July Oil Futures Hit $108, Pricing Gulf Shortfall
The June Brent future (black) expires today, so a better gauge for oil prices is the July future (pink) that is $108 and up 80% since the start of the year. By any stretch of the imagination, this fully prices the supply shortfall out of the Persian Gulf. https://t.co/swG2f6AUgF https://t.co/o6maqfYM0F
Launches Stumble on Capacity, Fulfillment, and Visibility Issues
Major companies face operational hurdles at launch: capacity limits, fulfillment disruptions, manufacturing delays, poor inventory visibility, and slow transactions leading to customer backlogs. #BusinessChallenges #Operations https://t.co/PKGiTQxsYr
US Becomes Top Crude Exporter, Overtaking Saudi Arabia
Clearly an anomaly that will end when the Strait of Hormuz re-opens. Still, noteworthy: tanker tracker @Petro_Logistics reckons the US was the world's largest crude oil exporter (note: crude) in April, overtaking leader Saudi Arabia (and ahead of Russia, the...
Predictability Premium: Using Dedicated Capacity Models to Reduce Financial Risk
The Predictability Premium: Navigating Financial Risk with Dedicated Capacity Models - https://t.co/ChInN4o08J @One_Werner #dedicatedfleet #trucking #transportation #logistics #supplychain
EU Parliament Approves New GSP, Effective 2027
On 28 April, the European Parliament voted in favour of the new Generalised Scheme of Preference (GSP). This will enter into application on 1 January 2027. GSP is the EU’s unilateral set of preferences for developing and least developed countries. /1 ...
Forehead Cameras Enable Scalable Training of Smarter Robot Hands
Indian Factory Uses Forehead Cameras to Train Smarter #Robot Hands at Scale by @sutoroveli_news #Innovation #EmergingTech #Technology https://t.co/Sz6hovAn3k
Flexible Supply Chains May Soften UK Price Impact
Economic effects of the US/Israeli conflict with Iran are emerging for UK consumers and businesses. However, flexible supply chains may cushion price https://t.co/MNmgP7YtEG
Iran Tensions Push Oil Above $110, Market Volatility Spikes
🇮🇷 Iran Intel Brief | Pre-London ─────── U.S. oil prices surged above $110 per barrel amid potential military action against Iran. Iran maintains hardline stance on Strait of Hormuz control, increasing risk of extended blockade and oil supply disruptions. US Navy intercepted the 42nd...
China Eases Fuel Export Ban for Select Asian Buyers
Important development: China has given state-owned refiners the green light to export some gasoline, diesel and jet-fuel to a handful of regular customers (in Asia), signaling the country is effectively easing an earlier ban on shipments.
Shipping Stagnation Deepens Energy Crisis Chaos
I'd feel much more comfortable "looking through" this energy crisis if shipping was flowing again through the Strait - even if we would still face months of choas - but even the FLOW hasn't resumed. This is becoming an intractable...
China's Top Solar Maker Aims to Match Battery Scale
China’s biggest maker of solar equipment wants to grow its batteries business to a similar size https://t.co/GrUSgFU3Ap
India Shifts to Venezuelan Crude, Reducing Iraqi Imports
🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳 12 million barrels of Venezuelan crude are sailing to India on 6 supertankers. This should replace a good chunk of the Iraqi oil India used to import Map form @Kpler
First Solar Sets 2025 Sales Record Amid Tariff Uncertainty
First Solar module sales hit record in 2025 as US production expands amid tariff uncertainty. https://www.metalnomist.com/2026/04/first-solar-module-sales-hit-record-as.html
US Battery Startup Chooses China Over Kentucky Plant
US battery startup builds factory in China after nixing Kentucky plant #energysky -- via Canary Media: https://t.co/dYmy9M0Soh
Russia Eyes Mali Lithium While China Guards Its Interests
Watching the Mali situation to see if Russia decides to muscle in the lithium sector there although China will look after its in-Mali interests .
Trump’s Shipbuilding Gains Amid Exhausting Supporter Struggle
Take a deep breath. Really deep. Fill your lungs. Now exhale. Hold your breath until your lungs are reedy to explode. Then repeat. Now imagine that your lungs get 5% smaller each time you do this. Now imagine you are standing in a stadium...
One‑Week Hackathon Aims to Boost Truckers' Lives
Love this - truckers virtual hackathon. Calling it the DASH: "Driver App Shortage Hackathon" One week to develop something that makes life better for truck drivers. Gonna get some VCs as judges to write the first investment check. Who's...
AWS Expands Amazon Connect to Boost Enterprise Automation
.@AWSCloud accelerates enterprise agentic automation with expanded @Amazon Connect portfolio https://t.co/3Y5BXSKfYw @SiliconANGLE @Mike_Wheatley “The supply chain use case is no surprise, because Amazon has plenty of in-house expertise in...” #AWSSummit
China’s 2‑3‑Month Iranian Crude Buffer Soon Ends
Roughly 155 mb of Iranian crude and condensate already sits outside the Gulf chokepoint, reports @Kpler China has a 2–3 month buffer of Iranian barrels outside the Gulf. After that, supply tightens, prices rise, and margins get squeezed. #OilMarkets #Iran #China #Refining...
U.S. Shipbuilding Lags; High‑Grade Iron Ore Boost Needed
America’s shipbuilding capacity has atrophied to just 8 commercial vessels last year, while our strategic competitors surge ahead. Closing this gap demands urgent reindustrialization: modern shipyards, resilient supply chains, and reliable sources of high-grade iron ore to feed American steel....
US Auto Policy: Decades of Subsidies, Tariffs, Bailouts
If you're mad about the state of the US auto industry, just remember we've never stopped doing industrial policy there. 1964-today: 25% tariff on light trucks 1966-today: $40 billion in state and local subsidies 1980: $1.5 billion bailout of Chrysler 1981-1994: voluntary...
Appeals Court Upholds FMC's Detention Charges Against Evergreen
Appeals Court Backs FMC in Landmark Detention Charges Ruling Against Evergreen. Detention charges when a port was closed. https://t.co/Wt9Ri2XRfh
State Ownership Now Dominates Global Oil Reserves
during the 1973 oil crisis, private companies controlled 85% of global proven reserves. today, state owned enterprises control 75%. (and that number would be 90% if it wasn’t for the shale boom)
China Avoided WTO Case by Skipping Procurement Pact
There was never a WTO case -- China never signed up to the government procurement agreement, and the criteria for the lists were designed so as never to explicitly say only Chinese made products quaified ... 1/2
Limited JA Waiver Overused, Masking Need for More Ships
Yep. We're also told that more/cheaper ships aren't needed (bc of sufficient JA ships and rail/interstate alternatives), yet even this limited JA waiver has already been used dozens of times for short- and long-haul trips. It's all a smokescreen.
China's EV Subsidies Favor Domestic over Imported Components
China also has made an art out of local content requirements (i.e. "made in China") -- remember no imported car or imported battery ever qualified for China's EV subsidy list ... 1/2
Infrastructure Funding Surge Masks Decline in Real Investment
New research from EPIC finds the IIJA's "historic" increase in federal spending on infrastructure coincided with a decline in actual, inflation-adjusted investment in US roads, bridges, transit, etc: https://t.co/RmpKAC3TAX
Shipping Crisis Peaks: UN Tensions, $4M Panama Toll
Global Shipping Crisis: From UN Pirate Accusations to the Record $4M Panama Toll 1⃣Freedom of Navigation & UN Debate 2⃣IMO MEPC 84 & the Carbon Tax Clash 3⃣Container Sector & Schedule Reliability 4⃣Oil, LNG and UAE's OPEC Exit 5⃣Dry Bulk, Panama Canal Delays & the...
Decline Likely Continues Amid Weak Global Demand
This decline matches the slop of previous years, but the issue is if that curve stabilizes or curves back up. Based on global demand, it probably will not.
Gas Prices Hit Postwar High, Burdening Low‑Income Families
Gas prices continue to climb as Persian Gulf supply disruptions push Brent crude to about $108 a barrel and U.S. crude above $103. Gas prices are up to a postwar high of $4.23 a gallon, while diesel reached $5.64. Analysts...
Vibram's Ubiquitous Grip: How It Dominated Outsoles
I'd love to hear the story of how Vibram came to dominate the outsole industry. They're available on nearly every brand. Gore-Tex is another example of a technical material that's promoted directly on shoes across brands, but Vibram really seems...
Semiconductor Boom: Chatting with Former CHIPS Act Lead
When @SoumayaKeynes and I were working on our book, semiconductors were the sector that *EVERYONE* kept talking about. I am so excited this week to chat with the incredible Dan Kim, who ran the CHIPS Act implementation office for the...
Goldman Sachs: Non‑US Economies Face Greater Middle East Trade Risk
"Other Economies Are Much More Exposed to the Disruption of Trade with the Middle East Than the US" - GS https://t.co/ITX9QcNTWV
Europe Can Self‑manufacture Clean Energy, but at Higher Cost
Dr Nagat Karroum, Uniper Renewables, says that Europe could – technically – manufacture everything domestically for clean-energy expansion (rather than buying from China). But she adds that this would come with trade-offs in terms of cost and speed of deployment. https://t.co/4rWiRH3rtb
AI Model Shows Iran War Yields $90B Net Loss
I used AI to run a rough ROI model on the Iran war: $25B in military costs vs. higher U.S. oil/LNG exports, refining gains, gas prices, shipping costs and inflation drag. Base case: exporters gain, but the national ROI is...
AI's Quiet Revolution: Automating Back‑Office Drudgery
the loud AI story is models replacing creative work. the quiet one is the drudgery of the back office evaporating — agents running procurement, AP, and renewals at 2am for three cents. the second one is bigger.
Museums Turn Art Into Merchandise with AI‑Powered Pipeline
Most museums have great art they want to turn into actual merchandise, but no clue how to actually make stuff. Finding factories, building prototypes, checking quality, all that. Accio Work handled the whole pipeline for them. Mucha's great-grandson used AI to...
OFAC Confirms Hormuz Toll Payments May Trigger Sanctions
OFAC confirms what I’ve been been saying for weeks U.S. Treasury Warns Hormuz ‘Toll’ Payments to Iran Could Trigger Sanctions https://t.co/trxwCyJZO3
Figure Boosts Robot Production 24×, 55 Built This Week
Today we’re giving an update on ramping F.03 production at BotQ In the last 120 days, Figure scaled manufacturing 24x - from 1 robot/day to 1 robot/hour We will manufacture 55 humanoid robots this week https://t.co/Am5Kn53mVE
Opening US Waters Risks Destroying Domestic Shipping
Jones Act. Open US maritime to foreign vessels. Dumb act except US has see US shipping destroyed. Why give away more?
AI Broker Saudara Revolutionizes International Sourcing Speed
International sourcing is broken. @saudaraAI is fixing it. Saudara is an AI broker connecting US brands with vetted overseas factories. Real humans, AI-powered, 10x faster than traditional sourcing agents. https://t.co/Bt4ZNJh1pQ Congrats on the launch, @edwardharyono_ and @jenandtech_!
U.S. EV Policy Sparks New Rust Belt, Exposing Limits
"How U.S. Electric Vehicle Industrial Policy Created A New ‘Rust Belt’" https://t.co/dwciwwcJL7 "this phenomenon shows the inherent limitations of government-led industrial development" https://t.co/WYvR8iHxw4
Oracle Shifts Supermicro Orders to Taiwan, Boosting Local Rivals
Oracle moves Supermicro orders to Taiwan, elevating local server makers More sources other than Bluefin (Research note last week) with the alarming loss for $SMCI https://t.co/Is2GQQmAkG
Global Trade Grows by Shifting Partners Amid US Tariffs
"Despite tariffs, global trade keeps growing – just with new partners" https://t.co/BTzpU1aCMo "The US is a problem, but hey, let’s expand trade with each other and with the rest of the world... And this is exactly what we did.” https://t.co/RscZQUE96M
35% of US Tariffs Evaded in 2025, $107 B Lost
New report claims ~35% of US tariffs ($107B) were dodged in 2025: "the steep increase in tariffs and the on-again, off-again nature of the tariff rollout created incentive and opportunity for businesses to find ways to reduce their duty burden" https://t.co/d21nSCyckZ
Fake CDL Shortage Fuels Unsafe, Low‑wage Drivers
The Fake CDL Driver Shortage drives illegal, low wage drivers and destroys a living wage while threatening the safety of every family on the road. When will the industry fix the real problems instead of creating cute little TMS programs run by...
US Bloc Decries China’s Pressure on Panama‑Flagged Ships
US-Led Bloc Condemns China Pressure on Panama-Flagged Ships. Maritime and ports—now part of geopolitics. https://t.co/OUBgxoQL4i
Iran's Storage Capacity Far Exceeds Admin's Short‑term Estimates
This is the key calculation here - how much room in floating storage and in onshore facilities. Admin’s calc that Iran will have no room in a few days is clearly just wrong
China's New Supply‑Chain Rules: Security or Bureaucratic Delay?
China adds regulatory layer to supply chains. For security and resilience. Really? Or just more bureaucracy and chop marks? And supply chain delays?
Truck Found Empty; Vehicles Still Missing, Driver Unlocated
“On April 17, the truck was located in Port Wentworth, Georgia, however Gonzalez was not located in the truck. Additionally, several vehicles were missing from the hauler. Since the discovery of the truck, three vehicles have been located in Florida....