Baltic
Dry Index. 2064 +40 Brent Crude 113.90
Spot Gold 4851 Spot Silver 75.83
US 2 Year Yield 3.76 +0.08
US Federal Debt. 39.007 trillion
US GDP 31.249 trillion.
The producer price index — which tracks the change in wholesale prices — rose 0.7% in February, well above the 0.3% that economists polled by Dow Jones had estimated. The report shows that inflation was already in a precarious spot prior to the Iran war breaking out — an event that has heightened stagflation fears amid rising oil prices.
8:00 AM Update
Brent hits $114 and Europe gas
prices soar 30% after attacks on energy facilities in Qatar, Iran
Published Wed, Mar 18 2026 8:55 PM
EDT
Oil and gas prices rose on Thursday
as strikes on key energy infrastructure in the Middle East exacerbated fears of
a global supply crunch.
Qatar said Wednesday that Iranian
missile strikes had damaged a key liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility.
The action followed Tehran’s warning about attacking energy facilities in
Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after Israel bombed a natural
gas processing facility in Iran.
International benchmark Brent crude futures with
May delivery rose 6.3% to $114.13 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures
advanced 0.5% to $96.88.
Gas prices were also sharply higher.
The front-month gas price at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) hub, a European
benchmark for natural gas trading, traded nearly 30% higher at 70.8 euros
($81.2) per megawatt-hour.
U.S. natural gas prices were last
seen 4.4% higher, trading at $3.2 per million British thermal units.
Front-month Nymex RBOB
gasoline for April delivery, meanwhile, rose 4.3% to $3.23, reaching a
near four-year high.
Iranian missile strikes inflicted
“extensive damage” on Ras Laffan Industrial City, the world’s largest LNG
export facility in the world, Qatar said.
Emergency crews were dispatched to
tackle fires at Ras Laffan, QatarEnergy
said in a social
media post, adding there were no reported casualties. Qatar’s Interior
Ministry later said the blaze had been brought under control.
---- Qatar had already suspended LNG
production on March 2 following Iranian drone attacks on Ras Laffan and
Mesaieed Industrial City. The country is the world’s second-largest LNG
exporter after the U.S., accounting for nearly a fifth of global shipments, according
to Kpler.
The escalating strikes on Middle
East energy infrastructure risk deepening the supply shock triggered by the
Iran war. Tanker movement through the Strait of Hormuz that was handling about
20% of global oil supplies, is largely blocked.
More
Oil and gas prices soar after energy facility attacks in Qatar, Iran
Israel attacked Iran’s natural gas fields. Implausibly, Donald Trump says he didn’t know about Israel’s attack. Iran retaliates against Qatar’s gas fields. Donald Trump threatens an all out gas field war. Look way from that soaring oil price now.
Such is the spiralling disaster in the Israeli-US ill-thought out war in the Persian Gulf that now threatens to bring about the end of the Great Nixonian Error of Fiat Money and the end of fiat dollar reserve standard.
The fiat dollar reserve standard came about when Henry Kissinger promised the Gulf Arab states leaders to protect them from harm in return for their pricing all oil sales in US fiat dollars. The unsaid part of that desperate 1974 US deal was that the USA would keep the fiat dollar “as good as gold.”
Both parts of the deal have now broken down.
The USA isn’t protecting Arab oil and gas producers from the harm of Israel’s unprovoked war on Iran that dragged in Trump’s USA. The US fiat dollar deficit has now soared above 39 trillion dollars and is rising out of control.
Below, poor little irrelevant Donny in isolated Washington, no one tells him anything, least of all Israel.
Wars are easy to start difficult to end. Look away from those rising US Treasury yields now.
Donald Trump threatens to 'massively
blow up' world's largest gas field
19 March 2026
Donald Trump has threatened to blow
up Iran's most strategically vital gas facility after publicly rebuking Israel for
striking it first — insisting the US "knew nothing" about the attack.
The President took to Truth Social
to condemn Israel's assault on the South Pars Gas Field, saying it had
"violently lashed out" in anger — before warning that America itself
would destroy the same target if Iran continued attacking Qatar.
Trump wrote: "Israel, out of
anger for what has taken place in the Middle East, has violently lashed out at
a major facility known as South Pars Gas Field in Iran. A relatively small
section of the whole has been hit. The United States knew nothing about this
particular attack, and the country of Qatar was in no way, shape, or form,
involved with it, nor did it have any idea that it was going to happen.
"Unfortunately, Iran did not
know this, or any of the pertinent facts pertaining to the South Pars attack,
and unjustifiably and unfairly attacked a portion of Qatar’s LNG Gas facility.
NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL pertaining to this extremely important
and valuable South Pars Field unless Iran unwisely decides to attack a very
innocent, in this case, Qatar - In which instance the United States of America,
with or without the help or consent of Israel, will massively blow up the
entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that
Iran has never seen or witnessed before.
"I do not want to authorize
this level of violence and destruction because of the long term implications
that it will have on the future of Iran, but if Qatar’s LNG is again attacked,
I will not hesitate to do so. Thank you for your attention to this
matter."
It comes after Iranian missiles have
struck several locations in Gulf countries overnight.
Qatar has condemned Iran’s
"brazen" missile attack on its Ras Laffan gas facility, which the
state energy company said caused "extensive damage". Meanwhile,
explosions have been reported at several sites in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia, with four people in the capital injured by falling shrapnel from
intercepted missiles.
The attacks come just hours
after Iran's Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned it would target oil and gas facilities
in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE in retaliation for Israeli strikes
on its South Pars gas field. Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Majed Al
Ansari, branded the Israeli attack "reckless and irresponsible".
Donald
Trump threatens to 'massively blow up' world's largest gas field
Iran Vows Retaliation After Israel Strikes Giant
Gas Field
March 18, 2026 at 5:36 PM GMT
The Iran war may be
about to escalate sharply after Israel bombed a giant gas
field and Tehran vowed to retaliate against energy targets around the Middle
East on the 19th day of the conflict.
Israel carried out the strike on the
Irani gas field of South Pars, a senior official from the country said,
asking not to be named discussing sensitive matters.
That puts energy facilities in Qatar,
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the category of “legitimate
targets,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported today.
Brent crude
jumped after
Iran’s warning, climbing as much as 6% to more than $109 a barrel. Europe’s gas
benchmark jumped as much as 9.1%, according to data from ICE Futures Europe.
Israel and the US maintained their
bombardment of Iran while Tehran launched fresh waves of missiles and
drones at the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait after confirming the assassination of
its security chief, Ali
Larijani. Read our analysis on how the
killing of one of Iran’s top power brokers may prolong the war. — Zoltan
Simon
Iran Vows
Retaliation After Israel Strikes Giant Gas Field - Bloomberg
Oil jumps 4% as Iranian retaliatory strikes on
Qatar’s key energy facility stoke supply worries
Published Wed, Mar 18 2026 8:55 PM EDT
Oil prices extended gains as Middle East
remains on the boil with strikes on energy infrastructure in the region fanning
fears of a supply crunch.
Qatar said Wednesday that Iranian missile
strikes had damaged a key liquefied natural gas export facility. The action
followed Tehran’s warning about attacking energy facilities in Qatar, Saudi
Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after Israel bombed a natural gas
processing facility in Iran.
Brent crude May futures
were 4% higher at $111.80 as of 8:45 p.m. ET, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for
April rose over 3% to $99.47.
Iranian missile strikes inflicted
“extensive damage” on Ras Laffan Industrial City, the world’s largest LNG
export facility in the world, Qatar said.
Emergency crews were dispatched to tackle
fires at Ras Laffan, QatarEnergy
said in a social media post, adding there
were no reported casualties. Qatar’s Interior Ministry later said the blaze had
been brought under control.
Qatar’s foreign Ministry condemned the
attack as a “dangerous escalation” and a “flagrant violation of sovereignty,”
warning it threatened national security and regional stability. It added that
Qatar reserves the right to respond under international law.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
were on alert after Israel struck an Iranian natural gas processing facility.
Qatar had already suspended LNG production
on March 2 following Iranian drone attacks on Ras Laffan and Mesaieed
Industrial City. The country is the world’s second-largest LNG exporter after
the U.S., accounting for nearly a fifth of global shipments, according to
Kpler.
The escalating strikes on Middle East
energy infrastructure risk deepening the supply shock triggered by the Iran
war. Tanker movement through the Strait of Hormuz that was handling about 20%
of global oil supplies, is largely blocked.
Oil jumps 4% as
Iranian strikes on Qatar’s key energy facility stoke supply worries
Iran missile attack on Qatar causes ‘extensive
damage’ to facility housing huge gas plant
Published Wed, Mar 18 2026 5:29 PM EDT
Qatar said Wednesday that Iranian missiles
caused “extensive damage” at Ras Laffan Industrial City, home to the largest
liquefied natural gas, or LNG, export facility in the world.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry denounced the
attack as a “dangerous escalation, flagrant violation of state sovereignty, and
a direct threat to its national security and regional stability.”
Qatar reserves the right to respond in
accordance with the right to self-defense guaranteed under international law,
the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Brent crude prices, the
international benchmark, surged more than 7% to $111.23 by 4:52 p.m. ET.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up about
4% at $100.04.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard had threatened
to attack energy facilities in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
after Israel bombed a natural gas processing facility in Iran.
Emergency teams were deployed to contain
fires at Ras Laffan, according to a social media post from
state-owned QatarEnergy. No casualties have been reported. Qatar’s Interior
Ministry later said the fire at the facility had initially been brought under
control.
Qatar halted LNG
production on
March 2 due to Iranian drone strikes at Ras Laffan and Mesaieed Industrial
City. The Gulf state is the second-largest LNG exporter in the world, after the
U.S. Qatar accounts for nearly 20% of global LNG exports, according to data
from energy consulting firm Kpler.
The escalating attacks on Middle East oil
and gas infrastructure threaten to intensify the massive energy supply
disruption triggered by the Iran war.
Oil tanker traffic through the Strait of
Hormuz has plunged due to Iranian attacks on commercial ships. The Strait is
the most important trade choke point for oil, with about 20% of world supplies
passing through it before the war.
Brent prices could average $130 in the
second and third quarter if there are broad attacks on energy infrastructure
and the Strait remains closed for a prolonged period, Citigroup analysts told
clients in a report on Wednesday.
Iran attack on
Qatar causes 'extensive damage' to massive energy hub
In other almost irrelevant news.
Asia markets track Wall Street
losses as Iran war fuels energy worries; BOJ hold rates
Published Wed, Mar 18 2026 7:48 PM
EDT
Asia-Pacific markets dipped on
Thursday, tracking losses on Wall Street that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average touch
a new closing low for the year.
The Federal Reserve held its key
policy rate steady at 3.5% to 3.75%, with Chair Jerome Powell watering down
rate-cut expectations, saying that inflation was
not coming down as much as ‘hoped.’
The producer price index — which
tracks the change in wholesale prices — rose 0.7% in February, well above the
0.3% that economists polled by Dow Jones had estimated.
Despite that, the U.S. central
bank’s “dot
plot” still projects a cut in 2026 and another in 2027, even though
the timing is unclear.
The Iran war continues to fuel
energy worries. International benchmark Brent crude futures were up
4.54% at $112.28 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate futures were
last up 1% at $97.40 per barrel.
Investors in Asia also weighed the
Bank of Japan rate decision, with the bank expectedly holding rates at 0.75%.
South Korea’s Kospi lost 2.22%, after
being the top gainer in the region on Wednesday, while the small-cap Kosdaq saw
a smaller loss of 1.62%.
Chip heavyweights Samsung
Electronics and SK Hynix saw losses of over 3%.
The South Korean won briefly broke
past the 1,500 mark against the dollar earlier in the session, prompting
finance minister Koo Yun-cheol to say on Wednesday that authorities have a “heightened
sense of vigilance toward the foreign exchange market,” according to South
Korean media.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 3.06%,
leading losses in Asia, while the broad-based Topix was 2.35% lower.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down
1.7%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.66%,
while the mainland Chinese CSI 300 index was 0.99% down.
India’s Nifty 50 plunged 2.24%,
along with the BSE Sensex, which declined 2.01%.
Shares of India’s HDFC Bank slid 5%
Thursday after Atanu Chakraborty, its part‑time chairman, resigned after flagging governance and ethical concerns within the
institution.
Overnight in the U.S., the 30-stock
Dow lost 1.63%, ending at 46,225.15, reaching a new low this year. The index
also closed below its 200-day moving average.
The S&P 500 fell 1.36%, while
the Nasdaq Composite dropped
1.46%.
Asia
markets dip as Dow touches new closing low; BOJ decision on deck
Fed keeps key rate unchanged as Powell vows to
stay until DOJ investigation is finished
Updated 10:26 PM GMT, March 18, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve kept
its key interest rate unchanged Wednesday
and Chair Jerome Powell highlighted the increasingly uncertain outlook for the
U.S. economy and inflation in the wake of the Iran war, suggesting the
Fed could stand pat for an extended period.
Fed policymakers maintained their forecast
for an additional rate cut this year, but in a news conference, Powell
suggested that the central bank remains concerned about inflation that was
still stubbornly
elevated even
before the conflict’s impact on gas prices.
“The thing I really want to emphasize is,
nobody knows,” Powell said, referring to the impact of the Iran war. “The
economic effects could be bigger, they could be smaller, they could be much
smaller, they could be much bigger. We just don’t know.”
Powell said the central bank would need to
see further progress in the price of goods declining as the impact of tariffs
fades before cutting rates further. The Fed reduced its short-term rate three
times last year to 3.6%, before pausing in January and on Wednesday.
“The rate forecast is conditional on the
performance of the economy, so if we don’t see that progress then you won’t see
the rate cut,” Powell said.
Investors were discouraged by such
comments, sending share prices sharply lower. The broad
S&P 500 index dropped 1.4%.
Fed officials “are aware they’ve missed
their inflation target for five years, and they do not want to continue to miss
it indefinitely,” said Nathan Sheets, chief economist at Citi and a former top
economist at the Fed. Inflation, according to the Fed’s preferred measure, was
2.8% in January, up from 2.3% nearly a year ago. It’s also above the Fed’s
target of 2%.
At the press conference, Powell did
clarify a key question about the Fed’s future: He said he has “no intention” of
leaving the central bank until an investigation into his congressional
testimony about the Fed’s building renovation is dropped.
Last Friday, a judge threw out a pair
of subpoenas that
the Justice Department had issued to the Fed, dealing a blow to the
investigation. But U.S. Attorney Jeannine Pirro has said she will appeal the
ruling.
Powell’s term as Fed chair is scheduled to
end on May 15, and President Donald Trump has nominated a former top Fed
official, Kevin Warsh, as his
replacement. Warsh’s confirmation has been delayed because key Republican
senators are opposed to the DOJ probe.
Once the investigation is resolved and
even after Warsh is confirmed, Powell could elect to stay on the board to
finish his term as a Fed governor, which lasts until January 2028. But he told
reporters he had not yet decided whether to do so.
More
Global hedge funds suffer worst losses since
‘liberation day’ on Iran war turmoil
Published Wed, Mar 18 2026 1:30 AM EDT
Hedge funds are getting battered by the
fallout from the escalating conflict with Iran, as a sharp spike in oil prices
and a broad market selloff unravel crowded trades.
“Since the start of the conflict, hedge
funds have experienced their worst drawdowns since Liberation Day,” JPMorgan’s
global markets strategists led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote in a recent
note. “Liberation Day”
was a phrase used by U.S. President Donald Trump to roll out
a set of tariffs on various countries last April.
This comes as rapid shifts in equities,
currencies and commodities forced investors to unwind positions across global
markets. The selloff marks a rare moment when traditional diversification
within the hedge fund universe has offered little protection.
In the run-up to the conflict, many hedge
funds had built up exposure to global growth, including overweight positions in
equities and emerging markets, alongside bets against the U.S. dollar. Those
trades are now unwinding quickly.
“Markets have generally been risk-off,
with many trading on inflation fears or even the potential for a negative
growth shock from increased oil prices,” said Kathryn Kaminski, chief research
strategist at AlphaSimplex.
JPMorgan noted that previously crowded
bets against the dollar, particularly in emerging markets, have been rapidly
unwound, removing a key source of support for risk assets.
The MSCI World Index saw a
decline of over 3% since the start of the war on Feb. 28 after striking a
record high in early February. The U.S. dollar index strengthened around 2%
across the same period of time.
“Since most hedge funds have reasonable
exposure to growth risk and equity markets they should be expected to struggle
in this environment,” Kaminski added.
So far, strategies tied closely to stocks
have been hit the hardest. JPMorgan said equities appear “more vulnerable than
bonds from a positioning perspective,” suggesting that investors have yet to
fully unwind risk.
Long/short equity funds, a core hedge fund
strategy that bets on stocks going up or down, are among the worst performers
this month. They’ve fallen about 3.4% so far in March, compared with a roughly
2.2% drop for the industry overall, according to the latest data provided by
Hedge Fund Research (HFR).
More surprisingly, strategies typically
seen as beneficiaries of volatility have also struggled.
A different kind of oil shock
“Surprisingly, both global macro and
commodity trading advisors (CTA) are both doing poorly,” said Don Steinbrugge,
founder and CEO of alternative investment consulting firm Agecroft Partners.
According to HFR data, global macro is
down 3% and a proxy for the CTA index — which tracks trend-following hedge
funds that use algorithms to trade markets like commodities, currencies and
bonds — is also down around 3% since the start of the war.
“Typically, these strategies do well when
volatility increases and tend to not be correlated with the equity markets,”
Steinbrugge told CNBC.
That breakdown in traditional
relationships reflects the unusual nature of the current shock, said industry
veterans. While oil prices have surged
amid disruptions to
tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the broader market impact has
been complicated by inflation fears and concerns about a hit to global growth.
JPMorgan highlighted that the oil shock is
also behaving differently from past cycles. Normally, higher crude prices boost
the revenues of oil-exporting nations, and some of that money gets reinvested
into global markets like stocks and bonds.
“Typically … higher oil prices increased
the revenues of oil producing countries … [and get] recycled into foreign
assets,” said JPMorgan strategists.
That may have helped soften the blow for
investors. This time, disruptions to shipping routes are interrupting those
flows and that reduces the amount of money flowing back into financial markets,
removing a key source of cash flows, the bank noted.
“The overall situation is too fluid to
determine whether we’re in a short-term period of volatility or the start
of something longer-term,” said HFR President Ken Heinz. “If I were to sum up
the sentiment across the hedge fund world it’s ‘right now, we’re all oil
traders.’”
More
Hedge funds suffer
worst losses since 'liberation day' on Iran war turmoil
France
offers to help once it’s all over. China won’t help at all. Trump talks to
imaginary Presidents!
France ready to help U.S. secure Strait of Hormuz
— but not while ships are under attack
Published Wed, Mar 18 2026 3:27 AM EDT
French Finance Minister Roland Lescure
told CNBC that France is willing to support the U.S. in securing the Strait of
Hormuz — just not while ships are still coming under attack in the vital
maritime passage.
“We are willing to do something to free
the Strait of Hormuz, provided that this is not a war situation anymore. Nobody
wants to go across the Strait of Hormuz if there’s a risk of missiles or drones
going on your head,” he told CNBC’s Charlotte Reed on Tuesday.
“We need the conflict to de-escalate, and
then we can imagine securing the Strait of Hormuz ... We know how to do it, but
you don’t do that in a war situation. You do that in a pacified situation in
which people need to be secure and safe,” he added.
France, the U.K. and Germany are among the
European allies who have been criticized by President Donald Trump for failing
to assist the U.S. in reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime passage
controlled by Iran which is critical for exporting large amounts of oil and gas
out of the Middle East.
European countries are reluctant to get
involved in the U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran, seeing it as a war of
choice rather than necessity, and one that has no clear objectives or endpoint.
While European officials have expressed
concern that global food, fertilizer and energy supplies are at risk as a
result of the Strait of Hormuz being effectively closed, there is little
appetite to expand naval operations in the Middle East to assist the movements
of vessels through the channel.
The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas
summed up sentiment in the region on Monday, telling reporters, “This is not
Europe’s war, but Europe’s interests are directly at stake.”
Lescure echoed that sentiment, telling
CNBC: “Is the conflict going to impact Europe? Yes. Is the conflict going to
impact the U.S.? I think yes, too. And you know, the last time I checked, we
didn’t start the conflict,” he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron said
Monday that his country would not take part in operations in the Strait of
Hormuz, stating: “We are not party to the conflict and therefore France will
never take part in operations to open or liberate the Strait of Hormuz in the
current context,” he said Monday, in comments translated
by Reuters.
“We are convinced that once the situation
has calmed down — and I deliberately use this term broadly — once the
situation has calmed down, that is to say, once the main bombing has ceased,
we are ready, along with other nations, to assume responsibility for the
escort system,” Macron said.
France ready to
help U.S. secure Strait of Hormuz but not in wartime
China ignores Trump’s Hormuz request as the Iran
war deepens and his Beijing trip slips
Wed, March 18, 2026 at 2:40 AM GMT
WASHINGTON (AP) — China won't help the
United States reopen the Strait of Hormuz as requested
by President Donald Trump, but it is probably welcoming the delay
in Trump's highly anticipated trip to Beijing as the U.S. risks getting
bogged down in the Middle East, analysts say.
The latest developments are unfolding as
Trump's Iran war, in its third week, is faced with mounting pressure as oil has
stopped moving through the strait and U.S. allies have refused to step up to
secure the strait. That has produced concerns that China, the United States'
biggest geopolitical rival, could stand to benefit from a war that some say was
ill-considered.
“President Trump’s request to delay his
long-awaited summit with President Xi Jinping underscores how significantly he
underestimated the fallout from Operation Epic Fury,” said Ali Wyne, senior
research and advocacy adviser for U.S.-China relations at the International
Crisis Group. “A show of U.S. force that was meant to intimidate Beijing has
instead served to puncture the illusion of U.S. omnipotence: Unable to reopen
the Strait of Hormuz alone, Washington now needs its principal strategic
competitor to help it manage a crisis of its own making.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry gave a
nonanswer when asked if it would help reopen the strait but repeated its call
for “parties to immediately stop military operations, avoid further escalation
of the tense situation and prevent regional turmoil from further impacting the
global economy.”
Beijing, which had never officially
confirmed Trump's state visit, originally scheduled for March 31, has signaled
willingness to work with the U.S. to reschedule the visit by stating that the
two sides “remain in communication." It even helped clarify that the
postponement had nothing to do with Trump's request for China to help reopen
the Strait of Hormuz.
On Tuesday, Trump said the Chinese “were
fine" with the delay and claimed “a very good working relationship with
China.”
Sun Yun, director of the China program at
the Stimson Center, said, “I think the Iran request is now going to be less
pressing for China to fulfill.” At the same time, Chinese diplomats have been
engaging with countries in the Middle East, pledging a constructive role in
easing tensions and restoring peace.
On Sunday, through the Red Cross and the
Red Crescent, Beijing delivered to Iran an emergency humanitarian aid package
of $200,000, earmarked for families of children and teachers killed in the
bombing of the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school building in Minab, Iran,
with the Chinese ambassador to Iran condemning the school attack.
More
China ignores
Trump’s Hormuz request as the Iran war deepens and his Beijing trip slips
Trump said he spoke to a former president about
bombing Iran. Four denials suggest otherwise.
Tue, March 17, 2026 at 1:51 AM GMT
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump told
reporters Monday that one of his predecessors told him he wished he had been
the one to bomb
Iran.
It appears he did not speak to any of the
four former presidents.
An aide for George W. Bush told NBC News
that “they haven’t been in touch,” while an aide to Bill Clinton told NBC News
that whoever Trump was referring to was not Clinton.
An aide to Barack Obama said “no recent
conversations” have taken place, and a source familiar with the matter said the
former president Trump was referring to was not Joe Biden.
Earlier in the day, Trump claimed twice to
have spoken to a former president about Iran.
“I’ve spoken to a certain president — who
I like, actually. A past president, former president, he said: ‘I wish I did
it. I wish I did.’ But they didn’t do it. I’m doing it. Yeah?” Trump said at a
lunch for Kennedy Center board members.
Later in the day, Trump repeated the claim
in the Oval Office, saying: “I spoke to one of the former presidents who I
actually like.”
“I actually speak to some,” Trump said.
“And he said, ‘I wish I did what you did.’”
More
Trump said he
spoke to a former president about bombing Iran. Four denials suggest otherwise.
If precious metals had been abundant, they would not have been precious.
Henry Hazlitt
Global Inflation/Stagflation/Recession
Watch.
Given
our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians.
Wholesale
prices rose 0.7% in February, much more than expected and up 3.4% annually
Published
Wed, Mar 18 2026 8:33 AM EDT
Wholesale
prices rose sharply in February, providing another sign that inflation
continues to percolate even aside from rising energy prices.
The
producer price index, a measure of pipeline costs that producers receive for
their products, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.7% on the month, the Bureau
of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. Excluding volatile food and energy
costs, so-called core PPI increased 0.5%.
Economists
surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for increases of 0.3% for both measures.
For
the all items index, prices rose faster than the 0.5% pace in January. However,
the core increase was less than the 0.8% for the prior month.
On
a 12-month basis, headline PPI inflation was at 3.4%, the most since February
2025, while core was at 3.9%, according to the BLS. The Federal Reserve targets
inflation at 2%.
Stock
market futures slipped following the report while Treasury yields were higher.
Futures traders pushed out the next Fed interest rate cut until at least
December.
The
surge in PPI came due in large part to a 0.5% increase in services costs,
something the Fed would not welcome. Policymakers have attributed much of the
recent run-up in inflation to tariffs, which would not show up as much on the
services end. Portfolio management fees, a key driver for services costs within
the PPI measurement, were up 1% in February. Similarly, prices for securities
brokerage, dealing, investment advice and related services accelerated 4.2%.
Goods
prices rose 1.1% on the month.
Food
prices rose 2.4% while energy was up 2.3%. Within food, the index for fresh and
dry vegetables soared 48.9%.
The
report suggests that pipeline inflation pressures remain persistent,
particularly on the services side, complicating the Fed’s path as it weighs how
long to keep interest rates elevated.
---- None of the inflation data so far has
captured the price increases associated with the war. But it has indicated that
even before the attacks, inflation was a problem. A report last week indicated
that consumer prices rose at a 2.4% rate in February. Separately, the Commerce
Department said its main inflation gauge, which the Fed uses as its forecasting
tool, was at 3.1% for core and 2.8% for headline.
More
It’s not just oil: Aluminum prices have surged as Iran conflict chokes
supply
Published Wed, Mar 18 2026 8:38 AM EDT
The U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran has upended the
supply of aluminum in the
Middle East, sending prices of the base metal skyrocketing.
While aluminum may be the most abundant metal on
earth, it is crucial to the function of the world economy.
It is an essential material across electronics,
transport, and construction, as well as other industries such as solar panels
and packaging.
At the outbreak of the Iran conflict on Feb. 28,
3-month LME aluminum futures initially jumped by as much as 10% by March 12
before paring some gains to land around 8% higher, as the effective closure of
the Strait of Hormuz has caused a significant disruption to supply.
It’s been the best-performing industrial metal over
the past two weeks, and prices are now hovering just below 4-year highs at
$3,370 as of Wednesday afternoon in London.
Bahrain’s Alba, which hosts the world’s largest
smelter, has also cut production by 19% of its 1.6 million tons of annual
output, only adding to fears of a global shortage.
Lower stock levels and the potential for further
supply disruption in the Middle East could push prices towards $4,000 per ton,
according to metals intelligence provider CRU Group.
CRU principal analyst Guillaume Osouf wrote in a
recent article that the LME price would likely be much higher now if it wasn’t
for weak global demand for the metal.
“A prolonged conflict will likely drastically
change our market outlook for the rest of the year due to the lasting impact
this will have on global supply, and the potential negative effects on demand,”
he added.
The answer as to where the price could be headed
next lies with China, according to other analysts.
China is the biggest producer of aluminum and tends
to keep production constrained at 45.5 million tons per year to reduce
emissions and prevent overcapacity issues.
“If the Chinese government decides that the prices
are too high they can restart a number of idle smelters in the country and the
world will be full of aluminum,” Artem Volynets, CEO of miner ACG Metals, told
CNBC’s Europe Early Edition on Wednesday.
Despite the recent rise in price on the LME,
neither analyst sees aluminum becoming a significant trade for retail
investors, as is the case with silver and copper.
More
Aluminum
prices surge as Iran conflict disrupts supply
Japan exports beat forecasts with 4.2% growth in February, but shipments
to China and U.S. slump
Published Tue, Mar 17
2026 7:56 PM EDT Updated Tue, Mar 17 2026 9:13 PM EDT
Japan’s exports climbed
4.2% from a year earlier in February, marking a sharp slowdown after hitting an
over-three-year high in January.
However, the increase was
higher than the 1.6% rise expected by economists polled by Reuters, and against
the 16.8% jump in the previous month.
Exports to mainland
China, Japan’s largest trading partner, fell 10.9%, while shipments to the U.S.
dropped 8%. The total value of auto exports to the U.S., Japan’s biggest export
item, fell 14.8%.
Tokyo’s exports to
Washington may weaken further after the U.S. announced Section 301 investigations that could lead to the reimposition of tariffs.
This comes after Trump’s
“reciprocal” tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court in February.
Despite a drop in exports
to its top trading partners, other Asian economies picked up the slack, with
outbound goods to Hong Kong spiking by 32.3% from a year earlier.
Exports to the bloc of 11
Southeast Asian nations, including Indonesia and Thailand, increased 5.1%. The
total value of outbound goods to the regional grouping surpassed that of
mainland China, making it Japan’s second-largest export destination in February.
Shipments to Western
Europe also rose 17.5%, supported by a 10.9% and 18.9% increase in sales to
Germany and the U.K., respectively.
Japan’s export growth in
February was supported by a 25.1% jump in the value of semiconductor exports,
while motor vehicle exports rose 2.5% year on year.
The export data comes
just before a Bank of Japan monetary policy meeting on Thursday, as well as
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on the
same day stateside.
Imports to Japan climbed
10.2%, compared with the 11.5% increase expected and January’s 2.6% decline.
Japan exports beat forecasts with 4.2% growth in February, but shipments to China and U.S. slump
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.
Laser process
creates silicon-graphene battery anodes that barely lose charge
Mar 18, 2026
|
A single-step laser technique produces
prelithiated silicon-graphene battery anodes with over 98% capacity retention
after 2000 cycles under ambient conditions. (Nanowerk News) A single-step
laser process can create prelithiated silicon-graphene battery anodes under
normal atmospheric conditions, producing electrodes that retain virtually all
their capacity over thousands of charge-discharge cycles. The method,
developed at Tel Aviv University by Professor Fernando Patolsky and
colleagues, replaces the multi-step fabrication and reactive chemicals that
have made silicon anode prelithiation difficult. |
|
Key Findings
|
|
Why
silicon anodes need prelithiation |
|
Silicon can store roughly ten times
more lithium than the graphite used in most current battery anodes, but it
swells dramatically during charging and shrinks again during discharge. This
repeated expansion and contraction breaks down the electrode structure and
causes rapid capacity fade. |
|
A separate problem is that silicon
consumes a large share of available lithium during its first charge cycle to
form a protective surface layer called the solid-electrolyte interphase.
Prelithiation, the process of loading extra lithium into the anode before the
battery is assembled, compensates for this loss. Existing methods, however,
typically require reactive lithium metal, moisture-sensitive reagents, or
elaborate multi-step procedures. More Laser process creates silicon-graphene battery anodes that barely lose
charge |
Next, the
world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.
World Debt Clocks
(usdebtclock.org)
In
the weekend LIR, how the UAE and the Saudis intend to by-pass the Strait of
Hormuz once and for all.
A hypocrite is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation.
Adlai E. Stevenson
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