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US Energy Chief Says Oil 'Fear Premium' Over Iran Is Temporary, Says Prices To Fall In 'Weeks, Not Months'

US Energy Chief Says Oil 'Fear Premium' Over Iran Is Temporary, Says Prices To Fall In 'Weeks, Not Months'

Energy Secretary Chris Wright made the rounds on network TV Sunday to reassure viewers that the sharp rise in oil and gas prices due to the Iran war - which Trump has no problem sticking US consumers with for a while - would prove short-lived, and has downplayed the spike as a transient "fear premium" vs. a fundamental supply issue.

In conversations to CBS, CNN, and Fox News, wright emphasized that global energy markets remain well-supplied despite disruptions to tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz - the narrow waterway that carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s seaborne crude.

"This is a disruption on the way to a much better place to end a 47-year war against America," he told Fox.

"The world is not short of oil today or natural gas," Wright told CBS' "Face the Nation," adding "You’re seeing a little bit of fear premium in the marketplace."

Wright also projected that gasoline prices could fall below $3 per gallon "relatively soon," and that any worst-case disruption would only last "weeks, not months" - a line he gave to both CBS and CNN. 

The comments come as Brent crude futures have risen sharply in recent days, pushing U.S. pump prices higher and raising concerns about inflationary pressures ahead of midterm elections. The administration has framed the military operation - dubbed by some officials as aimed at neutralizing long-term threats from Tehran - as ultimately beneficial for global energy stability.

Wright also highlighted early signs of progress in restoring flows through the Strait of Hormuz. “A large tanker went through the Strait of Hormuz 24 hours ago,” he said, adding that U.S. and allied efforts are “massively attriting” Iran’s ability to launch missiles and drones.

He indicated that naval escorts could be provided for initial tankers to ensure safe passage, with normal commercial traffic expected to resume “relatively soon.”

He repeated the "one large tanker has already gone through" talking point to Fox. 

To address immediate supply pressures, Wright disclosed diplomatic efforts to reroute stranded cargoes. He said the U.S. had coordinated with India to divert Russian oil tankers originally bound for China, describing the move as pragmatic and temporary. “A lot of Russian oil hanging out on Asian waters,” he noted, adding that India - already increasing imports from the U.S. and Venezuela - had proven “a great partner.” Wright stressed no change in U.S. policy toward Russian oil sales, framing the rerouting as a way to quickly bring barrels to market and ease refining bottlenecks in Asia.

Wright also justified the Iran was as a necessary step to end Tehran's decades-long disruption of energy markets.

"Iran has terrorized America, the neighborhood, and energy markets for 47 years," he said with a straight face. "We believe this is a small price to pay to get to a world where energy prices are returned back to where they were." 

Meanwhile, he confirmed that there's no actual plan for what post-conflict Iran will look like (shocker!). 

"We don’t know what regime will be in place at the end of this conflict," he told CBS. "What we do know is that regime will not have a massive weapons arsenal…and will no longer be a massive threat to Americans and to the Middle East and the global oil supplies."

And there you have it, the talking points are officially OUT. 

Tyler Durden Sun, 03/08/2026 - 15:05

Cuba Is Negotiating Deal With US, Trump Says

Cuba Is Negotiating Deal With US, Trump Says

Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times,

U.S. President Donald Trump said March 8 that the Cuban government is negotiating a deal with him and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Speaking at his “Shield ​of the Americas” gathering of Latin American leaders in Miami, ​Florida, Trump said that Cuba is “at the end of the line” due to Venezuela cutting off oil deliveries after the U.S. capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

“As we achieve a historic transformation in Venezuela, we’re also looking forward to the great change that will soon be coming to Cuba,” Trump said. “They have no money. They have no oil. They have a bad philosophy. They have a bad regime that’s been bad for a long time.”

The president said Cuba is currently negotiating with himself, Rubio, and “some others.”

“And I would think a deal would be made very easily with Cuba,” Trump added.

Trump has urged the Cuban government to strike a deal with his administration since early this year, and has increased pressure after Maduro’s capture. Previously, Venezuela was overwhelmingly Cuba’s largest source of oil.

Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez responded to Trump at the time by saying his nation was “ready to defend the Homeland to the last drop of blood.”

“Those who blame the [communist] Revolution for the severe economic shortages we suffer should hold their tongues in shame,” he said on Jan. 11.

By late last month, Trump was floating the possibility of a “friendly takeover of Cuba” by the United States.

“The Cuban government is talking with us,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Feb. 27.

“They’re in a big deal of trouble. We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba after many, many years. We’ve had a lot of years of dealing with Cuba.”

He also indicated that Rubio was negotiating with Cuban leaders “at a very high level.”

“They have no money, they have no oil, they have no food, and it’s really right now a nation in deep trouble, and they want our help,” Trump said.

The loss of Venezuelan oil and financial support worsened Cuba’s already dire economic crisis that has been gripping the island for nearly a year and a half. Catastrophic fuel shortages have driven frequent blackouts and disrupted transportation.

Large-scale shortages of food and medicine have also impacted the nation’s nearly 11 million residents.

Cuba has been under communist rule since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution. For decades, Havana’s leaders have resisted calls for change from the United States and among its population of exiles who have fled in the years since Castro’s takeover.

But now that the United States is engulfed in a war with Iran that the Trump administration says is largely about kneecapping and replacing Tehran’s theocratic regime, some U.S. lawmakers have questioned whether Cuba will become another target for the U.S. military.

Speculation began weeks before the joint U.S.–Israeli strikes on Iran’s senior leadership.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) asked Rubio during a Jan. 28 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing if the U.S. secretary of state “would make a public commitment” that the U.S. government would not get involved in regime change in Cuba.

“Oh, no. I think we would like to see the regime there change. That doesn’t mean that we’re going to make a change, but we would love to see a change,” Rubio said at the time.

A change in Cuba’s regime “would be of great benefit to the United States,” Rubio added.

He referred to the Helms–Burton Act of 1996, which requires a democratic transition in Cuba before a U.S. president can normalize relations with the island.

“It was codified in law, and it requires regime change in order for us to lift the embargo,” Rubio said.

Tyler Durden Sun, 03/08/2026 - 14:40

After Dems Record-Breaking (And Useless) Drain, Schumer 'Demands' Trump Release Oil From The SPR 'Immediately'

After Dems Record-Breaking (And Useless) Drain, Schumer 'Demands' Trump Release Oil From The SPR 'Immediately'

In 2022, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which disrupted global oil supplies and drove US gasoline prices to record highs above $5 per gallon in June, the Biden administration authorized unprecedented releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to ease fuel costs as the 2022 Midterm elections loomed (and Democrat approval ratings slid).

The historic drawdown announced in March was the largest SPR release in history, and was pitched as 'bridging supply shortfalls while global production ramped up'...

While Biden, Schumer and their pals all claimed to understand the global oil markets - and the logic of why this release would work... it failed to prevent sustained high prices. As the chart below shows, even as the SPR was drained dramatically, prices remained elevated, overshadowed by broader market forces like OPEC decisions, refining constraints, and geopolitical risks (as we warned at the time numerous times)...

Prices remained elevated compared to pre-invasion levels for much of the year, and the releases drained the SPR to its lowest level since the early 1980s (losing over 40% of its volume), raising concerns about energy security for future crises.

So, with pump prices once again rising (this time due to oil market disruptions due to President Trump's attack on Iran and the retaliatory response)...

...having tried-and-failed before, Chuck Schumer is out today with a sternly-worded post on X "demanding" President Trump release oil from the SPR (which he has been refilling since regaining office)...

Is Schumer's memory failing him (again, like on Social Security fraud, Illegal Immigration, or Voting Reform) or is this just another weak-sauce politically-motivated 'tweet' to stir up further division as the war continues?

Indeed, while there are many reasons to push back on Trump's war and its repercussions, perhaps the Dem leader should remember Santanya's remarks: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Tyler Durden Sun, 03/08/2026 - 13:50

Biden Tells Majority Black Crowd: 'I'm A Hell Of A Lot Smarter Than Most Of You'

Biden Tells Majority Black Crowd: 'I'm A Hell Of A Lot Smarter Than Most Of You'

Authored by Luis Cornelio via Headline USA,

Former President Joe Biden made a rare public appearance Friday and drew criticism over what some observers described as a racially insensitive remark. 

Speaking at the funeral of civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, Biden told attendees — including prominent civil rights figures and other notable guests — “I’m a hell of a lot smarter than most of you.” 

Biden made the comment during a roughly 20-minute speech honoring Jackson while recounting a story about his childhood and how he was mocked for having a stutter. 

“I, as a kid, was a relatively good athlete and pretty good student, but I stuttered — to talk like that,” Biden said, while mimicking his childhood stutter.

The crowd responded with laughter. 

“Now, if I told you all earlier, when I was a kid, I had a cleft palate or club foot, none of you would have laughed,” Biden continued.

“But it’s okay to laugh at stuttering. I’m not being critical of you, but think about it. It’s the one place where people think you’re stupid. Oh, really? I’m a hell of a lot smarter than most of you.” 

Biden then added, “All kidding aside, it makes you feel really small. It makes you feel really small.” 

On X, some conservative critics pointed out that Biden made the remark while speaking at the funeral of a civil rights leader before a crowd that included several well-known black leaders and public figures. 

Among those in attendance were former President Barack Obama, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and former Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Other notable black figures present included filmmaker and actor Tyler Perry, leftist activist Cornel West, NBA Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas and singer Jennifer Hudson. 

Several other political figures also attended the funeral, including former President Bill Clinton, twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. 

Notably, Gavin Newsom also came under fire last week after telling a crowd in Atlanta — a predominantly black city — that he was “just like you” because he had received a below-average SAT score. 

Tyler Durden Sun, 03/08/2026 - 11:40

Former Members Of Alleged Texas Antifa Cell Shed Light On Ideology During Trial

Former Members Of Alleged Texas Antifa Cell Shed Light On Ideology During Trial

Authored by Darlene McCormick Sanchez via The Epoch Times,

Individuals identified as North Texas Antifa members testified in a landmark domestic terrorism case that social justice and anti-government ideology influenced their involvement with the group.

The trial in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas follows President Donald Trump’s executive order on Sept. 22, 2025, designating Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization.

The Fort Worth trial completed its second week in what is expected to be a three-week trial.

​Members of Antifa, short for “anti-fascist,” have not faced terrorism-related charges until now, although they have been involved in organized protests across the country that have at times turned violent.

In the landmark case, the government alleges that an Antifa cell launched a coordinated attack against the Prairieland Detention Center housing illegal immigrants outside Dallas on July 4, 2025.

The prosecution claims Benjamin Song ambushed law enforcement at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility outside Dallas, firing 11 shots at police and detention officers, wounding one officer in the neck.

‘Charismatic’ Leader

Two cooperating government witnesses, Lynette Sharp and Seth Sikes, both pleaded guilty to one count of providing material support to terrorists and testified against Song.

Sharp alleged Song admitted to shooting someone when she helped him evade law enforcement after the officer was shot.

Likewise, Sikes alleged that Song said, “Get to the rifles,” and testified he heard gunshots coming from behind him where Song was and turned to see a muzzle flash.

Sharp met Song in 2022, and Sikes met him in 2024 while Song was teaching martial arts at a Fort Worth community center.

Both witnesses testified that they became friends with the defendants.

“I love them,” Sharp said on the stand, after wiping tears.

Sikes testified he and others trusted Song, whom he described as a “very charismatic person” that people would follow.

Cameron Arnold (also known as Autumn Hill), Zachary Evetts, Bradford Morris (also known as Meagan Morris), Maricela Rueda, and Song face the most serious charges of attempted murder, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, and providing material support to terrorists.

Other defendants facing lesser charges include Savanna Batten, Elizabeth Soto, Ines Soto, and Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada.

All have pleaded not guilty.

Protest Culture

Sharp and Sikes said group members considered themselves victims of society or those who wanted to protect “marginalized” people.

This ideology led them to become caught up in protest culture, offering a rare glimpse into the inner workings of protestors known as Antifa.

Antifa is modeled after a group that worked as the violent arm of the Communist Party in Germany in the 1930s. Some symbols from the original group are still used by the movement today, such as the logo and the raised-fist salute.

Song, who received an “other than honorable” discharge from the Army, recruited Sharp and Sikes to train with the Socialist Rifle Association (SRA), often described as a left-wing alternative to counter the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Sharp and Sikes said they learned gun safety and practiced marksmanship. Various defendants in the Antifa case frequently trained with AR-style weapons, they said.

They described practicing shooting together at an outdoor range in Ferris, Texas, before the July 2025 ICE protest, targeting images depicting the Ku Klux Klan.

Sharp labeled herself an anti-fascist.

Under cross-examination, she argued that socialism wasn’t anti-American. Instead, she described it as the belief that some people can be wealthy, but no one should be poor. She distinguished it from communism, in which no one could be wealthy.

She painted anarchy as a benign political ideology where the community took care of itself in the absence of a formal government.

Sharp and Sikes described themselves as gay rights supporters who slowly developed a relationship with Song, also known as “Champaign.”

They discussed wearing black bloc, which is all-black clothing, to protests, including face coverings that hide their identities.

Sharp testified that ideological beliefs related to LGBT and minority rights, along with opposition to ICE, fostered friendships among the defendants.

Some participants formed an “affinity group” that she said was organized by Song. She said group members would watch tactical YouTube videos on clearing a building occupied by adversaries.

Sikes, who comes from a military family, testified he attended a Dallas No Kings protest against Trump’s immigration policies with Song. Sikes testified that he and the other defendants thought ICE was too aggressive and strongly disagreed with their tactics.

He said Song was “not entirely friendly to police.”

Sikes told the jury he was uncomfortable with Song’s belief that showing up to demonstrations with assault-style rifles could intimidate police and make them back off.

Sikes described his political beliefs as left-wing, aligning more closely with socialism, while noting that others identified more with anarchists. Other beliefs in the group included democratic socialism, anarchy, and communism.

He referred to Antifa as an umbrella term encompassing various left-wing groups, and that they referred to themselves as Antifa in a “tongue in cheek” fashion.

According to Sharp, the group believed that society was breaking down and that the federal government would eventually fail.

Karaoke and Anti-Capitalism

Group members began inviting Sharp to the “big gay house” where transgender defendants Morris and Hill lived with others.

They would hold karaoke nights and recite poetry on Thursday nights, Sharp said.

Sharp testified that she and other defendants attended Emma Goldman Book Club monthly meetings to discuss articles, book excerpts, and self-published materials known as zines, with an anti-capitalist perspective.

Goldman, the book club’s namesake, was a Russian-born Jew and revolutionary who advanced an anti-capitalist, anarchist ideology in the United States in the early 1900s until she was deported.

At the discussions, minorities and women were given deference when speaking, because white people already “took up too much space,” according to Sharp.

She described herself as anti-fascist, but denied being an Antifa member despite signing a plea deal with the government, which characterized anti-fascists as Antifa.

The group also discussed anarchy during their time together, she testified.

“Some people believed that was a solution,” she said. “Some people didn’t.”

Tyler Durden Sun, 03/08/2026 - 10:30

It Begins: Iranian Drone Strikes Bahrain Desalination Plant As Worst-Case Scenario Unfolds

It Begins: Iranian Drone Strikes Bahrain Desalination Plant As Worst-Case Scenario Unfolds

Update (Sunday): 

From data centers in the Gulf area to water desalination plants, the worst-case scenario is now unfolding in the Middle East conflict, with no boundaries regarding civilian infrastructure.

We warned earlier last week, after correctly predicting that data centers would be targeted, that water desalination plants would be next (see the previous update). 

Al Jazeera reports that after Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi claimed the US targeted a water desalination plant in Iran, an IRGC kamikaze drone then targeted a desalination plant in Bahrain.

Al Jazeera also outlined the importance of water desalination plants to the Gulf region:

  • GCC states hold about 60% of global desalination capacity and produce around 40% of the world's desalinated water through more than 400 plants.

  • Most GCC countries rely heavily on desalination: 90% of Kuwait's drinking water, 86% in Oman, 70% in Saudi Arabia, and 42% in the UAE.

  • Saudi Arabia is the world's largest producer, with capacity projected to reach 8.5 million cubic meters per day by 2025 after $80 billion in investments.

Bahrain's Ministry of Interior wrote on X, "The Iranian aggression randomly bombs civilian targets and causes material damage to a water desalination plant following an attack by a drone." 

*   *   * 

First we warned that data centers would become drone targets, and then IRGC strikes hit Amazon AWS and Microsoft-linked AI infrastructure across the Gulf. Next, we flagged water desalination plants as another target. Now, with reports that a desalination facility in Iran has been struck, it is increasingly clear that this conflict has no boundaries when it comes to civilian infrastructure.

On Saturday morning, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi took to X and claimed that U.S. military forces had "committed a blatant and desperate crime by attacking a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island."

"Water supply in 30 villages has been impacted. Attacking Iran's infrastructure is a dangerous move with grave consequences. The U.S. set this precedent, not Iran," Araghchi said.

Shortly after Araghchi's post, a Community Note attached to his tweet read, "There is currently no independent confirmation from international media or monitoring organizations that the U.S. attacked a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island."

Whether confirmed or not, the worst-case scenario for the conflict is one in which freshwater desalination plants are targeted, either intentionally or by accident.

This risk was first raised earlier last week by Bloomberg commodities analyst Javier Blas, who said, "A lot of attention about 'soft targets' like hotels and airports. And about oil/gas facilities. But please keep an eye on what may prove the most strategic asset for Persian Gulf countries: water desalination plants."

Desalination plants are critical infrastructure for many Gulf states because almost all of the region's freshwater comes from either desalinating seawater or pumping from deep aquifers. Dependence on these plants is especially high: 90% in Kuwait, 86% in Oman, 70% in Saudi Arabia, and 42% in the UAE comes from desalination.

IRGC targeting of the data centers is another way of Tehran telling Gulf states aligned with the U.S. that the regime can turn off their AI data centers. Let's just hope the IRGC does not become enraged enough and begin signaling to Gulf states that it can turn off the region's water. That would be a worst-case scenario and spark humanitarian emergencies for millions of people.

Tyler Durden Sun, 03/08/2026 - 09:45

The Bretton Whoops

The Bretton Whoops

Authored by 'No1' via Gold and Geopolitics substack,

The bombs make headlines. The economic unraveling happening quietly underneath them don’t. So before we get back to the daily carnage, let's talk about money. It used to be funny, in a rich man's world.

The world didn’t wake up one morning and decide to distrust the dollar. It was a process. Gradually, then suddenly, as these things tend to go.

It started with Venezuela. In 2019, Caracas asked the Bank of England to return its own gold - 31 tonnes, sitting in a vault in London, belonging to the Venezuelan central bank. The Bank of England said no. The justification was creative: London had decided to recognise a man who had never won an election as Venezuela’s “legitimate” president, so it couldn’t very well hand $2 billion in gold to the actual government. Problem solved. Maduro was a dictator, everyone agreed he was terrible, and so the consensus was essentially: who cares.

Everyone filed it under “rogue state gets what it deserves” and moved on.

Then Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and $300 billion in Russian sovereign reserves got frozen overnight. Again, the justification was airtight, the villain was obvious, and the Western financial world applauded itself. What nobody wanted to discuss was the precedent. Assets held in Western financial institutions were no longer safe if the political winds shifted against you. That was new. That was genuinely new. And every central bank and sovereign wealth fund on earth noticed, even if they did say nothing publicly.

Then Trump came back. Tariffs on allies. Threats to annex Greenland. The implicit message that the post-war security architecture was now a negotiable service rather than a commitment. The dollar’s reserve currency status had always rested on two pillars: the dominance of the US economy, and the reliability of the US government as a custodian of the system. One of those pillars was now being kicked.

By the time the Iran war started, the trust account was already badly overdrawn.

The petrodollar was a simple deal. The Gulf states price their oil in dollars, recycle the surplus into US Treasuries, and in exchange get American military protection. Clean, elegant, and - for fifty years - it actually worked. The US got permanent demand for its currency and its debt. The Gulf got security guarantees backed by the most powerful military on earth.

Five decades of procurement scandals and DEI hires later, someone called the bluff.

US bases across the Gulf - Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE - were always sold as the physical expression of the guarantee. The muscle that backed the paper. They were protection. Except now those bases are targets. The countries hosting them are getting hit precisely because they host them. What once was “US military presence as shield” has collapsed and became “US military presence as a bullseye”.

Medvedev put it with the particular relish of someone who has been waiting years to say it:

You can dismiss Medvedev on most things. On this one, his timing is sublime.

I already cover the daily physical damage to Gulf infrastructure in my Iran series, so I won’t repeat it here. The point here aren’t the bombs. The point is what the bombs have made obvious: the protection America sold the GCC was a liability dressed up as an asset.

And increasingly it seems that the Gulf states are discussing pulling their investment commitments from the US. Not done yet. Discussing. They are not floating the possibility quietly in private rooms - they are saying it out loud, which means the market already knows which direction they’re heading.

Capital won’t wait for a formal declaration. It will already leave in advance, quietly, and then when the announcement comes, everyone will pretend to be surprised…

This is the engine that kept the whole fiat USD thing running: Gulf sells oil → receives dollars → buys Treasuries → US borrowing costs stay manageable → repeat. For decades. And what keeps that loop turning isn’t economics. It’s trust. The belief that Washington is a reliable partner, that dollar-denominated assets are safe, and that the security umbrella is real.

But the trust was already shredded before the first bomb fell on Iran.

The US Treasury market is in a bit of a pickle. I believe the technical term is “clusterfuck”.

About $9.2 trillion in US Treasuries rolled over in fiscal 2025 - roughly a third of all outstanding federal debt - and the 2026 refinancing wave is already building. Annual interest payments on the federal debt have crossed $1 trillion for the first time. The Treasury is buying back its own debt in tranches to keep the market from seizing up. But the 10-year yield keeps moving higher regardless.

The petrodollar recycling loop was one of the structural forces keeping Treasury auctions clearing. When Gulf sovereigns stop buying - or start selling - somebody else has to absorb that supply. At higher rates. Which makes the interest burden worse. Which makes the deficit worse. Which requires more issuance. The spiral is not complicated.

And underneath all of this sits a deeper shift that doesn’t get enough attention. The world is migrating from a currency-based monetary order to a collateral-based one. For decades, Treasuries were the global safe asset - the thing you held when you didn’t know what else to hold. That status is eroding. What’s replacing it, are commodities. Physical stuff™. Things you can actually use. Which is - not coincidentally - exactly what the GCC is sitting on, and exactly what the US has just demonstrated it cannot protect.

Gold and silver hit record after record last year for the same reason. Not inflation. Not rate expectations. Something older and simpler: people are looking for a store of value that doesn’t require trusting a government that has made itself unpredictable.

Meanwhile, private credit is starting to make interesting noises.

source

Blue Owl gated its retail private credit fund in February after redemption requests doubled through 2025. Today, BlackRock announced its $26 billion private credit fund is limiting withdrawals too [-4% at the open]. The same BlackRock that just wrote a private loan to zero - a loan marked at par three months ago. The second time it’s done that.

Rubric Capital - a Point72 spinout - sent a letter to its own LPs this week calling private credit a fraudulent bubble and accusing players of “Enron-like accounting” to hide the rot.

Whether Gulf sovereign wealth funds are behind any of this is speculation. What isn’t speculation is the pattern. Capital that was deployed into US private markets on the assumption of political stability and reliable returns is trying to get out. “Canary in the coal mine” is how one analyst described the Blue Owl situation. The canary is dead. It has ceased to be. It is an ex-canary. And BlackRock just joined the funeral.

Nobody told the AI crowd. The Mag7 have committed $600 billion in AI capex for 2026 alone - an amount so large it requires its own stable financial universe to make sense. Cheap dollars. Stable long-term rates. A Treasury market with reliable buyers. As I wrote in “The Trillion Dollar Oops” (link), it’s a beautiful circular system: Big Tech borrows cheaply, buys GPUs, GPU makers reinvest in Big Tech, everyone marks up each other’s valuations, and round it goes. The whole thing runs on the assumption that the dollar system stays intact.

It’s currently on fire.

Capital is already rotating out - emerging markets have dramatically outperformed the S&P since January 2025, and it’s accelerating. The AI capex cycle and the capital flight cycle are running in opposite directions.

Something has to give. Burning refineries don't care about your capex commitments.

The entire purpose of US power projection in the Middle East - the bases, the carrier groups, the security guarantees - was always to protect the dollar system. To keep the oil flowing in dollars, the recycling loop turning. Not out of the goodness of its heart. It allowed the US to run deficits indefinitely, export inflation to the rest of the world, and borrow at rates no other debtor could ever dream of.

Whether Washington chose this war or simply couldn’t say no when Israel saw its chance and leapt - that’s still an open question. What isn’t open is the result. The Gulf states are under attack because they host US bases.

Either way, the GCC is finding out what "ally" means in practice.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.

Tyler Durden Sun, 03/08/2026 - 09:20

Shocking Number Of Gen Z'ers Are Bringing Mommy & Daddy To Job Interviews

Shocking Number Of Gen Z'ers Are Bringing Mommy & Daddy To Job Interviews

If you thought Gen Z arriving was the long-awaited antidote to the famously coddled Millennials, you might want to rethink that theory.

A new survey from career site Zety polled 1,000 Gen Z workers and found that a whopping 44% of these young workers had Mom or Dad help write or edit their resumes, while 20% admitted that a parent had joined them during a job interview (15% in-person, 5% virtually).

“Some in Gen Z feel having parental involvement when looking and applying for jobs is important, and I would certainly advocate for taking advice from parents and other mentors who have experience gaining employment,” a financial literacy instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin said in an interview with Newsweek. “However, there are limits to this engagement, and they almost always end poorly for the applicant.”

If you thought those figures were grim, the hand-holding extends even after the job offer letter arrives. Roughly 28% of Gen Z professionals admitted that parents assisted with pay or benefits negotiations, and 32% cited parents as their main influence for career choices.

“There’s a lingering distrust between workers and corporations. While it’s not widespread, some Gen Z candidates are leaning on their parents for interview support - presentation, tone, even responses,” 9i Capital Group CEO Kevin Thompson told Newsweek. “A lot of that comes down to inexperience with professional settings and discomfort with contract language and expectations.”

The trend has rightfully drawn scorn from critics, including "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary, who warned that any candidate arriving with a parental escort would be shown the door immediately.

"First question I'd have to the son or daughter, I'd say, 'Do you want me to hire your mother or you? What's she doing here?'" O'Leary told Fox Business. "That resume goes right into the garbage in one of my operations." He recounted a recent virtual interview where the phenomenon played out in real time.

"It happened to me on a Zoom call, and I just said, this isn't going to work... Your mom is not gonna be part of this discussion,” the businessman added. "It means you can't do this on your own. It's a horrific signal,"

Tyler Durden Sun, 03/08/2026 - 08:45

Azerbaijan's "Multi-Vector Alignment" Poses A Serious Challenge To Russia

Azerbaijan's "Multi-Vector Alignment" Poses A Serious Challenge To Russia

Authored by Andrew Korybko,

The “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” is poised to become a military-logistics corridor for expanding NATO influence along Russia’s southern periphery and could thus force Putin into the zero-sum dilemma of accepting this or authorizing military action in an attempt to preempt it.

Valdai Club Programme Director Timofei Bordachev recently published an insightful piece asking whether former Soviet Republics are moving “Towards Genuine Multi-Vector Alignment?” This is described as “systematic efforts to create and maintain, insofar as possible, balanced and mutually beneficial relations with different global centres of power and regional actors, without obvious orientation towards any single bloc, and relying on tactical maneuvering to ensure security and achieve core development goals.”

He claims that “The fact that this habit began to take shape (among the post-Soviet states) through opposition to traditional Russian influence could be regarded as an ‘inevitable evil’ which, in essence, could not inflict truly fundamental damage on Russia…Today, however, the management of multi-vector alignment may confront Russia’s neighbours—and, one step further, Russia itself—with new challenges.” These include US coercion and “a readiness to significantly enhance one’s status in regional affairs.”

Bordachev didn’t name any of the post-Soviet states other than Russia in his article, but the argument can be made that his concerns are most relevant with respect to Azerbaijan.

Its decision to replace Russian mediation with Armenia with American mediation, agree last August to the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP) which replaces Russia’s envisaged regional corridor and role therein, and the outcome of Vance’s recent trip there collectively pose a serious challenge to Russia.

All of these moves are framed by Azerbaijan as part of what Bordachev describes as the “multi-vector alignment” policy, which is factually correct. It’s also true what he wrote about how “signalling one’s own foreign-policy autonomy and the capacity to make decisions based on national interests as shaped by domestic political development” is “by no means objectionable”. The problem therefore rests in this policy’s practical implementation by Azerbaijan in the current geostrategic context of the New Cold War.

Trump 2.0 is tightening the West’s encirclement of Russia in an attempt to coerce Putin into concessions in Ukraine that would leave unfulfilled the maximalist national security goals of the special operation. That was the purpose of Vance’s trip to the South Caucasus as was explained here. Azerbaijan now functions as a launchpad for expanding US economic, political, and inevitably, military influence across the South Caucasus, the Caspian Sea, and Central Asia, which is Russia’s entire southern periphery.

Nearby Kazakhstan, which announced in December that it plans to produce NATO-standard shells, might soon be emboldened to more openly defy Russia in Azerbaijani-inspired ways that challenge its security interests even more seriously under the pretext of implementing its own “multi-vector alignment” policy. This risks replicating the NATO-Russian security dilemma that ultimately led to the special operation when it became unmanageable, except this time along two southern fronts at once, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

Azerbaijan’s “multi-vector alignment” policy and consequent “readiness to significantly enhance [its] status in regional affairs”, albeit at the expense of Russia’s security interests, is responsible for setting this scenario into motion. TRIPP is poised to become a military-logistics corridor for expanding NATO influence along Russia’s entire southern periphery so Putin might therefore soon be forced into the zero-sum dilemma of accepting this encirclement or authorizing military action in an attempt to preempt it.

Tyler Durden Sun, 03/08/2026 - 08:10

Is Putin About To Deal His Long-Awaited Deathblow To The EU Economy

Is Putin About To Deal His Long-Awaited Deathblow To The EU Economy

Authored by Andrew Korybko,

He just ordered that some of Russia’s LNG exports to the EU be redirected to Asia, and if the EU doesn’t coerce Zelensky into giving him giving him more of what he wants in Ukraine, then there’d be no reason for him to not cut off Russia’s exports to them entirely for catalyzing a full-blown crisis.

The EU agreed late last year to end Russian LNG imports by 31 December 2026 and pipeline gas imports by 30 September 2027, with the possibility of extending the deadline till 31 October 2027 in case storage levels are below their required filling levels. This was done because “The US Weaponized Russophobic Paranoia & Energy Geopolitics To Capture Control Of Europe”, ergo why it encouraged this decision so as to then monopolize the bloc’s energy market in tandem with its Qatari ally, another LNG superpower.

Everything changed with the Third Gulf War, which began with joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran and has since seen Iran retaliate against all of the Gulf Kingdoms on the basis that the US infrastructure on their territories is being used in attacks against the Islamic Republic. The Strait of Hormuz is now effectively closed and the Gulf Kingdoms are scaling back energy production due to nearly reaching their storage capacity. Importantly, Qatar is also shutting down its gas liquefication, which will take weeks to restart.

It’s for these reasons that an energy crisis is expected which might surpass the one during COVID and even the 1973 Arab oil embargo in terms of its global disruption. With Gulf oil and gas pretty much out of the picture for now, the only realistic recourse for stabilizing the market is to return Russian resources thereto, which contextualizes why the US just temporarily waived sanctions on India’s purchase of Russian oil. The EU might also ramp up its gas imports from Russia ahead of its self-imposed deadlines.

With the impending global energy crisis in mind, Putin announced last week that he ordered his government to look into the possibility of redirecting European energy exports to Asia since they’re more profitable and won’t soon stop importing Russian energy completely like the EU will. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak then confirmed shortly thereafter that the decision was just made to redirect some (keyword) LNG exports from Europe to friendly countries such as India and China.

The scenario of Russia cutting off gas exports to the EU before the EU cuts off its gas imports from Russia is still on the table, but Putin seems more interested in leveraging this possibility in furtherance of his strategic goals than eschewing such an opportunity just to punish his Western adversaries. To that end, Novak’s confirmation that he decided to redirect some LNG exports from Europe to Asia can be seen as proof of Putin’s intent, but he’s also signaling interest in reconsidering if certain conditions are met.

These are the fulfilment of his goals in Ukraine: Russia’s control over the entirety of the disputed regions, Ukraine’s demilitarization and denazification, the restoration of its constitutional neutrality, and no foreign troops there after the conflict ends. He also wants to begin negotiations on reforming the European security architecture so that it’s less threatening to Russia and is suspected of wanting Zelensky not to run in Ukraine’s next elections. Not all might be achieved, but some likely will, though.

It’s at this moment when the EU is facing an economic crisis caused by the Third Gulf War taking the region’s energy exports offline that the bloc must decide whether it will coerce Zelensky to give Putin at least some of what he wants in exchange for him not redirecting LNG exports from them to Asia. The US might help them with this too so as to maintain the purchasing power of one of its largest markets. If they fail to do so, however, then Putin might finally deal a long-awaited deathblow to the EU economy.

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/07/2026 - 23:35

US Intelligence Community Assessed That Massive US Attack 'Unlikely' To Oust Iranian Regime: WaPo

US Intelligence Community Assessed That Massive US Attack 'Unlikely' To Oust Iranian Regime: WaPo

Even a massive military assault on Iran is unlikely to topple the Islamic Republic of Iran and its state system, according to a classified assessment produced by the US intelligence community shortly before the US and Israel launched their current 'shock and awe-style' military campaign on Tehran. The Washington Post first reported it, perhaps based on some kind of leak or briefing by an anonymous intelligence official, and calls it—

a sobering assessment as the Trump administration raises the specter of an extended military campaign that officials say has "only just begun."

File image: Tulsi Gabbard is the United States Director of National Intelligence

The report, compiled by the National Intelligence Council (NIC) roughly a week before the war began, concluded that Iran's political system is structured to survive even major leadership losses, The Washington Post reports. However, this should really come as no surprise to anyone awake and observant throughout the past two plus decades of America's 'nation building' efforts in the Middle East, from Afghanistan to Iraq to Libya. 

Already, Israel and the US have touted that 'all' of Iran's top leadership has been decimated, and yet clearly the governing system and its military - led specially by the elite IRGC - is not only in control but is still fighting back.

According to the assessment, Tehran has long prepared for such contingencies - and likely there's an emergency plan now in place in the wake of Ayatollah's Khamenei's death.

Intelligence officials say Iran long ago established clear succession protocols designed to maintain continuity of power even if senior leaders are killed. In other words, the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would likely trigger an internal transition process rather than cause the system to collapse - again, something which should be the obvious scenario. 

The intelligence report also poured cold water on the idea that Iran's opposition could quickly fill any power vacuum. US intelligence analysts assessed that the country's fragmented opposition movements remain too divided to seize control, regardless of whether Washington pursued limited strikes against leadership targets or a broader assault on state institutions.

Equally unlikely, according to current and former US officials familiar with the analysis, is the prospect of a spontaneous nationwide uprising. We could speculate that this possibility may have had a chance of some degree of success within the opening one or two days of the mass US-Israel bombing campaign, but it clearly didn't materialize.

On this prospect WaPo quotes Brookings:

“There’s no other force within Iran that can confront the remaining power that the regime has,” Suzanne Maloney, an Iran scholar and vice president of the Brookings Institution, told The Post. “Even if they’re not able to project that power very effectively against their neighbors, they can certainly dominate inside the country.”

The National Intelligence Council synthesizes the analytical work of all 18 US intelligence agencies, and produces classified estimates meant to guide policymakers on major geopolitical risks.

Much of the American public, raised on Hollywood movies, tends to have an overblown and inaccurate understanding of US intelligence agencies like the CIA. While the CIA certainly has a very powerful and secretive covert, operations side (and an even tinier Ground Branch)  - the bulk of its personnel and overseers/top officials are analysts. So there is an overt side and a covert side, with the analyst side tasked with providing the IC and White House with a 'realistic' picture of the world, ideally devoid of policy or ideology. Their job is also often to 'game out' all worst possible scenarios, given a certain course of action.

Meanwhile, the White House has not said whether Trump was briefed on the assessment before approving the operation. But likely such an assessment would have made it into the CIA's daily briefing for the president, also given reports from last week that the Pentagon also tried to inject some realism in terms of the 'unknowns' once Tehran is attacked.

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/07/2026 - 23:00

Explosion Hits US Embassy In Oslo

Explosion Hits US Embassy In Oslo

An explosion struck the US Embassy in Oslo, Norway Sunday morning, causing minor damage to the facility and no reported injuries.

The blast, which struck around 1:00 a.m. local time, occurred at the entry to the consular section, according to police spokesperson Mikael Dellemyr in a statement to public broadcaster NRK. 

"We've determined that an explosion ​hit the American embassy," he said. 

Police separately said that they don't have any idea what caused the blast or who was involved.

"The police are in a dialogue with the embassy and there ​are no ​reports of ⁠any injured persons," they said in a statement. 

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/07/2026 - 22:25

China Sidesteps Solar Targets In New Five-Year Plan

China Sidesteps Solar Targets In New Five-Year Plan

China’s latest five-year plan avoids setting ambitious solar targets, signaling rising challenges for the sector after years of explosive growth, according to Bloomberg.

Released during the annual National People’s Congress, the plan does not include a goal for solar installations by 2030. That omission contrasts with clearer commitments elsewhere in the energy mix, including plans to double offshore wind capacity and expand nuclear and pumped-hydro power. Solar receives relatively little attention overall, while policymakers instead emphasize broader transition initiatives such as zero-carbon industrial parks.

The shift follows a record surge in solar development. China’s solar power generation surpassed wind for the first time last year, driven by a flood of inexpensive panels that helped make solar one of the country’s most competitive energy sources.

Yet the rapid expansion is beginning to strain the power system. As solar’s share of the electricity mix rises, grid pressure has increased, leading to more curtailment and weaker returns for developers.

Bloomberg writes that China now faces a different set of challenges for both its power network and industrial economy.

“As renewables reach higher shares in the power mix, the focus naturally shifts toward system integration,” said Muyi Yang, a senior energy analyst at Ember. That means more attention on grid expansion, system flexibility, energy storage and other ways to balance intermittent power, including pumped hydro. Expanding clean power across industry also demands deeper structural changes, since existing systems were largely built around fossil fuels. “That’s where you start to see more explicit policy attention and new initiatives emerging like the zero-carbon industrial park initiative,” Yang said.

Meanwhile, market conditions in the solar supply chain remain weak. According to the China Silicon Industry Association, polysilicon prices in China dropped between 6.2% and 12.9% in the week through Wednesday as demand stayed soft after the Lunar New Year holiday and inventories remained elevated. Wafer prices also slipped between 2.5% and 2.9%, while module prices held steady at 0.71–0.75 yuan per watt and cell prices remained unchanged at 0.41–0.45 yuan per watt.

Grid utilization data also points to mounting strain. Solar power use edged down to 94.3% in January from 94.4% a year earlier and 94.6% in December, according to the National New Energy Consumption Monitoring and Early Warning Center.

At the same time, policymakers are beginning to address the sector’s next phase of development. China plans to strengthen its capacity to recycle aging solar modules, setting a target to process 250,000 tons by 2027 as large volumes of older equipment approach retirement. At the National People’s Congress, Zhong Baoshen, chairman and president of LONGi Green Energy Technology, also proposed creating a financing supervision system for the solar industry and restricting funding for companies that fail to meet regulatory requirements.

Forecasts referenced by the China Photovoltaic Industry Association suggest the sector’s breakneck expansion may slow by 2026 as grid constraints and weaker economics begin to bite.

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/07/2026 - 21:50

Israeli Finance Minister's Son Wounded In Hezbollah Rocket Attack

Israeli Finance Minister's Son Wounded In Hezbollah Rocket Attack

Via The Cradle

At least eight Israeli soldiers were injured by Hezbollah rockets near the border with southern Lebanon on Friday, including the son of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, according to Israeli media. The Lebanese resistance targeted Israeli troop gatherings on Friday. A rocket struck a group of soldiers, wounding eight, five of whom are in serious condition, according to Israel’s military.

The Givati Brigade soldiers were transported to the hospital for treatment. Smotrich’s office released a statement saying his son was among the wounded troops. The attack comes a day after Smotrich vowed that Israel would make Beirut "look like Khan Yunis."

AFP/Getty Images

Hezbollah drone and rocket attacks on Israeli positions have been ongoing, including soldiers inside Lebanon and forces across the border. 

"The Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance targeted a position where soldiers of the Israeli enemy army were entrenched in the Blat al-Mustaqbal area in southern Lebanon with a guided missile… and achieved a direct hit," Hezbollah announced early Friday evening. 

It also announced drone attacks on Kiryat Shmona, a rocket attack on a base in Safad, and around a dozen other operations. 

Israel has started a ground invasion of Lebanon after the pro-Tehran resistance reopened the front, following the beginning of the war of aggression against Iran.

Occupation troops have crossed the border into the country, while other forces are positioned in locations that the Israeli army occupied inside Lebanon after the ceasefire deal in 2024. 

Since the ground war began, Hebrew media have reported several "difficult security incidents" which are under heavy censorship. 

An Israeli army officer was wounded by Hezbollah resistance fighters on March 5, the Israeli military announced in an official statement. 

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's son was sent off to the northern front with Hezbollah and a day after was wounded:

The battles coincided with continued indiscriminate bombing by Israel across south Lebanon, the east, and the capital, Beirut. Over 200 Lebanese have been killed by Israel since March 2.

According to a report by Al Jadeed TV, France has proposed an initiative for an end to the war in Lebanon in exchange for "a full surrender of Hezbollah."

Hezbollah is "rejecting that any party negotiates on its behalf over ending the war, stressing that when the negotiations course matures, it will be the first negotiator, seeing as it considers the previous agreement to be unideal."

The Israeli army has attacked southern Lebanon almost every day since the November 2024 so-called ceasefire, killing hundreds of people. Hezbollah or possibly other groups began to launch sporadic missiles into northern Israel soon after the start of the Iran war this week.

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/07/2026 - 21:15

New York Millionaire's Club Says They're Happy Paying Higher Taxes Under Mamdani

New York Millionaire's Club Says They're Happy Paying Higher Taxes Under Mamdani

Sigh. It's all so exhausting. Not all of New York’s wealthiest residents are sounding alarms over Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan to raise taxes on high earners. In fact, a small group of millionaires says the backlash is a bit over the top, according to Bloomberg.

Members of the Patriotic Millionaires — including filmmaker Abigail Disney, granddaughter of Roy O. Disney of The Walt Disney Company — argue the rich can easily afford to contribute more if it helps fund things like schools, transit and child care.

“I’ve gotten tax cut after tax cut after tax cut. And I never needed any of them,” Disney said, backing Mamdani’s proposed 2-percentage-point income-tax surcharge on millionaires. “All these things have fallen out from under the middle class — an education system that works, public transportation, infrastructure, health care.”

Bloomberg writes that the mayor has floated several ways to boost city revenue, including higher income taxes for people earning more than $1 million and an increase in the top corporate tax rate. Critics, including hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, say the approach risks driving wealthy residents and companies to lower-tax states like Florida or Texas — a concern echoed by Kathy Hochul and business groups.

Supporters counter that the idea of a billionaire stampede out of Manhattan is exaggerated. “I’m certainly not going to move because of higher taxes. That’s ridiculous,” said Morris Pearl, a former executive at BlackRock. “I live where I want to live, and so do most rich people.”

New York isn’t short on potential taxpayers. Nearly 35,000 city residents earned at least $1 million in 2023, and the top 1% already generate roughly two-fifths of the city’s income-tax revenue, according to the New York City Independent Budget Office. For some wealthy advocates, that just proves the point: the people with the deepest pockets can afford to keep the city running.

Pearl also notes how easily the ultra-wealthy can sidestep income taxes altogether. “When you’re already rich, you don’t need income,” he said. “If you don’t have income, you don’t pay income taxes.”

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/07/2026 - 20:45

Turkey Mulls F-16 Deployment To Turkish-Occupied Cyprus Amid Iran War Tensions

Turkey Mulls F-16 Deployment To Turkish-Occupied Cyprus Amid Iran War Tensions

As the Iran war unfolds and has shown signs of becoming a regional conflict, one interesting question is what Turkey's role will be - given it is both a NATO member possessing a large military and an avowed regional enemy and rival to Israel for influence. 

A Turkish defense ministry source has been cited in national media to say the country is mulling deployment of F-16 fighter jets to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

Occupied northern Cyprus, Shutterstock/Middle East Forum

Earlier this week a British military base hosted in EU member Cyprus (on the southern side of the island) came under attack by Iranian-made drones. 

This has resulted in some European military assets being moved to Cyprus, including additional British forces. But now it appears Turkey wants to make a show of doing the name for Turkish-claimed Cypriot territory.

Turkey's Daily Sabah points out, however, that "TRNC has been incensed by Greek Cypriot's growing military cooperation with its Western partners after the United Kingdom has allowed the U.S. to use its military base in the south of the divided island.

Citing the military source, the same Turkish outlet said, "The TRNC leadership has held a series of security meetings in response to the crisis, he added, focusing on crisis management, coordination with Türkiye and the preparedness of civil defense mechanisms."

As for Turkey's long occupation of northern Cyprus, no one else in the world recognizes its legitimacy except for Ankara. Cyprus receives backing from its EU partners, but this doesn't go much beyond verbal censure of Turkey.

The Turkish armed forces has for years had at least 30,000 soldiers stationed on Cyprus and growing, the northern part of which it has illegally occupied since 1974.

At the moment, President Erdogan has reportedly reached out to the UK's Starmer, urging for Britain to do more diplomacy to immediately bring the Iran-US-Israel war to halt.

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/07/2026 - 19:45

PJM Market Monitor Opposes Maryland Coal Plant Sale To Data Center Company

PJM Market Monitor Opposes Maryland Coal Plant Sale To Data Center Company

By Ethan Howland of UtilityDive

The PJM Interconnection’s market monitor on Wednesday urged federal regulators to reject an application from GenOn to sell a 216-MW power plant in Maryland to TeraWulf over concerns the data center developer would remove the resource from PJM’s market.

Taking the four Morgantown generating units out of the PJM market would run counter to “principles” issued by the National Energy Dominance Council and the PJM governors that call for new data centers to provide new generation, Monitoring Analytics, the market monitor, said in a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The proposed deal between TeraWulf and GenOn would also shift risks and costs to PJM customers and would be inconsistent with the public interest, according to Monitoring Analytics.

Boats are docked at the Aqualand Marina as emissions spew out of a stack at the Morgantown Generating Station on June 29, 2015, in Newburg, Md. The PJM Interconnection’s market monitor on March 4, 2026, urged federal regulators to reject an application from GenOn to sell the power plant to TeraWulf. Mark Wilson via Getty Images

The Trump administration and others have been pressing for data center companies to pay for their own power supply and energy infrastructure needs. President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued a “ratepayer pledge” — signed by Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle and xAI — that states that the companies will acquire new generation to meet their data center needs.

“Where possible, these companies will also add more capacity that serves the broader public by increasing supply,” the pledge states.

In its filing at FERC, Monitoring Analytics said the Morgantown power plant is in a constrained zone in PJM that needs existing generation to be retained and new generation to be built.

FERC should reject the proposed deal and require GenOn to refile its application to clarify that the Morgantown units would continue supplying the PJM market, according to the market monitor.

“TeraWulf should be required to commit to not removing the Morgantown Units from the PJM market to serve data center load,” Monitoring Analytics said.

TeraWulf, however, plans to be a net generator for Maryland, according to company officials.

TeraWulf intends to build its project in two phases, each with about 500 MW of gas-fired generation, 250 MW of battery storage and 500 MW of data center load, Paul Prager, TeraWulf chairman and CEO, said during a Feb. 26 earnings call.

“The site is being engineered to operate as a net generator to the state,” Prager said. “We are not just consuming capacity. We are adding it in constrained markets.”

TeraWulf intends to use the planned battery storage at the Morgantown site to shave peak load in a benefit to the PJM grid, Nazar Khan, TeraWulf chief technology officer, said.

Potentially, the project’s first phase could come online in late 2028, according to Prager.

The Morgantown power plant site includes four generating units totaling about 1,260 MW that were shuttered in 2022.

TeraWulf posted a $661.4 million loss in 2025, up from a $72.4 million loss the year before while its revenue increased to $168.5 million from $140.1 million in the same period, according to its annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Since 2022, TeraWulf has mainly funded its operations by selling bitcoin and issuing debt and equity, the company said.

Besides the Morgantown project, TeraWulf has data center projects in Kentucky, New York and Texas, according to a Feb. 26 investor presentation. 

Other parties protesting the Morgantown deal at FERC include Public Citizen and area residents. FERC should direct TeraWulf to describe its plans for the Morgantown site, including how it intends to remediate coal-related pollution there, according to Public Citizen.

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/07/2026 - 19:15

Venezuela's Gas Potential Could Overshadow Its Famous Oil Reserves

Venezuela's Gas Potential Could Overshadow Its Famous Oil Reserves

Authored by Felicity Bradstock via OilPrice.com,

  • While attention is often on Venezuela's vast oil reserves, many experts believe that exploiting its natural gas fields, which were previously neglected, presents a more immediate opportunity for economic success.

  • Developing Venezuela's gas industry will likely require an energy partnership with neighboring Trinidad and Tobago, as the island nation possesses the necessary infrastructure for processing and exporting the fuel that Venezuela lacks.

  • Major international companies like Shell and BP are pursuing key Venezuelan gas projects, such as the Dragon and Cocuina fields, a move facilitated by greater leniency on U.S. sanctions.

Following the United States intervention in Venezuela on 3rd January, which brought an end to President Nicolás Maduro’s 13-year dictatorship, all eyes have been on the South American country’s oil industry. Once one of the world’s biggest oil producers, output has waned in recent years. However, with U.S. President Trump setting his sights on Venezuelan crude, many are speculating just how quickly its resources can be tapped. While the focus is on Venezuela’s potential as an oil power, others think that more immediate success may be seen in the exploitation of its gas fields. 

Venezuela is home to the largest oil reserves in the world, with an estimated 300 billion barrels. However, years of underinvestment and mismanagement have led to a significant reduction in output. The recent U.S. intervention in the South American country has drawn new investor interest in its energy market, as President Trump vows to rapidly redevelop Venezuela’s long-neglected oil resources.

On 13th February, the White House published a press release that stated, “The Trump Administration is rapidly implementing President Trump’s vision to reopen and develop Venezuela’s oil industry for the shared benefit of the American and Venezuelan people. Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, the United States has already issued several general licenses at record speed for oil and gas companies?to make unprecedented investments in Venezuela’s energy infrastructure.”

The statement went on to say, “Venezuela holds tremendous economic potential, but years of instability, corruption, and economic mismanagement have limited the nation’s growth and prosperity. These general licenses invite American and other aligned companies to?play a constructive role in supporting economic recovery?and responsible investment.”

While the world eyes Venezuela’s untapped oil, some believe that there may be greater mid-term potential in exploiting its natural gas reserves. Most of Venezuela’s gas is trapped deep beneath the seafloor. While these reserves were first discovered several decades ago, ago, off the country’s eastern coast, along the border with Trinidad and Tobago, the Venezuelan government left them largely untouched as it focused its attention on oil production. 

Several oil majors, such as Shell, have previously approached Venezuela for a stake in its gas business, even when interest in the country’s oil industry was waning due to geopolitical instability and U.S. sanctions. For years, U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s government and its state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, have restricted the development of its gas industry. In addition, developing its natural gas industry would require cooperation with neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago. 

Trinidad and Tobago already has the necessary infrastructure to transport fuel onshore and export it, which Venezuela does not. If the two countries established an energy partnership, Trinidad’s pre-existing infrastructure could help Venezuela to develop its gas industry more rapidly. However, the two powers, which are separated by language (Spanish and English), have had a strained relationship in recent years. Trinidad and Tobago has generally sided with the United States when it comes to Maduro’s presidency and the decision to impose sanctions on Venezuelan energy. 

Venezuela’s biggest natural gas prospect is the giant Dragon oil field, as it is the closest to being developed. The Venezuelan government previously conducted exploration activities in the field but was unable to retrieve the gas buried there due to a lack of funding to continue exploration. These efforts were further undermined by the sinking of an exploration rig in 2010.

In 2023, the Venezuelan government made a deal with Shell, allowing the foreign firm to explore the Dragon field. The plan was to construct a short pipeline between Dragon and Shell’s existing infrastructure on the island of Trinidad, rather than to start from scratch in Venezuela. 

If Shell develops Dragon, the field is expected to generate around $500 million a year in revenue, based on current natural gas prices, of which at least 45 percent is expected to go to Venezuela in the form of taxes and royalties. “These are opportunities that could potentially be activated within months, with potentially a few billion dollars of investments and production in the next couple of years,” Shell’s CEO, Wael Sawan, told CNBC.

U.S. Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, said that developing a regional natural gas collaboration could be “a real potential win-win for Trinidad and Tobago, a win for the global L.N.G. market, a win for Venezuela.”

Meanwhile, BP is pursuing another Venezuelan gas project, a field known as Cocuina, which greater leniency on U.S. sanctions may make possible. In late February, the U.S. Treasury Department appeared to give oil and gas firms greater leeway to negotiate with Venezuela and operate in the South American country. “They are splicing together an environment that allows the existing players to operate,” said Rachel Ziemba, an adjunct senior fellow at the Centre for a New American Security.

While President Trump is eyeing long-term oil industry development in Venezuela, some international oil majors may be more interested in the South American country’s natural gas potential. Developing the resource will likely require collaboration with neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago, and could lead to the development of a new regional Latin America-Caribbean energy hub. 

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/07/2026 - 18:15

Kalshi, Polymarket Eye $20B Valuations In Potential Fundraising: WSJ

Kalshi, Polymarket Eye $20B Valuations In Potential Fundraising: WSJ

Authored by Amin Haqshanas via CoinTelegraph.com,

Prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket are reportedly exploring new fundraising rounds that could value the companies at around $20 billion each, roughly double their most recent valuations.

Both platforms have held preliminary discussions with potential investors about raising fresh capital at the elevated valuation, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The report noted that the negotiations remain at an early stage and may not result in deals or secure the targeted valuation.

Kalshi currently operates in the United States and offers markets allowing users to wager on outcomes tied to sports, politics, the economy and cultural events. The company was last valued at about $11 billion in December when it raised $1 billion from investors including Paradigm and Sequoia Capital.

Founded in 2018 by Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara, Kalshi received approval from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 2020 to operate as a regulated exchange for event-based markets. The platform has since expanded rapidly and recently surpassed a $1 billion revenue run rate, with some estimates placing the figure closer to $1.5 billion.

Polymarket plans US launch later this year

Polymarket, launched in 2020 by Shayne Coplan, remains inaccessible to US users without a virtual private network but plans to introduce a regulated domestic version of its platform later this year. The company was valued at roughly $9 billion in October after Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, agreed to invest up to $2 billion.

Both platforms have drawn attention from lawmakers and regulators. As Cointelegraph reported, US Democratic lawmakers are drafting legislation to regulate prediction markets after suspiciously timed bets on the timing of US and Israeli strikes on Iran raised insider-trading concerns.

Senator Chris Murphy alleged that individuals close to the White House may have used advance knowledge of the attack to place bets, noting that several Polymarket accounts reportedly made about $1 million by wagering just hours before explosions were reported in Tehran.

Polymarket faces insider trading suspicions

Polymarket has faced multiple insider trading allegations after several traders placed unusually well-timed bets on major events. A small group of crypto wallets recently made more than $1.2 million betting on a market tied to an onchain investigation into DeFi platform Axiom shortly before blockchain investigator ZachXBT published claims about insider trading linked to the project.

In a separate incident last month, another Polymarket account reportedly earned about $400,000 after placing a large wager on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro shortly before the news became public, further raising questions about whether some traders had advance information.

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/07/2026 - 17:15

GLP-1 Feud Ends: NOVO, HIMS Join Forces (Again) To Sell Obesity Drugs

GLP-1 Feud Ends: NOVO, HIMS Join Forces (Again) To Sell Obesity Drugs

The epic, months-long GLP-1 feud between Novo Nordisk and telehealth firm Hims & Hers Health appears to be coming to a surprising end, with both companies reportedly set to announce, as soon as Monday, a new partnership that would allow the Danish drugmaker to sell Wegovy through HIMS' platform.

Bloomberg published the report late Friday, stating:

Novo Nordisk A/S plans to sell its weight-loss drugs on Hims & Hers Health Inc.'s platform, according to a person familiar with the matter...

...

Novo and Hims plan to announce a new partnership as soon as Monday, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The two companies had a similar agreement last year, but Novo abruptly scrapped it after Hims refused to stop marketing and selling copycat medications.

The move is very surprising because NOVO sued HIMS just last month over a copycat Wegovy pill and patent infringement tied to Ozempic and Wegovy. Even the head of the FDA recently stated that telehealth firms were put on notice about copycat GLP-1s.

"There is no other way to describe the Hims news as both a surprise and an unabashed positive for Hims' stock," Leerink Partners analyst Michael Cherny wrote in a note to clients.

NOVO ADRs rose 2% in after-hours trading on Friday following the report, while HIMS shares surged nearly 40%. The new partnership would effectively end the GLP-1 feud between the two companies.

"We get the rationale for Novo here," Cherny added. "The company has been looking to add as many partners as it can to drive market reach, including other digital pharmacies and CVS."

The rationale for why the feud ended will likely be explained by NOVO executives and/or HIMS executives on Monday morning, if the Bloomberg report is correct. It's clear that the feud's end was likely tied to the terrible year-to-date performance of both companies (data below as of close on Friday).

NOVO's willingness to partner with HIMS (again) comes as its new GLP-1 pill has yet to help it gain the momentum to acquire enough new market share to reverse the stock plunge amid a highly competitive obesity space. Additionally, the new CEO is under pressure from investors to reverse the multi-year stock plunge and to offer hope amid a recently dismal outlook for the year.

Also this week, Novo's biggest bull, Goldman analyst James Quigley, downgraded the stock from "Buy" to "Hold." Quigley's full note can be viewed here and is available to pro subs. How long until Quigley reverses this call?

With the feud now apparently over, here is our past reporting:

We noted on X:

It's worth noting that HIMS' float is 39.65% short, or 81 million shares.

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/07/2026 - 16:45

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