🇺🇸 🇯🇵 🇨🇳 The news of Nippon Steel moving to acquire US Steel is an opportunity to post this important chart; and to remind ourselves that steel is the backbone of civilization, necessary for industrial production, essential to our daily life, and a sustaining element of military power.

📎 malmesburyman

— 🇷🇺/🇺🇦 NEW: As the war turns gradually in the favor of Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has requested the mobilization of 500.000 additional troops

@Middle_East_Spectator

On Friday, the S&P 500 ETF, $SPY, saw its biggest single-day inflow on record, at $20.8 billion.

Dating back to the ETF's inception in 1993, this has never been seen.

Total inflows last week alone hit $24 billion, also posting a new record.

Yesterday, $SPY saw ANOTHER $10 billion of inflows, putting the total at nearly $35 billion since last Monday.

That's $35 billion in 6 trading days, or $5.8 billion PER DAY.

Year-to-date total inflows for $SPY are at $50 billion.

This means that ~70% of YTD inflows for $SPY have happened over the last 6 trading days.

The market is really betting on Powell sticking to a "Fed pivot."

https://twitter.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1737149047113236757

Twelve Major Trading and Transportation Companies Opt Out of Red Sea Trade Routes

BP, CMA CGM, Equinor, Euronav, Evergreen, Frontline, Hapag-Lloyd, HMM, Maersk, MSC, OOCL, and Yang Ming Marine Transport have collectively chosen to steer clear of trade routes through the Red Sea, marking a significant shift in their transportation strategies.

#oil #transport #RedSea
@songofoil

❗️Vladimir Putin hinted at Russian support for the potential return of Western Ukrainian border regions once annexed by Stalin from Poland, Hungary & Romania.

⚡️Putin directly inferred that Russia would not oppose the "re-annexation" of these regions back to their former countries noting that he is 100% certain this is what residents of those Ukrainian border want.

⚠️Potentially:

🇺🇦Transcarpathia back to Hungary 🇭🇺
🇺🇦Galicia & Volyn back to Poland 🇵🇱
🇺🇦Bukovina back to Romania 🇷🇴

🎙Subscribe @AussieCossack

🇺🇸 🇾🇪 💵 A $2M missile vs. a $2,000 drone: Pentagon worried over cost of Houthi attacks

⬛️ “That quickly becomes a problem because the most benefit ... is in their favor,” one expert said.

🔶️ As American warships rack up kills against Houthi drones and missiles in the Red Sea, Pentagon officials are increasingly alarmed not just at the threat to U.S. naval forces and international shipping — but at the growing cost of keeping them safe.

🔶️ U.S. Navy destroyers have shot down 38 drones and multiple missiles in the Red Sea over the past two months, according to a Defense Department official, as the Iran-backed militants have stepped up attacks on commercial vessels moving energy and oil through the world’s most vital shipping lanes. On Saturday alone, the destroyer USS Carney intercepted 14 one-way attack drones.

🔶️ Houthi leaders have said the attacks are a show of support for the Palestinians, and that they won’t stop until Israel halts its operations in Gaza. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday announced a new international maritime coalition to safeguard shipping and counter the attacks.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/19/missile-drone-pentagon-houthi-attacks-iran-00132480

https://archive.ph/lHK3Y

🚢 🌍 🛢 "The Red Sea Crisis is coming at a really nice time given the breakdown of relations between Russia and Europe. Petroleum flows through the Suez Canal are more than twice what they were before the Russo-Ukrainian war began."

📎 Big Serge

THE COLORADO SUPREME COURT REMOVED FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP FROM THE STATE’S 2024 BALLOT, RULING THAT HE ISN’T AN ELIGIBLE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE BECAUSE OF THE 14TH AMENDMENT’S “INSURRECTIONIST BAN.”.-CNN 🇺🇸 ...