Key Events This Week: Macro Returns With Payrolls Thursday, FOMC Minutes And Speakers Galore, But Nvidia Earnings Matters Most After the resolution of the US government shutdown, markets face a packed calendar of delayed and scheduled releases this week, although maybe the most important event will be Nvidia’s earnings after the closing bell on Wednesday. According to DB’s Jim Reid, one of the most interesting developments last […]

Novo Undercuts Lilly’s Obesity Drug Price, Now Cheaper Than Car Payment  Just before the US cash session, Novo Nordisk A/S announced it will slash prices on Wegovy and Ozempic in a direct challenge to Eli Lilly’s obesity drug, aiming to regain market share. The announcement comes just weeks after President Trump finalized a deal with Novo and Lilly to reduce costs as part of the administration’s affordability push ahead of next […]

Lower The Steaks, Raise The Stakes By Benjamin Picton, Senior Market Strategist at Rabobank US stocks closed mixed on Friday to cap off a week where concerns over valuations caused substantial wobbles. The NASDAQ was in the red for the week while the Dow Jones and S&P500 managed to eke out minor gains. Markets have seemingly begun to pay attention to the heroic P/E multiples that many AI-adjacent names are trading on, with more […]

USPS Reports 5.7% Decline In Parcel Volumes, $9BN Loss Submitted by Eric Kulisch of FreightWaves, The U.S. Postal Service lost $9 billion in fiscal year 2025, a $500 million improvement from the prior year that officials attributed to greater revenue intake and reduction in transportation and workers compensation costs. But controllable loss, essentially adjusted operating income that excludes expenses such as workers compensation […]

Turkish LPG Tanker Ablaze After Russian Drone Strike On Ukrainian Port Another Russian overnight massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine has had some serious spillover effects, as the Turkish flagged LPG tanker “Orinda” carrying thousands of metric tons of liquefied petroleum gas was reportedly struck at the port of Izmail in Odesa. The Turkish vessel was reportedly struck directly by a Russian drone, prompting the immediate […]

‘Goldilocks’ Empire Fed Manufacturing Survey Surges To One Year High Amid the last month’s absence of hard economic data, investors have had to rely on soft survey data (and alternative providers) and that has been somewhat optimistic… Today, we saw yet another soft survey data point beat expectations as the NY Fed’s ‘Empire State Manufacturing Survey’ surged to +18.7 from +10.7 and smashing expectations of a +5.8 print… […]

A Very Important Week For Consumer Stocks  Goldman’s top sector specialist, Scott Feiler, offers four thoughts on the consumer ahead of what he calls a “very important week” for the space. Feiler said that consumer stocks finally showed signs of life last week, helped by a few solid earnings beats, but the improvement was mostly based on market rotation as AI names dumped for three consecutive days. He said the next round […]

US Home Builders Offer ‘Elevated’ Incentives Amid Affordability Challenges Authored by Mary Prenon via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Faced with affordability constraints and cautious demand, and with abundant land in states such as Arizona, Utah, Texas, and Florida, many developers are offering enticing incentives to potential homebuyers. A model of a new single-family home at The Ridge at Stone Butte in Phoenix, Arizona. […]

US Equity Futures Fade Overnight Gains As Global Selloff Deepens US equity futures are slightly higher led by Tech, but well off overnight highs, while stocks around global markets slide. As of 8:00am ET, S&P and Nasdaq futures are up 0.1%, having previously been as much as 0.6% higher, after both gauges closed above their 50-day moving averages on Friday, a key support level. In premarket trading, Mag7 names are mostly lower […]

Brent Initially Slides After Russia Restarts Key Novorossiysk Port After Drone Attack  Brent crude prices were initially lower, and are now flat, after operations resumed at Russia’s key Black Sea export hub, Novorossiysk. This follows last Friday’s Ukrainian drone strike on the export hub, which had sent prices soaring. Satellite images confirm major damage to the Sheskharis oil terminal in Novorossiysk after a combined […]

Container Imports Drop 17.6% In October At Busiest US Port By Stuart Chrils of FreightWaves. The Port of Long Beach is moving containerized cargo ahead of the cumulative record-setting pace achieved in 2024 despite weaker demand that saw October volumes drop by nearly 20% from a year ago. The hub, which along with the Port of Los Angeles forms the San Pedro port complex, the nation’s busiest, moved a total 839,671 twenty foot […]

“I Feel Safer Holding Gold”: Vietnamese Govt Cracks Down On Hoarding In the sweltering chaos of Hanoi, 67-year-old Le Thi Minh Tam is waging a desperate guerrilla war against vanishing stockpiles – scrambling from one gold shop to the next, only to find Soviet-style queues where the shiny salvation sells out faster than a central banker’s excuses. “I’m getting worried, as I still don’t have enough,” she tells Bloomberg, the weight […]

“Catholic Church Is Wrong” On Illegal Immigration, Homan Says Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times, The Catholic Church’s criticism of the Trump administration’s policies regarding illegal immigration is “wrong,” border czar Tom Homan told reporters on Nov. 14. “Secure border saves lives. I wish the Catholic Church would understand that. We have the right to secure our borders like they have the right to […]

Visualizing The World’s $111 Trillion In Government Debt In One Giant Chart While global public debt is lower than pandemic highs in real terms, it remains stubbornly elevated at $111 trillion. This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Dorothy Neufeld, shows world debt by country in 2025, based on data from the IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook. A Closer Look at World Debt by Country Below, we break down government debt around […]

Taiwan’s Central Bank To Explore Bitcoin Reserves, Pilot BTC Holdings Authored by Micah Zimmerman via BitcoinMagazine.com, Taiwan’s Premier and Central Bank have reportedly agreed to study Bitcoin as a strategic reserve, draft pro-Bitcoin regulations, and pilot Bitcoin treasury holdings, starting with seized Bitcoin that is ‘awaiting auction.’   The initiative is led by legislator Dr. Ju-chun Ko and supported by Samson […]

Electricity Prices Extend Rise, Regulators Rein In Data Centers There is very little good news this week for those hoping to see relief in electricity prices next year, and more states took steps to put guardrails on data center development. At the same time, new renewable generation projects continue to face delays and cancellations.  Here’s the story the data told this week in the electric power sector. By the Numbers […]

Britain’s Waste Mafia: Foreign Investors, Environmental Disaster, And Political Corruption Submitted by Thomas Kolbe In Oxfordshire, England, along the River Cherwell, a massive illegal landfill has been discovered. Over a stretch of 150 meters, tons of waste have accumulated, posing a serious environmental threat. This is not an isolated incident in England, which now faces the mafia-like structures of its waste and water […]

Where Trust In Government Is Highest & Lowest A new report sheds light on the level of trust – or in many cases distrust – in governments around the world. As Statista’s Anna Fleck breaks down below, according to the latest Edelman Trust Barometer, Saudi Arabia came first for government credibility among the public in 2024.  You will find more infographics at Statista Germany is towards the opposite end of the scale, […]

Germany Caps Power Prices To Save Its Industrial Base By Julianne Geiger of OilPrice.com Germany has agreed to subsidize electricity for its heavy industries, capping prices at about €0.05 per kilowatt-hour from 2026 through 2028—a major policy move aimed at keeping its industrial base from eroding under the weight of Europe’s soaring energy costs. Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Thursday that Berlin’s coalition partners […]

Visualizing How The Cost Of Living Differs Around The World How does the cost of living differ around the world? To find out, Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu visualized the results of Numbeo’s Cost of Living Index, which measures the price of goods, services, and rent relative to New York City (baseline of 100). If a country has a value of 80, for example, it indicates that prices are 20% lower than they are in New York City. […]

The EU’s New Censorship Machine Authored by Thomas Fazi via UnHerd.com, The EU loves talking about freedom. Just look at one of its recent press releases, launching something called the European Democracy Shield, which promises to protect everything from “free people” to “free elections” to — this being Brussels — “a vibrant civil society”. All admirable stuff, perhaps, at least on paper. In reality, though, […]

The Convenience Culture Crisis: How Second-Wave Feminism Helped Make America Sick Authored by Mollie Engelhart via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), There is a version of my life that could have existed, and for a long time it looked like the path I was on. I was a successful restaurateur, financially independent, living a neat and polished life that most people would label as accomplishment. I could have stayed that woman. A single […]

In Surprise Reversal, Trump Now Supports GOP Release Of Epstein Files Less than 24 hours Days after President Donald Trump called Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene a traitor and mocked Thomas Massie’s dead wife – because they were among four Republicans pushing for a House floor vote to force the DOJ to release the Epstein files, Trump – likely sensing he dun goofed, big time, reversed course Sunday night and now supports their […]

Could A Small Venezuelan Island Be The Real Reason Behind the U.S. Military’s Caribbean Buildup Recent reporting highlights a sustained U.S. military buildup across the Caribbean, coinciding with briefings to President Trump in which senior Pentagon officials outlined potential operational scenarios against Venezuela. This activity has raised questions among observers about regime change operations.  Public justification and the […]

‘Freak Accident’: 13 Injured In Aussie Demolition Derby Crash Via AAP, A pall has been cast over a small country town after 13 people were injured when a demolition derby car ploughed into spectators in a “freak accident.” Emergency services descended on Walcha’s showgrounds, 90km from Tamworth in NSW, after a crash at the weekend Walcha Motorcycle Rally. An on-track collision in the demolition derby sent a speedway car […]