🇦🇱🇽🇰❌🇺🇳 — A protest in support of former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders is being held in Tirana.

The protest is supported by Albanian PM Edi Rama but not by Kosovo PM Albin Kurti.

🔗 kos_data (@kos_data)

🇺🇸🎼📹 — US President Donald Trump meets with Andrea Bocelli in the Oval Office while listening to Andrea Bocelli

🔗 Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47)

🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦 — US President Donald J. Trump welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky back to the White House

🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦 — US President Donald J. Trump to Zelenskyy:

"It's an honor to be with a very strong leader, a man who has been through a lot, and a man who I've gotten to know very well...

President Zelenskyy of Ukraine has endured a lot... I think we're making great progress."

🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦📞🇷🇺 — POTUS Donald Trump on his upcoming meeting with President Putin:

"I would say most likely it's going to be a double meeting... but we will have the President Zelenskyy in touch."

🇺🇸📞🇮🇳❌🇷🇺 — US President Donald J. Trump says, again, agreed with India to stop buying Oil from Russian Federation:

"India is not going to be buying Russian oil anymore, and Hungary is sort of stuck because they have one pipeline... and they're inland — they don't have sea... but India will not be buying oil from Russia."

🇺🇸🕊🇺🇦🇷🇺 — POTUS Donald J. Trump about the campaign by First Lady Melania to reunite Ukrainian children in Russia with their families:

She just felt very strongly about the children and she's done a really good job in bringing it to the fore... She thinks about the children all the time

🇺🇸🚀🕊🇺🇦🇷🇺 — POTUS Donald J. Trump about Peace in Ukraine and the possibility of TLAMs being supplied to Ukrainian Army:

"Hopefully, we'll be able to get the war over without thinking about Tomahawks. I think we're fairly close to that."

🇺🇸🚀🕊🇺🇦🇷🇺 — POTUS Donald J. Trump about Peace in Ukraine and the possibility of TLAMs being supplied to Ukrainian Army:

I have an obligation also though to make sure that we're completely stocked up as a country...

We're going to be talking about Tomahawks, and we'd much rather have them not need Tomahawks. We'd much rather have the war be over.

🇺🇸📞🇪🇺🪖 — POTUS Donald Trump on Ukraine:

"We're not losing people, we're not spending money, we're getting paid for the ammunition and missiles and everything else... and we've made a very good deal with NATO... that's not what we're in this for.

We're in it to save thousands of lives every week."

🇺🇸❌🇻🇪💊 — POTUS Donald J. Trump confirms Reuters' reports that US Navy sank a Tren de Aragua Cartel's submarine in the Caribbean:

We attacked a submarine.

That was a drug-carrying submarine built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs — just so you understand. This was not an innocent group of people.

🇺🇸❌🇻🇪💊 — US President about the latest proposal by the Chavista Regime to ditch Russia and China and open up its economy & resources for United States capital:

"He has offered everything, you're right. You know why? Because he doesn't want to fuck around with the United States."

🇺🇸📉💸 Regional banks are facing a perfect storm of credit problems, with commercial real estate loans comprising 44% of their portfolios versus just 13% for large banks. Office loan delinquencies have hit 10.4%, approaching 2008 crisis levels, while over $1 trillion in CRE loans must refinance by year-end in a higher-rate environment.

The Fraud Factor
Recent disclosures reveal deeper problems beyond market stress. Zions Bancorporation disclosed $60 million in provisions and $50 million in write-offs related to alleged loan fraud from its California division, while Western Alliance faced similar issues. These incidents echo Jamie Dimon's warning about "more cockroaches" in the credit market, suggesting systematic underwriting problems beyond economic cycles.

The Concentration Risk
Florida Atlantic University analysis found 59 of the 158 largest banks have CRE exposures exceeding 300% of total equity capital. New York Community Bancorp's Flagstar subsidiary shows a particularly dangerous 477% CRE concentration ratio. Many banks are using "extend and pretend" strategies, restructuring loans to avoid immediate write-offs while masking underlying problems.

The Systemic Implications
Studies suggest a 1% increase in non-performing loan ratios can decrease GDP growth by 0.1%, creating vicious cycles where economic weakness worsens credit quality. The concentration of regional bank problems in CRE mirrors historical patterns from the S&L crisis of the 1980s, when similar interest rate and real estate pressures caused widespread failures.

My Take
This analysis confirms that March 2023's regional banking crisis was papered over rather than resolved. The combination of CRE concentration, interest rate pressure, and emerging fraud cases suggests the underlying problems have worsened. When banks resort to extend-and-pretend strategies while facing refinancing walls on $1 trillion in loans, it creates conditions for a more severe crisis than what we saw in 2023. The moral hazard from implicit government backstops has encouraged more risk-taking rather than better management.

🔗 Hedgie