Opening Bell: 9.14.26

Stocks Have the Midterm Blues [WSJ]The run-up to U.S. midterm elections is historically among the worst times to own American stocks…. The good news? Once the electoral outcome starts to become clear, tension lifts. Stocks have tended to recover in the final four weeks before Election Day….Changing your stock market exposure based on the likely election outcome is probably a bad idea. The average stock market performance for all six month periods following midterm elections since 1970 has been good, beating the divided government scenario alone.Tech Stocks Shudder in Response to Calls to Slow A.I. Progress [NYT]“A race to the bottom, spurred by commercial incentives, can make these risks more acute,” [Anthropic CEO Dario] Amodei said. As one remedy, he said he would bring on third-party “evaluators” who would “verify adherence to safety practices and commitments.”The post was endorsed by Elon Musk, who runs Space X, which also houses his A.I platform, x.AI; Sam Altman, who co-founded OpenAI; and Demis Hassabis, the co-founder of Google DeepMind.JPMorgan Curbed Lending to Situational Awareness After AI Losses, Source Says [U.S. News via Reuters]JPMorgan, one of the fund's key lenders, notified Situational that it would ​end its lending relationship after the losses….Other Wall Street banks, including ⁠Goldman ⁠Sachs, Citigroup and Bank of ⁠America, remain ​active brokers for the company. It has also recently started working with Clear Street, ​a New York-based brokerage ⁠firm.Crispin Odey Loses Bid to Overturn UK Financial Services Ban [Bloomberg]“During the hearing he reinvented history, painted himself as a victim and displayed no contrition. That arrogant entitlement and the resulting complete disregard for proper governance means Mr. Odey is unfit to work in financial services.”Did a Crypto Bro Pay $4.5 Million to Marry a Movie Star? A Scandal Grips China [WSJ]In the rambling essay, he said he had a crush on the actress since college, rented out a theater to watch “Zootopia 2” for a date and wired her family $4.5 million for a so-called bride fee, a traditional Chinese gift from a groom’s family to the bride’s family before marriage. He also detailed an intimate encounter involving fingernails…. He said as the couple prepared for medical procedures to have a child in the U.S., the “other party”—whom he didn’t name directly—demanded $50 million. When he refused to pay, he added, the other side cut off contact. “The engagement could no longer proceed,” he said.How Bill Ackman’s journey into tennis left him stranded on one of its most famous courts [The Athletic]Lots of wealthy people write big checks to gain access to world-class athletes and professional sports. But almost none of them would ever dare to step onto a playing field with those athletes in an official event…. “A lot of people think just because they’re very good at one thing that it naturally transfers to the next,” [former professional tennis player and member of the Goldman Sachs private equity team Milos] Raonic said, speaking generally about high performers in every realm.