The Friday Review
What we are reading:
Fed staff pushed back this week on the idea that gold has overtaken Treasuries, and the case rests on who owns the gold. Also: Revolut clears its first US charter hurdle, big holders of US assets are barely hedged, a coach's bonus gets hedged on Kalshi, and private jet terminals reprice to $10 billion. Have a relaxing and safe holiday weekend!
🥇 World gold reserves passed foreign official Treasury holdings in 2025, $5.1 trillion against $3.9 trillion, but five holders own 52% of that gold and none has bought meaningfully since the 1970s, and Treasuries were ahead again by June 2026. https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/why-gold-didnt-actually-overtake-treasury-securities-as-the-worlds-favorite-reserve-asset-20260903.html
🪪 Revolut won conditional OCC approval for a national bank charter on Wednesday. FDIC, Fed and final OCC sign-off still sit ahead of a 2027 launch, inside an app targeting 100 million customers. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/revolut-wins-conditional-us-banking-license-2026-09-03/
🛡️ Pension funds and insurers across six markets hedged 41% of their foreign-currency exposure at June 30, the lowest since at least 2015, which leaves the dollar exposed if sentiment turns.https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/worlds-unusually-high-dollar-exposure-risks-fueling-selloff/ar-AA2bsJiD
🏈 A third party hedging LSU's exposure to Lane Kiffin's bonuses placed five Kalshi block trades worth $3 million combined, matching his national championship bonus exactly. LSU did not place them, and Kalshi's rules bar team employees. https://www.ingame.com/lsu-south-carolina-kalshi-trades/
✈️ Apollo is taking control of Atlantic Aviation at nearly $10 billion, five years after KKR bought it from Macquarie for $4.5 billion and grew it from 67 locations to 108. https://www.kkr.com/content/dam/kkr/portfolio/heres-the-deal/bloomberg-kkr-atlantic-aviation-202608.pdf
Our chart below, on a move the WSJ charted this week: The 10-year Treasury yield is up 82 basis points since the strikes on Iran, and the low for the year came the day before.
