A tale of two worlds

Crude Stocks Rise 3.5 Million, Highest Since May 2025 With oil flows passing through the Straits of Hormuz blocked indefinitely, markets were paying especially close attention to today's weekly DOE report on oil stocks, to see how much capacity the US has in case of a prolonged lockout. The result was satisfactory.  The DOE reported the following weekly changes: Crude +3.475MM, more than the expected +3.00MM, and the highest since May 2025 Gasoline -1.704MM, down to the lowest since Jan 9, 2026 Distillates +429K, biggest increase since Jan 2026 Cushing +1.6MM, rising to the highest...

The US military confirmed that a P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine patrol aircraft transited the Taiwan Strait. China says it monitored the Navy’s plane.  “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations,” a statement from the 7th Fleet said, adding that the […]

Futures Flat Despite Blowout Nvidia Earnings US equity futures managed to erase overnight losses and were trading flat after Nvidia and Salesforce failed to assuage fears about an overheated AI economy while traders awaited color from today's round of US / Iran talks. As of 8:00am S&P futures were unchanged and nasdaq futures were down 0.1%, with NVDA up 1% premarket but well off overnight highs after its earnings report and guidance smashed expectations while CEO Jensen Huang talked about “exponentially” growing computing demand and “skyrocketing” adoption of AI agents. It wasn’t enough, especially...