Putin Threatens Seizures Of European Ships Over EU’s “Piracy & Banditry” Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday addressed the persisting issue of European governments and navies seizing what they deem Russian ‘shadow fleet’ vessels off Europe’s coast. The past year alone has seen several examples, sometimes involving French or Swedish commandos descending onto a tanker’s deck from helicopters and arresting crew members. […]

Trump Mulls Capital Gains Relief As Midterm Sweetener President Donald Trump is looking for new policy pledges to put before voters ahead of November, and two of them involve cutting capital gains taxes, according to National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and former NEC chief Larry Kudlow, who discussed the proposals on Fox Business Tuesday. Kudlow, who ran the council during Trump’s first term and remains close to the […]

Lacy Hunt Turns Bearish Bonds: Studying His Reversal Authored by Michael Lebowitz via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, Economist Lacy Hunt has been a bond bull longer than most money managers have been in the business. Recently, he made a surprising U-turn on his bullish stance. The following paragraph opens his Second Quarter Review and Outlook. The structural backdrop for U.S. inflation increasingly suggests that the long-run […]

Trump: US Controls Hormuz Strait, ‘I Think We Will Keep It’ – Confirms Economic Siege Strategy Summary Trump claims “total control” of Hormuz, signals strategy of continued economic pressure. Iran declares “victory” & says it can sustain the conflict & outlast. Iran shifts to a “survival economy” to withstand sanctions, Washington’s economic warfare, naval blockade. Peace talks basically not happening, with Pakistan […]

Josh Kushner, Bob Iger Stun Sports World With Record-Shattering $12 Billion Lakers Takeover Deal The Los Angeles Lakers are being sold to billionaire venture capitalist Josh Kushner, founder of Thrive Capital, and former Disney CEO Bob Iger for a record-breaking $12 billion, according to a new ESPN report. The sports news website said: The businessmen were involved in the expansion process in Las Vegas, but in a stunning turn, […]

WTI Dips After Massive Crude Inventory Build, Big SPR Drain, Surge In Imports Oil prices are marginally lower this morning as OPEC again cut its forecast for global oil-demand growth for this year, but stalled talks to reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz waterway and risks in the Red Sea prolong disruptions to global supplies. Physical disruptions are spreading beyond Hormuz. Refinery attacks and fires have hit Russia and Libya, […]

Speaking Loudly And Leaning On A Big Schtick By Michael Every of Rabobank Yesterday saw the regular schtick where the Middle East situation remains worrying, but markets reacted to more positive narratives. After four crew and two rescuers were killed in a Houthi Red Sea attack on a ship and the US struck another in the Gulf of Oman’ trying to break its Iran blockade; Iran said Hormuz will stay closed unless the US meets its […]

Hasan Piker’s “Touch Of Death”? Far-Left Francesca Hong Loses Wisconsin’s Dem Primary For Governor Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley narrowly won Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial primary on Tuesday night, defeating far-left state lawmaker Francesca Hong despite her backing from Marxist streamer Hasan Piker. David Crowley, who reentered the Wisconsin governor’s race after securing the endorsement of Gov. Tony Evers, […]

First Morgan Stanley, Now BofA To “Mobilize And Deploy” $250 Billion Into America’s Infrastructure Supercycle Bank of America unveiled a massive 18-month initiative to mobilize and deploy $250 billion across critical US infrastructure, targeting the computing, energy, and industrial systems needed to support artificial intelligence and accelerate the transition toward physical AI. The announcement comes just days after Morgan […]

Turkey Thinks Israel Fabricated Trump Air Force One Assassination Plot Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com, Turkish officials suspect that an Israeli intelligence report about an Iranian plot to assassinate President Trump at the NATO summit in Ankara last month was a ruse designed to derail diplomacy between the US and Iran, Middle East Eye reported on Tuesday. The Washington Post first reported on Monday that the US […]

Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf? Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News, Cambridge University has now decided that even Little Red Riding Hood is too dangerous for young minds. Clare College issued an official content warning ahead of a free online humanities webinar for state sixth-form pupils, flagging “adult content including themes of violence, with reference to fairytales.” The session, part of a course designed to […]

Rate-Hike Odds Tumble As US Consumer Price Inflation Prints Slowest Since Pre-War July’s ongoing decline in oil prices (before the late July/early August rebound) should support lower prices in today’s CPI print (with portfolio management impacts expected to be a bigger upside deal for PCE as stocks soared) but expectations were for an uneventful 0.1% MoM rise in the headline print. And the print was perfectly in line, rising 0.,1% […]

Ukraine Suspends Attacks On Tankers Using Russian Black Sea Port, At Vance’s Urging At the urging of Vice President JD Vance, Ukraine has suspended attacks on oil tankers using the Russian port of Novorossiysk, which sits on the Black Sea. The request was made in late July, but first reported today by the Financial Times, citing Ukrainian officials.  Vance’s plea sprang from the Trump administration’s worries that Ukraine’s […]

Futures Rise Led By Tech Before Key CPI Report US: Futures are higher, led by Tech as AI infra earnings boost the theme while the Semis trade was bid overnight led by a surge in Korea’s Kospi. As of 7:45am ET, S&P futures are up 0.2% ahead of today’s CPI report, while Nasdaq futures gain 0.7% as investors react positively to updates from US technology firms. Semis / Memory are outpacing broader markets with Mag7 trading higher, […]

Earnings Drive Both Bull & Bear Markets Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, “Earnings drive market outcomes. In 151 years, every single 20% market decline was accompanied by a double-digit earnings decline, with zero exceptions.” Every few months, a new reason to sell arrives. Capital spending is too high. The deficit is unsustainable. Oil just broke out. The conclusion attached to each is always […]

Swedish PM Calls Spanish Illegal Immigrant Amnesty ‘Very Bad Idea’ Authored by Guy Birchall via The Epoch Times, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has called the Spanish government’s amnesty for illegal immigrants a “very bad idea,” warning that it could spark another migrant crisis akin to the one that beset the continent in 2015. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Brussels on Dec. 19, 2024. Johanna Geron/Reuters The […]

World’s Largest Alumina Refinery Outside China Abruptly Halves Output On NatGas Disruption Norwegian aluminum producer Norsk Hydro’s Alunorte plant in Brazil, one of the world’s largest alumina refineries, reduced output by 50% following disruptions to natural gas availability. Bloomberg reports that disruptions to NatGas availability at Alunorte forced a 50% reduction in output and sent aluminum prices in London to a seven-week […]

Iran’s Military Command Reshuffle Digs In For ‘Hardline’ Confrontation: US Must Meet All Demands For Hormuz Opening Summary Iran rejects peace push narrative: Tehran says Hormuz stays closed until the US accepts all its conditions. Hardliners take control: Iran reshuffles top military leadership, signaling a tougher stance. Pakistan pushes talks: Interior Minister arrives in Tehran for mediation efforts. US enforces blockade: […]

British Police Unit Flags Over 100 Social Media Posts For Arrest Amid Immigration Backlash Via American Greatness, A specialist British police unit created to track online sentiment has referred more than 100 social media posts to local forces for potential arrest, according to data obtained through Freedom of Information requests and reported by The Times of London. The National Internet Intelligence Investigations unit […]

Alleged International Crime Boss Daniel Kinahan Extradited To Ireland Following Dubai Arrest Alleged Irish mob boss Daniel Kinahan was charged in Dublin, Ireland on August 9th with directing a criminal organization.  Alleged Irish crime gang boss Daniel Kinahan, after being extradited from the United Arab Emirates, leaves the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, Ireland, on Aug. 9, 2026. Natalia Campos/Reuters The 49-year-old […]

UK Regulators To Prepare Tokenized-Gold Framework: Report Authored by Zoltan Vardai via CoinTelegraph.com, The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has reportedly held talks with banks and other industry participants over potential rules for tokenized gold. The FCA has also sought feedback on the use of tokenized gold as collateral in wholesale markets, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times. The […]

Record-Low Rhine Levels Disrupt Raw Material Flows To Europe’s Largest Steelmaking Plant Thyssenkrupp’s steelmaking plant in Duisburg, Germany, is facing disruptions to raw material supplies as a “persistent and worsening low-water situation” restricts barge traffic on the Rhine River. Navigable depths along parts of this critical waterway have fallen to record lows, threatening to curb German economic growth just as the country […]

British Youth Taught To Chant ‘Our Country Is An Arab Country’ At Pro-Gaza Camp Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News, More than 100 young people gathered in the English countryside for what organisers called a summer school. Instead of hiking and games, they were led in Arabic chants calling for victory over Zionism and declaring “our country is an Arab country.” Footage of the event, later posted by the organisers […]

The July Incident: What They Didn’t Tell You About the First Rogue AI Breach Authored by Madge Waggy via ‘A lot will happen in 2026!’ blog, There’s a particular quality to the silence that falls over a room when someone finally says out loud what everyone has been thinking. I witnessed it three weeks ago in a basement bar in San Francisco’s Mission District, surrounded by people who’ve spent their careers building the systems […]

The Alchemy Of Wealth Taxation Authored by Robert Blumen via The Mises Institute, “Transmutation” is the process of changing one substance, element, or form into another. We owe this word to the ancient pursuit of alchemy, which sought to accomplish the artificial production of gold from base metals. While it is now considered a pseudo-science, in our rational age, its aspirations survive in currently popular proposals for […]