Baltic
Dry Index. 2233 -09 Brent Crude 84.47
Spot Gold 5175 Spot Silver 84.44
US 2 Year Yield 3.54 +0.03
US Federal Debt. 38.843 trillion
US GDP 31.208 trillion.
“President Trump’s frustration with the Spanish government is justified, that first of all, they have been terrible actors. They are the only NATO member not meeting their NATO requirement. That’s known as a free rider.”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
In the stock casinos, great volatility meets greater volatility daily.
Will the Israeli-Trump war on Iran really be good for stocks, global commerce, inflation, employment, the G-7 economies?
Or will oil led rising inflation cause western consumer to start cutting back, leading to rising unemployment?
Into this mix of global uncertainty, President
Trump thinks this is just the right time to raise US tariffs from ten percent
to fifteen percent
Dinosaur Graeme sees a global commerce crash starting in 2026. Look away from the crude oil price and rising US Treasury yields now.
Dow closes more than 200 points higher, S&P
500 rises as traders look past Iran war: Live updates
Updated Wed, Mar 4 2026 4:57 PM EST
Stocks rose on Wednesday, building on the
momentum seen late in the previous session, as the surge in oil prices pulled
back following developments in the U.S.-Israeli
war on Iran and fears about a U.S. economic growth scare faded.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added
238.14 points, or 0.49%, to close at 48,739.41. The 30-stock index snapped a
three-day run of losses. The S&P
500 gained 0.78% and ended at 6,869.50, while the Nasdaq Composite moved 1.29%
higher and settled at 22,807.48.
Technology stocks supported the broader
market, particularly those in the chips space. Micron Technology and Advanced Micro Devices each
advanced more than 5%. Broadcom and Nvidia climbed more than 1%
apiece.
A couple of strong economic data releases
bolstered sentiment among investors Wednesday. Firstly, ADP reported that
private sector companies added
more jobs than anticipated in February. On top of that, the U.S.
nonmanufacturing sector recorded
better-than-expected growth last month with easing inflation
pressures.
“The concerns of a softening labor market
at least maybe turning into a deteriorating labor market [are] being kind of
challenged right now,” said Ameriprise chief market strategist Anthony
Saglimbene. “The U.S. economy stands on firm ground.”
The reaction to the economic data occurred
alongside the rally in oil prices losing
steam after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Wednesday
that the U.S. is going to make
“a series of announcements” to support the flow of oil through the
Persian Gulf. Brent crude
oil futures and U.S.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures eased on Wednesday, with the
international benchmark settling flat and WTI closing up 0.13%.
Oil’s recent rally abated after
President Donald Trump said
Tuesday that the U.S.
would provide risk insurance to all maritime trade through the Gulf in
an effort to get tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz. Tanker traffic
through the Strait — the world’s most vital transit route for crude oil —
came to a halt after the Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander threatened to
set fire to ships attempting the route.
“If we get to a more disruptive Middle
East environment, you will see larger knock-on effects across global markets
and asset prices and maybe outlooks for the economy,” Saglimbene said, before
adding that “it’s too soon to make those assessments.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s 15% global tariff announced
late last month will be implemented
this week, Bessent also said Wednesday. Still, he believes U.S. tariff
rates would “within five months” return to levels prior to the Supreme
Court’s decision
to strike down the president’s tariff policy.
Stock
market news for March 4, 2026
S&P 500 futures slide after major averages
rebound, traders’ U.S.-Iran fears ease: Live updates
Updated Thu, Mar 5 2026 11:43 PM EST
S&P 500 futures slid on Wednesday
night after major averages posted gains in the previous session, as investor
jitters around the U.S.-Iran war eased.
Futures tied to the broad market index fell
0.15%, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost
0.18%. Dow Jones Industrial
Average futures declined 140 points, or 0.28%.
Stocks rebounded in Wednesday’s regular
session, buoyed by gains in technology and semiconductor giants. The Dow jumped about 238 points,
or 0.5%, ending a three-day losing run. The S&P 500 closed up 0.8%,
while the tech-heavy Nasdaq
Composite gained 1.3%.
Nvidia shares
rose more than 1%. Chipmakers Broadcom, Micron Technology, Advanced Micro Devices and Intel also notched gains.
Consumer staples, energy and materials were the only S&P 500 sectors that
posted losses on the day.
“Things are changing around the edges. We
have a geopolitical shock, obviously, and we’re still parsing that in terms of
how it could impact the risk premium for equities,” said Bank of America
Securities head of U.S. equity and quantitative strategy Savita Subramanian on
CNBC’s “Closing Bell:
Overtime.”
“But beyond that, I think what we’re
seeing is the tide slowly going out for some of the beneficiaries of a very low
interest rate environment,” she added.
Oil prices stabilized on Wednesday after
this week’s surge, with U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude
futures settling up 0.13% and international benchmark Brent crude oil futures ending
the session at the flatline.
Fears of disruption to regional oil and
gas supplies subsided after President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the
U.S. is preparing to provide risk insurance and escorts to ships in
the Persian Gulf in an effort to ensure traffic can move through the Strait of
Hormuz. To be sure, the White House would not provide a timeline for when the
strait, which is responsible for roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply, will be
safe for oil tankers.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday
in a briefing with reporters that the U.S. is “winning decisively” in its
conflict with Iran and that more forces are arriving to the region.
Separately, Treasury Secretary Scott
Bessent said on Wednesday that Trump’s
recently announced 15% global tariff will likely go into effect this
week.
Investors are awaiting earnings results
due Thursday morning from retailers Kroger, Burlington and BJ’s Wholesale. Costco and Marvell Technology will
report results after market close.
On the economic front, weekly jobless
claims are also due Thursday.
Stock
market today: Live updates
Iran War Brings Strait of Hormuz Traffic to a Halt
March 4, 2026 at 11:08 PM GMT
Decades of theorizing about the
consequences of war
between the US and Iran tended to circle around the same fear: the
world’s most famous chokepoint for fossil fuels, the Strait of Hormuz, would
become a battlefield. Today
that fear came true.
By the fifth day of the US-Israeli war
with Iran, shipping has effectively stopped
in the crucial channel. And less than a day after President Donald Trump
spoke of escorting and insuring
shipping through the Strait, a container vessel there was
attacked and disabled. It now floats abandoned in
the waterway.
The death toll in the Iran War is near
1,000 people, with the dead mostly Iranians, including 165 who were killed
when the US and Israel allegedly destroyed an
elementary school for girls. The US said it’s investigating.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday the US and Israel are close
to controlling Iranian airspace, which he said would allow them to deliver
“death and destruction from the sky all day long.” Senate Republicans late
today rejected
a bill to stop the war.
Since the first attacks Saturday, another
expected consequence of a Western conflict with Iran has come to pass: oil
prices are up 12% and American consumers are witnessing
record jumps in gasoline prices. If the Strait of Hormuz stays closed
for much longer, the pain is expected to spread. And
fast. —David
E. Rovella
Iran
War Brings Strait of Hormuz Traffic to a Halt: Evening Briefing Americas -
Bloomberg
Middle East conflict poses fresh test to central
banks as oil shock fuels inflation
Published Wed, Mar 4 2026 12:08 AM EST
A widening Middle East conflict has posed
a fresh test for global central banks, as fears of an oil shock and renewed
inflation risks complicate policymakers’ calculus for shoring up growth.
Crude prices
soared on Monday after
the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran over the weekend, killing Iranian
Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei. Tehran responded with missile attacks
targeting multiple Gulf countries.
Tanker traffic through the Strait of
Hormuz, the world’s most critical chokepoint for oil shipments, has effectively
stalled as the threat of attacks from Iran deterred
vessels from passing through the waterway.
Brent crude prices
extended four days of gains, rising 1.6% to $82.76 a barrel on Wednesday,
hovering near the highest level since January 2025. The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude prices
also rose for a third day to $75.48.
Higher energy prices would ultimately
filter through to consumer and producer prices, particularly for economies that
rely heavily on
Middle East oil imports, leaving central banks scrambling to reassess their
interest rate trajectory.
“The ongoing Iran conflict solidifies the
case for many central banks to hold rates steady for now,” a team of economists
at Nomura said in a note on Sunday.
Central banks on alert
As heightened tensions weigh on economic
activity, policymakers are juggling a delicate task of balancing inflationary
risk against slowing growth.
The European Central Bank is caught in
what ING economists called a “genuine dilemma,” as an oil shock could push
already sticky inflation higher while its growth outlook weakens under the
strain of higher U.S. tariffs. They added that “to see a rate hike, the
eurozone economy would have to show clear resilience.”
Europe imports nearly all of its oil and a
significant share of its liquefied natural gas, raising the risk of a dual
energy and trade shock, the bank said.
ECB council member Pierre Wunsch said
this week officials
would avoid reacting hastily to any movements in energy prices. “If it lasts
longer, if the increase in energy prices is higher, then we will have to run
our models and see what happens,” Wunsch said.
Former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen
said the conflict could hit U.S. economic growth and fuel inflationary
pressures, holding the Federal Reserve back from cutting rates.
“The recent Iran situation puts the Fed
even more on hold, more reluctant to cut rates than they were before this
happened,” Yellen said Monday.
U.S. inflation stood at 2.4% in January, above the Fed’s
2% target. Yellen warned that President Donald Trump’s tariffs could push
annual inflation to at least 3%.
More
Middle East
conflict puts central banks on edge as oil shock fears mount
Higher tariffs likely this week, says US Treasury
4 March 2026
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said
the US was "likely" to implement a 15% global tariff this week,
following conflicting statements from President Donald Trump about the rate.
The new tariff is intended to replace the
sweeping global import taxes Trump imposed last year but were recently struck down
by the Supreme Court.
The White House responded to that
ruling by imposing a levy at 10% - despite Trump claiming on
social media it would be 15%.
The contradiction sparked widespread
global confusion at the time, with businesses and world leaders calling for
clarity.
White House officials have previously said
they were working on paperwork to align the duties with Trump's statements.
They have dismissed the significance of
the court ruling, saying they can use other legal tools to restore the tariff
policies, which they say will help rebalance trade, boost domestic
manufacturing and pay down US debt.
To impose the 10% tariff, the White House
used an untested trade authority known as Section 122, which authorises the US
president declare a tariff of up to 15% without congressional approval for 150
days under certain conditions.
The White House has said it will also turn
to other legal tools as it seeks to restore its tariff regime more permanently.
"It's my strong belief that the
tariff rates will be back to their old rate within five months," Bessent
told CNBC.
He has said he does not expect the Supreme
Court ruling to affect the revenue the US takes in from tariffs going forward.
The administration is currently facing
claims from firms who had previously paid the tariffs the Supreme Court struck
down. Experts say the government could owe up to $130bn (£97.2bn) in refunds as
a result.
A study from the Cato Institute estimated
US taxpayers could be on the hook for $23m in interest for each day that
refunds are delayed — adding up to some $700m a month.
Significant questions remain about what US
import tax policies will look like going forward.
Last April, Trump announced
"Liberation Day" tariffs on dozens of countries, with rates starting
at 10% and climbing toward 50% in some cases.
The duties kicked off a flurry of trade
negotiations as countries pushed to secure lower rates in exchange for promises
of investment and other changes.
The US Supreme Court's judgement struck
down those "Liberation Day" tariffs, as well as some the
administration had previously announced on goods from Mexico, Canada and China,
citing emergency powers.
Trump responded by announcing a 10% global
tariff, which he claimed on social media the next day he was increasing to 15%.
However, the levy eventually came into force at the lower rate.
The move to an across-the-board tariff of
10%, with carve-outs for some kinds of goods, put shipments from all countries
on an even footing.
It raised questions about the fate of the
deals allies had secured after "Liberation Day", while removing the
advantage that some countries such as the UK had agreed to in those deals.
More
Higher tariffs likely
this week, says US Treasury - BBC News
In other news, bizarrely in a gift to Russia,
China and Latin America, NATO turns on itself.
Donald Trump declares US 'ending all trade to
Spain' with threat to seize NATO bases
3 February 2026
Donald Trump has threatened to cut off
trade with a major European power.
Trump railed against Spain at a press
conference this afternoon during a briefing to journalists at the White House.
"We're going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don't want anything to do
with Spain," the US president said.
Trump said the United States would cut
off all trade with Spain after it refused to let the US military use its bases
for missions linked to strikes on Iran. "Spain has been terrible,"
Trump told reporters during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz,
adding that he had told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to "cut off all
dealings" with Spain.
"It started when every European
nation, at my request, made 5%, which they should be doing. Everybody was
enthusiastic - Germany, everybody - but Spain didn't do it."
In response, Trump said Spain revoked the
US access to its NATO bases. "And that's all right, we can use their bases
if we want," Trump said. "We can just fly in and use it. Nobody is
going to tell us not to use it. They were unfriendly."
At the same press conference, Trump took
the opportunity to share his displeasure with Britain as well, following
wrangling over the use of the UK's airbase on Diego Garcia for initial US
strikes against Iran.
Referring to the UK's Chagos Islands deal,
he said: "That island that you read about, the lease, for whatever reason,
he made a lease of the island, somebody came and took it away from him.
"And it's taken three, four days for
us to work out where we can land, it would have been much more convenient
landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours.
"So we are very surprised. This is
not Winston Churchill that we're dealing with," he said of UK Prime
Minister Keir
Starmer.
Starmer had refused to let the United
States use the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean, and RAF Fairford in
Gloucestershire, for the initial strikes on Iran. However, the US will now be
allowed access to UK bases for limited strikes on Iranian missile capabilities.
"President Trump has expressed his
disagreement with our decision not to get involved in the initial strikes, but
it is my duty to judge what is in Britain's national interest," Starmer
told MPs.
The Prime Minister has since confirmed the
deployment of a Royal Navy Destroyer and anti-drone helicopters, amid news that
RAF F-35 fighter jets have shot down Iranian drones over Jordan.
Starmer said that the situation changed on
Sunday when Iran's attacks on targets across the Middle East became "a
threat to our people, our interests and our allies."
Donald Trump
declares US 'ending all trade to Spain' with threat to seize NATO bases
‘No to war’: Spain PM hits back over Trump’s
threats to cut trade over military base access
Published Wed, Mar 4 2026 5:01 AM EST
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on
Wednesday doubled down on his criticism of the U.S strikes against Iran,
describing the escalating Middle
East conflict as
a “disaster.”
His comments come after U.S. President
Donald Trump pledged to cut off trade with Madrid after Spain’s government
prevented two jointly operated bases in its territory from being used in the
strikes.
“Spain has been terrible,” Trump said on
Tuesday, during a White House news conference alongside German Chancellor
Friedrich Merz. “We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want
anything to do with Spain,” he added.
In a televised address on Wednesday
morning, Sánchez said: “Very often great wars start with a chain of events
spiralling out of control due to miscalculations, technical failures, and
unforeseen circumstances. Therefore, we must learn from history and cannot play
Russian roulette with the fate of millions,” according to a CNBC translation.
Sánchez warned of “repeating the mistakes
of the past,” drawing a comparison with the invasion of Iraq in the early
2000s, and summarized the government’s position as: “No to war.”
Spain’s socialist prime minister has
emerged as one of the leading critics of the U.S. and Israeli strikes against
Iran among leaders of EU nations.
Trump’s latest comments follow his
condemnation of Madrid’s refusal to meet the NATO defense spending target of
5% of
GDP.
Spain’s Ibex 35 index traded 1.4% higher at
around 10:17 a.m. London time (5:17 a.m. ET), reversing earlier losses amid
U.S. trade jitters. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index, meanwhile, advanced
around 1.2%.
Trump’s threat to punish Spain on trade
would be challenging, given that the 27 EU nations negotiate trade agreements
collectively.
“It’s naive to believe that democracy or
respect among nations can spring from ruins, or to think that blind and servile
obedience is a form of leadership. On the contrary, I believe this position is
leadership,” Sánchez said.
“We will not be complicit in something
that is bad for the world and contrary to our values and interests simply out
of fear of reprisals from someone,” he added.
Spain PM Sánchez
brushes off Trump's threat to cut off all trade
Carney U-turns on support for Trump’s Iran strikes
4 March 2026
Mark Carney has backtracked on his support
for the
US military campaign against Iran.
In
an initial statement on Sunday, the Canadian prime minister expressed
“support” for the attacks and said they were necessary to “prevent Iran from
obtaining a nuclear weapon”.
But speaking in Sydney on Wednesday, he
told reporters that the strikes appeared “to be inconsistent with international
law”.
Mr Carney joined a chorus of world leaders
speaking out against the joint US-Israeli operation, which entered
its fifth day on
Wednesday.
Emmanuel Macron, the French president,
said on Tuesday that while Iran bore responsibility for the war, the attacks by
the US and Israel were
“outside the bounds of international law”.
He was the second Western leader to
question the legality of the conflict outright after Pedro Sánchez, the
Spanish prime minister, criticised the “spiral of violence”.
Mr Sánchez reiterated his stance on
Wednesday morning in a defiant address to the nation, telling the US president:
“No to war.” The Left-wing leader said: “Our position is coherent. We are not
going to go against our own values out of fear of someone’s threats.”
An independent UN inquiry has also
condemned the attacks by Israel and US.
On Wednesday, the UN Independent
International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran said: “These attacks, which were
followed by Iran’s retaliatory strikes across the region, run counter to the UN
Charter, which prohibits the use of force against the territorial integrity
or political independence of any state.”
Mr Carney’s about-turn sets Canada on a
collision course with Mr Trump, who threatened Spain with an outright trade
embargo as punishment for its refusal to allow the US to use its bases to bomb
Iran.
The US president has also been critical of
Sir Keir Starmer, who has not publicly questioned the legality of the war but
said earlier this week that the UK Government did
not “support regime change from the skies”.
Mr Trump said he was “not happy” with
the lack of support from Britain and accused Sir Keir of tarnishing
relationships by initially refusing to allow US bombers to use Diego Garcia,
the joint military base on the Chagos Islands, to launch strikes on Tehran.
“This is not Winston Churchill we’re
dealing with,” Mr
Trump told reporters in
the Oval Office, echoing criticisms he had made to The Telegraph on Sunday
night. “They ruin relationships. It’s a shame.”
More
Carney U-turns on
support for Trump’s Iran strikes
“And then it was unacceptable over the weekend that the Spanish were highly uncooperative regarding the U.S. bases and what we could do with our planes as we began executing on Operation Epic Fury.”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott
Bessent
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.
Interest
rates 'could rise back above 4%' to deal with inflation shock
4
March 2026
The
Bank of England could raise interest
rates back
above 4 per cent if soaring energy prices lead to a fresh inflation shock,
according to a new report.
The
National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) warned borrowing
costs could be driven higher as war in the Middle East pushes up the price oil
and gas.
That
would be a bruising setback for millions of families pinning their hopes on
cheaper mortgages.
The
Bank has cut rates six times since August 2024 – bringing them down from 5.25
per cent to 3.75 per cent – and it was hoped further rate cuts would follow
this spring.
But
the chances of such a move have been severely dented by surging energy prices
the US-Israel war with Iran spreads through the region.
According
to bets on financial markets, there is now just a one-in-five chance the Bank
of England will cut rates again this month, down from around four-in-five last
week.
And
NIESR said the next move in interest rates may in fact be up.
The
group said a ‘persistent shock to energy prices may force the Bank of England
to raise rates back above 4 per cent’.
NIESR
economist Ed Cornforth said: ‘The conflict in the Middle East will have
material implications for the economic outlook.
‘The
Bank of England will have to contend with a shock to global energy prices, with
the question of persistence hanging over their heads.
‘This
will cause problems for Rachel Reeves as financing costs increase, putting
further pressure on an already precarious fiscal outlook.’
The
surge in energy prices has revived memories of runaway inflation seen after
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
That
sent inflation in the UK up to 11.1 per cent - and forced the Bank of England
to raise rates sharply to 5.25 per cent.
It
was hoped inflation was finally coming back under control, paving the way for
further rate cuts.
But
the war in the Middle East has cast a major shadow over the outlook and fuelled
fears of a new inflation shock.
That
will put the Bank of England and its governor Andrew Bailey on high alert.
Mortgage
lenders have already started ditching plans to cut the price of home loans.
Borrowing
and savings specialists Moneyfacts said 'several lenders have pushed pause on
planned rate cuts' – dashing the hopes of millions of families hunting for
cheaper home loans.
It
said the moves have come 'in response to the conflict in the Middle East and
its potential economic repercussions'.
Interest rates
'could rise back above 4%' to deal with inflation shock
Eurozone inflation sees unexpected rise: Is the worst yet to come?
Tue, 3 March 2026 at
12:34 pm GMT
Eurozone inflation rose
unexpectedly in February, fresh data showed on Tuesday, complicating the
European Central Bank’s (ECB) disinflation narrative just as a fast-moving war
in Middle East threatens to reignite a new energy shock for Europe.
Euro area annual
inflation came in at 1.9% in February 2026, up from 1.7% in January, according
to Eurostat’s flash estimate. Economists had expected the rate to hold steady.
On a monthly basis,
consumer prices increased by 0.7% — the strongest monthly rise since March
2024.
Core inflation, which
strips out energy and food, climbed to 2.4% year-on-year from 2.2%, also above
expectations.
Crucially, this data was
collected before the latest Middle East escalation began to disrupt energy
markets.
ECB Chief Economist
Philip Lane warned on Tuesday that a prolonged war could push eurozone
inflation higher and weigh on growth, while stressing that the medium-term
outcome will depend on the conflict’s scope and duration.
Service pressures re-emerge, core inflation ticks
higher
Eurostat said services
inflation is expected to run at 3.4% year on year in February, up from 3.2% in
January. Food, alcohol and tobacco held steady at 2.6%, while non-energy
industrial goods accelerated to 0.7% from 0.4%.
Energy prices were still
falling compared with a year earlier but less so than in January (-4.0%),
hinting that the drag from energy is fading even before inflation statistics
fully digest the latest geopolitical turmoil.
Notably, February’s flash
estimate predates the most acute market moves triggered by the widening
conflict in the Middle East — meaning the bigger concern for inflation is what
comes next.
Iranian forces have
retaliated with strikes targeting critical energy infrastructure across the
Gulf region.
On Monday, a senior
commander of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps announced to block shipping
through the Strait of Hormuz.
The strait is a critical
chokepoint for roughly 20% of global crude oil and natural gas flows.
Trading in the Strait of
Hormuz has been disrupted, with ships damaged or stranded and insurers pulling
back war-risk cover — factors that can quickly translate into tighter gas
supply and higher delivered prices for Europe.
The disruption is already
feeding memories of the 2022 energy crisis when gas prices surged, industrial
output faltered and consumer inflation soared into double digits.
More
Eurozone inflation sees unexpected rise: Is the worst yet to come?
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.
JinkoSolar achieves record-breaking 26.66% efficiency for TOPCon
solar cell based on M10-size wafer
The
Chinese manufacturer claims the new efficiency result sets a world record for
industrial-scale TOPCon solar cells on M10-size wafers. The achievement was
verified by an undisclosed independent third-party organisation in China.
March 3, 2026 Emiliano Bellini
Chinese solar module manufacturer JinkoSolar achieved
a power conversion efficiency of 26.6% for an industrial-scale TOPCon solar
cell based on an M10-size wafer.
The achievement, which represents a
world record for industrial-scale solar cells, was certified by an independent,
undisclosed organisation in China.
The device was developed with the
support of scientists from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and
Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in collaboration with scientists
from Soochow University and Jiliang University. It was described in the paper “Dual-side electrical refinement enables efficient industrial tunnel oxide
passivating contact silicon solar cells,”
published in nature energy.
The team used an M10 wafer with an
effective area of 313.3 cm², consistent with modern industrial-scale production
standards.
On the cell’s front side, the
researchers combined high-sheet-resistance boron emitters with optimized grid
designs, improving surface passivation and reducing carrier transport losses.
On the rear, they implemented a novel double-layer tunnel oxide/polysilicon
structure to mitigate metallization-induced degradation.
This design includes a highly
crystalline inner polysilicon layer and an outer barrier layer that blocks
silver diffusion from the electrodes into the silicon substrate, ensuring
excellent interfacial passivation, according to the research team.
Tested under standard illumination
conditions, the cell achieved an efficiency of 26.6%, an open-circuit voltage
of 744.6 mV and a fill factor of 85.57%. Thinning the rear polysilicon layer
further increased the cell’s bifaciality to 88.3%, boosting overall energy
yield.
“The device has achieved 83.8% of the
theoretical efficiency limit, outperforming conventional TOPCon solar cells,”
said the study’s lead author, Jichun Ye.
JinkoSolar currently also holds the
world record efficiency of 27.02% for a lab-scale TOPCon solar cell, verified by China’s National Photovoltaic Industry
Measurement and Testing Center (NPVM).
By 2028, JinkoSolar expects to cross the
28% threshold, it said in a recent white paper.
The company also recently announced it
achieved a power conversion efficiency of 25.58% for a TOPCon panel, with the
result being certified by certification body TÜV SÜD.
Next, the
world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.
World Debt Clocks
(usdebtclock.org)
“Anything that slows down our ability to engage and prosecute
this war in the fastest, most effective manner puts American lives at risk. The
Spanish put American lives at risk.”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
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