House Effort To End Trump’s Iran War Fails By One Vote: Guess The Lone GOP Dissenter Two parallel war-related votes in the House and Senate reveal growing dismay and political fractures over President Trump’s Iran war, as the Strait of Hormuz remains locked down and ceasefire still seems distant. The Republican-controlled House voted Thursday to reject a resolution ordering the White House to end the war with Iran, as Memorial Day […]

Taiwan Semi Slides Despite Record Results In Warning Sign For Chip Companies Taiwanese chip giant, Taiwan Semiconductor Manfuacturing Co, said Thursday its net profit surged to a fresh record in the first quarter, fueled by the global artificial intelligence race despite the war in the Middle East. Massive demand for AI hardware means business is booming for TSMC — the biggest contract maker of microchips used in everything from […]

Trump Urges Extending Foreign Surveillance Program As Some Lawmakers Push For US Privacy Protections Via Headline USA, Congress is set to take up the reauthorization of a divisive program that lets U.S. spy agencies pore over foreigners’ calls, texts and emails, with supporters like President Donald Trump saying it has saved lives while critics point to longstanding concerns about warrantless surveillance of Americans. (AP […]

LIV Golf CEO Denies “Speculation” That Saudi Arabia On Cusp Of Severing Ties Update (1130ET): Amid reports that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund might be on the verge of pulling its funding for the league, LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil told staff in an email overnight that its season will go on “as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle.” The email, which was obtained by ESPN, didn’t directly address reports that PIF might […]

Google In Talks With Department Of War To Deploy Gemini AI In Classified Settings The Information, citing multiple people familiar with the discussions, reports that Google is now negotiating with the Department of War on an agreement that would allow Gemini AI models to be deployed in classified settings. This development suggests the DoW is moving very quickly to broaden the use of frontier models for military and intelligence […]

Oil Jumps As Report On 6-Month Iran Deal Timeline Crushes Ceasefire Hopes, Hormuz Still Locked Down Summary Trump unveils 10-day Lebanon ceasefire, but which Hezbollah has not signed on for, amid heavy IDF attacks on south. BBG reports on potential 6-month timeframe for comprehensive Iran deal, oil spikes. Iran seeks to boost rial through toll payment scheme; vessels pay Hormuz passage through Iranian banks. US Navy: […]

Jeep-Maker Stellantis Signs AI Deal With Microsoft Stellantis and Microsoft are teaming up in a five‑year strategic deal to accelerate the deployment of AI across the automotive company’s large portfolio of brands, including Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Jeep, Maserati, Peugeot, and others. The companies plan to develop more than 100 AI initiatives across customer care, product development, and operations. These include predictive […]

“It’s Really Illiquid”: Goldman COO Warns Retail About Private Credit And The “Perception Of Liquidity” Speaking at Semafor’s World Economy event in Washington, D.C., President and COO of Goldman Sachs John Waldron warned that some managers have oversold how easy it is to get money out—especially to retail investors, who’ve helped balloon the market into a $1.7 trillion behemoth just as the space faces growing scrutiny and […]

Trump Signs Pipeline Permits To Boost US–Canada Oil Flow Authored by Kimberley Hayek via The Epoch Times, President Donald Trump issued several pipeline permits on April 15, including one for the construction of a new pipeline to facilitate the transportation of crude oil and petroleum products between the United States and Canada, according to documents released by the White House. The action covers four permits in total. The […]

Can You Price In No Longer Pricing Things In? By Michael Every of Rabobank At this point it isn’t a random walk but a determined march: markets have decided the Iran war and the Hormuz blockades are over, and everything is going to be better than normal imminently: the Nasdaq and S&P are at all-time highs and even worries over private credit are receding. In the real world, there are signs that back that stance and ones that […]

Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax And Wife Found Dead In Apparent Murder-Suicide Justin Fairfax, the former lieutenant governor of Virginia, and his wife, Cerina Fairfax, a dentist, were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide at their home shortly after midnight on Thursday, according to Fairfax County police. Justin Fairfax in 2019. He served as Virginia’s lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2022.Credit…Parker […]

DOJ Petitions Court To Toss Convictions Of Unpardoned Jan. 6 Defendants Authored by Janice Hisle via The Epoch Times, The Justice Department is petitioning an appeals court to throw out the convictions of unpardoned defendants who were charged in connection with the U.S. Capitol breach on Jan. 6, 2021. “The United States has determined … that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice,” read a motion […]

War Economy Returns: From Trucks To Tanks, Pentagon Looks To Automakers To Rebuild America’s Arsenal With two active conflict areas in Eurasia – the Russia-Ukraine conflict in Eastern Europe and the U.S.-Iran theater in the Gulf – the world is moving deeper into a war cycle. The latest indicator is not only that militaries around the world are beginning to stockpile one-way attack drones, but also the early-stage push to convert […]

US Industrial Production Unexpectedly Drops In March (After Huge Upward Revision For Feb) At first glance the 0.5% MoM decline in US Industrial production (considerably worse than than the 0.1% MoM rise expected – and dragging YoY growth in IP down to +0.74%) is bad news… suggesting immediate impacts from the war are being felt and sparking headlines decrying President Trump’s actions. Source: Bloomberg However, while we agree […]

Sotomayor Apologizes After Criticizing Kavanaugh Over Immigration Case Authored by Tom Gantert via The Epoch Times, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor apologized in a statement for comments she recently made about Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh. “At a recent appearance at the University of Kansas School of Law, I referred to a disagreement with one of my colleagues in a prior case, but I made remarks that […]

“The Roaring 2020s Are Back”: S&P Futures Hit New Record With Nasdaq Up 12 Straight Days On Iran Truce Optimism Stock futures are edging higher on continued optimism about an extended truce in the Middle East, while Taiwan Semi’s solid results have sparked another leg higher in AI trade. As of 8:15 am ET, S&P 500 futures rose 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 contracts +0.2%, and on pace for a 12th day of gains. The early hours of the […]

Despite ‘Survey’ Sadness, Jobless Claims Slide Near Historic Lows The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the first time fell to just 207k (below the 213k expected and down from the prior 209.25k) – back near its lowest levels in 5 years (and trend towards its lowest level in 50 years)… Source: Bloomberg Despite a small pick up last week, Continuing jobless claims have been below the 1.9 million Maginot Line […]

Fire Erupts At Major Australian Refinery, Amplifying Fuel Shock As “Green” Killed Refining Buffer Australia’s failed “green” domestic energy policies had already sparked a fuel-supply shock shortly after the U.S.-Iran conflict disrupted tankers at the Hormuz chokepoint. Now, a fire has broken out at the larger of Australia’s two remaining oil refineries, adding even more fuel supply woes.  Victoria state fire authorities said […]

Trump’s Blockade Is Breaking Iran… And European Elites Are Angry Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us In March I published an article titled “Global Energy Crisis Or Iranian Surrender In Five Weeks?” in which I outlined the “worst case” and “best case” scenarios for the war in Iran. In my best case scenario I argued in favor of a specific plan to end the conflict quickly: A US naval blockade of the Strait of […]

Goldman Sachs To Use Options Strategy For Planned Bitcoin Income ETF Authored by Nate Kostar via CoinTelegraph.com, Goldman Sachs has filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch a Bitcoin-linked exchange-traded fund designed to generate income while limiting exposure to the cryptocurrency’s volatility, according to a preliminary prospectus dated April 14. The proposed Goldman Sachs Bitcoin Premium […]

New Hungarian Prime Minister Says Borders Will Remain Shut To Immigrants In the wake of Viktor Orbán’s election defeat, one of the greatest fears among conservatives in the region is an unconstrained EU able to take action on foreign policy, health, and immigration without the threat of a veto.  It is widely assumed that the incoming prime minister of Hungary, Péter Magyar, will seek a fast resolution of Brussels’ key issues […]

Speculation Explodes Following Disappearance Of 10th Expert With UFO And Nuclear Secrets Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, Following the revelation that yet another government contractor with links to nuclear secrets and suspected dark project UAP information has vanished, speculation as to what exactly is going on has massively intensified. The case of Steven Garcia, a 48-year-old property custodian at the Kansas […]

Zelensky Goes Full “Lord Of War” As Ukraine Pitches Battle-Tested War Robots To Highest Bidder Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took the stage and stated that Ukraine’s military-industrial base has created some of the world’s most advanced unmanned platforms, already deployed against Russia and forever changing how warfare is conducted. “For the first time in the history of this war, an enemy position was taken exclusively […]

UK Voters Call For Lower Taxes & Energy Bills As Economic Concerns Grow Via CityAM, According to a new poll, most British voters want lower energy costs and tax cuts to support growth. A large majority rated the UK economy as poor and showed little faith in current progress. Business leaders are also increasingly pessimistic, citing geopolitics and rising costs. British voters want Rachel Reeves to cut taxes and […]

Iran Boasts It Is Fast Rebuilding Bridges & Rail Lines After US Wrought Destruction Iran is seeking to put out images showing its resiliency after the country was hit with tens of thousands of airstrikes during over a month of the US-Israel Operation Epic Fury, including blowing up bridges, rail lines and other infrastructure. The US and Israel struck bridges and rail lines to cripple Iran’s national transport network. Israel […]