NANO Nuclear Buys The One Thing You Can’t Speed Up: A Fuel-Cycle License Ask anyone in the nuclear business what holds up the “renaissance” and you won’t hear much about reactor physics. You will hear about paperwork, fuel, and paperwork for fuel. The DOE’s Deputy Secretary James Danly put it bluntly last week: “If we are going to have this nuclear renaissance, we are not going to be able to do it without fuel.” So it makes sense […]

Sen. Marsha Blackburn Sues Former Special Counsel Jack Smith Authored by Troy Myers via The Epoch Times, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) on Wednesday sued former special counsel Jack Smith and the Department of Justice (DOJ) over a subpoena Smith’s office issued for her phone records during his investigation of President Donald Trump’s actions around Congress’s certification of the 2020 election. Blackburn alleged Smith violated […]

Federal Judge Blocks $100,000 Fee For H-1B Visas Authored by Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times, A second federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from imposing a $100,000 fee on H-1B visas, which allow U.S. companies to hire high-skilled foreign workers. U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam, based in Oakland, California, determined that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the State Department did not adhere […]

Musk, Luckey And Gingrich Walk Into The Pentagon: Hegseth Unveils “Project Meridian” As Defense Stocks Suffer Record Losing Streak What do you get when you put the world’s first trillionaire, the man who builds killer drones in Ohio, and a former House Speaker in a room and ask them to design the next century of warfare? According to Pete Hegseth, you get “Project Meridian.” In a sprawling “State of the Force” address to junior […]

Opposite What You’re Told, Markets Don’t Wait For The Fed Authored by Shahid Islam via RealClearMarkets, Financial commentary often makes monetary policy sound mechanical. The Federal Reserve raises interest rates, borrowing costs rise. The Fed cuts rates, borrowing costs fall. History is considerably messier. Beginning in June 2004, the Federal Reserve raised its federal-funds target 17 consecutive times, taking it from 1 […]

Global Crop Prices Log Biggest Quarterly Jump Since Ukraine Invasion As Sticky Inflation Hits Grocery Bills The Bloomberg Agriculture Spot Index (BCOMAGSP) posted its largest quarterly gain since Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, as Black Sea disruptions, a crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, and mounting El Niño risks have formed what could be considered a perfect storm poised to drive food prices higher. BCOMAGSP, which tracks […]

AI Less Than A Year Away From Developing Its Own Language, Researcher Tells Congress Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times, Advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models may be less than a year away from inventing and deploying unique languages that humans would struggle to understand, a frontier AI researcher told Congress on Sept. 30. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee convened a meeting […]

US Manufacturing Survey Strongest Since May 2022 On AI Spend, Prices Paid Spike Following the explosive growth signaled by S&P Global’s PMI data last week, this week we get a final look for September’s Manufacturing surveys and fresh data from ISM. S&P Global’s final September read for US Manufacturing dipped from the preliminary level but remains at its strongest since May 2022. ISM’s September survey of US Manufacturers […]

‘Iran’s Deadline Expires Today’: Tehran Threatens Renewed Attacks As Blockade Bites, Rial Collapses The Iran conflict is currently in an all too familiar stalemate, and many of the same statements are being regurgitated from each side – but this does indicate that negotiations have not yet entirely collapsed. Tehran is still apparently reviewing a Trump administration counterproposal to last week’s Iranian seven day ceasefire pitch […]

US Warns Europe: Release Emergency Diesel Supplies Or Face Export Ban The refined products crisis remains unresolved as the Northern Hemisphere winter approaches.  Speaking in the Oval Office on Wednesday, President Trump said he holds discussions “every day” about a potential diesel export ban, blaming Russia’s war in Ukraine for fueling the supply squeeze. His administration is now pressuring European governments to release […]

The Data Center Boom Faces Mounting Obstacles By Brian Martucci of UtilityDive, The U.S. data center boom has entered a new, contradictory phase. On the one hand, both data center construction activity and credible forecasts for near-term capacity additions to the electric grid to serve data centers remain robust. The Electric Power Research Institute, for example, said in February that data centers will represent up to 17% of […]

Futures Rise As 10Y Yields Pull Back From 24 Year High The disconnect continues. With 10Y yields rising as high as 5.34% – a new 24 year high – before easing back US equities remain completely oblivious of the tightening in financial conditions and instead are obsessing with the memory bubble, and pushing higher on the first day of Q4 as strength in technology shares held up against volatility in bond markets and a renewed climb in […]

Ukraine Hit By Severe Power Cuts After Russia Pounds Grid Ahead Of Freezing Temps Ongoing major Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have resulted in significant forced power cuts across various regions of Russia ahead of what promises to be a frigid winter. National grid operator Ukrenergo on Thursday urged consumers to limit usage following the recent attacks of the past 24 hours. The outages have chiefly impacted […]

Mystery Shrouds Destruction Of US Spy Satellite A mysterious breakup of a decades-old American spy satellite has sent debris hurtling through low-Earth orbit, with the U.S. Space Force now tracking the fragments for potential threats to other spacecraft, according to Space-Track. The satellite, known as USA 32, came apart on September 13 at approximately 5:13 p.m. ET, according to U.S. Space Forces-Space. Officials have not […]

Amazon Secures 20 Years Of Nuclear Power From Constellation As Goldman Sees Industry-Wide Win Goldman analyst Carly Davenport views Amazon’s nuclear power deal with Constellation Energy as “positive for industry broadly” as the “Powering Up America” theme and nuclear theme continue as Big Tech scrambles for the cleanest form of stable power to fuel data centers chip stacks.  Davenport said Constellation Energy’s 20-year deal […]

Lilly’s “Incredible Hulk” Obesity Combo Delivers Record 23% Weight Loss In Diabetics Eli Lilly’s experimental combination of eloralintide and Mounjaro delivered average weight loss of up to 23% in people with diabetes, strengthening the company’s competitive edge against Novo Nordisk in the obesity and diabetes treatment market. Participants who received the highest dose lost an average of 54 pounds over 48 weeks. Their A1C, a […]

Canada Has A Ukrainian Blindspot Authored by Ted Snider via The Libertarian Institute On September 10, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky landed in Canada where he and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney signed a 100-year partnership “elevat[ing] the relationship between their countries into a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and confirming their aligned nature.” Canada already has a special relationship with Ukraine. […]

Tennessee Botches Execution: Inmate Still Snoring After Two Doses Of Pentobarbital, Hauled To Hospital The State of Tennessee spent Wednesday trying to carry out a death sentence it has had on the books for thirty years, and ended the night with the condemned woman in an ambulance. Christa Gail Pike, 50 – the only woman on Tennessee’s death row – was still breathing, audibly snoring, and maintaining a heartbeat after prison staff […]

“Zero Hormuz”: Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Readies Tens Of Billions To Turn Fujairah Into Hormuz Bypass On March 3, just days after the first US and Israeli strikes on Iran, when most of the market was still busy pricing the closure of the Strait of Hormuz as a temporary inconvenience, we pointed out something that seemed rather obvious (to us): the UAE’s oil port of Fujairah, which sits on the Gulf of Oman and bypasses the strait […]

A Lone Voice Of Sanity On NATO’s Eastern Flank Emerges There are a few sane voices left in the EU and NATO when it comes to urging an immediate de-escalation of rhetoric regarding Russia. Still, it’s a refreshing surprise when dovish sentiment comes from a country forming part of NATO’s eastern flank in particular. “We always need to think about the worst-case scenario,” Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev has told a European […]

Central Banks Cannot Fix The Sovereign Debt Bubble Authored by Daniel Lacalle via dlacalle.com, Global investors spend a great deal of time worrying about an alleged artificial intelligence bubble. However, they should pay more attention to the government debt bubble. The most dangerous assumption is that governments can keep borrowing and making promises because central banks will always step in, disguising fiscal irresponsibility […]

Russia Extends Diesel Export Ban Through Oct. 31 Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com, Russia’s government on Wednesday extended the ban on exports of diesel, marine fuel, and gasoil for all fuel producers by October 31, which effectively extends the period in which the tightening global market will have to cope without Russian diesel shipments for another month. The government took the decision to extend the ban, […]

16 U.S. Trucking Companies File For Bankruptcy In Less Than A Month As Diesel Prices Soar Diesel prices have exploded over the past month, creating another major cost shock for an industry that was already operating on thin margins. The national average climbed from roughly $5.60 per gallon at the end of August to a record $6.53 in late September, an increase of about 17% in just a few weeks. Prices have eased slightly from that […]

‘Sensitive Security Situation’: Israeli Army Chief Abruptly Cancels Trip To US Via The Cradle The Israel military’s Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir has canceled a planned trip to the US due to a “sensitive security situation,” Israeli news outlet i24 reported on 30 September.  There is “increased alertness” in the army, said i24 military analyst Yossi Yehoshua. “The decision to cancel the trip was made by the military’s top echelon […]

Taiwan Plans $930 Million Sea Drone Buildout As China Expands Maritime Pressure Taiwan is moving quickly to build a large fleet of unmanned vessels as it looks for cheaper, scalable ways to complicate any Chinese attempt to blockade or cross the Taiwan Strait, according to Nikkei Asia. The emerging strategy combines something Taiwan already does well, building ships and sophisticated electronics, with American expertise in […]