Iran Oil Official In Surprise Admission: 'Fate Of Our Refineries Now At Risk' As US Blockade Begins To Bite

US-Vatican Relations Extremely Strained As Pentagon Denies It Berated Pope's Diplomat Washington's attack on Iran alongside Israel has come under repeat condemnation from the Vatican, leaving US relations very strained. What hasn't helped things are widespread allegations that US officials berated the Vatican's top diplomat in Washington. Pentagon and Vatican officials are denying reports that US authorities gave the Holy See’s ambassador a "bitter lecture" demanding the Church align with the Trump administration following criticism of the Iran war by Pope Leo XIV. via The Associated Press "Today, as we all know, there...

Exxon Warns Of $6.5 Billion Hit From Iran War As Q1 Earnings Set To Print Slightly Below Consensus In an early clue how the Iran war will impact energy earnings, ExxonMobil warned of a $6.5bn hit to Q1 earnings from the Iran war but said the bulk of this was the result of unfavorable timing for its accounting of hedging contracts, which would be offset as underlying transactions were eventually completed. The US supermajor also said that global oil and gas production would be 6% lower in the first three months...

US PMIs Lead The World As Manufacturing Tops 4-Year Highs, Services Sink Following Japan's ugly PMIs (Services lowest since March 2025) and Europe's disaster (weakest composite EU PMI since late 2023)... ...with prices surging... All eyes are on the US 'soft' survey data for signs of divergence (or contagion). With US 'hard' data improving notably, the preliminary soft survey data for May was mixed with improved performance in manufacturing was countered by a sluggish service sector. Flash US Services PMI Business Activity Index: 50.9 (April: 51.0). 2-month low. Flash US Manufacturing PMI: 55.3 (April:...