Wall Street Bonus Pool Hits Record Despite “Domestic And International Upheavals” As the K-shaped economy rages on, gasoline and diesel prices at the pump spike, and risks of food inflation later this year mount, Wall Street’s bonus pool surged to a record in 2025, even as the Trump administration insists the inflationary shock is temporary. On Thursday, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released a new report showing that […]

Putin Issues Some Frank Thoughts On ‘Unpredictable’ Iran War Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday delivered some rare, wide-ranging and frank commentary on the US-Israeli war against Iran. He compared the war and the Hormuz Strait closure, and subsequent impact on global energy, to the massive widescale impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. But he also stated that outcomes to the war are at this point too hard to predict. via […]

Turkey Dumped 58 Tons Of Gold After Iran War Started, Slamming Price There has been much speculation about the mystery seller(s) that sent gold sliding into a bear market from its January high: was it a sovereign seeking to plug holes in their budget from the recent surge in oil, a “market maker” trying to spark stop loss liquidations, or just retail investors taking profit after one of the best years in history for the precious […]

Iran Hardliners Push For Nukes Amid Tehran’s Demands That US Scale Back Ceasefire Conditions Summary Iran rejects US plan but says diplomacy continues (indirectly, apparently) – White House, Pentagon reviewing options for ‘final blow’ as Trump tells Iranians ‘get serious’ about talks. Hegseth: we’ll “negotiate through bombs”. Trump asserts Iran is begging for a deal. Trump touts “present” of several tankers allowed by Tehran […]

Ugly 7Y Auction Has Lowest Bid To Cover Since September, Biggest Tail Since 2024 After two “terrible” coupon auctions earlier this week, moments ago the Treasury concluded the week’s final auction when it sold $44 billion in 7 Year paper. It may not have been quite as terrible as the previous two, but it wasn’t much stronger either. Starting at the top, the auction stopped with a high yield of 4.255%, up sharply from 3.790% in […]

“Don’t Be Evil”: Google’s Motto Becomes A Jury Verdict In California Authored by Jonathan Turley via jonathanturley.org, Google once had a motto: “Don’t be evil.” In its reorganization in 2015, the motto was changed to “Do the right thing.” According to a California jury this week, neither motto stuck. In a historic verdict against both Google and Meta, a jury found that the companies maliciously designed their […]

Jesse Ventura Claims Trump Staged Assassination Attempt With Wrestling ‘Blade Job’ On His Own Ear Authored by Steve Watson via modernity.news, Jesse Ventura went full conspiracy mode on Piers Morgan’s show, suggesting President  Trump faked the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, complete with a self-inflicted “blade job” cut to his ear for dramatic effect. The former Minnesota governor and […]

’13 US Bases Uninhabitable’: Pentagon Admits Much Of Iran War Overseen By Personnel ‘Working Remotely’ The New York Times really buried the lede in a fresh report entitled “Iran’s Attacks Force US Troops to Work Remotely.” With the report noting that before the Iran war started the Pentagon had some 40,000 troops in the region, we are told that many have been widely dispersed due to the Iranian retaliatory bombing campaign on the […]

Gold Vs Bitcoin: Can Either Usurp The Dollar’s Reign? Tonight at 7pm ET, wealth manager Peter Schiff will debate bitcoin investor Mark Moss on the future of hard assets and the global monetary system.  Since the start of the war in Iran, Bitcoin and gold have reversed roles. While BTC used to trade like a leveraged tech stock, tanking on any shaky geopolitical news, it surged since Trump started bombing. Gold meanwhile, briefly […]

USC Cancels Gubernatorial Debate Due To Absence Of Candidates Of Color Authored by Jonathan Turley via jonathanturley.org, The University of Southern California (USC) is under fire after canceling the California gubernatorial debate with less than 24 hours’ notice.  The reason? None of the polling candidates are people of color. It was a crushingly revealing moment in a state where universities have long defied voters who […]

US Postal Service Plans 8% Fuel Surcharge As Iran War Raises Transport Costs By Eric Kulisch of FreightWaves, The U.S. Postal Service is seeking permission to impose a fuel surcharge on parcel products for the first time ever to cover soaring transportation costs for gasoline and diesel fuel, which have jumped more than 30% since the invasion of Iran by the United States and Israel nearly a month ago. Parcel shipments would be […]

One Day Until Trump’s Self‑Imposed 5-Day Deadline On Iran But Markets Appear Increasingly Numb By Molly Schwartz, Cross Asset Macro Strategist at Rabobank More persistent inflation Yesterday, Iran rejected the US-proposed 15-point plan, instead laying out its own conditions in a 5-point plan; (1) halt the killing of Iranian officials; (2) means to make sure no other war is wage against it; (3) reparations for the war; […]

“Historic Injustice”: DOJ Settles With Retired Gen. Flynn For Malicious Russiagate Prosecution Authored by Troy Myers via The Epoch Times, The Department of Justice (DOJ) and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a former national security adviser in President Donald Trump’s first term, reached an undisclosed financial settlement Wednesday, according to court documents. Flynn sought a $50 million payout from the government for what […]

Iran “Laying Traps” And “Building Up Defenses” On Kharg Island, Preparing For U.S. Ground Attack Iran has recently bolstered its defenses around Kharg Island, anticipating a possible US move to seize the key oil export hub, CNN reported this week. The island is vital to Iran’s economy, handling roughly 90% of its crude shipments, and has become a focal point in escalating tensions. The Trump administration has explored the option […]

Jobless Claims Hover Near Record Lows Sustaining ‘No Hire, No Fire’ Narrative The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the first time was flat from the prior week at 210.5k (215k exp). Simply put, these numbers are hovering near their lowest levels since 1969… Source: Bloomberg Continuing claims also printed below expectations at 1.819 million Americans. This is the lowest level since May 2024… Source: […]

Stocks, Bonds Slide As Ceasefire Hopes Fade It’s Day 27 of the war: stocks and bonds fell globally as ceasefire optimism fades given mixed messages on progress toward ending the war in Iran and growing uncertainty over Iran’s willingness to engage in talks about a ceasefire in the Middle East sent oil prices higher. Futures gapped lower just after 5am ET, when Axios reported that the Pentagon is developing military options for a […]

Will AI Trigger The Next Great Depression? Authored by Michael Lebowitz via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, Our article title is certainly scary. The question we pose has become a hot topic following the release of “The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis,” by Citrini Research. While evaluating the impact of AI on the labor market is complex, we can distill both optimistic and pessimistic views into two straightforward questions. […]

Western Intel Says Russia Preparing Kamikaze Drone Shipment To Iran A senior Western official told Financial Times reporters that new intelligence indicates Moscow is preparing to ship a batch of kamikaze drones to Iran as part of a broader support package, with the US-Iran conflict nearing the one-month mark. When asked about the drone shipment, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told FT reporters, “There are a lot of fakes going […]

Saudis Bypass Hormuz As Oil Exports From Yanbu Surge Toward 5 Million Target One week ago, when fears that the Strait of Hormuz blockade would mean a permanent collapse in oil supply (we have since seen that Iran is allowing “friendly” ships to cross the strait, especially if they grease the toll-keeper with $2 million per crossing) hit a fever pitch and pushed the price of Brent to $120, we said that “Saudi Arabia Has Already […]

The ‘Blame Game’ In Private Credit Begins Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance This morning I warned (again) this wasn’t a normal market in private credit. It was a liquidity event. And today it’s becoming something else too. According to the Financial Times, the SEC is now questioning whether Egan-Jones, a small but deeply embedded credit rating agency in private credit, can “consistently produce credit ratings with […]

Zelensky: Trump Pressuring Him To Give Up On Donbas And End War Soon With the Ukraine war now marching into its fifth year, and with the next weather-driven “fighting season” underway, a frustrated Ukrainian President Volydymyr Zelensky says the Trump administration is pressuring him to give up the Donbas region in exchange for US security guarantees. He also claims that Russia is offering to stop providing intelligence to Iran if […]

Iran Says “No Talks With US… Which Has Failed In War Goals” – Warns Of “Relentless” Response To Any Island Campaign Summary Iranian FM says there are no talks with the US, wants a permanent end to the conflict; Tehran demands a permanent end to the war and compensation for destruction. Ghalibaf warns against island campaign. Central Command Says Nearly 300 US Military Troops Injured in Iran War 3,000 elite Army Airborne […]

Net Zero Activists Stumped By Shock New Evidence Showing No Link Between CO2 & Temperature Over Last Three Million Years Authored by Chris Morrison via DailySceptic.org, The climate science world (‘settled’ division) is in shock following the discovery in ancient ice cores that levels of carbon dioxide remained stable as the world plunged into an ice age around 2.7 million years ago. Levels of CO2 at around 250 parts per […]

Hungary To Halt Gas Deliveries To Ukraine Over Its Energy ‘Blackmail’: Orban Hungary is moving to choke off gas flows to Ukraine, escalating an energy standoff after Kiev halted Russian oil transit via the Druzhba pipeline. Prime Minister Viktor Orban in a fresh social media video address reiterated that Ukraine has blocked the Soviet-era route for a month, and he newly warned: “As long as Ukraine does not provide oil, it will not […]

The US Shows A Way Out Of Germany’s Energy Trap Submitted by Thomas Kolbe Big developments are underway in Tennessee and Alabama. Over the next five years, the joint Japanese-American project will bring several so-called small modular reactors (SMRs) of the BWRX-300 type online. Almost one percent of U.S. electricity production—slightly more than three gigawatts—will be added to the existing energy mix by reactors designed by […]