Starlink V3 Reaches Orbit, Opus 5.5 Powers End-to-End Music Videos, and Nvidia's Market Cap Tops the Entire Russell 2000

Key Takeaways

1. SpaceX deployed Starlink V3 satellites and made first contact; a single Starship could eventually carry 60 V3 satellites, matching roughly 20 Falcon 9 launches in network capacity.
2. Opus 5.5 is being used end-to-end to generate music videos, with one case costing 6 million tokens and about $65 in image/video generation fees.
3. Nvidia's $5.4 trillion market cap is nearly $2 trillion above the combined Russell 2000, while Nvidia earned $193 billion over the past year and Russell 2000 constituents lost $13 billion collectively.
4. The 10-year Treasury yield has climbed from 0.5% in March 2020 to 5.2%, yet the S&P 500 still delivered 18.8% annualized returns over that period.
5. Central bank gold buying may be far higher than official data, with July purchases estimated at 44 tonnes versus 23 tonnes officially reported.
6. Only 27% of S&P 500 constituents trade above their 50-day moving average, even as the index sits within 1% of a new high.
7. US 18-24 population is projected to shrink by about 2.5 million over the next decade, with widespread university closures expected.

1. AI Models and Infrastructure

1. SpaceX successfully deployed Starlink V3 satellites into Earth orbit and established first contact with them. At scale, a single Starship launch could carry 60 V3 satellites, providing network capacity roughly equivalent to 20 Falcon 9 launches — via 1
2. Opus 5.5 is being used for end-to-end music video generation. One case remade a track into a paper-craft style video using 6 million tokens and about $65 in image/video generation costs; another produced an original rap song entirely in JavaScript in about 4 hours, with Opus finding samples, chopping material, and using different models to separate and analyze tracks. A separate case fed Anthropic's Functional Emotions paper to Claude to generate a song, then had Opus 5.5 create the video — via 1 2 3 4 5 6
3. Raoul Pal described his AI clone as moving from gimmick to practical tool, used two or three times daily to interpret timeline screenshots through his published framework. He distinguished it from Grok: Grok summarizes what the internet thinks, while his tool outputs how the author would interpret something based on all his public content — via 1
4. Fred Wilson highlighted Supertake, an "agentic investing" platform created by @mignano and incubated by @usv, currently with a waitlist. The platform uses frontier AI and trading agents to turn a user's unique worldview into real, shareable portfolios — via 1

2. Markets and Macro

1. Nvidia's market cap reached $5.4 trillion, nearly $2 trillion more than the combined market cap of all Russell 2000 constituents. Over the past year, Nvidia earned $193 billion in profit, while Russell 2000 constituents collectively lost $13 billion — via 1 2
2. The 10-year Treasury yield bottomed at 0.5% in March 2020 and has risen to 5.2%. Despite that rapid rate increase, the S&P 500 delivered 18.8% annualized returns and about 15% real annualized returns during the period — via 1
3. Central bank gold purchases may be significantly underreported. Goldman Sachs data showed 44 tonnes bought globally in July, 158% above the pre-2022 average of 17 tonnes; the 3-month average rose to 91 tonnes, near the highest since mid-2025. Official July purchases were only 23 tonnes, 21 tonnes below the estimated actual level, and official monthly purchases have not exceeded 60 tonnes since November 2024 — via 1
4. Only 27% of S&P 500 constituents trade above their 50-day moving average, close to the March low. The index itself remains within 1% of a new high, but more than 70% of constituents are at least 10% below their own highs — via 1 2
5. US gasoline prices rose to $4.48 per gallon, the highest for any September on record and up 42% year over year. The cited Trump comment said the US and Venezuela together hold over 60% of global oil — via 1 2
6. The 30-year mortgage rate is currently 7.03%, the highest since January 2025, with a historical low of 2.65% in January 2021 and a peak of 7.79% in October 2023. Decade averages: 8.9% in the 1970s, 12.7% in the 1980s, 8.1% in the 1990s, 6.3% in the 2000s, 4.1% in the 2010s, and 5.4% in the 2020s — via 1
7. The US 18-24 population is projected to decline by about 2.5 million over the next decade, with the author expecting many university closures and program cuts, hitting some regions especially hard — via 1
8. Americans aged 70 and older hold a record 34% of household wealth — via 1 2
9. Polymarket data showed Democrats at 63% to retake the Senate and 93% to retake the House, both the highest yet. Trump's 37% job approval is the lowest for any president before a midterm election since polling data began in 1990 — via 1 2 3 4
10. The Dallas Fed manufacturing index for September came in at +9.8 versus +7.8 expected and +11.6 prior. New orders rose to +30.7 from +22.0, production to +29.5 from +16.1, shipments to +24.8 from +14.1, wages to +27.4 from +21.1, and employment to +15.1 from +8.0 — via 1
11. Russell 2000 profitable companies have outperformed non-profitable ones year to date, reversing last year's pattern when non-profitable companies beat profitable ones by 2 to 1. Data from Bloomberg as of September 25, 2026, with profitable defined as trailing 12-month EPS above $0 — via 1

3. Technology, Media, and Society

1. A Statista survey found 17% of US adults used AI tools as a news source in the past four weeks. Gen Z had the highest share at 21%, followed by millennials at 19%, Gen X at 12%, and baby boomers at 9% — via 1
2. A report on Japanese used books being bought in bulk drew a "Not cool" reaction. The cited post said tons of Japanese books — philosophy, history, medical/legal texts, and Edo-period cultural texts, not fiction or manga — were being purchased, with multiple buyer accounts shipping to a logistics center in Okayama that refused to respond. Export records showed over 50 tonnes, about 100,000 books, sent to the US since last year, with buyers unidentified. Separately, court documents described Anthropic's "Project Panama" buying millions of books in the US, cutting off spines to scan them, and destroying the originals, with an internal memo stating the goal was to "destructively scan all the books in the world," and similar operations in Europe — via 1
3. Lyn Alden shared a view that any technology can enslave or liberate humans, with the internet as a prime example and AI the same. Taking an anti-AI stance only leads to enslavement because it excludes one from the discussion shaping AI; the argument is to embrace AI and push for freedom and open source — via 1
4. Jason commented on government-funded presidential propaganda ads, saying taxpayers should not pay for such self-promotion. The quoted post cited Republican Senator John Kennedy saying public officials including the president "should not spend public money on private advertising for themselves" and advocating a rule that politicians' names not be used on buildings while they are alive — via 1
5. Jason noted the pace of AI progress as "crazy" and shared a claim that "Plants vs. Zombies got an AI movie before GTA 6" — via 1
6. Jason announced No Agenda episode 1907 is live and urged following @adamcurry to help him pass 100,000 followers — via 1 2
7. Jason's All-In Summit recap noted Bill Gurley attended and Clavicular was absent, with $50,000 teacher bonuses, rockets, caviar, and a Chainsmokers performance. A 150-person Unofficial All-In Dinner Club preceded the summit, and the Women's Brunch grew from 12 people in Miami to 75. He said the biggest takeaway was "the future is going to be awesome," citing Richland Parish showing how AI infrastructure can revive a community, Bill Gurley embodying that civilization still needs fearless truth-seekers, and Clavicular exposing cultural problems — via 1
8. Charlie Munger's life advice: stay away from liars, crazies, megalomaniacs, people full of resentment and self-pity, and people who see themselves as victims — via 1