Essential Summer Reads: Founding Brothers and 1776
250 years ago, Americans. This summer, the one book to read and give is “Founding Brothers” by Joe Ellis. It explains the different personalities and beliefs of the founders. Not quite a page turner but relatively short. For a story of what happened, “1776” by McCullough. The 1776 Audible version is way better than the FB Audible. @matthew_sigel @USC_VEDA @vaneck_us I read/skimmed a lot of books to research this and leaned against books that focused on just one founder or on the military aspect. There are so many good books out there, please share one of your favorite American history books in the comments.
Predict 2026 Corporate AI Spending After
Had a great ideas dinner @jpmorgan last night. To repeat a poll: Anthropic’s revenue is $30 to $40 billion annualized. Total corporate spending on AI will end 2026 at what annualized rate?
Kharg Island: Predictable Choke Point in Iran's Oil Exports
Controlling Iranian oil exports was a foreseeable base case strategy (see video below). Discussing the war’s surprises and investment ideas at 2pm on @cnbc with @SullyCNBC and @KellyCNBC @vaneck_us @matthew_sigel Kharg Island is a 'choke point' for Iran's oil...
Hormuz Expected to Reopen by June, US Deploys Robotic Minesweepers
Hormuz open by June, says expert @clarkdefense *passage within a week possible *completely clear up to four weeks *US deploying robotic minesweepers and drone boats *clearing debris will take months https://t.co/jdvrTx6ZKW
Gulf Medium Sour Oil Shifts From Discount to Premium
A new oil benchmark: Gulf medium sour. It’s gone from discount to premium. And it’s important. @vaneck_us https://t.co/Q5BQSDvJYQ
Treasury Targets Iranian Elites with Aggressive Economic Fury
“Treasury is moving aggressively with Economic Fury by targeting regime elites like the Shamkhani family that attempt to profit at the expense of the Iranian people,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent Not sure this will make a big difference...
Interviewing Arjun Sethi on Tokenization, AI, and VC Insights
So excited to interview Arjun Sethi of @krakenfx next week at @uscmarshall Tokenization, AI, career advice, being a VC (not necessarily in that order)!
Our AI Demo Starts at Minute 14
Has any company actually shown their AI use? We do, starting minute 14. @vaneck_us Van Eck's Q2 2026 Market Outlook: Time To Bargain Hunt | Jan van Eck https://t.co/BPdXzyYGyd via @YouTube
Kharg Island Identified as Critical Oil Export Choke Point
Kharg Island is a 'choke point' for Iran's oil exports, says VanEck Funds CEO https://t.co/rI4JYhLG71