Trump Cancels 2nd Wave Of Strikes On ‘Cooperative’ Venezuela – Political Prisoners Freed The post-Maduro Venezuelan government has begun releasing political prisoners as a gesture of ‘good will’ to the United States, signaling that the new Delcy Rodriguez government is ready to play nice with Trump. There are reasons to believe that this former Maduro number two (as his vice president) had cooperated with the CIA to hand the […]

Ayatollah Breaks Silence: Blames US For Instigating “Vandals & Saboteurs” As Cities Burn Iran’s supreme leader has just taken to X where he for the first time explicitly called out the United States for instigating ongoing unrest in the Islamic Republic, where raging economic protests have taken root in more that one hundred cities and towns – with in some instances rioters torching buildings and cars. “Today like the past, […]

GM Cuts EV Exposure After Policy Shift, Takes $6B Charge Imagine all of the malinvestment that took place in autos, on EVs, thank to the government distorting markets and forcing EV adoption when genuine demand may not have been robust. Now, we’re seeing the consequences of returning to a freer market. General Motors will record a $6 billion charge after scaling back several electric-vehicle projects, reflecting both weaker demand […]

UMich Confidence Rebounds In January Off Record Lows As Tariff Fears Abate Having ended 2025 at the lowest Current Conditions Sentiment levels in, well, ever… expectations for preliminary January data were for a modest rebound… and it did (very modestly). The preliminary January sentiment index climbed to 54 from 52.9 in December, according to the University of Michigan (better than the 53.5 expected). The expectations […]

Happening Today: Trump Meeting With US Oil Execs From Exxon, Shell, Others, To Discuss Venezuela President Trump is convening top oil executives at the White House on Friday as part of a push to steer U.S. companies toward investing in Venezuela’s struggling oil industry, CBS reported today. Leaders from Chevron, Exxon, ConocoPhillips, Continental, Halliburton, HKN, Valero, Marathon, Shell, Trafigura, Vitol Americas, Repsol, Eni, […]

US Adds Only 50K Jobs In December, Missing Estimates, But Unemployment Rate Drops To 4.4% Ahead of today’s jobs report, expectations were that the NFP number would show another rebound from the terrible Sept/Oct prints, but remain muted (or else spark fears about reheating and an end to the Fed’s easing cycle). Well, that’s precisely what we got moments ago when the BLS reported that in December the US gained 50K jobs, a modest miss […]

Supreme Court Skips Tariff Ruling Update (1004ET): The USSC did not rule on tariffs Monday, instead issuing a ruling on Bowe vs. United States – concerning whether federal prisoners can ask the Supreme Court to review their sentences. The case was sent back to a lower court. And so, we wait. Wednesday is scheduled for the next round of opinions. *  *  * The US Supreme Court may rule today on the legality of President […]

“World’s Criminals On Notice”: Trump’s Gunboat Diplomacy Seizes Another Tanker In Caribbean Update (0930ET): Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed that U.S. Coast Guard forces “executed a boarding and seizure” of the motor tanker Olina in international waters east of the Caribbean Sea. Noem said Olina was part of a vast network of so-called “ghost fleet” tankers suspected of carrying embargoed oil. She stated that the […]

Meta Signs Massive Nuclear Energy Deal Meta revealed this morning a slew of new agreements with key players in the nuclear power industry, in an urgent bid to provide clean energy for its rapidly expanding data center empire. The initial plan is to offtake over 2000 MW of power from nuclear power plants owned by Vistra energy in Ohio, assist with fast tracking two reactors from TerraPower, and send a pre-payment to Oklo for […]

Ukraine Hit With Oreshnik Hypersonic As Retaliation For Attempted ‘Terror Attack’ On Putin Residence Russia launched another massive overnight strike on Ukraine using its hypersonic Oreshnik missile as part of a large-scale assault said to be retaliation for the alleged Ukrainian attempt to drone strike Putin’s residence last month. Kiev was hit hard in the fresh missile and drone attack which set apartment buildings on fire and […]

Futures Muted Ahead Of Two Key Events Stock futures are muted, with traders awaiting two major catalysts: A possible Supreme Court ruling on whether Trump’s tariffs are legal and December payrolls — a key datapoint for the trajectory of interest rates. As of 8:00amm, S&P 500 futures are up 0.1%, with Nasdaq 100 contracts +0.2% with Mag 7 stocks mixed premarket. Mortgage stocks jump after President Donald Trump said on […]

Lenders & Homebuilders Jump After Trump Unveils QE-Style $200B Mortgage Bond Buying Plan To Unfreeze Housing Market Upate (0710ET): Shares of LoanDepot, Rocket Companies, and Opendoor Technologies surged in premarket trading after President Trump signaled plans to push Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to purchase $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities, a move aimed at driving down mortgage rates and improving affordability ahead […]

Atlanta Fed Nearly Doubles Q4 Growth Estimate To 5.4% After Strong Data Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times, U.S. economic growth prospects received a fresh boost this week as the Atlanta Federal Reserve nearly doubled its estimate for fourth-quarter output after a raft of strong data, while Fitch Ratings lifted its projections for full-year 2025 and 2026 growth after delayed government releases showed firmer economic […]

Six Global Energy Trends Shaping The Middle East In 2026 Via Rystad Energy, Middle Eastern national oil companies (NOCs) reinforced their role as a critical buffer in the global energy system through a consistent strategy of capacity expansion and cost reduction, planning to grow investment to about $110 billion in 2026. OPEC+ successfully transitioned from reactive production cuts to a sophisticated strategy of controlled […]

Did Gen-Z Just Get A Taste For Fancy Used-Watches The Bloomberg Subdial Watch Index, which tracks prices for the 50 most-traded watches by value on the secondary market, bottomed one year ago and has been rising ever since. Prices in the secondary market are up 2.1% over the last 24 months and nearly 9% over the last 12 months. Prices remain well below the peaks seen during the Covid-era free-money period. Bloomberg’s Allegra […]

Wife Jailed After Caging, Starving & Boiling Husband With 60 Chihuahuas As Belgian Court Rejects Menopause Excuse Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News, A Belgian court on Wednesday sentenced a woman to seven years in prison after rejecting claims that early menopause, stress, and a household overrun by 60 chihuahuas explained months of sadistic abuse that resulted in her husband being locked up and tortured for weeks on […]

Four Investment Themes For 2026 Authored by Michael Wilkerson via The Epoch Times, Let me get to the punch line of my view on the financial markets for 2026. The remarkable equity bull run of the past couple of years is unlikely to stall, at least not in the first half of 2026. Corrections are inevitable, and we are indeed likely in an asset bubble. But in the coming months, the benefits of President Donald Trump’s policy […]

White House Mulls Payments Up To $100,000 Per Greenlander To Join US The Trump administration has mulled sending lump sum payments to Greenlanders of up to $100,000 in exchange for their vote to secede from Denmark and join the United States, Reuters reports, citing four sources familiar with the matter. Nuuk, Greenland The exact dollar figure and logistics of any payments are unclear, however US officials, including White […]

Woman Killed In Minneapolis Was “ICE Watch” Left-Wing Activist Trained To Resist Fed Agents: Report Update (1858): The New York Post reports that Renee Nicole Good was an anti-ICE “warrior” and part of a network of left-wing activists who worked to “document and resist” ICE operations in Minnesota.   Key details from the NYPost report: Good, who moved to the city last year, linked up with the anti-ICE activists through her […]

“Appalling”: Debanking Explodes To Record High In Britain An estimated 453,230 accounts were shut down in the United Kingdom in the last year, a stunning figure that has drawn outrage from the country’s leading conservative lawmaker. Nigel Farage Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called the shocking figure “appalling” and slammed European rules that he believes “makes it cheaper for banks to close accounts over unusual […]

Stolen Soil And Corporate Welfare: The Global Scam Of ‘Feeding The World’ Authored by Colin Todhunter via Off-Guardian.org, Supermarket shelves have never been fuller, yet diets have become poorer. Across the world, food systems praised for their productivity now deliver an abundance of calories alongside widespread micronutrient deficiency, ecological collapse and rural precarity. This is the outcome of an agricultural model […]

German Prez Gets Schnitzel In A Twist, Says Trump Destroying World Order German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is absolutely freaked out about Donald Trump, and says the ‘world order’ is at risk of disintegrating into a “den of robbers” where the unscrupulous simply take what they want.  Wait, you mean:  – Like Ukrainian oligarchs busted embezzling $100M IN US taxpayer money (for starters)? – Like the Panama papers? – […]

Swedish Migration Board Employee Blows Whistle On Agency Run By Migrants Who Refuse To Integrate, And Serve Their Own Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News, The Swedish Migration Board, the authority charged with deciding who may live in Sweden and under what conditions, has been described by internal sources as an organization largely staffed by personnel with a migration background who often speak their own languages and seek […]

Guyana: The Little Caribbean Country With A Big Role To Play In Trump’s Regional Shift Authored by John Haughey via The Epoch Times, With the U.S. capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro in a bold Jan. 3 military raid and a large naval force still prowling the southern Caribbean to ensure that Maduro’s successors cooperate with the Trump administration, other subtle, but key, developments in the region can be overlooked. […]

Where People (Don’t) Reach For Alcohol-Free Alternatives 2026 has arrived, and like every year, many around the world will be using this new beginning to take New Year’s resolutions, often centered around health: exercising more, eating healthier, losing weight, or maybe drinking less. Dry January, a month-long break from alcohol, was officially launched as a campaign in 2013 by Alcohol Change UK, a charity specialising in […]