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Hundreds of investing and finance newsletters hit my (and maybe your) inbox every week. This is the best of the best of policy from the past week. Every Wednesday, we’ll wrap up finance, and every Friday, we’ll take on tech.

This week, we’ve got…

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The US Army enlisted Wall Street's biggest private equity players, including Apollo, Carlyle, KKR, and Cerberus, to fund a massive $150 billion modernization program. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll convened 15 top buyout firms to discuss strategic projects, including data centers, rare earth processing facilities, and Silicon Valley-style innovation initiatives. With only $15 billion budgeted over the next decade, the Army desperately needs creative financing solutions, potentially involving land swaps or payments in computing power rather than cash.

The Trump administration simultaneously moved deeper into quantum computing, with the Commerce Department negotiating equity stakes in companies like IonQ, Rigetti Computing, and D-Wave Quantum in exchange for federal funding.

This is a cue to look again at firms positioned at the intersection of AI infrastructure, defense technology, and advanced materials. When Washington starts taking equity, it tends to lift the tide for everyone holding shares in the same harbor.

Washington’s shutdown saga is rolling on, with 1.8 million federal paychecks frozen and the Senate rejecting every funding patch in sight. GOP leaders are floating a continuing resolution that could extend into 2026, effectively pushing fiscal decisions into the next election cycle. The longer this drags on, the more pressure builds on consumer spending and travel-related stocks.

At the same time, President Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has reignited optimism in crypto markets. Binance called it a commitment to make the US the crypto capital of the world, and traders took notice. The move signals a friendlier regulatory tone that could benefit listed crypto exchanges and blockchain infrastructure firms.

Add in the Justice Department’s prosecution of administration critics like New York Attorney General Letitia James, and political risk is once again a market variable. Volatility is policy now. Crypto, defense, and utilities may be the few sectors that actually gain from the noise.

Elected officials have had a tremendous amount of success in the market recently.

I want to keep you updated on what they’re trading and when—so you can leverage that intel as you plan out your own portfolio.

Data provided by AltIndex.

Remember to always DYOR.

That’s all for today. Write us and let us know your thoughts on the market, the newsletter, or the weather—we’d just love to hear from you.

Till next time,
— Brandon and Blake with Invested Inc.