August 5th 2026

The Economist Today Our best journalism, handpicked each day

Brooke Unger Senior digital editor

Two numbers in our Buttonwood column about Situational Awareness, a distressed hedge fund, stood out for me: 439%, its returns for the first half of 2026; and 24, the current age of its founder. Our columnist poses two questions. Does the fund’s fall from grace portend something worse for the markets? And what on earth were investors thinking? First, SpaceX. Soon maybe Anthropic, OpenAI and Databricks. The parade of giant IPOs is far from over. Our number-crunching analysis assesses the odds that these shares will live up to investors’ expectations.

Editor’s picks A selection of must-read articles

Buttonwood Investors in Situational Awareness deserved to lose their shirts The plight of the hedge fund says more about them than about its 24-year-old founder

→ What investment gurus get wrong

Market fizz Why most IPOs are not worth the hype The next crop of listings will be huge. Their returns may not be

The Telegram Al Capone would recognise today’s world order. That’s not good In a gangsterish age, the UN needs an ultra-pragmatist as secretary-general

Prairie politics Americans are sick of Republicans and Democrats. Can Independents win? Senate campaigns in Montana and Nebraska offer a test

The other Wagner group Why you should sit through 15 hours of opera At 150 years old, Richard Wagner’s “Ring” cycle still commands attention

More of our coverage ▸ China won’t apologise for overcapacity. Flourishing innovation, manufacturing clusters and intense domestic competition have led Chinese producers to cut costs and boost quality. Yet that is only part of the story. ▸ Why the European Union’s big covid-recovery fund lost steam. With the aim of speeding recovery from the pandemic slump, especially in the poorer south, the EU spent a lot of money, quickly. But where did the scheme work—and where did it falter? ▸ A long-lost memoir brings the horrors of atomic warfare to life. If you’ve read John Hersey’s “Hiroshima”, you’ll know the story of Tanimoto Kiyoshi. Tanimoto’s own, newly rediscovered memoir offers a significant contribution to the historical record.

Podcast Drum Tower Hong Kong’s retail therapy Listen

Games Inboxes How fast can you fill the grid? Play