market’s Golden Geese: unchanged — same 1926–2025 dataset as the last edition.
DEMOS — THE PEOPLE
The Mood of the Crowd: US unchanged at 51.7 (Aug 2026 final, 1st percentile); UK unchanged at −8.0 (Aug 2026, 52nd percentile). [Confirmed unchanged]
The Camel’s Back: unchanged at 155 — illustrative scaffolding, no live feed, nothing to update.
Hot or Not: unchanged — still 35% approval, latest read 8 Jun 2026 — no live feed, nothing to update.
POLIS — THE STATE
The Watchtower: US midterms now 43 days out (from 47), still 3 Nov 2026. All three central banks that were on the clock last edition — the Fed, the BoE and the BoJ — met and decided this week; the nearest decision has rolled to the Fed’s next FOMC, 37 days out (28 Oct), with the ECB one day behind it (38), the BoJ at 39, and the BoE’s next Monetary Policy Report at 45. [Confirmed]
The Long Fuse: no live feed, nothing to update.
The Gold Hole: ticked up to $51.76bn (from $51.55bn) as gold’s spot price firmed slightly; multiple unchanged at ×15.8; CAGR since the sale unchanged at 11.6% p.a. [Confirmed]
FLOWS — THE CAPITAL
Net Liquidity Tracker: unchanged — still $5.80T (12 Aug), the lag now running close to six weeks behind today’s date. [Confirmed, Inferred still lagging]
The Tide Table: unchanged — same year-end-2025 dataset.
Mind the Gap: unchanged — ¥159.21, spread 1.81pp, the same dated readings as the last edition, the lag now over five weeks. [Confirmed, Inferred still lagging]