Move over, McDonald’s—there’s a new king of global fast food, and it sells ice cream for under a buck. Mixue (pronounced Me-schway), China’s budget-friendly sweet treat giant, has officially become the world’s largest food and bevy chain by location, boasting 45,000 stores—3,000 more than the Golden Arches.

Investors were eager to get a taste on Monday with Mixue’s Hong Kong IPO¹ shares opened at HK$202.5 and closed over HK$290, a 43% jump. The offering was 5,000 times oversubscribed², selling 17.06 million shares and raising HK$3.45 billion. The demand was so intense that investors sought HK$1.8 trillion (US$232 billion) in margin loans³, forcing underwriters⁴ to shut down orders a day early.

The company’s IPO filing confirmed aims for global domination (in the food industry) but it seems a US entry, currently, is unlikely. Though, there is one on George St. in Sydney.

Walgreens is calling it quits! Private equity⁵ firm Sycamore Partners is scooping up the leftovers in a $24 billion buyout, taking Walgreens private in one of the largest leveraged buyouts⁶ in the past decade. The deal, expected to close in late 2025, will give existing shareholders $11.45 per share in cash (a 29% premium over last year’s price) with a potential $3 per share bonus if Walgreens is able to sell-off its primary-care assets.

Prior to landing in the PE recycling bin, Walgreens tried it all: A pivot into primary-care clinics (didn’t work), closing down 1200 stores for cost-cutting (didn’t work), cutting its long-standing dividend (didn’t work).

Now, Sycamore is stepping in, likely planning to do what PE does best—chopping up divisions, restructuring finances, and selling off underperforming assets. But reviving Walgreens won’t be easy. The company is dragging along $9 billion in debt, along with billions in opioid lawsuit settlements after being accused of oversupplying prescription painkillers. Worst of all, Walgreens faces the existential crisis of being a standalone retail pharmacy relic in 2025.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, and Nvidia’s best friend, has announced a $100 billion investment to expand its U.S. operations. This plan includes building three new plants, two packing facilities, and a research and development center in Arizona. Moreover, this is on top of the $65 billion already pledged under the Biden administration.

Given Trump’s ‘Make-in-America’ mandate⁷, and the threat of a 100 percent tariff on Taiwan semiconductor imports, everyone suspected that this move is less about business and more about political pressure. However, TSMC’s leadership insists it’s all about supply and demand. CEO C.C. Wei states that this decision was driven solely by U.S. customers needing more chips. In fact, he revealed that TSMC’s production lines had already been fully booked for the next two years, making this expansion necessary.

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te echoed the same sentiment, calling the investment a “historic moment” for Taiwan-U.S. relations while denying any government pressure (chat, isn’t this an oxymoron?).

Fully political, partially political, purely business, we may never know. However, one thing is certain: America just got a larger slice of the chip-making pie.

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, just secured another asset—two key ports at the Panama Canal. A consortium led by the firm has agreed to buy the ports from Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison for a hefty $22.8 billion, pending approval from the Panamanian government.

The deal conveniently aligns with Trump’s long-standing gripe about Chinese control over the ports, which he previously labeled a threat to global trade (I’m not falling for the rage bait, Mr. President). Enter Larry Fink, BlackRock’s CEO and Trump’s financial whisperer, who pitched the acquisition to the White House early in Trump’s presidency as a way to avoid military deployment.

By Tuesday night, Trump was already celebrating. In his address to Congress, he declared, “we’re taking it back,” to roaring approval from Republican lawmakers. The move offers a diplomatic win—securing US control of the ports without military action, because we all know how well that’s gone in the past.

In the latest episode of Trump’s trade policies—now bordering on trolling—he imposed, then partially walked back, 25% tariffs on nearly all imports from Canada and Mexico twice in the span of a few days.

Here’s how the tariff chaos unfolded:

Canada and Mexicos’s Response: