WTI Flat After Another Crude Draw, Distillates Stocks At Seasonal Record Lows

Iran-Linked Media Floats Data Tax On Hormuz Undersea Internet Cables An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-linked media outlet has signaled that submarine fiber-optic cables running through the Strait of Hormuz remain in Tehran’s crosshairs. Tehran views Hormuz not only as an energy chokepoint but also as a digital chokepoint, with undersea cables beaming internet across the Gulf and into the global network. Source: Retuers  Tasnim published an article titled “Three Practical Steps for Generating Revenue from Strait of Hormuz Internet Cables,” pointing out that Tehran must reassess how it exercises sovereignty over the strategic...

The Six Nooses: How Interventionism Is Strangling The Family's Will To Reproduce Authored by Felix Yang via the Mises Institute, The total fertility rate needed to sustain a population is 2.1. Averaged over 2020-2024, South Korea's stands at 0.78, Taiwan's at 0.89, and Hong Kong's at 0.79. Mainstream demography still treats these as cultural anomalies, when they are in fact the terminal readings of a century-long experiment in administrative intervention. The standard explanation blames housing costs, changing values, or the burden of raising children in a modern economy. Examined through the lens...

Futures Rise On Opex Day As Yields Stabilize; Bitcoin Almost Tags $80,000 US futures rebound from Thursday's slump, and trade at session highs on.  As of 8:15am ET, S&P 500 futures were 0.4% higher with Nasdaq 100 contracts up 0.6%, while Bitcoin headed for its best week in more than three years, rising just shy of $80,000 before reversing. S&P 500 futures jerked higher and yields extended declines as oil edged lower shortly after 7am ET on this headline: *IRAN’S PRESIDENT SAYS BETTER TO END WAR TODAY WITH DIGNITY:ISNA, and while the...