Formalizing Control Over the Strait of Hormuz Is Iran’s Top Priority

Bolivia's Energy Crisis Deepens As Natural Gas Reserves Run Dry Authored by Felicity Bradstock via OilPrice, Bolivia's dwindling natural gas reserves and declining exports have undermined its economy and intensified fuel shortages. Rising global energy prices and subsidy cuts have increased living costs and fueled widespread protests. A $1.9 billion IMF rescue package and energy-sector reforms aim to stabilize the economy, but long-term recovery requires diversification. Years of underinvestment in Bolivia's gas industry have left the South American country facing a severe fuel shortage, as energy prices rise ever higher owing to the ongoing...

Pump-Pain Spreads: Retail Sales Soar To Record High, Sentiment Sits As Record Low BofA's omniscient analysts expected a hotter than expected retail sales print this morning (but it came with a warning as they start to see some substitution effects as rising gasoline spend is wearing on discretionary purchases). Once again, BofA was right, with headline Retail Sales surging 0.8% MoM (+0.3% exp), lifting sales up by 6.3% YoY... Spending at gasoline stations soared... Eight out of 13 categories posted increases, led by a 6.4% increase in the value of purchases at gas...

Pope Leo XIV suggested on Monday that aerial bombing campaigns should have been “banned forever” following the atrocities committed from the sky during the 20th century, as he continues pushing an antiwar message following the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran. “Airplanes should always be carriers of peace, never of war,” Leo said while […]