India Panics, Further Tightens Gold Flows As Rupee Collapses Well, that escalated quickly… With the Rupee accelerating its declines to ever lower record lows against the dollar, Indian authorities have stepped up capital controls, focusing on curbing demand in the gold ‘exit’ route. 4 days ago, there were no signs of import duty hikes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi  issued a rare weekend appeal urging citizens to forgo gold […]

DOJ Sues DC Bar Over Its Prosecution Of Former Trump Lawyer, Calls It “Partisan Arm Of Leftist Causes” Authored by Troy Myers via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint on May 13 against the D.C. Bar, alleging it has acted as a “partisan arm of leftist causes.” The U.S. Department of Justice in Washington on April 27, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times According to the DOJ, the […]

Zelenskyy’s Former Right-Hand Man Yermak Arrested In $10.5 Million Money Laundering Scheme Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ordered the pre-trial detention of Andriy Yermak, the powerful former head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Office and once the country’s second-most influential figure, on money-laundering charges tied to a high-profile corruption scheme. The ruling marks a dramatic fall for Yermak, who served […]

Biden FBI Quietly Hid Trump Prosecution Files For Potential Post-2028 Case Authored by Luis Cornelio via Headline USA, Another trove of newly unearthed Biden-era files suggest that the FBI attempted to retain purported evidence related to its prosecution of President Donald Trump until 2030 — when he would presumably be out of office. The documents, reported Tuesday by Just the News, add to a growing body of records that […]

With GOP Help, House Dems Force Vote To Give Another $1.3 Billion To Ukraine In a rebellion defying the priorities of Speaker Mike Johnson, House Democrats have teamed up with two Republicans and an independent in a parliamentary maneuver that will force a vote on a bill that would give another $1.3 billion in military aid and other assistance to Ukraine, as that country continues to lose territory in its war with Russia.   “We […]

Cable Crashes As Burnham Signals Challenge To UK PM Starmer Update (1345ET): Following Wes Streeting’s earlier resignation “having lost confidence” in Starmer’s leadership, the UK PM is now under further pressure as Andy Burnham opened a possible path to challenge Keir Starmer for the prime minister’s job, after a Labour member of Parliament resigned and urged the Greater Manchester mayor to run for his seat. Andy Burnham […]

Separate Peace? Saudi Arabia Floats Regional Non-Aggression Pact With Iran Are regional Gulf countries seeking to forge there own separate peace deals with Iran, apart from the United States? That’s what fresh Thursday reporting in the Financial Times suggests. The report says Saudi Arabia is supposedly considering a non-aggression pact between the Middle East states and Iran after the military conflict between the United States […]

After “Fantastic Day” With Xi, Trump Touts 200-Jet Boeing Deal As China Offers Hormuz Help Summary:  Trump says Boeing Secured a 200 ‘Big’ jet order from China Trump says President Xi wants Hormuz reopened, won’t give Tehran weapons  Trump, Xi Put Hormuz, Iran, Trade, Taiwan At Center Of Historic Beijing Summit Boeing-China Jet Deal A highly anticipated Boeing jet deal appears to have materialized after the first […]

Did You See Hakeem Jeffries’ Press Conference Tantrum? Authored by Matt Margolis via PJMedia.com, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is having a rough time right now. For months, the Speaker’s gavel looked to be easily within his reach come November, but recent developments have made it look like it could slip away.  He’s a little touchy about it. During a press conference on Wednesday, Jeffries had a bit of a tantrum, […]

Trucking Stocks Tumble As Supreme Court Ruling Risks “Extinction Event” For Freight Brokers The US Supreme Court ruled late Thursday morning that freight brokers can face state-law negligent hiring claims when they hire unsafe trucking firms that later cause crashes. FreightWaves founder Craig Fuller responded to the ruling on X, saying,  OMG, this is the most pivotal moment in trucking history since Deregulation. It could be an […]

Are Markets F***ed? Collum And Pomboy To Address Everything Bubble As the S&P continues to reach new highs in the mid 7000s, leaving the COVID era 3000s as a forgotten fevered dream… and AI euphoria fueling increasingly speculative bets across Wall Street and Main Street, the sane among us need to ask the question: when will reality hit? In tonight’s ZeroHedge debate, hosted by the legendary Dave Collum, Macro Mavens […]

Bessent Says US, China To Launch AI Safety Talks After Trump-Xi Meeting In Beijing Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on May 14 that Washington and Beijing would begin formal discussions on artificial intelligence (AI) safety protocols following meetings between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. Bessent’s comments come as the rival […]

Bombshell CIA Testimony: Fauci Accused Of Intentionally Burying COVID Lab-Leak Evidence Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, A CIA operations officer provided explosive sworn testimony Wednesday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, accusing Dr. Anthony Fauci of directly intervening in the intelligence community’s review of COVID-19’s origins. James Erdman III, a veteran CIA special […]

Russia Sends Over 1500 Missiles, Drones On Ukraine In 48 Hours After V-Day Ceasefire Soon on the heels of the successful 3-day and US-backed ‘V-Day’ ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, Russian forces have unleashed several days of drone and missile barrages on Ukrainian cities, especially the capital. It seems the Kremlin is bent on ‘payback’ for several weeks of effective Ukrainian long-range drone attacks which have badly […]

Iran Proclaims Safe, Toll-Free Passage For 30 Chinese Tankers Amid Xi-Trump Summit During President Trump’s ongoing state visit to China, he and President Xi Jinping agreed that the ‌Strait of ‌Hormuz must be open for ‌the ⁠free flow of energy. They along with their senior officials have expressed agreement that no country can ​be allowed to exact shipping tolls in the Strait of Hormuz. Following this, Thursday saw […]

Indian Ship Sunk Near Oman; Iranian Commandos Seize Vessel Off UAE Summary:  Indian Cargo Ship Sinks in Suspected Drone Attack off Oman  Iranian Commandos Board & Seize Honduras-Flagged Ship Off UAE Indian Cargo Ship Sinks Near Oman Maritime data company Windward revealed on X: Indian cargo vessel sunk by suspected drone attack off Oman The MSV HAJI ALI (MMSI: 419908021) has gone down in the Strait of Hormuz […]

Today’s Soap Operas – Coronation Streeting, Eastenders, And Succession By Michael Every of Rabobank In the UK –where the 30-year gilt yield sits at 5.74%, the highest since 1997– politics is abuzz with rumors centre-right Health Secretary will resign to take on PM Starmer in a leadership contest, which left-wing Energy Secretary Miliband is expected to join to prevent any Coronation Streeting, as left-wingers Rayner and Burns […]

Cisco Surges Most Since Dot-Com On Raised Outlook, AI-Focused Job Cuts Cisco Systems shares posted their biggest gain since the Dot-Com boom-and-bust era after the networking giant delivered third-quarter results that beat analysts’ estimates. The company also announced a workforce restructuring, aligning with a broader hyperscaler playbook that cuts labor costs and redirects capital toward AI infrastructure and data-center […]

US Govt Settles With Former NYT Reporter In Biden/Twitter Censorship Case Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times, The U.S. government has reached a settlement with a former New York Times reporter who was kicked off Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic for posts about vaccines. Officials in a settlement agreement dated May 11 and obtained by The Epoch Times said that the government “did in fact violate the First […]

Cuba Depletes Fuel As Blackouts Worsen, Putting Havana’s Communists Under Pressure Ahead Of U.S. Talks Today’s news cycle centers on President Donald Trump’s summit and state banquet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, with early messaging from both sides pointing to a constructive first day. Once Trump concludes his China trip, if a peace deal emerges to de-escalate the Iran conflict – likely with Beijing leaning on Tehran to […]

Florida & Texas Lead Jobless Claims Rebound From Near Record Lows The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the first time rose last week to 211k (more than the 205k expected), but remain well within the range of the last five years, near record lows… Source: Bloomberg Florida and Texas saw the biggest rise in initial claims while California and Michigan saw the largest declines… Continuing jobless […]

Despite Record Low Sentiment, US Retail Sales See Strongest Annual Gain In 8 Months After a big jump in March, retail sales likely cooled in April, according to BofA’s almost omniscient forecast as they see spending on gasoline providing a smaller boost and auto sales moderating, after an early Easter pulled forward some seasonal demand into March. The “holiday shift” dynamic also may have contributed to softer activity after […]

Futures At New Record High On Tech, Tehran, Trade, Taiwan And Tariffs US futures are higher as we await color on the Trump-Xi summit and US- Iran negotiations, which are said to be ongoing, and as the tech meltup continues. What is known so far is that Trump / Xi agree that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, Hormuz should reopen without a toll or militarization; the countries will look to increase investment in each other as NVDA […]

Netflix Sued By Texas For Allegedly Spying On Children Authored by Mary Prenon via The Epoch Times, Global video streaming service Netflix has been sued by the Texas attorney general’s office for allegedly collecting consumer data from children and adults without their knowledge or consent. In a May 11 statement, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused Netflix of spying on consumers by intentionally tracking and logging […]

Rate Hikes Are Coming… Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance What a week for macroeconomic data. We got two horrific datapoints this week that, when combined with some key comments from days ago, seem to be pushing the Fed closer to rate hikes than they’ve been in a long while. The case for rate hikes is no longer some fringe tail risk like it felt it was a year ago as inflation numbers (though still high) appeared to be coming […]