Israeli, Saudi Officials Swarm DC As Trump Weighs Iran Strike Options Senior Saudi and Israeli defense and intelligence officials are converging on Washington this week as the Trump administration weighs potential US strikes on Iran, according to Axios. This as the same report also observes: “A ‘limited strike’ is an illusion. Any military action by ‌the U.S. — from any origin and at any level — will be considered an act of […]

Mediocre 7Y Auction Tails Despite Solid Foreign Demand After a solid 2Y, and a dismal 5Y auction, moments ago the Treasury completed the sale of the week’s final coupon, and today’s sale of $44BN in 7Y paper was appropriately enough, mediocre at best, not terrible, not great, in the parlance of our times. The auction priced at a high yield of 4.018%, the first 4%+ yield since July, and up from 3.930% in December. It also tailed […]

AG Paxton Announces Investigation Into H-1B Visa Abuse Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is probing the abuse of the H-1B visa program in the state, beginning with an investigation into three companies in North Texas, the attorney general’s office said in a statement on Jan. 28. Paxton issued Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs) to companies suspected of fraudulent activity. […]

Worldcoin Spikes 40% As OpenAI Reportedly Plans Biometric X Rival Authored by Brian Quarmby via Cointelegraph, OpenAI-linked token Worldcoin spiked 40% on Wednesday following a report that the artificial intelligence firm is working on a bot-free social media platform that requires “proof of personhood.”   According to a Tuesday Forbes report citing sources familiar with the matter, OpenAI is aiming to develop a […]

Shutdown Looms As Senate Dems Formally Blocks Govt Funding Bill Update (1220ET): As expected, Senate Democrats have just formally blocked a package of government funding bills from advancing. Democrats voted in unison against a procedural motion to advance the funding package. The motion, which required 60 votes to prevail, failed 45-55. Eight Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against it, including Senate Majority Leader […]

TechnoFEDalism By Benjamin Picton, Senior Market Strategist at Rabobank The US Federal Reserve’s rate setting committee left the Fed Funds rate unchanged at 3.50-3.75% with the Statement noting that “economic activity has been expanding at a solid pace…the unemployment rate has shown some signs of stabilization. Inflation remains somewhat elevated.” The decision was taken by a 10-2 vote, with Trump appointee Stephen Miran […]

Goldman Says “Good Opportunity To Buy Dip” In Obesity Drug Stocks Novo Nordisk shares in Europe appear to be forming a base after a 5.5-month bottoming process, following a mid-2024 peak and a subsequent 71% collapse. Goldman analyst Faris Mourad is telling clients this week that “obesity drugs narrative sentiment is on the rise” and “it’s an opportunity to buy the dip.” Mourad explained: The relative performance of the […]

Sanity Returning To Global Oil Forecasts, But Damage Has Been Done; Expert Study Shows Authored by William Murray via RealClearEnergy, It can be hard to explain to a general audience how important the release of the World Energy Outlook (WEO) is to policymakers, energy companies and investors who make hundreds of billions of dollars in investment decisions worldwide each year. Beginning in the early 1990s, the Outlook included a […]

Trump Officials Held Secret Meetings With Prominent Canadian Group Seeking To Secede A new bombshell report in Financial Times says that US officials have held recent talks with Canadian separatists seeking to break Alberta, Canada’s oil-rich western province, away from Ottawa. “Officials in the [US President] Donald Trump administration discussed loaning Alberta $500 million to break up Canada and make it the 51st state,” one […]

Homan Seeks Cooperation In Minnesota: Vows ‘Drawdown’ On Streets In Exchange For Jail-Based ICE Ops Border czar Tom Homan said on Thursday that federal immigration authorities have made “a lot of progress” in recent days in Minnesota, signaling a possible shift in enforcement tactics as tensions remain high following deadly shootings and protests tied to Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. Border czar Tom Homan […]

EU Formally Designates IRGC A Terrorist Group, Granting Trump Political Cover Update(1034ET): As expected, it happened in a meeting of top EU leaders on Thursday: EU foreign ministers agreed Thursday to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a “terrorist” group, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said. “Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise,” she […]

Venezuela Signals Historic Energy Reset As Oil Laws Open To Foreign Capital Authored by Cyril Widdershoven via oilprice.com, Venezuela is moving to overhaul its hydrocarbons law, opening the door to deeper foreign and private-sector participation. The reforms introduce far more flexible operating and fiscal structures, allowing private and mixed companies to take on operational control. If paired with sanctions relief, […]

US Factory Orders Surged In November While sentiment is sagging to multi-year lows, ‘hard’ data is pushing growth forecasts higher (GDPNOW) and holding stocks at record highs. This morning we get a fresh glimpse at America’s manufacturing segment – hard data – with US Factory Orders (admittedly for November) surging 2.7% MoM (significantly better than the +1.6% MoM expected), bouncing strongly from the 1.3% MoM decline in […]

Trump Says John Deere Will Invest $70 Million To Build Excavator Factory In North Carolina Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), President Donald Trump announced on Jan. 27 that farm equipment maker John Deere will invest $70 million to build an excavator factory in North Carolina. A John Deere excavator piles road salt in preparation for a winter storm at the Boston Public Works Department yard in Boston […]

Brent Surges To 4 Month High Above $70 After Trump Threatens Iran With Military Force By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com Brent Crude prices topped $70 per barrel – and $71 shortly after – early on Thursday for the first time since September, as U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iran that a “massive armada” of U.S. Navy ships is headed to the Persian Gulf.  At the time of writing, Brent Crude prices had jumped by 3.38% at […]

Rubio Announces Start Of US-Denmark-Greenland Talks Amid Arctic Security Push Authored by Kimberley Hayek via The Epoch Times, Technical discussions between the United States, Denmark, and Greenland on improving Arctic security have begun, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday. The talks originate from a working group created earlier this month during a Washington meeting including Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, and the […]

Futures Rise As Meta Jumps, Microsoft Plunges; Gold Just Won’t Stop Futures are higher, led by tech, after the first batch of Mag7 earnings with gold breaking new record highs again, rising as high as $5600. As of 8:00am ET, S&P futures are up 0.2% while the Nasdaq if barely in the green; pre-mkt it’s a mixed picture with META (+7.9%) rising on higher than expected capex forecast, while MSFT (-6.6%) tumbles on… higher than […]

‘No Hire, No Fire’ Economy Exposed As Continuing Jobless Claims At Lowest Since Sept 2024 The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the first time decline from 210k (upwardly revised from 200k) to 209k (slightly above the 205k exp), but remaining near those multi-decade lows and showing no signs of labor market stress. Unadjusted claims plunged as the seasonal pain ebbed away… Source: Bloomberg Even more […]

US Heating Bills Expected To Spike Nationwide As Gas, Electricity Costs Continue To March Higher As Americans brave a brutal cold snap, households are facing higher heating bills this summer.  According to a report released last week by the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA), heating prices are expected to rise by 9.2% in the 2025-2026 winter vs. one year ago. According to the NEADA analysis, electricity […]

SAP Shares Plunge Most Since 2020 As Cloud Backlog Miss Amid AI Worries SAP SE shares in Europe plunged the most since late 2020, as Wall Street analysts told clients the enterprise software company’s 2026 guidance appeared underwhelming relative to elevated expectations. The 25% growth in the current cloud backlog on a constant-currency basis was not enough to spark investor enthusiasm. As a result, shares in Frankfurt plunged […]

Decline Rewritten: The Changing Face Of American Shopping Malls Authored by Panos Mourdoukoutas via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Shopping malls, long an economic and cultural fixture of American life, are facing sustained pressure but are not disappearing altogether. A sign at the Mall of America is pictured in Bloomington, Minn., on Feb. 2, 2006. Karen Bleier/AFP via Getty Images Instead, the sector is undergoing creative […]

Slovak PM Fico Accuses Media Of Sabotaging Relations After Trump ‘Psychologically Dangerous’ Claim Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico unloaded on Politico on Wednesday, accusing the outlet of peddling “lies” over its reporting on alleged private conversations he supposedly held with European leaders following his recent meeting with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Jan. 17. “I STRONGLY REJECT THE LIES OF THE […]

Inside Syria’s Largest Oilfield After The Battle For Control Via Middle East Eye Abu Aicha patrols the desert in northeastern Syria by car and on foot, an armed man permanently at his side. Around him stretches an apocalyptic landscape: rusted pipelines, shredded buildings, scorched earth and the traces of explosions. “This is more important to protect than a bank. Oil is what brings money into a bank,” Abu Aicha tells […]

Ukraine’s Biggest Corruption Scandal: Interpol Arrest Warrants Requested For Zelensky Associate Suspected Of €100M Fraud Via Remix News, Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities have appealed to Interpol to issue an international warrant against Ukrainian-Israeli Timur Mindics and his business partner Alexander Zuckerman, both considered fugitives from justice and both reported to hold Israeli citizenship. The corruption scandal […]

Fire Engulfs Former Volkswagen Factory, Which Now Makes Chinese Brand, South Of Moscow Fire crews extinguished a fire that broke out early Wednesday at the former Volkswagen plant in Russia’s Kaluga region, now repurposed as part of Moscow’s post-sanctions auto ecosystem. There’s been little in the way of a cause mentioned in international reports, amid an investigation, though skeptical headline consumers will note there’s been a […]