Apollo going risk-off. What's up with Belgium. Southern geometries and François Ier's châteaux.

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Gunther Gerzso, Southern Queen, 1963

$908bn-in-assets Apollo Global is going risk-off

To prepare for shakier financial markets, Apollo has built liquidity at its insurer Athene with additional purchases of tens of billions of dollars in treasuries and cut bundles of leveraged loans, Rowan told the investors in the private meetings. Athene is in the process of trimming its collateralised loan obligation (CLO) exposure by about half to $20bn, Apollo has said publicly.

Source: Financial Times

The BOJ is the only global central bank raising rates

For all the talk of the economy turning against men, white men had by far the mildest experience of the COVID shock in the USA, both in terms of the rise in unemployment and the subsequent recovery.

Amazing thread this by Brad Setser on plucky Belgium and its balance of payments.

Brad Setser@Brad_Setser

Little Belgium is in the news right now, and not entirely for the best of reasons.* But judging from the US TIC data, Belgium doesn’t have much to worry about

*Belgian politics seem to have been captured by a custodian, which is a bit strange —

4:20 AM · Dec 19, 2025 · 11.1K Views

7 Replies · 5 Reposts · 59 Likes

Remarkable data showing the economic structure of Germany as indicated share of employment in manufacturing. The dark blue in the Southern states of Germany shows the concentration of manufacturing in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria.

On the right-hand side, the Bundesbank shows the prevalence of mortgage debts across different sectors of the German workforce and the share of mortgages held by each group.

Source: Bundesbank

An active workforce of 3.5 billion people drive the global economy. 58 percent are in informal employment.

Gunther Wendland, Paisaje Espejismo, 2000

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Southern Geometries, from Mexico to Patagonia

Source: Fondation Cartier

The crew of a Bren gun carrier pause on their way to the forward area in the Western Desert to look at a monument erected by the Italians to commemorate the capture of Sidi Barrani a few months previous, 16 December 1940.