India Rescues 24 Crewmembers From Stricken Tanker Off Oman After US Airstrike

Update(1315ET): US Navy forces have announced a new Monday direction action operation in the Gulf of Oman. The US has cited that the vessel refused to respond to orders related to the blockade of Iranian naval ports.

The ship attempted to sail to an Iranian port, in violation of the ongoing blockade. A CENTCOM statement indicated that the military "disabled Palau-flagged M/T Marivex as it transited international waters in the Gulf of Oman toward Iran."

"An F/A-18 Super Hornet from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) fired a precision munition into the ship's engineering and steering spaces after the crew failed to comply with directions from U.S. forces," the statement continued. "Marivex is no longer sailing to Iran," it said. The Pentagon has also reviewed the following since initiating the blockade on April 13.

• CENTCOM forces have disabled seven non-compliant vessels
• it has redirected 134 ships that complied
• allowed 42 vessels supporting humanitarian aid to pass

This is the same vessel which took on US military fire:

Indian navy helicopters airlifted 24 sailors off a tanker on fire off the coast of Oman on Monday, New Delhi officials said, without saying what caused the blaze.

India’s Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways said a fire was reported at around 1:30 p.m. (0800 GMT) on the MT Marivex, a Palau-flagged tanker.

“There has been a fire reported on a vessel, MT Marivex, on which there were 24 Indian seafarers... all Indian seafarers are safe,” ministry director Opesh Kumar Sharma told reporters.

And more from the same report:

Images posted on social media by the Forward Seamen’s Union of India showed crew members being winched from the vessel by helicopter as thick black smoke billowed from its bridge and accommodation cabins.

The tanker’s position was shown by ship-tracking service MarineTraffic as being off the coast of Oman, south of the capital Muscat.

*  *  *

Brent crude futures jumped as much as 5% to $97.83 a barrel, while WTI traded around $95 a barrel, as renewed Iran-Israel fighting threatened to unravel a fragile US-Iran ceasefire and further disrupt energy flows.

On the maritime chokepoint front, Iran-backed Houthis declared a full ban on Israeli vessels in the southern Red Sea, warning that any Israeli ship (or linked ship) will be seen as a military target.

"First: We declare a complete and total ban on maritime navigation for the Israeli enemy in the Red Sea, and we consider all enemy movements to be military targets for our Armed Forces from the moment this statement is issued," the terror group said Monday in a statement.

The statement continued, "Second: We affirm that we will meet escalation with escalation, and that our military operations will escalate in line with events, the battle, and in conjunction with the axis of Jihad and Resistance."

"Third: We affirm the right of our people and the peoples of our free nation to confront American-Israeli aggression, and that we will not stand idly by in the face of the unjust siege imposed on our people and the peoples of the axis of Jihad and Resistance in Palestine, Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, and Iraq. All enemy attempts will fail, God willing, and our operations will continue as long as the aggression and siege against us and the axis of Jihad and Resistance continue," the statement concluded.

The Houthis have announced a "complete blockade" of the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait against all vessels linked to Israel.

They also warned that any further escalation will be met with an even stronger response. pic.twitter.com/fu6UFPtD1G

— Egypt's Intel Observer (@EGYOSINT) June 8, 2026

The announcement is similar to the Houthis' late-2023 campaign, when rebel forces attacked ships linked to Israel or bound for Israeli ports in or around the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. They framed the attacks as retaliation for the Gaza war.

Potential disruption of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait in the southern Red Sea will only add to the headaches for global maritime trade, as it is a critical sea route for Asia-to-Europe commerce and Gulf energy exports.

At its narrowest point, the strait is about 18 miles wide, making commercial vessels extraordinarily vulnerable to suicide drones, missiles, mines, and small boats.

The previous disruption of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait led to ships rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope, adding time, fuel, insurance costs, and higher shipping costs. The IMF has previously said that the Red Sea attacks halved Suez Canal trade in early 2024, while shipping traffic via the Cape of Good Hope surged.

Related:

• Alarming Supply-Chain Stress Sends Transport Cost Soaring, Fueling Inflation Fears

• UBS Reactivates Supply-Chain Stress Watch After Detecting Alarmingly Rapid Deterioration

Readers were brefied in mid-April on the threat other critical straits could be disrupted. Read the note here. 

The big risk here is a simultaneous disruption of both maritime chokepoints. Bab-el-Mandeb would hit the world's trade artery, while Hormuz has already disrupted the world's energy artery. Combined, the clogging of both maritime chokepoints would be viewed as a major escalation, likely raising the risk of additional supply chain stress, higher freight and insurance costs, and another inflationary wave.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 13:15

Trump Weighs Plan To Buy Chagos Islands, Home To Diego Garcia Military Base

The White House is actively considering a plan to purchase the Chagos Islands, potentially undermining the UK's agreement to transfer sovereignty of the strategically vital territory to Mauritius, according to reports.

An undated photograph shows an aerial view of Diego Garcia. U.S. Navy via AP

US officials have prepared proposals to bypass Britain and negotiate directly for control of Diego Garcia, the key Indian Ocean atoll that hosts a major joint US-UK military base. The idea forms part of broader options being developed by the Trump administration as alternatives to Prime Minister Keir Starmer's plan to cede the islands to Mauritius, which has close ties to China and Iran.

Strategic Importance

Diego Garcia's location makes it critical for long-range operations. It enables round-the-clock bomber missions, including potential strikes on Iran using B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, and places key areas within striking range. Amid ongoing conflicts involving Iran and China's expanding naval presence, US and UK officials stress the need to maintain a robust chain of global military bases.

Senior Trump administration officials worry that transferring control to Mauritius could expose the base to espionage or interference. One former adviser to UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Ben Judah, told the Telegraph that the base has "super secret, super sensitive facilities" that are vital to British and allied capabilities, noting they would be difficult to replicate elsewhere.

Background on the UK-Mauritius Deal

The UK had agreed to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius while securing a long-term lease for the military base, reportedly involving around £35 billion ($46.7 billion) over 99 years. However, the deal requires US consent due to longstanding agreements governing the base, and Britain has since placed it on hold.

President Trump initially appeared open to the arrangement but later strongly opposed it, particularly after the UK reportedly declined to allow strikes on Iran from Diego Garcia in the early stages of the Iran war. He publicly denounced the deal as "great stupidity" and criticized Starmer for weakening the special relationship, calling him "no Winston Churchill."

US Position and Ongoing Talks

A US official told Reuters:

"President Trump has been consistent in his position that the United Kingdom should not give away the British Indian Ocean Territory, which includes our joint U.S.-UK military facility on the Diego Garcia atoll. Diego Garcia's strategic location in the Indian Ocean makes it a vital and indispensable military installation of significant importance to the national security of the United States."

The US continues regular discussions with Britain to preserve the base's viability.

Purchasing the islands outright would likely involve waiting for the UK-Mauritius sovereignty transfer before negotiating with Mauritius. No specific price has been discussed, according to sources.

In February, Trump said that he had retained the right to "militarily secure" the Diego Garcia air base after calling the UK's decision an "act of total weakness."

UK Response

A UK government spokesperson defended the original agreement, stating it was necessary to protect long-term interests and prevent adversaries from gaining a foothold:

"Diego Garcia is a key strategic military asset for both the UK and the US, which has protected our shared security for nearly 60 years. Maintaining long-term operational control and security of Diego Garcia is the entire basis for the UK-Mauritius agreement."

In May, UK minister Hamish Falconer stated there was "no scenario" in which Washington could purchase the islands, reaffirming commitment to the deal. Downing Street has not commented on the latest US proposals.

People protest outside the High Court where Chagossian campaigners are challenging the British government's deal to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, in London, Britain, October 28, 2025. Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 13:00

Flying Car Industry Turns To Solid-State Batteries For Commercial Takeoff

Authored by Bojan Stojkovski via Interesting Engineering,

Solid-state battery advances could accelerate flying car adoption. GAC

As the flying car industry moves from prototype development toward commercial deployment, attention is increasingly shifting to the technologies needed to support safe and scalable operations.

Su Qingpeng, founder and CEO of GAC Govy, a low-altitude mobility company incubated by GAC, recently described solid-state batteries as the "essential path" for the future of flying cars, highlighting their potential to deliver the energy density and safety required for aerial mobility.

At the same time, investor expectations are evolving. Rather than focusing primarily on technical specifications and performance claims, capital markets are placing greater emphasis on practical indicators of commercial success, including vehicle deliveries, profitability, production readiness, and the timeline for obtaining airworthiness certification.

Flying Cars Follow a Path Similar to Early EVs

Su compared the current stage of the flying car industry to the position electric vehicles occupied roughly a decade ago, when the market was still transitioning from early adoption to large-scale growth. He argued that aviation mobility could advance even more rapidly than the EV sector once adoption reaches a critical threshold.

According to his outlook, the industry is expected to establish a sustainable commercial ecosystem by 2030, supported by technological progress, regulatory approvals, and the gradual rollout of low-altitude transportation services, CarNewsChina reported.

After entering the market with its first production model, GAC Govy has been advancing toward regulatory approval and commercial deployment. Its flagship aircraft, the Govy AirCab, opened for pre-orders in 2025 and officially entered production in May 2026.

The Chinese company aims to complete airworthiness testing and secure Type Certification (TC) by the end of 2026, while Production Certification (PC) is targeted for the first half of 2027, paving the way for larger-scale manufacturing and commercial operations.

Safer, Longer-Range Flying Cars Depend on Solid-State Batteries

In the long run, battery technology is emerging as one of the most important factors shaping the future of aerial mobility. Su noted that solid-state batteries will play a central role in enabling the next generation of flying cars by delivering both the energy density required for longer flight ranges and the safety standards needed for commercial operations.

Furthermore, the business case for solid-state batteries is markedly different in aviation than in the automotive sector. Whereas carmakers are pursuing the technology largely to lower costs and improve competitiveness in high-volume markets, flying car manufacturers can absorb significantly higher battery costs due to the economics of aircraft production. Su noted that conventional aircraft are far more expensive to build than automobiles, giving eVTOL developers greater flexibility to adopt advanced battery technologies.

As a result, solid-state batteries can already be deployed in limited production runs for aerial vehicles. Over time, broader adoption across the automotive industry is expected to drive down battery costs, making flying cars more economical to operate and opening the door to wider commercial use.

However, Su also warned that flying car production is likely to scale more slowly than traditional automobiles. Extensive design iterations, airworthiness certification, and manufacturing validation requirements make the path to mass production longer and more complex, resulting in a gradual ramp-up in deliveries.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 12:40

US Bankruptcy Filings Surge 7% YoY In May

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

Total U.S. bankruptcy filings, which include filings made by both businesses and individuals, rose by 7 percent in May on a year-to-year basis.

A hiring sign at the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City shopping mall in Arlington, Va., on Jan 3, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Individual bankruptcy filings rose by 8 percent during the one-year period. While overall commercial filings were down marginally by 0.1 percent, bankruptcy filings made by small businesses jumped 36 percent, according to a June 5 statement from the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI).

"The May data reflects a continued but measured uptick in bankruptcy activity, particularly among small businesses," said Michael Hunter, vice president of Epiq AACER, the company that provided the bankruptcy data.

"The trend highlights the cumulative impact of elevated interest rates, persistent inflation, and higher operating costs. As access to affordable credit remains constrained, more businesses and consumers are turning to restructuring tools to stabilize and reset financially."

The 12-month inflation rate has consistently remained above the 2 percent level over the past few years. In recent months, the rate has shot up since the Iran conflict after remaining subdued for some time.

In February, the inflation rate was 2.4 percent, which surged to 3.3 percent in March and 3.8 percent in April, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Higher prices pose a challenge to business activities and consumer spending.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve's benchmark interest rate has remained elevated at 3.5 to 3.75 percent in recent months, with the central bank refusing to cut rates further. This contributes to keeping loan rates high, making credit expensive for businesses and individuals.

In May, commercial chapter 11 filings fell 7 percent from last year, ABI said in its latest statement. A Chapter 11 bankruptcy seeks to reorganize a company's debts, aiming to keep the business operational and, eventually, turn it solvent. This is the most common type of bankruptcy filing made by businesses.

The May decline in such filings bucks the persistent increase in such cases since the beginning of the year. In April, Chapter 11 filings rose 42 percent from a year ago. And during the first quarter of 2026, these filings rose 37 percent year over year.

Among companies that filed for bankruptcy last month is specialty material solutions provider Trinseo PLC. On May 26, the company announced it would commence Chapter 11 filings as part of a restructuring plan. The company said it expects the plan to cut down its debt by roughly $2 billion.

Earlier on May 6, pet food ingredient company Integrated Proteins, LLC, filed a voluntary petition for bankruptcy, citing estimated assets of $50 million to $100 million and liabilities of $100 million to $500 million.

US Business Situation

In a May 14 report, S&P Global warned that the trajectory of bankruptcy filings could increase over the coming months, citing "inflationary pressures, elevated fuel prices and other macroeconomic uncertainties, largely related to the Middle East war."

Andrew Glenn, managing partner at Glenn Agre Bergman & Fuentes, said the existing macroeconomic factors have "still not resulted in the next wave of big filings." The current period is the "calm before the storm" ahead of a potential barrage of commercial bankruptcy filings.

Meanwhile, sentiment among small business owners remains positive, with optimism in this group rising marginally in April, the National Federation of Independent Business said in a May 12 statement.

Financial services company ShareBuilder 401k said in a May 11 statement that, while owners are weighed down by inflation and labor shortages, they are adopting new strategies to grow their businesses.

A survey from the ShareBuilder 401k showed that 88 percent of owners took "decisive action" to counter inflation and labor challenges over the past year.

"Half of all small businesses (50 percent) have increased prices to protect margins, while others have turned to lower-cost vendors (23 percent)," the company said.

According to a June 3 report from S&P Global, four out of seven U.S. sectors reported an upturn in their business activity in May - healthcare, consumer goods, basic materials, and industrials. Financials, tech, and consumer services sectors registered declines.

On the employment front, the U.S. economy added 172,000 jobs in May, exceeding economists' expectations. The unemployment rate remains steady at 4.3 percent. However, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits hit a four-month high for the week ending May 30.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones, which opened at around 49,832 on May 1, closed at about 51,032 on May 29, a jump of roughly 1,200 points.

The Trump administration has taken actions to help businesses acquire credit.

In March, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that small manufacturers will be eligible to secure loans with a 90 percent federal guarantee. This is expected to help such businesses get access to "long-term, affordable financing."

Last month, SBA announced that it will allow eligible borrowers to get up to $10 million in combined financing from 7(a) and 504 loan programs for businesses, double the earlier limit of $5 million.

"By decoupling 7(a) loan balances from the 504 program, the SBA is giving capital-intensive small businesses - including those in construction, logistics, energy, food production, and related industries - greater flexibility to pair long-term financing for real estate and equipment with working capital to support operations and expansion," the agency said.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 12:00

Wix Tumbles After Cutting 20% Of Workforce, Warns Of Deeper Growth Slowdown

Website builder Wix announced an "organizational realignment" on Monday that will cut roughly 20% of its workforce, as the company warned of a sharper-than-expected slowdown in its Partners business.

The restructuring is designed to streamline operations, discontinue lower-priority initiatives, and reallocate resources toward Wix's core growth areas.

"The organizational realignment to streamline operations and reallocate resources to support the Company's top strategic priorities. This includes the scaling down and/or discontinuation of certain activities, initiatives, products, and subsidiaries," Wix wrote in a Form 6k filing earlier this morning.

As of 1Q26, Wix had 5,277 employees, so a 20% cut would represent about 1,055 layoffs.

Wix is a SaaS website builder that competes with platforms such as Shopify, Squarespace, GoDaddy, and WordPress-related services. There was no mention of whether AI-related efficiencies contributed to the white-collar layoffs.

The 6k filing noted that it expects 2026 free cash flow, excluding acquisition and restructuring costs, of about $420 million, roughly $20 million above its prior plan. This restructuring is a move to support profitability.

"While Wix Harmony and Base44 continue to perform as we expected when we issued guidance as part of the first quarter 2026 earnings release, the Company expects an approximately $50 million reduction in bookings and an approximately $25 million reduction in revenue in FY 2026 as a result of our organizational realignment as well as a more pronounced slowdown, beyond our previous expectations, in the growth of our Partners business during the second half of May and early June," the filing stated.

The company lowered its 2026 bookings growth outlook to the low-teens range from mid-teens, while revenue growth is now expected in the low- to mid-teens range, also down from mid-teens.

Cost savings from the labor restructuring are expected to offset the revenue hit. Wix sees about $70 million in incremental non-GAAP cost-of-revenue and operating-expense savings this year, with a full-year run-rate savings target of about $150 million, driven mainly by lower payroll and overhead.

Wix expects $30 million to $35 million in pre-tax restructuring charges, mostly related to cash severance and benefits, with most charges booked in the second quarter and cash payments made later this year.

Shares of Wix tumbled 10% in premarket trading. The stock is trading near 2017 lows.

Most Wall Street analysts are bullish on the stock. There are 12 "Buy" ratings, 8 "Neutral" ratings, and 1 "Sell."

The average 12-month price target for the stock is $84 per share.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 11:45

Inflation Expectations Dip, Driven By Lower Gas Prices, While Labor Market Prospects Worsen: NY Fed Survey

Ahead of Wednesday's CPI report which is expected to show a substantial rise in consumer prices, moments ago we got an early look into how consumers view inflation after the NY Fed's latest monthly survey of consumer expectations reported that inflation expectations at the one-year horizon dipped to 3.46% in May from 3.64% in April, easing from the highest print since September 2023. Inflation expectations were unchanged at 3.1% for the three-year-ahead horizon and also unchanged at 3.0% at the five-year-ahead horizon in May.

Median inflation uncertainty, or the uncertainty expressed regarding future inflation outcomes, increased at the one-year and three-year-ahead horizons and decreased at the five-year-ahead horizon. 

The drop in year-ahead expectations took place as 1-year gas inflation expectations extended its recent decline, sliding to 4.96% in May from 5.11% in April and from 9.42% in March, which had been the highest reading since March 2022.

Among other prices, home price growth expectations increased to highest since July 2022.

Food and rent price outlooks also increased while medical care and college eased (good luck).

Turning to the labor market, sentiment continued to deteriorate with job-loss fears rising and probability of quitting at a three-year high despite unemployment rate seen edging lower and expected earnings growth steady.

Respondents said the mean perceived probability of finding a job if one’s current job was lost decreased by 2.3% to 43.7%, remaining below its 12-month trailing average of 46.8% and marking the lowest reading since December 2025.

The mean perceived probability of losing one’s job in the next twelve months increased by 0.5% to 15.1%, above the series’ 12-month trailing average of 14.4%. Despite that, the expected quit rate - the probability of leaving one’s job voluntarily in the next year, usually a sign of confidence in the labor market - rose in May to the highest since February of 2023. The increase was broad-based across age, education and income groups, the report said. 

The report followed an unexpectedly strong employment report for May with job gains beating expectations. For Fed officials, the report put to rest for now concerns that the US labor market remained fragile and stoked worries over inflation. Policymakers’ preferred measure of inflation hit 3.8% in April, amid a spike in energy prices.

The New York Fed survey also reinforced other reports showing consumer sentiment is at record lows: the share of households who said their financial situation was worse than last year reached its highest level since January of 2023. More consumers also expected a deterioration in their finances in the year ahead.

Household finances outlook fell to lowest since Oct. 2022, with spending growth expected to moderate amid worsening credit access and delinquencies

The perceived probability of missing a minimum debt payment over the next three months rose by 1.2% points to 12.6%, staying below its 12-month trailing average of 12.9%. This increase was mostly driven by those with at most a high school degree and with annual household incomes below $100,000. 

Here are some more details from the report:

Inflation

• Median home price growth expectations increased by 0.5% point to 3.5%. This is the highest reading since July 2022. The increase was most pronounced for the West and Midwest Census regions. 
• Median year-ahead gas price growth expectations dropped by 0.1% point to 5.0%. Other commodity price change expectations increased by 0.6 percentage point for food to 5.8% and by 1.4 percentage points for rent to 7.4%, while they decreased by 0.7 percentage point for the cost of medical care to 8.9% and by 0.8 percentage point for the cost of a college education to 8.0%. 

Labor Market

• Median one-year-ahead earnings growth expectations remained stable at 7% in May, remaining slightly above their 12-month trailing average of 2.6%. 
• Mean unemployment expectations—or the mean probability that the U.S. unemployment rate will be higher one year from now—decreased by 0.4 percentage point to 43.2%, remaining above their 12-month trailing average of 41.1%. 
• The mean perceived probability of losing one’s job in the next 12 months increased by 0.5 percentage point to 15.1%, above the series’ 12-month trailing average of 14.4%. The mean probability of leaving one’s job voluntarily, or the expected quit rate, in the next 12 months increased by 2.6 percentage points to 20.8%, its highest level since February 2023. The increase was broad-based across age, education, and income groups. 
• The mean perceived probability of finding a job if one’s current job was lost decreased by 2.3 percentage points to 43.7%, remaining below its 12-month trailing average of 46.8% and marking the lowest reading since December 2025. 

Household Finance

• The median expected growth in household income remained unchanged at 2.8% in May 2026. 
• Median one-year-ahead nominal household spending growth expectations decreased by 0.4 percentage point to 5.0%, standing slightly above their trailing 12-month average of 4.9%. The decline was driven by respondents above age 60 and those with at most a high school degree and annual household incomes less than $50,000. 
• Perceptions of credit access compared to a year ago remained largely unchanged, with a greater share of households reporting that credit availability was equally easy or difficult. Expectations for future credit availability deteriorated, with a lower share of respondents expecting it will be easier to obtain credit in the year ahead. 
• The average perceived probability of missing a minimum debt payment over the next three months rose by 1.2 percentage points to 12.6%, staying below its 12-month trailing average of 12.9%. This increase was mostly driven by those with at most a high school degree and with annual household incomes below $100,000. 
• The median expectation regarding a year-ahead change in taxes at current income level decreased by 0.3 percentage point to 3.1%. 
• Median year-ahead expected growth in government debt decreased by 0.1 percentage point to 9.9%. 
• The mean perceived probability that the average interest rate on savings accounts will be higher in 12 months decreased by 2.1 percentage points to 24.6%. 
• Perceptions about households’ current financial situation compared to a year ago deteriorated, with a larger share of households reporting a worse financial situation, marking the highest reading since January 2023, and a slightly smaller share of households reporting a better financial situation. Year-ahead expectations about households’ financial situation also deteriorated, with an increase in the net share of households expecting a worse financial situation. The net share of households expecting a better versus worse financial situation in one year is at its lowest level since October 2022. 
• The mean perceived probability that U.S. stock prices will be higher 12 months from now increased by 0.4 percentage points to 38.0%. 

Source: NY Fed

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 11:33

We Are Being Warned That A "Godzilla El Niño" Could Absolutely Devastate Global Food Production

Authored by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,

The waters of the Pacific Ocean are getting extremely warm, and that could provide fuel for an immensely destructive climate event that is unlike anything we have ever seen before. Even the United Nations has issued an ominous warning about the El Niño event that is in the long-term forecast, because it will have a dramatic impact on every man, woman, and child on the entire planet.

We are being told that there is more than an 80 percent chance that El Niño conditions will arrive by the end of next month due to rapidly warming equatorial waters in the Pacific. Meanwhile, an unprecedented "9,000-mile marine heatwave" has developed in the North Pacific. Many experts are concerned that the confluence of those two factors could produce a "Godzilla El Niño"...

The chance of an El Niño event emerging by July is now over 80 percent, which will likely make 2026 one of the hottest years on record. At the same time, an exceptionally large 9,000-mile marine heatwave has been forming in the North Pacific since the end of 2025. These extreme warming events are now evolving together across the Pacific. Scientists are increasingly concerned that the warm water will fuel a "super" or "Godzilla" El Niño, potentially prolonging marine heatwaves, disrupting fisheries and ecosystems, and intensifying global climate impacts well into 2027.

The "9,000-mile marine heatwave" in the North Pacific is absolutely astounding climate scientists.

At the same time, the warming in the equatorial waters where El Niño events normally develop is at a level that we haven't seen since at least 1877...

The temperature of the ocean in the equatorial waters where these El Niños form was predicted to be 3 degrees Celsius above average. Experts are saying that this is a level of heat in the Pacific Ocean that hasn't been recorded since 1877.

I have written about the "Super El Niño" that started in 1877 before.

That "Super El Niño" was one of the primary reasons why 50 million people starved during the Great Famine that stretched from 1876 to 1878...

This El Niño, they say, could rival the intense event of the late 19th century that triggered "the Great Famine" on a global scale, killing millions of people. And its scythe sliced through southern Africa.

"The 1876-78 Great Famine impacted multiple regions across the globe, including parts of Asia, Nordeste [Northeast] Brazil, and northern and southern Africa, with total human fatalities exceeding 50 million people, arguably the worst environmental disaster to befall humanity," a team of scientists said a decade ago in a ground-breaking paper presented at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

3 percent of the entire population of the world starved to death during those years.

Today, 3 percent of the entire population of the world would be 240,000,000 people.

In 1982 and 1983, we experienced the most severe "Super El Niño" of the 20th century...

In 1982-83, the most intense El Niño of the 20th century caused extreme weather events throughout the world, including floods in the American Pacific and in the southern United States, and droughts in north-eastern Brazil and Indonesia. It also caused a very mild winter in the mid-latitudes of Europe, Asia and North America.

That "Super El Niño" sparked a horrific famine in eastern Africa that wiped out a very large proportion of the population...

A widespread famine affected Ethiopia from 1983 to 1985. The worst famine to hit the country in a century, it affected 7.75 million people out of Ethiopia's 38-40 million and left approximately 300,000 to 1.2 million dead. 2.5 million people were internally displaced whereas 400,000 refugees left Ethiopia. Almost 200,000 children were orphaned.

Now we are being warned that the most powerful "Super El Niño" of all time could potentially be ahead of us.

We could see insanely hot temperatures all over the world this summer, and we are being told that we are likely to see severe drought conditions "in southern Africa, Australia, India, the Indochina Peninsula and Oceania"...

Easterly trade winds across the equator, meanwhile, are replaced by bursts of westerly surface winds. Those pile warm waters against the western shores of South America. That suppresses cool ocean upwelling from below, which is needed to bring nutrient-rich waters closer to the surface. That starves baitfish and means poor fish harvests for dependent countries in Central America and the Pacific coast of South America.

Drought, meanwhile, is likely in southern Africa, Australia, India, the Indochina Peninsula and Oceania. Southeast Asia, meanwhile, could see above-average rainfall and more flooding.

Here in the United States, we could see a lot less rain than normal in the Midwest, and temperatures in the heartland could be 3 to 6 degrees above normal.

In other words, it would be horrible growing weather.

Our farmers are already facing much higher diesel prices, much higher fertilizer prices, and a multi-year drought that never seems to end. Now a "Godzilla El Niño" could be on the way, and the World Meteorological Organization is telling us to brace for the worst...

The World Meteorological Organization is warning that this summer's El Nino event could be the worst yet. Compounded by fertiliser shortages, inflation and rising oil prices, these shocks threaten to push an already fragile food industry to the brink, and the impact will land squarely in consumers' shopping baskets.

Coming into this year, the number of people around the world experiencing acute food insecurity was already at the highest level ever recorded.

And now a "Godzilla El Niño" could absolutely devastate food production in many of the areas around the world that grow the four crops that account for 60 percent of all global calories...

Global food security relies heavily on a highly concentrated supply chain. Just four crops, wheat, rice, maize and soybeans, account for over 60% of global calories. While localised regional shortages are typically balanced by other markets, a global El Nino triggers teleconnections: simultaneous weather anomalies across different continents that cause correlated crop failures. And this systemic drop in supply leads to direct price increases at supermarket tills.

In this country, where do we grow most of our wheat, rice, corn, and soybeans?

Everyone knows that it is in the heartland, and the heartland of this country is about to get hit by a climate sledgehammer.

Of course, we all still have to eat, and so demand for food is not going to go down.

Since there won't be as much food produced, that means that prices are likely to spike...

Because demand for basic staples is inelastic - consumers must eat regardless of cost - even small supply deficits cause disproportionate price surges. Scenarios for this El Nino indicate price shocks of 10% to 50% across core commodities, with highly exposed crops, including rice, palm oil, sugarcane and coffee, potentially experiencing surges of 50% to 100%, or more.

In the past, price shocks struck one commodity at a time. A simultaneous, cross-category surge means consumers will be hit harder and broader than ever before.

If you think that food prices at your local supermarket are high now, just wait until you see what they are like in the future.

What will struggling American families do if basic staples that they purchase on a regular basis suddenly go up by 50 percent or more?

Of course, conditions will be much worse in many impoverished nations around the globe.

In some cases, there simply won't be nearly enough food to feed everyone.

We really are facing a nightmare scenario, and the vast majority of the global population is completely and utterly unprepared for it.

Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 11:25

Saylor's Strategy Buys The Dip As Bitcoin Nears Mining Cost Floor

A week after SELLING 32 Bitcoin - and (in part) triggering a waterfall decline in crypto - Bitcoin treasury company Strategy just BOUGHT an additional 1,550 BTC for approximately $101.3 million at an average price of $65,332 per bitcoin between June 1 and June 7, according to an 8-K filing with the SEC on Monday.

Strategy now holds a total of 845,256 BTC - worth around $53.5 billion - bought at an average price of $75,680 per bitcoin for a total cost of around $64 billion, including fees and expenses, according to the company's co-founder and executive chairman, Michael Saylor.

This means Saylor's horde represents 4% of bitcoin's 21 million supply cap.

Was Saylor's 'sale' last week designed to lower the price for this big purchase?

Bitcoin had been trading for around $73,700 before the sale announcement.

However, the news, despite increasingly being flagged by the company as a possibility in recent weeks, saw the market subsequently drop around 20% to a low of roughly $59,300 on Friday, before recovering back above the $63,000 level over the weekend.

Last week, JPMorgan analysts said Strategy's recent decision to sell 32 BTC "spooked" markets even if the sale was "symbolic and voluntary," intended to demonstrate the company's commitment and flexibility to preferred stockholders. 

As TheBlock.co reports, Saylor posted another Strategy bitcoin acquisition tracker chart on Sunday with the caption "A good time to add more dots," a commonly-understood signal that the largest corporate bitcoin holder may disclose fresh bitcoin purchases this week.

The framing this time went further than the usual nod toward another buy, in that it explicitly positioned current price levels as attractive, with bitcoin trading in the low $60,000 range.

Following bitcoin's worst week in two years, Strategy(MSTR) Executive Chairman Michael Saylor published a framework on X, arguing that the Bitcoin community is evolving into four distinct ideological camps.

As CoinDesk reports, rather than viewing these groups as competitors, he presents them as complementary forces that will collectively shape bitcoin’s future.

• The first group, Bitcoin Maximalists, sees Bitcoin as the ultimate monetary breakthrough. They believe bitcoin has already solved the problem of digital scarcity and offers superior property rights, protection from inflation, and economic empowerment. Their focus is conviction: bitcoin is not one crypto asset among many, but the dominant digital monetary network.

• The second group, Bitcoin Capitalists, views Bitcoin as a form of digital capital that should be integrated into the global economy. They support corporate treasury adoption, institutional custody, bitcoin-backed securities, lending markets, and broader financial infrastructure. Their goal is to expand bitcoin's reach by embedding it into existing economic systems rather than replacing them.

• The third group, Bitcoin Technologists, focuses on improving the protocol. They argue that Bitcoin must continue to evolve to address challenges in scalability, privacy, usability, security, and future threats such as quantum computing. While they support innovation, Saylor notes that changes to bitcoin's base layer must be approached cautiously to avoid unintended consequences.

• The fourth group, Bitcoin Fundamentalists, prioritize protecting bitcoin's original principles: decentralization, self-custody, immutability, censorship resistance, and individual sovereignty. They are wary of excessive institutional influence, financialization, and protocol changes that could compromise Bitcoin's core characteristics.

Saylor's central argument is that Bitcoin needs all four perspectives. Maximalists provide conviction, Capitalists drive adoption, Technologists ensure long-term resilience, and Fundamentalists safeguard the protocol's integrity.

Saylor argues that Bitcoin's most successful path lies in a balance among these four forces.

The piece was published as observers debated whether Strategy's June 1 disclosure had itself contributed to the latest leg lower.

That bitcoin is in a bear market is not in dispute, but as BitcoinMagazine.com reports, Jim Ferraioli, Director of Digital Currencies Research and Strategy at Charles Schwab, argued last week on Bloomberg that this selloff has a measurable cost floor, and that floor is built not from sentiment or chart patterns, but from the physics of energy consumption.

The numbers frame the drawdown in context. Bitcoin peaked at $126,000 in the fall before collapsing to roughly $60,000 in February — a 50% correction that, while brutal for recent buyers, falls far short of the 75%-plus implosions that defined prior Bitcoin bear markets.

Ferraioli’s core analytical framework centers on one question: what does it cost to manufacture Bitcoin? The answer creates a natural gravitational floor that has held across multiple cycles. 

For the most efficient miners — those operating at scale with next-generation ASIC hardware and access to the cheapest wholesale energy — the cost to produce one Bitcoin sits at approximately $60,000, Ferraioli said.

That figure is not arbitrary. It represents the all-in expense of powering a facility at roughly $0.07 per kilowatt-hour with the most advanced semiconductor fleets available.

The less efficient miners — those with older ASIC hardware, higher energy costs, and thinner operational margins — carry a production cost of approximately $95,000 per BTC, according to Glassnode data cited in Schwab’s May 2026 research report. That gap between $60,000 and $95,000 defines Bitcoin’s current valuation range. 

Bitcoin’s energy floor: Why $60,000 may mark the bottom

Ferraioli argues that in deep bear markets, the cost of production for the best miners has historically served as the bottom. February’s low near $60,000 aligns almost precisely with that level, as well as BTC’s 200-week moving average.

The BTC selling pressure is not random. It is demographically specific. The investors driving forced liquidations are those who acquired Bitcoin during the past 18 months — buyers who rode the asset from sub-$80,000 up to $126,000 and then watched gains evaporate in full. 

Schwab tracks two cost-basis metrics to quantify this pressure: the average acquisition cost for U.S. spot ETF and ETP holders, which stands near $83,000, and the active investor cost basis — excluding coins rewarded to miners — which sits near $78,000. 

Both figures sit well above current spot prices, putting the majority of recent entrants into unrealized loss positions and reinforcing $83,000 as a ceiling of overhead supply rather than a floor of support.

Glassnode’s on-chain data corroborates this dynamic. Bitcoin’s latest attempted rally stalled at the aggregate ETF cost basis near $83,000, with total realized losses spiking to $1.35 billion per day and long-term holders capitulating from cycle-top positions. Hedge funds represent roughly 30% of spot ETP ownership but are operating market-neutral, executing basis trades rather than taking directional views — meaning they provide no natural bid when prices fall.

Here is where Ferraioli’s analysis turns constructive. Every major publicly traded Bitcoin miner has announced a pivot toward high-performance computing (HPC) for AI inference workloads. The economics on their face appear to favor abandoning mining: inference generates higher net revenue per megawatt-hour than Bitcoin mining during peak demand windows. 

But demand for AI inference is not uniform across 24 hours. Models run hard during business hours and sit idle overnight and on weekends.

That creates a structural opportunity that does not displace BTC mining — it layers on top of it. Schwab’s analysis models Bitcoin as the optimal baseload monetization of power during off-peak hours, with inference overlaid during peak business-hour demand. 

A data center operating this hybrid model maximizes utilization across the full 24-hour cycle rather than leaving capacity dark when inference demand falls away. For miners, this translates to more stable revenue, reduced forced BTC sales to cover operating costs, and lower structural risk across bear market cycles.

Bitcoin is backed by energy 

The underlying thesis is one of energy economics. Bitcoin has no earnings, no free cash flow, and no CEO issuing guidance. Its value, in Ferraioli’s framework, derives from the energy cost required to produce it — a cost that is transparent, verifiable, and historically durable. 

In commodity markets, price cannot sustainably trade below cost of production. Producers shut down, supply contracts, and equilibrium resets higher. 

Bitcoin follows this same logic: when spot prices fall toward $60,000, the least efficient miners shut down operations, the network’s hash rate adjusts through Bitcoin’s difficulty mechanism, and the cost to produce each new coin falls.

As of May 2026, the average mining cost across all Bitcoin miners sits near $85,604, with the Bitcoin price trading in the mid-$60,000s — meaning the network as a whole is operating at a loss, a configuration that has historically preceded recoveries, not further collapse.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 11:05

Equity Supply Surge: What Historically Comes Next

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

This past week, the market hit an all-time high. At the same time, Alphabet (GOOG) told investors it would raise $80 billion by selling stock to fund its AI buildout, and the shares fell about 4% on the news. Within days, SpaceX is reportedly set to price one of the largest IPOs ever attempted. If you want a live picture of an equity supply surge meeting a market priced for perfection, you’re looking at it. The question isn’t whether the equity supply is coming. It’s what happens after it lands.

A reader sent me two charts this week. The first, below, shows U.S. equity issuance climbing since 2023. The second chart below matters more, and we’ll get to it momentarily. The reader’s instinct was that these equity supply waves tend to either precede or coincide with market downturns. He’s right, for the most part, but history needs one important correction, and the current setup deserves a closer look than the cheerleading it’s getting.

The Setup: An Equity Supply Wave Meets a Record Market

Let’s start with the mechanics, because they’re what make 2026 different from a normal IPO year. New equity supply will hit the market in two waves, not one. First comes the offering itself. Then, 90 to 180 days later, the lockup expires and insiders, employees, and pre-IPO investors are free to sell. That second wave of equity supply is usually far larger than the IPO, and it arrives after the headlines have faded.

The second chart my reader sent captures exactly this. It stacks IPO gross proceeds against the value of shares freed from expiring lockups, and the 2026 estimate towers over every prior year back to 1998, with the combined figure pushing past $700 billion. The IPO proceeds are a small part, but the lockup overhang is the rest. Make no mistake, that is a wall of supply.

The pipeline backs up the picture. Goldman Sachs has projected that U.S. IPO proceeds could reach a record near $160 billion in 2026 if the marquee names go public. SpaceX, reportedly targeting a valuation north of $1.5 trillion, may price as soon as June 12. Behind it sit OpenAI, Anthropic, Databricks, and Stripe at roughly $134 billion. One pipeline tracker estimates AI-adjacent names account for more than 90% of the projected listing value. That concentration is its own risk, and we’ll return to it.

What History Says About an Equity Supply Surge

The cleanest academic version of my reader’s instinct comes from Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler. In the Journal of Finance, using data back to 1928, they found that the share of equity in total new issuance of equity and debt is a strong predictor of stock market returns. Their key finding: firms issue relatively more equity than debt right before periods of low market returns. Managers and insiders, in other words, are decent market timers. They sell stock when the price is right for the seller, not the buyer.

The chart record fits. The 2000 dot-com mania saw issuance advance into the March 2000 market peak. The S&P then fell roughly 49% into its October 2002 low, and the Nasdaq lost about 78%. The 2020 to 2021 boom was even larger in raw dollars, fueled by more than 600 SPAC listings and a record IPO calendar. The S&P peaked in early January 2022 and dropped about 25% over the next nine months.

Here’s where it gets interesting, and where the history needs its correction. The second-largest issuance spike on the long-run chart sits in 2008, dead in the middle of the recession. That one was not insider timing a market top; it was banks raising emergency capital to survive, much of it through government-funded recapitalization. The crash caused the issuance, not the other way around. So when you test the “supply leads the market” idea, 2008 is a false positive. However, even when you strip that period out, the two genuine euphoric supply surges both led to pain.

The valuation backdrop is what raises the stakes. As of early June 2026, the Shiller CAPE sits around 42. That’s roughly 28% above its own long-term average and within a few points of the all-time record set at the 2000 peak. This is not a cheap market by any means, especially when absorbing new equity supply. In other words, investors are faced with the second-most-expensive market in history, being asked to digest the heaviest issuance calendar on record.

Look at that bottom row. The broad index drawdowns were bad. The damage to the newly issued securities was far worse. As of late 2022, the SPAC class that merged between mid-2020 and the end of 2021 had fallen more than 60% from its reference price and underperformed the Nasdaq by 44%. The primary market itself seized up, global IPO value dropped 72% in 2022, and the Americas hit a 13-year low by volume. The people who bought the supply at the top paid the heaviest price.

Heavy equity supply doesn’t sink markets through mechanics. It shows up precisely when valuations are richest and buyers are most willing to pay any price. The supply is the tell, not the cause.

The Counterargument: Why This Time Could Be Different

Could this time be different? Sure, and the argument isn’t entirely without merit, and three points deserve a fair hearing.

1. The Fed is easing rather than tightening, which is the opposite of the 2000 and 2022 backdrops.
2. The companies in this pipeline are real businesses with real revenue, not the cash-shell SPACs and clickless dot-coms of prior bubbles. Databricks alone reported a revenue run rate of over $4.8 billion, growing 55% year over year. 
3. And the sheer size of names like SpaceX means index funds may become forced buyers once they’re added, providing a steady passive bid the 2021 micro-caps never had.

We discussed that third point recently in the #BullBearReport:

“The Nasdaq 100 is tracked by more than 200 investment products with over $600 billion in assets. If SpaceX fast-tracks into the index 15 trading days after pricing, every passive Nasdaq 100 fund becomes a forced buyer. When Tesla joined the S&P 500 in 2020, forced index demand drove the stock from $400 to $700 in three weeks before fundamentals entered the conversation. Index funds had no choice. Their mandate is to track the benchmark, not to price-discover the new constituent.

The S&P 500 is the bigger story. Current rules require 12 months of public trading and four straight quarters of GAAP profitability, neither of which SpaceX satisfies. But in late April, S&P Dow Jones Indices launched a formal consultation on rule changes tailored to the SpaceX IPO, along with subsequent blockbusters coming like Anthropic and OpenAI. The proposal cuts the listing requirement to six months and waives the profitability test entirely for megacap names. The new rules could be in place before SpaceX’s IPO in June. Why is this so important? As noted above, the passive index problem is magnified by the S&P 500, which is benchmarked to roughly $24 trillion and is roughly 40 times the size of the Nasdaq 100. If S&P adopts before SpaceX trades, the forced-buying problem isn’t a Nasdaq problem. It’s the whole index complex.”

Those are valid. Here’s the problem with leaning on them too hard. Quality doesn’t repeal supply and demand. A great company sold at the wrong price is still a bad investment, and the dot-com leaders weren’t all frauds. Cisco was a fantastic business in 2000. It still fell about 80% and took 17 years to reclaim its high. The AI buildout is REAL. The question, as always, is what price you pay for it. As Bob Farrell’s Rule #9 reminds us, when everyone agrees on the outcome, something else usually happens. Right now, nearly everyone agrees 2026 is a layup for new issues.

Then there’s the concentration. With AI-adjacent names making up the overwhelming share of the pipeline, a single bad print on AI capex economics could compress every one of these deals at once. In 2021, the supply was spread across hundreds of unrelated shells. This time, it’s a handful of correlated bets riding the same narrative. That’s not obviously safer. It may be the opposite.

What It Means for Investors

So what do you actually do with this?

First, don’t confuse a warning sign with a sell signal. Farrell’s Rule #4 cuts the other way: exponential markets usually run further than anyone expects before they break. The supply surge is a late-cycle marker, not a timing tool. Markets at records with nine straight up weeks can stay irrational longer than most portfolios can stay short.

Second, separate the index from the issue. The clearest historical lesson is that the freshly issued paper, not the S&P, takes the worst of it. Chasing the IPO pop has been a losing trade for 25 years. The better setup tends to come later, after the lockup wave forces motivated sellers into the tape and prices reset. Patience with the new names usually pays.

Third, treat this as a reason to raise quality and trim the most speculative AI exposure back toward its target weight, rather than abandoning equities altogether. The reality is that risk management means acting before the catalyst, not after. When the equity supply finally clears and the marginal buyer is exhausted, the move tends to be fast. You want to have made your adjustments while the tape was still calm.

My reader’s instinct holds up. Voluntary equity supply surges have marked the last two major tops, and the one forming now is the largest on record by a wide margin. Whether 2026 rhymes with the slow grind of 2000 or just delivers a sharp 2022-style air pocket, the setup rewards discipline over FOMO. The supply is coming. The only open question is who’s left holding it when the music stops.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 10:50

Former Biden J6 Prosecutor's ActBlue-Funded Firm Sues To Stop Trump's UFC White House Event

A federal lawsuit filed over the weekend seeks to halt the UFC "Freedom 250" event scheduled for June 14 on the White House South Lawn. The suit was brought by the Public Integrity Project - which is funded in part by ActBlue - on behalf of two Virginia residents and targets the Department of the Interior and National Park Service.

Brendan Ballou, founder and CEO of the Public Integrity Project - and is perhaps most notably a former federal prosecutor who served in the Department of Justice during the Biden administration. He worked in the Antitrust Division as Special Counsel for Private Equity and was detailed for two years to the team prosecuting January 6 Capitol rioters. He resigned from DOJ after President Trump issued pardons for many January 6 defendants in January 2025.

The complaint alleges the event violates federal regulations by staging a private sporting event on federal parkland (generally prohibited by National Park Service rules), constructing a large temporary structure ("the claw") without required congressional approval, and failing to conduct an environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), ESPN reports.

The plaintiffs argue the event is a private commercial venture benefiting UFC, Dana White, and President Trump (including through sponsorship packages reportedly priced at $1–1.5 million and potential promotional value), rather than a legitimate government-sponsored semiquincentennial celebration. They are seeking an emergency preliminary injunction.

Ballou has described the event as "a profound misuse of our sacred national monuments for private gain" and a "deeply corrupt scheme."

Also Biden folks...

The people that are upset about the UFC match on the White House lawn and say it demeans the White House were ecstatic about this trans-stripper on the White House lawn... Let that sink in... pic.twitter.com/tpAGvLYEqd

— The Magatarian AKA Billy C (@WildbillPH) June 4, 2026

PIP

The Public Integrity Project is a relatively new public-interest law firm Ballou founded in January 2026 after leaving government. It describes its mission as raising the legal and reputational cost of corruption. The organization has far-left affiliations (including figures such as former Sen. Russ Feingold) and solicits donations through ActBlue. It has filed other lawsuits challenging Trump administration actions since its formation.

The legal claims rest on standard administrative and environmental law arguments about permitting, construction on federal land, and procedural requirements. Similar procedural challenges to events or construction on federal property have been filed against multiple administrations. Whether this suit succeeds will depend on the court's rulings on standing and the merits of the regulatory claims.

The UFC event is set for June 14, coinciding with President Trump's 80th birthday and America 250 commemorations. A ruling on the emergency injunction request is expected this week.

President Camacho wouldn't stand for this... 

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 10:35