Baltic
Dry Index. 2066 +56 Brent Crude 92.62
Spot Gold 5177 Spot Silver 89.25
US 2 Year Yield 3.56 unch.
US Federal Debt. 38.863 trillion
US GDP 31.222 trillion.
The good Lord didn't see fit to put oil and gas only where there are democratically elected regimes friendly to the United States. Occasionally we have to operate in places where, all things considered, one would not normally choose to go. But, we go where the business is.
Dick Cheney
Was that it? Did Monday’s surge in crude oil prices just cause President Trump to blink in his unnecessary, war on the Persian Gulf oil supply?
Backed into a corner of his own making, with US recession odds rapidly rising, hopefully so.
Certainly, markets, Bloomberg and other mainstream media seem to think so. But with an erratic US President who seems to change his mind every few hours, we’ll just have to see what tomorrow brings.
But with massive volatility in the stock casinos and oil markets, where are the losses piling up?
Oil Falls, Stocks Rise as Trump Changes Tune on
War
After markets dived and oil neared $120 a
barrel, Trump said the war with Iran might be over soon.
March 9, 2026 at 10:19 PM GMT
With markets diving and oil up around $120
a barrel to start the week, Donald Trump on Monday changed his tune about a war
that—just days ago—he and his aides had said was just getting started, with the
biggest strikes yet to come.
Having started the war along with Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the US president today appeared to be
walking back threats to bomb other regions of Iran, as he threatened Saturday.
Instead, the Republican signaled that the
war could be ending soon, saying the campaign was now ahead of schedule. It
was also disclosed Monday that Trump had
spoken with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin about the war, their first call
of the year.
Trump’s nod toward de-escalation was
significantly different from what he wrote in the early hours of Saturday
morning. In a social media post, Trump, 79, said the US will consider
striking areas and groups of people in Iran that were not previously considered
targets. “Today Iran will be hit very hard!” Trump said as the US and Israel
were bombarding Tehran and other cities over the weekend. The attacks will
continue, Trump wrote, “until they surrender or, more likely, completely
collapse!”
The news that Trump might instead end US
hostilities sent a predictable wave of relief across markets, with stocks
closing up and oil down to around $92 a barrel. Here’s your
markets wrap. —David
E. Rovella
Oil
Drops, Stocks Rise as Trump Changes Tune on War: Evening Briefing Americas -
Bloomberg
Asia markets rebound as oil plunges after Trump
signals Iran war might end ‘soon’
Published Mon, Mar 9 2026 7:49 PM EDT
South Korea’s Kospi opened more than 5%
higher Tuesday, leading a rebound in the region, after oil prices fell and Wall
Street bounced back as U.S. President Donald Trump signaled the conflict with
Iran could be nearing its end.
Oil prices fell over 10% after Trump said
he was considering seizing control of the Strait of Hormuz, the most important
chokepoint in world for the crude market. Trump also told a CBS
News reporter, who shared the comments in a post
on X, that “the war is very complete, pretty much.”
International Brent crude was down 10% at
$89.03 per barrel at 9.10 p.m. ET Monday. U.S. crude oil fell more than 9% to
$86.05 per barrel. The declines came after oil surged past $100 on Monday.
The declines came after oil surged
past $100.
“With 20% of world oil supply stopped, we
have the largest interruption ever,” said Bob McNally, president of Rapidan
Energy Group, in reference to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The biggest disruption before the current
war was during the Suez Crisis of 1956 when Britain, France and Israel invaded
Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, the energy
consulting firm told clients in a Sunday note. At that time, roughly 10% of
global oil supply was disrupted.
Other Asia stock indexes also gained. The
small-cap Kosdaq added over 4%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.35%
in early trade.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.66%,
while the Topix gained 1.3%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1.56%,
while the CSI 300 gained 0.9%.
Travel-related stocks also rebounded. Hong
Kong-listed shares of Air
China rose nearly 3%, while China Eastern Airlines added
2.9%. China Southern
Airlines gained 2.85%. Singapore Airlines rose
1.54%.
Overnight in U.S. stocks advanced.
The S&P 500 rose
0.83% to close at 6,795.99, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added
239.25 points, or 0.5%, and ended at 47,740.80. The blue-chip index is coming
off its biggest weekly slide in nearly a year. The Nasdaq Composite jumped
1.38% and settled at 22,695.95.
Those moves mark an impressive turnaround
from the losses seen earlier in the day. The Dow was down nearly 900 points at
its session low, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq had dropped as much as 1.5%
each.
Asia-Pacific
markets: Nikkei 225, Kospi, Hang Seng Index
G7 energy ministers to meet Tuesday morning to
discuss release of oil reserves, sources say
Published Mon, Mar 9 2026 12:33 PM EDT Updated
Mon, Mar 9 2026 2:01 PM EDT
Energy ministers from the Group of Seven
nations will hold a virtual meeting Tuesday morning to discuss a possible
release of oil reserves to address the supply disruption triggered by the Iran
war, sources told CNBC.
G7 finance ministers met Monday to discuss
a release of reserves but did not make a decision. The G7 members are Canada,
France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The talks between the G7 have been
“positive,” the sources said. Any coordinated action on releasing reserves
would occur after the energy ministers’ meeting, they said.
The U.S. believes a joint release of 300
million to 400 million barrels, representing 25% to 30% of the 1.2 billion
barrels in the reserve, would be appropriate, sources told CNBC.
“We stand ready to take necessary
measures, including to support global supply of energy such as stockpile
release,” the G7
finance ministers said
after their Monday meeting.
Oil prices surged above $100
per barrel at
their highs as the critical Strait of Hormuz remains closed due to threats from
Iran. It is unclear when the strait may reopen again to traffic.
Prices pulled back Monday on the
expectation that a release of oil reserves will occur. U.S. crude was last
trading around $95 per barrel while global benchmark Brent was just under $100.
The closure of the strait has triggered
the biggest oil supply
disruption in
history, according to analysis from consulting firm Rapidan. About 20% of the
world’s oil consumption is exported through the narrow waterway.
Unlike past shocks, there is no spare
capacity to address the disruption because Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates are cut off from the global oil market due to the strait’s closure,
Rapidan analysts said.
The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve is not sufficient to offset the supply
bottled into the Persian Gulf, the analysts said. The U.S. reserve currently
has 415 million barrels, about 58% of its total authorized capacity of 714
million barrels, according to the Department of
Energy.
Member states of the International Energy
Agency will come under pressure to release their strategic stocks because this
is “the only remaining supply response option,” the Rapidan analysts said.
G7 energy
ministers to meet Tuesday to discuss release of oil reserves: Sources
Trump says Iran war will end ‘very soon,’ predicts
lower oil prices
Published Mon, Mar 9 2026 3:29 PM EDT
President Donald Trump at a press
conference on Monday said the war against Iran will end
“very soon,” and also said that oil prices will
drop.
Trump’s rosy prediction came after a
weekend that saw the price of oil
skyrocket to
above $100 per barrel, roiling global financial markets.
“We’re achieving major strides toward
completing our military objective,” Trump said nine days after launching the
war on Iran with Israel on Feb. 28.
Trump, who with his deputies has offered
shifting explanations of what the war’s objective is, did not on Monday detail
his end game, instead touting military successes.
“We’ve wiped every single force in Iran
out, very completely,” the president said at his Trump National
Doral club near
Miami, where he touted the destruction of more than 50 Iranian naval ships, and
decimation of its air force and anti-aircraft defenses.
“They have no leadership. It’s all been
blown up.”
Asked if the war would end this week,
Trump said, “No,” but added, “Very soon.” He proceeded to threaten further
military action if he deems it necessary and said the U.S. has not yet hit some
of Iran’s most sensitive targets, including its electricity infrastructure.
Earlier Monday, an Iranian official
suggested that any oil tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint
for crude oil shipments, risked attack by Iran. Only a handful of commercial
vessels are moving through the Strait, said Matt Smith, oil analyst at energy
consulting firm Kpler.
Despite that threat, Trump said oil
supplies will be more secure for the world in the long run because of the war
and threatened to hit Iran even harder if it withholds crude from markets.
While most of the oil that moves through the Strait of Hormuz is bound for
Asia, the U.S. depends on a global supply that is heavy on imports from Asia.
“We will hit them so hard that it will not
be possible for them or anybody else helping them to ever recover that section
of the world,” Trump said.
He also said that the war would be over
when Iran no longer had the capacity to use weapons against the U.S., Israel
and other allies for a long time.
Asked by a reporter to explain the
difference between his prediction of a quick end to the war and Defense
Secretary Pete Hegseth’s recent comment that the war is just beginning, Trump
said both could be true.
“It’s the beginning of building a new
country,” Trump said. He has pledged to keep the U.S. out of another lengthy
entanglement in the Middle East.
Trump said he is “disappointed” in Iran’s
choice of Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father as the country’s supreme
leader. But, when asked at the press conference, he declined to say he would
seek to assassinate him.
Trump earlier Monday spoke with Russian
leader Vladimir Putin,
who reportedly shared proposals about the U.S. quickly ending the war.
At his press conference, Trump said Putin
“was very impressed with what he saw” the U.S. do in Iran.
“This is an excursion a lot of other
people wouldn’t have done,” Trump said. “This was a military success, the likes
of which people haven’t seen.”
Trump says Iran war
will end 'very soon'
Oil extends slide as investors assess Trump
comments on Iran war, Strait of Hormuz
Published Mon, Mar 9 2026 9:38 PM EDT
Oil prices plunged as much as 10% Tuesday
before paring losses, as investors assessed comments from U.S. President Donald
Trump on the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and oil flows via the critical
Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude was down around
4.3% at $94.62 per barrel as of 11.45 p.m. ET Monday. U.S. crude oil fell 3.8% to
about $91 per barrel. The declines come after oil surged past $100 on Monday.
Trump who had signaled Monday that the
conflict with Iran could end
soon, sending oil prices lower, warned later in the day that Tehran would
be hit “twenty times harder” if it attempted to halt oil flows through the
Strait of Hormuz.
“If Iran does anything that stops the flow
of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of
America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far,” U.S. President
Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social Monday stateside.
Located between Oman and Iran, the Strait
is a vital transit route for global energy markets. Roughly 13 million barrels
passed through the waterway in 2025, accounting for about 31% of global
seaborne oil flows, according to Kpler.
It connects major Gulf producers including
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates to the Gulf of Oman and
the Arabian Sea.
“This is a gift from the United States of
America to China, and all of those Nations that heavily use the Hormuz Strait.
Hopefully, it is a gesture that will be greatly appreciated,” Trump said in his
post.
The comments come as a spokesperson
for Iran’s
Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned on Monday that oil
tankers transiting the Strait
of Hormuz “must be very careful.”
----At a press conference on Monday
Trump also said the war
against Iran will end “very soon,” and oil prices will drop.
Trump comments have soothed nerves on the
energy supply shock, and the disruption to oil flows.
“I think there’s a lot of optimism in the
market,” said Bob McNally, president at Rapidan Energy Group. “We saw that
today with the collapse in oil prices on what we used to call verbal
intervention from the President.”
McNally said the market is still
struggling to process the scale of the disruption, noting that for decades
traders assumed no country would be allowed to shut the Strait of Hormuz, the
world’s most critical oil chokepoint.
The fact that it has happened at all is
“completely calamitous and unexpected,” McNally said, pointing that that even
during the tensions of the 1980s the waterway was never fully closed.
For now, markets appear to be betting the
situation cannot last long and that navigation through the Strait will
ultimately be restored, he added.
While Trump’s comments have lifted
markets, Lipow Oil Associates’ President Andy Lipow said it was too early to
draw concrete conclusions.
More
Oil extends slide as investors assess Trump comments on Iran war
Why China can withstand oil’s surge past $100 more
easily than other countries
Published Mon, Mar 9 2026 3:06 AM EDT
BEIJING — Surging oil prices following the
Iran war are expected to impact China less than in past years as the country
has built large crude stockpiles and diversified its energy sources, including
renewables.
As oil prices climbed past $100
a barrel for
the first time in four years, OCBC analysts said China may be “less sensitive
to a prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz than many of its Asian peers.”
“China has accumulated one of the world’s
largest strategic and commercial crude reserves,” the analysts said, adding
that its “rapid transition toward electric vehicles and renewable energy
provides an additional structural hedge.”
China held an estimated
1.2 billion barrels of
onshore crude stockpiles as of January.
That’s about 3 to 4 months of reserves,
which will delay the economic impact, Rush Doshi, director of the China
Strategy Initiative at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Monday on CNBC’s
“Squawk Box Asia.”
“China has taken the last 20 years to
reduce some of its dependence on maritime oil flows,” Doshi said, noting that
new overland oil
pipelines and
some diversification to renewables mean the country now only relies on the
Strait of Hormuz for about 40% to 50% of its seaborne oil imports.
By 2030, China aims to increase the share
of non-fossil fuels in total energy consumption to 25%, up from 21.7% in 2025.
The strait connects the Persian Gulf to
the Arabian Sea and global shipping routes. It’s a narrow passage with Iran to
the north and Oman and the United Arab Emirates to the south. About 31% of the
world’s seaborne oil flows passed through the Strait of Hormuz last year,
or around 13 million barrels a day of crude, according to Kpler.
However, oil shipments through the strait
account for only 6.6% of China’s overall energy consumption, according to
Nomura’s chief China economist Ting Lu.
Natural gas imports through the route
account for another 0.6%, he said.
The shift reflects two decades of
strategic transition, giving China a unique position in global energy markets.
The U.S. is the world’s largest
consumer of oil,
followed by China and India, according to the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC), which was founded in 1960 to coordinate global oil
supply.
But China is the
largest crude importer, buying nearly twice as much as the U.S., while India
ranks third, OPEC data showed.
Of the three, India is the most dependent
on petroleum imports, accounting for one-fourth of its total consumption,
according to CNBC’s analysis of U.S. Energy
Information Administration data for 2023.
China was lower at 14%, while the U.S.
produced most of its petroleum needs, according to the 2023 data, which
includes “other liquids” in the petroleum category.
More
Why China can
withstand oil's surge more easily than other countries
In other news, though the US media love to
cover the gasoline price, it’s the price of diesel that’s more important in
driving US inflation.
U.S. Gasoline Prices, Rising Again, Are Now Up 17%
Since Conflict Started
Interruptions in oil supplies in the
Middle East, source of much of the world’s energy, are trickling down to what
American drivers pay when they fill up.
March 9, 2026Updated 6:36 a.m. ET
The price of gasoline in the United States
jumped again on Monday as the war in the Middle East entered its 10th day.
The average price of U.S. gasoline reached
$3.48 a gallon, according to data from the AAA motor club. That is a nearly 17
percent increase since the first U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. Gas
hasn’t been at these levels since 2024.
The price of oil jumped above $100 on
Monday after attacks intensified,
and Iran said it was firing more missiles toward Israel in response to
expanding U.S.-Israeli attacks.
The suddenly rising energy costs —
everything from jet fuel to diesel for trucks and tractors is more expensive —
are rooted in the supply of crude oil coming from the Persian Gulf. The tankers that
normally carry oil out of the region are not sailing, cutting the world off
from about one-fifth of its oil supply.
There are already big variations in how
much drivers pay. Though oil prices make up the largest share of the cost of
gasoline — about 60 percent — taxes, refining margins, and distribution costs
can raise prices further. Drivers in California, for example, paid an average
of $5.20 a gallon on Saturday, the highest in the country, while
those in Kansas paid $2.92, the lowest.
Gasoline prices tend to respond to changes
in oil prices with a lag of a few days to a week. Because refineries have to
pay more for crude oil, they charge more for the fuels they deliver to gas
stations, airports and other customers. As a result, fuel prices will most
likely climb over the coming days, as long as oil prices remain elevated or
rise further.
U.S. Gasoline
Prices, Rising Again, Are Now Up 17% Since Conflict Started - The New York
Times
Global Inflation/Stagflation/Recession
Watch.
Given
our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians,
inflation now needs an entire section of its own.
Recession
odds jump on Kalshi after oil tops $100
Published
Mon, Mar 9 2026 9:59 AM EDT Updated Mon, Mar 9 2026 11:01 AM EDT
Prediction market bettors
are increasingly expecting the U.S.
economy to enter a recession this
year as oil
prices soar.
Kalshi’s market for whether the U.S. goes into a
recession in 2026 jumped above 34% on Monday — its highest level since
November, according to data from the platform. Late last week, the market had a
likelihood for that outcome at under 25%.
Monday’s
jump in recession odds follows the dramatic rally for U.S. oil prices above
the $100 per barrel mark. Crude last passed that level in the
aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Middle
Eastern producers cut output in recent days with the key Strait of Hormuz
passageway closed amid the U.S.-Iran
war, raising concern about supply. West Texas Intermediate crude
recorded its biggest
gain on record last week as the conflict escalated.
Economists
and analysts have warned that the economy could face serious
consequences if oil remains above that milestone as higher gas and
fuel prices hit consumer and business spending. Monday’s jump in oil prompted
a selloff
for stocks, signaling more pain ahead for investors after a tumultuous
week.
Bettors
on a separate Kalshi market predicted an 11% probability that the next U.S. recession begins in
the first quarter of this year. Polymarket bettors
anticipate a 31% chance of a recession by the end of this year.
Kalshi
participants see a roughly 60% chance that the U.S. gas price exceeds $4 this
month as crude rallies. The national average for regular gas came in at $3.48
on Monday, according to AAA.
More
Recession
odds jump on Kalshi after oil tops $100
Hidden
danger of Iran war: Fertiliser crisis that could send food prices soaring
Last
Updated: 09 March 2026, 02:59 PM IST
As
tensions involving Iran escalate, attention has largely focused on the
potential disruption of global oil and gas flows through the strategically vital
Strait of Hormuz. However, beyond the immediate risk to energy markets lies
another threat that often receives far less attention, a possible global
fertiliser shock that could eventually drive food prices higher and disrupt
farming worldwide.
The
Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important maritime corridors,
carrying a large share of global energy shipments from the Persian Gulf. But
the narrow passage is also critical for the movement of agricultural inputs,
particularly nitrogen-based fertilisers such as urea and ammonia.
Roughly
one-third of the world’s traded urea passes through this route. Major producers
in the Gulf region, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,
rely on the strait to export fertilisers produced using the region’s abundant
and inexpensive natural gas resources.
If
shipping through Hormuz were restricted or disrupted, the consequences would
extend well beyond energy markets. Fertiliser shipments and the liquefied natural gas used to produce them
could face delays, rising transport costs, or even complete stoppages.
Why
fertiliser matters for global food supply
Modern
agriculture depends heavily on synthetic nitrogen fertilisers, which
significantly boost crop yields. These fertilisers are produced through a chemical process developed by German
scientists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch in the early 20th century.
This
process converts methane into ammonia, which is then used to manufacture
fertilisers such as urea. These products
play a crucial role in maintaining the yields of staple crops including wheat,
maize and rice that feed billions of people.
Without
synthetic nitrogen fertilisers, global agricultural production would fall
dramatically, making them a cornerstone of the modern food system.
More
China
consumer inflation hits three-year high as producer deflation eases
Published
Sun, Mar 8 2026 9:48 PM EDT
China’s
consumer inflation recorded the biggest jump in more than three years, as an
extended holiday bolstered spending while deflation in factory-gate prices
moderated.
The
consumer price index rose 1.3% in February from a year earlier, China’s
National Bureau of Statistics data showed Monday, beating economists’ forecasts
for a 0.8% increase in a Reuters poll. The increase, following a 0.2% rise in
January, marked the strongest rebound since January 2023, according to LSEG
data.
On
a monthly basis, prices gained 1% in February, above economists’ expectations
for a 0.5% rise.
Core
CPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, climbed 1.8% last month
from a year earlier, matching the pace last seen in March 2019, according to
official data compiled by Wind Information.
“The
price hikes in the service sector during the Chinese New Year is stronger than
market expected [and] whether this effect will be persistent beyond the holiday
is not clear at this stage,” Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at
Pinpoint Asset Management, said in a note Monday.
Service
prices rose 1.1% last month from a year earlier, contributing 0.54 percentage
points to the headline CPI, the official
data showed,
driven by demand for travel, pet care, vehicle maintenance, movies, and dining
services during the holiday.
This
year’s Lunar New Year holiday ran from Feb.15 to Feb. 23 — the longest on
record — compared with eight days spanning late January to early February last
year.
China’s
producer price index slumped 0.9% from a year ago, better than economists’
expectations of a 1.2% fall, marking the slowest pace of deflation in more than
a year, as surging costs for metals and commodities helped put a tentative
floor under factory-gate prices.
At
a top economic policy-setting meeting last week, China kept its annual consumer
inflation target steady at “around 2%” for 2026.
First set in 2025, it is the lowest level in more than two decades as Chinese
policymakers sought to bolster domestic demand and rein in aggressive price
wars sweeping across many industries.
The
inflation target acts more as a ceiling than a target to be realized. In 2025,
consumer prices were flat overall, while core inflation rose 0.7% as consumer
confidence remained soft.
Beijing
also lowered its GDP
growth target this
year to a range of 4.5% to 5%, the least ambitious target on record since the
early 1990s, as officials acknowledged persistent deflationary pressures and
heightened geopolitical uncertainty.
To
bolster domestic spending, Chinese officials allocated
250 billion yuan ($36.2
billion) in this year’s fiscal budget to subsidize a consumer trade-in program
— down from 300 billion yuan in 2025 — along with a 100 billion yuan government
fund to support private investment and consumer spending.
“The
pace [of these stimulus measures] will remain incremental,” said Larry Hu,
chief China economist at Macquarie, noting that while policymakers see weak
consumption as a structural issue to be addressed, the need for “aggressive
consumption stimulus is low” with exports and manufacturing seen to continue
powering growth.
“The
main swing factor is exports,” Hu said in a note last Thursday. “If exports
remain strong, policymakers may continue to tolerate weak domestic consumption.
Conversely, if exports falter, they will step up domestic stimulus to defend
the GDP target.”
Geopolitical
tensions, exacerbated by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, have pushed
up gold jewelry and gasoline prices in China by 6.2% and 3.1%, respectively, in
February. Factory-gate prices for silver and gold refining jumped 16.9% and
8.4%, while prices for oil and gas extraction climbed 5.1%.
The
Middle East war, which has shown little sign of easing, may continue to push
China’s producer prices higher at least through March, said Zhang, warning that
a prolonged conflict risks tipping the global economy into stagflation.
China
may need to implement a more proactive fiscal policy than its budget, unveiled
last week, if Middle East tensions fail to de-escalate in the second quarter,
Zhang said.
China consumer
inflation hits three-year high as producer deflation eases
Technology
Update.
With events happening fast in the
development of solar power and graphene, among other things, I’ve added this
section Updates as they get reported.
Why buy an EV now, if the battery
technology is likely to change for the better soon?
Solid state: Why your EV battery could be worthless soon
Story by Rowan Calder March 8, 2026
The lithium-ion battery pack sitting
under millions of electric vehicles on the road right now may be approaching a
shelf life that has nothing to do with chemistry and everything to do with
competition. Federal funding, corporate prototypes, and university research are
converging on solid-state battery technology, a design that replaces the liquid
electrolyte in conventional cells with a solid material. If solid-state
delivers on its promises of faster charging, longer life, and higher energy
density, the resale math for current EVs could shift dramatically.
Washington Bets $125 Million on the Next Battery
The clearest signal that solid-state
technology has moved beyond lab curiosity is the money flowing from the federal
government. The U.S. Department of Energy has directed about $125 million toward research on next-generation batteries and energy storage,
establishing a clear federal priority around chemistries that go beyond today’s
lithium-ion standard. Among the funded teams is the Energy Storage Research
Alliance, led by Argonne National Laboratory, tasked with knitting together
national lab, university, and industry expertise.
This program sits within a broader
federal research ecosystem that includes the Department of Energy’s advanced
projects work and tools such as the Infrastructure Exchange,
which helps direct and track federal investments in energy-related projects.
Together, these efforts form a pipeline that can move promising battery
concepts from basic science through pilot-scale demonstrations and, eventually,
into commercial deployments.
The scale of the $125 million investment
matters because it signals intent, not just interest. This level of funding is
designed for multi-year research hubs with specific mandates to push new
battery designs toward commercial viability. For EV owners, it means the
technology that could outclass their current battery pack is not a distant
concept but an active, well-funded research program with institutional backing
and defined milestones.
More
Solid state: Why your EV battery could be worthless soon
Next, the world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.
World Debt Clocks
(usdebtclock.org)
In a world of increasing interdependence, energy security will
depend much on how countries manage their relations with one another. That is
why energy security will be one of the main challenges of foreign policy in the
years ahead. Oil and gas have always been political commodities.
Daniel Yergin
