Baltic
Dry Index. 1995 -22 Brent Crude 105.21
Spot Gold 4750 Spot
Silver 75.40
US 2 Year Yield 3.79 -0.03
US Federal Debt. 39.061 trillion
US GDP 31.287 trillion.
Tungsten and helium
prices have been surging, "but you don't have anyone on the buy side
saying, 'oh my goodness, we don't have enough product,'" Ecclestone said.
"Defense contractors should have warehouses of tungsten, but they don't."
"The world has got lazy. It thinks life is like a supermarket, the product is a pack of cornflakes or a few tons of sulfuric acid," he said. "The supermarket of commodities has had a few of the aisles chopped down."
Christopher Ecclestone, principal and mining strategist at Hallgarten & Company.
To no one’s great surprise, faced with an unfolding stocks rout on the last trading day of the month and quarter, President Trump goosed markets higher by all but declaring his Iran/Gulf war over. More details tonight in his televised speech to the nation.
But is his unnecessary war on Iran really over, with or without Iran reopening shipping in the Strait of Hormuz? Is it just cover for a “surprise” ground attack over Easter?
For now in the stock casinos, the relief/dead cat bounce.
South Korea’s Kospi leads rebound in
Asia markets as Trump says Iran war could end in weeks
Published Tue, Mar 31 2026 7:50 PM
EDT
Asia-Pacific markets rebounded
Wednesday after statements from U.S. President Donald Trump raised hopes that
the Iran war could end soon.
On Tuesday stateside, Trump said the
U.S. could leave Iran in “two or three weeks,” adding “We leave because there’s
no reason for us to do this.”
U.S. crude futures were up 1.34% at
$102.72 a barrel as of 10.42 p.m. ET, while Brent futures climbed 1.27% to
trade at $105.29 per barrel.
South Korea’s Kospi led gains in the
region, surging over 6.5%, while the small-cap Kosdaq gained 5.38%, after data
showed South Korean exports in March jumped 48.3% from a year earlier, beating
Reuters poll estimates of 44.9%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 4.04%, led
by financial stocks, while the broad-based Topix added 3.79%.
The Bank of Japan’s Tankan survey
for the first quarter of 2026, which measures business sentiment, showed
optimism among large Japanese manufacturers rising to 17 from 15. That beat
expectations of 16 from economists polled by Reuters and reached its highest
level since the fourth quarter of 2021.
Large non-manufacturers’ business
sentiment stood at 36, unchanged from the previous quarter and above Reuters poll expectations
of 33.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 1.71%,
powered by basic materials stocks, while mainland China’s CSI 300 rose 1.47%.
According to a private survey
China’s manufacturing activity slowed in February. The RatingDog PMI came in at
50.8 in February, missing Reuters-polled analysts’ forecast for 51.6 and
slowing from a more than 5-year high of 52.1 in February.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced
1.7%, driven by a rise in educational services stocks.
U.S. futures also ticked higher,
with S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures up 0.16% and 0.24%, respectively. Dow
futures rose 44 points, or 0.09%.
Overnight in the U.S., all three
major indexes posted their best day since May, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up
2.49%.
The S&P 500 gained 2.91%, and
the Nasdaq Composite advanced
3.83%.
The moves followed an unconfirmed
report that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was open to ending the war with
guarantees.
South Korea's Kospi leads rebound in Asia markets as Trump says Iran war could end in weeks
CNBC Daily Open: Markets rally as
Trump signals Iran war could end soon
Published Tue, Mar 31 2026 9:17 PM
EDT
Hello, this is Dylan Butts writing
to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.
The global markets rollercoaster
resulting from the U.S. war with Iran continued on Tuesday, with Wall Street
rallying sharply on renewed hopes that the conflict could be moving towards a
resolution.
Those hopes were fueled by an
announcement from the White House that President Donald Trump will deliver an
address “to the nation to provide an important update on Iran” at 9 p.m. ET
Wednesday.
But, we’ve been here before:
Optimism builds, markets rally, but then reality intrudes. Can this recent
positive sentiment last, or are we just building up to more drops and
loops?
What you need to know today
A wave of reports on Tuesday
suggested that Washington and Tehran may be exploring paths to end
their conflict, including an unconfirmed report that Iranian President
Masoud Pezeshkian is open to ending the war if guarantees are provided.
The Wall Street Journal reported
that Trump had told
aides he was willing to end military hostilities in the
Middle East even if the Strait of Hormuz remained largely shut. The President
later told the New York Post he believes
the war will likely end soon, and that the strait would reopen
‘automatically’ after a U.S. exit.
Markets rallied sharply on the
shifting tone Tuesday. All three major U.S. indexes posted their
best day since May, with the Dow jumping more than 1,100 points. The
S&P 500 gained 2.91% to end at 6,528.52, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced
3.83% to 21,590.63.
After markets closed, Trump said he
expected that U.S. military forces would leave Iran in “two or three weeks.”
The U.S. has been building up troops in the Middle East for potential ground
operations against Iran, though no moves have been made at this time.
Hours later, the White House said
that Trump will deliver an address “to the nation to provide an important
update on Iran” at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Trump also lashed
out at Western allies including France and the U.K, warning that the
U.S. “won’t be there to help you anymore” after they refused to join military
action against Iran and help open the Strait of Hormuz.
Partial closures of the strait have
impacted global supply chains, particularly oil, since the start of the war.
Brent crude prices remained elevated as Iran struck a Kuwaiti oil tanker in
waters near Dubai.
While oil continues to dominate
wr-related market headlines this week, we’ve also seen some recent notable
swings in tech stocks, particularly artificial intelligence.
OpenAI on Tuesday announced it
closed a record-breaking
funding round that valued the company at $852 billion post-money, with
$122 billion in committed capital, up from the $110 billion figure it announced
in February.
Meanwhile, CNBC confirmed that
Oracle has begun telling employees it will cut
thousands of jobs, as the software maker grapples with a plummeting stock
price tied to heavy spending on AI infrastructure.
CNBC
Daily Open: Markets rally Trump signals Iran war could end soon
Oracle cutting thousands in latest
layoff round as company continues to ramp AI spending
Published Tue, Mar 31 2026 11:34 AM
EDT Updated Tue, Mar 31 2026 4:20 PM EDT
Oracle has started telling
employees that it’s cutting thousands of jobs, CNBC has confirmed, as the
software maker deals with a plummeting stock price tied to hefty capital
commitments for building out AI infrastructure.
While Oracle’s core business is on
the receiving end of market panic about competitive risk from generative artificial intelligence models,
the company is also facing pressure from investors about the amount of debt
it’s raising for AI investments and its dwindling cash flow.
Business Insider reported on the latest cuts earlier
on Tuesday. CNBC confirmed the cuts with two people familiar with the matter
who asked not to be named because the announcement hasn’t been made public.
Oracle, which employed 162,000
people as of May 2025, declined to comment. The company’s stock
price is down 25% this year, dropping more than all of tech’s
megacaps.
Oracle continues to sell its
flagship database for storing and serving up corporate information. In recent
years, alongside cloud rivals such as Amazon, the company has ratcheted
up capital expenditures as it builds data center infrastructure that can handle
AI workloads. But Oracle is smaller than its cloud peers.
Oracle has been leaning on the debt
market to fund its buildout. In January, Oracle announced plans to raise $50
billion in debt and equity. During earnings last month, executives said there
were no more plans to raise debt in 2026.
In September, Oracle disclosed that
its remaining performance obligations, a measure of contracted revenue that has
not yet been recognized, jumped
359% to $455 billion following an agreement with OpenAI worth over
$300 billion. Weeks later, Oracle picked
executives Mike Sicilia and Clay Magouyrk to replace Safra Catz as
CEO.
Cutting 20,000 to 30,000 employees
could lead to $8 billion to $10 billion in incremental free cash flow, TD Cowen
analysts wrote in a January note.
Executives have said its AI
investment will pay off, over time.
“Demand for AI infrastructure, both
GPU and CPU, continues to exceed supply,” Magouyrk said on an earnings
call earlier this month. “This is directly visible in our $553 billion
remaining performance obligations.”
Oracle
cutting thousands in latest layoff round as AI spending booms
In other news, the rise and rise of China.
Aluminium, with US ali imports of about 575 million Kg p.a. coming from the blocked up Gulf, and Canada the only realistic replacement source, was it really a good idea, Mr. President, to tariff Canada and insult Prime Minister Carney by calling him “Governor Carney” leader of the 51st State?
Three niche commodity prices are
surging. What they show about China's grip on supply chains
March 31, 2026
BEIJING — The Iran war is squeezing
a global commodities market already pressured by China's export controls and
stockpiling efforts.
Prices of three niche elements —
tungsten, sulfur and helium — have climbed sharply in recent weeks.
While none of the commodities are
traded as widely as oil, the surge indicates how ripple effects from the Middle
East conflict could end up restricting production of the semiconductors that
power artificial intelligence advances.
Tungsten, a metal nearly as hard as
a diamond, creates the electrical connection in the core of a semiconductor chip. Sulfuric acid, a byproduct of sulfur, cleans chip wafers. Helium enables smooth production of semiconductors since
the gas prevents unwanted chemical reactions in the manufacturing process.
Those are just some of the ways in
which the three elements have become critical for modern manufacturing,
including for defense.
Beijing started to ramp up its
control over the critical supplies even before the Iran war started on Feb. 28,
partly as tensions with the U.S. escalated over the last few years.
China started restricting tungsten exports just over a year ago, and in December called for tighter limits on sulfuric acid exports. Helium, a gas that's difficult to store, saw the
volume of Chinese imports rise by 15.7% in 2025, after a nearly 65% surge in
2024, according to Wind Information.
The Iran war and the ensuing
constraints on the Strait of Hormuz, a critical Middle East shipping route for energy and
chemicals, has tipped some oversupply situations into undersupply, while
exacerbating existing shortages.
Prices of the three commodities have
jumped in some cases by more than oil. The widely used fossil fuel has climbed
by more than 50% in March, putting Brent on track for a record month.
"While the Chinese supply chain
is being viewed as more resilient than many peers, the risk of disruption in
chemicals as raw materials for manufacturers in selected segments is higher
than expected based on the feedback," Goldman Sachs analysts said in a
report late last week, citing nearly 40 commodity-related meetings and site
visits in China.
Tungsten
Tungsten hit a record high of over
$3,000 late last week, marking a surge of well over 50% for the month and more
than tripling in price since late December. That's based on the industry
benchmark called "ammonium para tungstate (APT)" in metric ton units,
or MTU, from Fastmarket, as quoted by tungsten miner Almonty.
Almonty officially reopened a large
tungsten mine in Sangdong, South Korea, earlier this month, and plans to start
producing some tungsten this year at a project in the U.S. state of Montana.
The company's CEO Lewis Black told
CNBC that defense sector demand for tungsten has been "extremely
strong" since the beginning of last year, but that there's been no notable
change despite the Iran war.
"There's no material to
stockpile. That's probably the biggest change," he said.
Sulfur
The price of sulfuric acid in Africa
is now at least 30% higher than it was prior to the war, and is still rising,
the Goldman Sachs analysts said, citing a local Chinese miner in Africa.
More
Helium
Helium prices have roughly doubled
since the Iran war began, according to Fitch Ratings.
As most trading occurs through
long-term private contracts between industrial gas suppliers and manufacturers,
it is difficult to pinpoint industry-wide prices, said Shelley Jang, Fitch's
director of Asia-Pacific corporate ratings.
Iranian missile attacks this
month crippled a key industrial center in
Qatar, which produces about one-third of
the world's helium.
That implies helium supply won't be
restored anytime soon, pointed out Christopher Ecclestone, principal and mining
strategist at Hallgarten & Company.
more
Three niche commodity prices are surging. What they show
about China's grip on supply chains
Iran’s attacks on aluminum producers are sending ‘shockwaves’ through
the metals market
Published Mon, Mar 30 2026 10:36 AM EDT
Aluminum closed in on prices not seen since 2022
following Iranian attacks on two Middle Eastern producers over the weekend,
heightening fears of a supply crisis for the industry.
Futures
prices on the London Metal Exchange initially
jumped 5.5% on Monday to briefly touch $3,492 per tonne, a price last seen in
April 2022.
It pulled back slightly by Monday afternoon to land
3.5% higher at $3,381 per tonne. Aluminum has risen around 10% since the
conflict began on Feb. 28, though it fell briefly last week alongside most
other asset classes amid fears of a global recession.
Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) and Aluminium Bahrain,
two of the Gulf’s largest producers, came under fire from Iranian drones and
missiles on Saturday.
EGA said in a statement that its Al Taweelah
smelter sustained “significant” damage in the strikes, injuring several people.
“The safety and security of our people is our top
priority at all times,” CEO Abdulnasser Bin Kalban said. “We are deeply
saddened and are assessing the damage to our facilities.”
‘Shockwaves’ through the global market
Saturday’s attacks only served to darken the
outlook for commodity firms in the region, which have faced severe supply
disruption over the past month.
Around 9% of global aluminum supply comes from the
Gulf, and most firms there have been unable to export the metal beyond the
region since Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz. EGA’s damaged
smelter produced 1.6 million tons of cast metal in 2025, according to its
statement.
“The attacks have sent shockwaves through the
global aluminum market, raising the risk of a supply crisis that could reshape
the industry,” April Kaye Soriano, aluminum research analyst at S&P Global
Energy, told CNBC over email.
She added that, if the damage proves lasting, the
market could move away from any temporary softness and begin to reflect
expectations of tighter supply and higher prices.
Joyce Li, commodities strategist at Macquarie
Group, told CNBC over email that their base case before the attacks assumed a
cut to the current running capacity of approximately 20%, which amounts to
roughly 800 to 900 kilotons of production loss in 2026.
Li said Macquarie saw this disruption as sufficient
to push the global market into a full-year deficit, adding added that they were
closely monitoring the “fluid” situation for any changes.
More
Alumninum
prices rise after Iran attacks Gulf smelters
China’s factory activity returns to
growth, expanding at its sharpest pace in a year
Published Mon, Mar 30 2026 9:37 PM EDT
China’s official gauge for manufacturing
activity climbed more than expected in March to mark its best
performance in a year and snapping two months of declines, as export orders
showed strong momentum.
The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’
Index for March rose to 50.4, according
to the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday, beating
economists’ expectations for 50.1 in a Reuters poll. A reading below 50
indicates contraction, while levels above that threshold signal expansion.
That expansion marked a notable rebound
after two months of contraction, with the official figure standing at 49.3 and
49.0 in January and February, respectively. In March last year, the reading was
50.5.
Within China’s latest manufacturing PMI,
sub-indexes showed that production and new orders expanded while the measures
on raw materials inventory, employment, and delivery time remained in
contraction.
Manufacturing activity in March gathered
momentum as factories rushed to resume production after an extended national
holiday in mid-February, said Huo Lihui, chief statistician at NBS.
The non-manufacturing PMI, which measures
activity in the services sector such as tourism, rose to 50.1 from 49.5 in
February.
Mideast war clouds outlook
Higher shipping fees and costs for
imported commodities, including crude oil and chemicals — triggered by the
ongoing Middle East conflict — have weighed more on NBS-surveyed companies, Huo
said. Price indexes tracking raw material inputs and factory-gate prices rose
63.9% and 55.4%, respectively.
Many factory owners in China expected the
disruption to be short-lived as U.S. President Donald Trump has planned a visit
to China in May to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, said Cameron Johnson,
Shanghai-based senior partner at consulting firm Tidalwave Solution, leaving a
period of roughly six weeks of elevated prices and supply challenges.
Inquiries for Chinese-made solar panels
and batteries from overseas buyers have picked up in recent weeks, particularly
from Europe, India, and East Africa, Johnson said, as China appears somewhat
insulated from the supply shock due to its massive stockpiles.
″[But] if we’re talking about the same
[disruption] into May, that’s going to be a really big problem,” Johnson noted.
In the first two months of this year,
China’s exports surged 21.8% from
a year earlier,
sharply beating expectations, as robust demand from Southeast Asia and Europe
more than offset the slump in U.S.-bound shipments.
A separate private-survey PMI conducted by
RatingDog and S&P Global is set to be released on Wednesday and is expected
to drop to 51.6 in March from a 5-year high of
52.1 in February,
according to a Reuters poll.
China's factory
activity returns to growth, expanding at its sharpest pace in a year
Global Inflation/Stagflation/Recession
Watch.
Given
our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians.
Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for
economists.
JK Galbraith.
A
Walmart-related recession indicator that's preceded the last 4 economic
downturns is flashing red
Mar
30, 2026, 3:08 PM BST
An
indicator linked to Walmart, one of the US's most iconic economic stalwarts, is
flashing a possible recession
warning,
according to a Wall Street veteran.
Jim
Paulsen — a longtime economist and the former chief investment strategist of
the Leuthold Group — maintains the Walmart Recession Signal (WRS), which
measures Walmart's stock
price against
a basket of luxury stocks. The general idea is that the higher the gauge goes,
the more risk there is of a sharp economic downturn.
As
the chart below shows, the WRS is the highest since the Global Financial Crisis
nearly two decades ago:
The
logic behind the recession signal is that, as the economy slows, more shoppers
shift away from luxury businesses to budget retailers like Walmart. That means
a rise in the Walmart Recession Signal could hint that a downturn or a
"significant economic
slowdown"
is on the way, Paulsen said of the indicator.
Walmart, which has long
served as a marker for US consumer health, has crushed it in the past year,
with its stock up 40% over the last 12 months. It's gotten a boost from
consumers looking to save money as inflation worries have mounted.
Paulsen
noted that the Walmart Recession Signal has seen a sharp increase leading up to
the past four US downturns. So far this year, it's climbed about 28 basis
points, likely due to economic anxiety surrounding the Iran
war,
he said.
More
Recession Warning:
Walmart's Stock Suggests More Economic Pain Is Coming - Business Insider
Why high oil prices could plunge world into recession by the summer
30 March 2026
The world economy is
heading for a “rare” recession in the middle of this year as a prolonged war
seems likely amid the prospect of US troops heading to the Middle East.
Economists have warned
that activity will fall in the middle of the year if oil prices surge to $150
per barrel and remain there for a period of four months.
Oil prices continued to
climb higher on Monday morning as the Brent Crude benchmark raced past the $116
per barrel mark amid mixed messages between the US, Israel and Iran on the
state of the war.
It is the highest level
the price of oil has reached since war in the Middle East erupted at the end of
last month.
Officials in Israel and
the US have raised the prospect of a ground war could being launched within
days. President Donald Trump said he was considering an invasion of Kharg
Island, which accounts for the vast majority of Iran’s crude oil exports.
Reports across US outlets
have detailed plans for a military operation that could take several
months.
The involvement of Houthi
militants near Yemen, which is another proscribed Iran-backed group, is also
adding to trade tensions given shipping flows across the Red Sea are under
greater threat.
City analysts have noted
that Trump’s words about the war
were being taken with a pinch of salt as mounting fears of fuel shortages could
lead to to crude pieces hitting $150 per barrel within weeks.
World economy set for surge in inflation
Oxford Economics’
director of global macro research Ben May has predicted there would be a contraction in the US economy this year before a recovery in 2027.
May also warned that
European and Asian economies would suffer a bigger hit to GDP.
The world economy could
face a hit of around two percentage points compared to previous growth
forecasts, making countries just two per cent richer altogether this
year.
Global inflation would also rise to 7.7 per cent this year, near the peak seen in
2022.
World economies could
also suffer from “critically low levels” of oil supplies while diesel shortages
could lead to food prices spiking and transport connections coming to a
halt.
Shortages in aluminium,
sulphur, naphtha and helium would also damage key semiconductor, manufacturing
and fertiliser industries.
“The speed and scale of
this energy shock push us into uncharted territory, and it’s possible that
diesel, jet fuel, and shipping fuel shortages could inflict greater damage to
activity this year,” May wrote.
“Although activity would
likely rebound more quickly too, the additional disruption could also trigger
greater supply chain pressures, and thus higher and stickier core inflation.”
The UK economy is
expected to be more heavily affected than other countries due to its reliance
on imports for key goods and recent woes in dealing with price growth and
productivity.
Economists at the OECD, the Paris-based think tank, said the UK economy would suffer the second
lowest growth this year in the G7 while also having the second highest level of
inflation.
Sir Keir Starmer is
holding a meeting with key banking, energy and military officials on Monday to
discuss the possible impact of shortages for businesses and households across
the country.
Why high oil prices could plunge world into recession by the summer
Pessimism sets in for Europe as Iran war hits economic and consumer
confidence
Published Mon, Mar 30 2026 8:03 AM EDT
Economic and consumer confidence plummeted in
Europe in March, according to official data released on Monday, in the latest
evidence of how the Iran war is upending growth and inflation expectations.
Preliminary data from the
European Commission shows economic sentiment declined in both the EU (down 1.5
points from the previous month to 96.7) and the euro area (down 1.6 points to
96.6) in March.
The figures, measuring economic sentiment across
five key sectors of the European economy, also reveal employment expectations
are under pressure across the EU and euro zone. Employers in the retail trade,
services and industry sectors are all adjusting their employment plans against
a backdrop of ongoing war in the Middle East.
The slump adds to a deterioration seen in February,
but the Commission warned the latest data prints showed a “marked deterioration
of economic sentiment in March”, which had driven both economic sentiment and
employment expectations “away from their long-term average of 100.”
Consumer confidence also fell sharply to its lowest
level since Oct. 2023, “driven by a dramatic decline in consumers’ expectations
for the overall economic situation in their country.”
“Consumers also became markedly more pessimistic
about their household’s future financial situation and less prone to make major
purchases over the next 12 months,” the Commission added.
It follows separate data showing euro zone private
sector output fell to a 10-month low and toward contraction territory in March,
raising fears of looming “stagflation”.
In revised forecasts released on March 19, the
European Central Bank now expects economic growth of 0.9% in 2026, and headline
inflation to average 2.6% this year.
ECB President Christine Lagarde said last week that
the central bank was watching data closely and would respond with interest rate
hikes if necessary.
Rising risk profile
European leaders have refused to get involved in
the U.S. and Israel’s bombardment of Iran, seeing the war as one of choice,
rather than necessity.
Nonetheless, Iran’s retaliatory strikes and almost
total closure of the Strait of Hormuz have pushed up global energy prices, with
Germany’s defense minister warning last week that the conflict represented a
“catastrophe” for the world’s economies.
More
European economic and consumer
sentiment drops in March
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.
Wind
power hits new record as gas squeezed to tiny share of generation
Solar and wind also combined to
squeeze more expensive gas to just 2.3% of the power mix
Mar 26th, 2026 at 14:16 Last updated Mar 26th, 2026
at 16:39
Wind energy across Great Britain hit a new record on
Wednesday, producing enough electricity for more than 23 million homes across
the country.
Solar and wind also combined to squeeze more
expensive gas-fired generation to just 2.3% of the power mix, figures from the
National Energy System Operator (Neso) show.
The record comes as the Government announced a £64
million grant to back the development of Port Talbot, in Wales, as the first
port in the Celtic Sea to support floating offshore wind which can harness even
more renewable power.
The Neso figures show that between 1.30pm and 2pm on
Wednesday, wind generation hit 23,880 megawatts (MW) of electricity, beating
the previous record of 23,825MW set on December 5 2025.
Slightly earlier at midday wind and solar power
combined to produce 34 gigawatts (GW) of power, squeezing gas generation to
just over a gigawatt, or 1,358MW – the lowest since April 2024.
At the time of the record, more than half of
Britain’s electricity (53.5) was coming from wind power, a fifth came from
solar, 10% from nuclear, 9.6% from trading over interconnectors with other
European countries, 2.4% from biomass, 2.3% from gas, 1.5% from other sources
and 0.4% from hydro, Neso said.
Kayte O’Neill, chief operating officer at Neso said:
“This is a world-leading record, showing that our national electricity system
can run safely and securely on large quantities of renewables generated right
here in Britain.
“We’ve come on leaps and bounds in wind generation
in recent years.
“It really shows what is possible, and I look
forward to seeing if we can hit another clean energy milestone in the months
ahead: running Britain’s electricity grid entirely zero carbon.”
The record comes as the UK faces rising energy costs
as a result of the Middle East crisis which has pushed up global oil and gas
prices.
There have been calls to increase drilling in the
North Sea in light of the crisis following the US-Israeli war on Iran, to boost
energy security, although experts have warned that will not significantly bring
down prices or secure supplies.
Meanwhile the Government has doubled down on its
push towards clean energy, with new housing rules mandating heat pumps and
solar panels, access to plug-in solar panels for homeowners and bringing
forward renewable energy auctions for major wind farms and other projects.
In its latest move, it has
provided £64 million funding for Associated British Ports to complete the
design and engineering work needed to build one of the first floating offshore
wind ports in the UK at Port Talbot.
The port will support the
development of 4.5GW of floating offshore wind projects – which are suited to
the Celtic Sea as they are based in deeper waters where they can harness
stronger and more consistent wind speeds – enough to power 6.5 million homes.
More
Wind power hits new record as gas squeezed to tiny share of generation |
STV News
Record wind
output helps shield the UK from worst of Iran war fallout
March 31, 20267:10 AM GMT+1
LITTLETON, Colorado, March 31 (Reuters)
- Record output from wind farms has helped boost total clean power supplies in
the United Kingdom to new highs so far in 2026, and allowed power firms to pare
use of fossil fuels to multi-year lows.
The growth in wind output has helped
shield the UK power system from the worst effects of the U.S. and Israel
war against Iran, which has disrupted supplies of fossil
fuels from the Middle East and sent oil and natural gas costs soaring.
Power supplies from UK wind farms during
the opening three months of 2026 increased by 31% from the same months in
2025, data from LSEG shows, helping to lift overall clean power output by 16%
from a year ago and total power output by 4%.
More, subscription required
Record wind output helps shield the UK from worst of Iran war fallout |
Reuters
Next, the
world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.
World Debt Clocks
(usdebtclock.org)
What is worth doing is worth the trouble of asking somebody to
do it.
Ambrose Bierce.
