Greetings! Ramadan Mubarak to those celebrating. 🌙

Let’s get into today’s top stories.

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_{*Based on Masterworks data. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Important Reg A disclosures: masterworks.com/cd}

🌍 Ramadan arrives, and a quarter of Earth resets its clock. More than 2B (that’s 2,000,000,000!) Muslims, about 25% of humanity, observe the month. This year it is expected to begin February 18th or 19th. Ramadan lasts 29 or 30 days, depending on moon sighting. Fasting runs from dawn to sunset, skipping food, drink, and smoking. A pre-dawn meal, suhoor, is meant to buffer the day’s long hours. Iftar breaks the fast at sunset, often with dates and shared tables. Many communities add nightly prayers, including taraweeh, at mosques. The month also centers charity and self-restraint, not just willpower theater. It ends with Eid al-Fitr, a feast that pays off patience with joy.

🇮🇷 Iran briefly closes Hormuz, then returns to quiet talks. Iranian state media said the Strait of Hormuz shut for several hours during drills. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired missiles in live exercises. About 20% of global oil consumption moves through that narrow channel. Traders watched crude jump on fear, then cool when shipping resumed. The move came as Iran and the United States held indirect nuclear talks in Geneva. Oman has often carried messages, keeping talks indirect and deniable. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said progress was possible, and American envoy Steve Witkoff attended. Vice President JD Vance called the discussions positive, while gaps remained. Hormuz reopened, but the message lingered, diplomacy plus leverage.

🏔️ Avalanche near Tahoe traps skiers as search expands. A slide hit near Frog Lake in the Castle Peak area of Tahoe National Forest. Officials said a 911 call came around 11:30 Tuesday morning. Placer County spokesperson Ashley Quadros said six skiers were initially trapped. Two skiers were off a groomed trail when they triggered the collapse, guides said. Rescuers recovered four people and kept working to reach two more. Sheriff’s Captain Russell Greene said 10 other backcountry travelers were still unaccounted for. Guide Dave Sivy said visibility and wind complicated helicopter work. Soda Springs logged 30 inches of snow since Saturday, with up to 8 feet more forecast. The avalanche center warned early that weak layers could fail, and they did.

💰 Sanders clashes with Newsom on a billionaire wealth hit. American Senator Bernie Sanders toured Los Angeles to boost a proposed ballot measure. Backers want a one-time 5% tax on the assets of California billionaires. A health care union is collecting about 870K signatures to qualify it. Supporters say the money would backfill expected federal cuts to health programs. California Governor Gavin Newsom argued the plan could worsen affordability and investment. Republican adviser Brian Brokaw called it a grab that would raise prices indirectly. California’s economy is the world’s fourth-largest, so the stakes feel global. Tech leaders in Silicon Valley again warned they could move wealth and payroll elsewhere. Newsom may eye 2028, but this skirmish is already a preview.

🕊️ Jesse Jackson dies at 84, leaving slogans and scars. The Chicago preacher became a central civil rights strategist after Martin Luther King Jr was killed. King sent him to run Operation Breadbasket, a jobs pressure campaign. Jackson later built Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) and the Rainbow Coalition into national megaphones. He ran for president in 1984 and 1988 and expanded the party’s coalition math. His rhetoric mixed moral thunder with pop phrasing that stuck. He brokered releases abroad, including Navy officer Robert Goodman in 1984. He also drew criticism for offensive remarks in 1984 and comments about Barack Obama in 2008. Al Sharpton called him a bridge between street protest and electoral power. He stepped down from Rainbow/PUSH in July 2023, but his cadence kept echoing.

📈 Stocks wobble on AI nerves, then finish slightly higher. The Standard and Poor’s 500 index (S&P 500) added 7.05 points to 6,843.22. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 32.26 to 49,553.19. The Nasdaq composite gained 31.71 to 22,578.38 after a choppy session. The backdrop included worries about inflation, growth, and the next Federal Reserve move. Investors are punishing firms that look vulnerable to AI disruption. At the same time, spenders are under scrutiny for building pricey data centers. Alphabet ($GOOGL) said its AI and other outlays could double to about $180B. Bank of America ($BAC) said a record share of fund managers fear overinvestment. Bond yields barely moved, with the 10-year Treasury at 4.05%.

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That’s all for today!

Much obliged and many thanks for reading and sharing today’s newsletter.

See you tomorrow!