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Chinese Humanoid Robot $60B IPO, Big Tech's $3T of Hidden Debt & Bond Yields
Treasury steps in to cool bond yields, a Wall Street Journal report reveals $3 trillion in hidden off-balance-sheet AI spending, Fed minutes show more hawks than expected, and China's humanoid robot IPO frenzy goes wild.
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August 24, 2026 · 35 min
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Rich Habits 35
  • 30-year Treasury yields hit their highest level since 2007 (5.3%), prompting the Treasury to expand its bond buyback program — widely read as an attempt to ease borrowing costs despite official "liquidity support" framing.
  • A WSJ analysis found ~$3T in AI-related obligations (purchase commitments and unstarted leases) hidden off the balance sheets of Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet — nearly 5x their combined reported capex, raising questions about true leverage risk in the AI buildout (e.g., Meta's Hyperion data center financed via a Blue Owl joint venture).
  • July Fed meeting minutes revealed more internal support for a rate hike than the 3 dissenting votes suggested, even as cooling jobs and CPI data push market odds of a September hike below 50%.
  • Radar points: Trump pushing Congress on crypto's Clarity Act, a $1.4T multistate lawsuit threat against Meta over youth safety, Costco entering Medicare Advantage, Amazon/Uber scaling drone delivery, Stripe acquiring OpenRouter for $7B, and Chinese humanoid robot maker Unitree's IPO popping 500% to a $60B valuation.

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