GOLD CLOSED CLOSED DOWN $78.70 TO $4147.25
SILVER CLOSED DOWN $1.56 TO $64.44
ACCESS MARKET
GOLD $4230.00 3:30 PM)
SILVER: 67.27 3;30 PM)
Bitcoin morning price:$62,371 DOWN 354 DOLLARS (MANY SWITCHING TO PHYSICAL GOLD)
Bitcoin: afternoon price: $62,725 DOWN 1103 DOLLARS
Platinum price closing DOWN $42.00 TO $1663.50
Palladium price; DOWN $32.50 TO $1256.50
JUNE 19
EXCHANGE: COMEX
CONTRACT: JUNE 2026 COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES
SETTLEMENT: 4,224.100000000 USD
INTENT DATE: 06/18/2026 DELIVERY DATE: 06/23/2026
FIRM ORG FIRM NAME ISSUED STOPPED
099 H DEUTSCHE BANK AG 14
152 C DORMAN TRADING, LLC 4
357 C WEDBUSH SECURITIES 1
435 H SCOTIA CAPITAL (USA) 22
661 C JP MORGAN SECURITIES 595 77
732 C RBC CAP MARKETS 523
737 C ADVANTAGE FUTURES 7
905 C ADM 5
991 H CME 8
TOTAL: 628 628
MONTH TO DATE: 37,218
GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR JUNE/2026: 628 CONTRACTs NOTICES FOR 62,800 OZ or 1.9537 TONNES
total notices so far: 36,590 contracts FOR 3,659,000 OZ OR 115/7636 TONNES
SILVER NOTICES: 2 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 10,000 OZ /
total number of notices filed so far this month : 2409 CONTRACTS (NOTICES) for 12.045 million oz
SILVER//OUTLINE
INITIAL STANDING FOR JANUARY: 22.915 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 1.185 MILLION OZ QUEUE JUMP//NEW NORMAL STANDING ADVANCES TO 49.445 MILLION OZ// TO WHICH WE ADD OUR FIRST EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR .100 MILLION OZ//NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 49.545 MILLION OZ!!
INTIAL STANDING FOR FEBRUARY/SILVER: 13.505 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S HUGE 0.005 MILLION OZ QUEUE JUMP / : NEW STANDING FOR SILVER AT THE COMEX ADVANCES TO 25.180 MILLION OZ. BUT WE MUST ADD OUR FIRST EXCHANGE FOR RISK OF 25 CONTRACTS FOR .125 MILLION OZ AND THEN OUR SECOND EXCHANGE FOR RISK OF .0600 MILLION OZ TO OUR THIRD HUGE 2.825 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK!!
INITIAL STANDING FOR MARCH: A SURPRISINGLY LOW 31.076 MILLION OZ/ FOLLOWED BY A TINY QUEUE JUMP OF XX CONTRACTS OR XXX OZ/NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 46.060 MILLION OZ
INITIAL STANDING FOR APRIL: 7.120 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 1 CONTRACT QUEUE JUMP WHERE 5,000 OZ WILL TAKE DELIVERY OVER ON THIS SIDE OF THE POND. NEW STANDING FOR SILVER AT THE COMEX THUS ADVANCES SLIGHTLY TO 16.565 MILLION OZ PLUS WE MUST ADD OUR 4TH EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE OF 17 CONTRACTS OR 0.085 MILLION OZ. THESE WILL BE ADDED TO OUR OTHER 3 ISSUANCES //NEW TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK//1.165 MILLION OZ// NEW TOTAL SILVER STANDING 17.730 MILLION OZ//
INITIAL STANDING FOR MAY: 31.495 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER 3 CONTRACT EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL JUMP TO LONDON FOR 0.015 MILLION OZ// AND THEN TO BOOT WE HAD OUR FIRST EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE FOR 51 CONTRACTS OR 255,000 OZ MAY 21./STANDING BEFORE EXCHANGE FOR RISK: 32.070 MILLION OZ/NEW STANDING THUS REDUCES TO 32.325 MILLION OZ/.//(32.070 MILLION OZ NORMAL STANDING PLUS .255 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK = 32.325 MILLION OZ)
JUNE INITIAL STANDING FOR SILVER:10.935 MILLION OZ TO WHICH WE ADD OUR NEXT QUEUE JUMP OF 0 OZ//NEW STANDING REMAINS AT 12.065 MILLION OZ//
SUMMARY OF OUR JUNE 2026 COMEX CONTRACT MONTH:
JULY: 50.925 MILLION OZ (QUITE SMALL)
AUGUST: 59.455 MILLION OZ (QUITE SMALL)
SEPT. 50.510 MILLION OZ.(QUITE SMALL)
OCT; 82.020 MILLION OZ (WILL BE STRONG THIS MONTH)/ OCC WANTS TO REIN IN THESE ISSUANCES!
NOVEMBER: 36.425 MILLION OZ
DEC: 45.765 MILLION OZ
JANUARY 2026: 134.270 MILLION OZ (WILL BE A VERY STRONG MONTH FOR EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL!)
FEB : 82.130 MILLION OZ
MARCH: 56.075 MILLION OZ
APRIL; 44.44 MILLION OZ//FINAL.. SMALL THIS MONTH.
MAY 59.79 MILLION OZ
JUNE. 39.315 MILION OZ
AND JULY: 46.720 MILLION OZ//
AUGUST: 4.70 MILLION OZ INITIAL STANDING PLUS TODAY;S 5,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP //NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 10.960 MILLION OZ
SEPTEMBER: 68.040 MILLION OZ NORMAL DELIVERY(INCLUDES ALL QUEUE JUMPING AND EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL TRANSFERS) PLUS 3.0 MILLION OZ EX FOR RISK = 71.040 MILLION OZ. (THIS IS THE FIRST AND ONLY ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR SILVER SINCE MAY.)
OCTOBER: 39.565 MILLION OZ OF NORMAL DELIVERY INCLUDES ALL QUEUE JUMPING
PLUS
2.110 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK//TOTAL OZ STANDING IN OCT ADVAN
NOVEMBER: INITIAL STANDING AT 11.575 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 195,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP WHICH FOLLOWS ALL OTHER QUEUE JUMPS OF 9.155 MILLION OZ//STANDING ADVANCES TO 19.670 MILLION OZ/
DECEMBER: INITIAL AMOUNT STANDING FOR DELIVERY: 49.33 MILLION OZ// FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER STRONG 835,000OZ QUEUE JUMP+ DEC. FIRST EXCHANGE FOR RISK 0F .850 MILLION OZ + LAST WEEK.S 495,000 OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK AND THEN A 3RD ISSUANCE IF 1.00MILLION OZ THEN FINALLY DEC 249ISSUANCE OF 1.35 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK//NEW TOTAL EX FOR RIS IS 3.685 MILLION OZ // STANDING ADVANCES TO 68.415 MILLION OZ//
JANUARY: INITIAL STANDING 22.915 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 1.185 MILLION OZ QUEUE JUMP//NORMAL STANDING ADVANCES TO 49.445 MILLION OZ// TO WHICH WE ADD OUR FIRST EXCHANGE FOR RISK OF 0.100 MILLLION OZ//NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 49.545 MILLION OZ
FEB: 13.399 MILLION OZ IS OUR INITIAL STANDING FOR SILVER! TO WHICH WE ADD OUR NEXT QUEUE JUMP FOR 5,000 OZ AND THEN ADD OUR 3 EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR 3.010 MILLION OZ STANDING ADVANCES TO 28.190 MILLION OZ!!
MARCH: INITIAL AMOUNT OF SILVER STANDING IS 31.076 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY A FINAL 0.210 MILLION OZ QUEUE JUMP //NEW TOTAL STANDING ADVANCES TO 46.060 MILLION OZ
APRIL 2026: INITITAL AMOUNT OF SILVER STANDING 7.120 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 5,000 OZ QUUE JUMP //NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 16.565MILLION OZ PLUS 1.165 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK.NEW TOTALS 17.730 MILLION OZ
MAY: INITIAL AMOUNT OF SILVER WILLING TO STAND; 31.495 MILLION OZ/ TO WHICH WE ADD OUR NEXT EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL JUMP OF 15,000 OZ//NEW STANDING REDUCES TO 32.070 MILLION OZ//(FOLLOWING MANY EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL TRANSFERS TO LONDON DURING THIS MAY DELIVERY MONTH). THERE SEEMS TO BE A SCARCITY OF SILVER OVER AT THE COMEX). THEN WE ADD OUR FIRST EXCHANGE FOR RISK OF 51 CONTRACTS FOR 255,000 OZ//STANDING ADVANCES TO 32.325 MILLION OZ//
JUNE: INITIAL AMOUNT OF SILVER WILLING TO STAND: 10.935 MILLION OZ PLUS OUR NEXT QUEUE JUMP OF 0 OZ//NEW STANDING REMAINS AT 12.065 MILLION OZ
GOLD//OUTLINE
1.MAY SUMMARY FOR MAY TONNES WHICH STOOD FOR DELIVERY:
4. AUGUST: 60.547 TONNES OF INITIAL GOLD FIRST DAY NOTICE FOLLOWED BY THE NET MONTH’S QUEUE JUMP OF 47.2312 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD THE FOLLOWING EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE RECEIVED FOR THE MONTH: 5.4432 TONNES EX FOR RISK/AUG 7 , AUG 11: 2.413 TONNES EX FOR RISK AND AUG. 12 OF 2.
5.SEPT: INITIAL 8.093 TONNES OF GOLD PLUS TODAY’S QUEUE JUMP OF 0.4883 TONNES PLUS 2.2827 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK TODAY//NEW TOTAL EX. FOR RISK/MONTH = 22.923//NEW TOTAL STANDING FOR GOLD SEPT ADVANCES TO = 48.801 TONNES!!
6.OCTOBER: 90.012 TONNES OF INITIAL GOLD STANDING WITH TODAY’S TINY 0.00311 TONNES QUEUE JUMP WHICH FOLLOWS ALL OTHER QUEUE JUMPS DURING OCT OF 76.1656 TONNES
THEN WE MUST ADD OUR 14.553 TONNES OF OUR ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK/6 OCCASIONS//NEW TOTAL OF GOLD STANDING ADVANCES TO 197.5141 TONNES OF GOLD.
7.NOVEMBER BEGINS WITH 15.651 TONNES INITIALLY STANDING FOR DELIVERY FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S QUEUE JUMP OF 2.323 TONNES FOLLOWED BY ALL PREVIOUS QUEUE JUMPS IN OF OF 21.3775 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR TWO EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE OF 4.5596 TONNES//NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 43.9716 TONNES OF GOLD.
8. DECEMBER BEGINS WITH INITIAL STANDING OF 83.813 TONNES OF GOLD FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 0.0TONNE QUEUE JUMP WHICH FOLLOWS ALL OTHER QUEUE JUMPS OF: 37.163 TONNES//NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 115.390 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR 4 EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR DECEMBER OF 6.587 TONNES/NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 121.977 TONNES
9. JANUARY: INITITAL STANDING: 13.785 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR FIRST EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL TRANSFER OF 0.08709 TONNES WHICH FOLLOWS ALL OTHER QUEUE JUMPS OF 30.7117TONNES //NEW TOTAL QUEUE JUMPS 30.7117//NORMAL DELIVERY OF GOLD ADVANCES TO 36.8958 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR SIX EXCHANGE FOR RISK OF 22.315 TONNES//NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 59.2108 TONNES.
FEB; INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR DELIVERY: 93.567 TONNES OF GOLD TO WHICH WE ADD OUR NEXT 0.0248 TONNES 0.1555 TONNES QUEUE JUMP TO 41.2082 TONNES/ NEW NET QUEUE JUMP INCREASES TO 41.233 TONNES// AND THEN WE ADD OUR SIX EXCHANGE FOR RISK: 10,080 CONTRACTS OR 31.251 TONNES//NEW STANDING REDUCES TO 157.878 TONNES
MARCH:: INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR DELIVERY: 8.099 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD TODAY’S FAIR 4600 OZ QUEUE JUMP (0.2320 TONNES) AND THEN WE ADD OUR THREE EXCHANGE FOR RISK OF 22.3818 TONNES //NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 67.6648 TONNES/
APRIL: INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR DELIVERY: 52.600 TONNES FOLLOWED BY OUR 345 CONTRACT QUEUE JUMP FOR 34,500 OZ/ (1.073 TONNES)/NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 70.286 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR 2ND EXCHANGE FOR RISK OF 1498 CONTRACTS FOR 149800 OZ OR 4.659 TONNES. THE NEW TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR THE MONTH OF APRIL IS 2239 CONTRACTS OR 223900 OZ OR 6.964 TONNES AND THIS WILL BE ADDED TO OUR NORMAL DELIVERY TOTALS (70.762 TONNES) TO GIVE US WHAT WILL STAND IN APRIL (77.726 TONNES)
MAY: INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD WILLING TO STAND: 12.24 TONNES OF GOLD TO WHICH WE ADD OUR NEXT QUEUE JUMP OF 345 CONTRACTS OR 34500 OZ (1.073 TONNES) TO WHICH WE ADD OUR FIVE EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCES FOR 24.635 TONNES/STANDING NOW ADVANCES TO 51.554 TONNES OF GOLD.
JUNE; INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD WILLING TO STAND; 64.496 TONNES.(CME CORRECTED) TO WHICH WE ADD OUR NEXT 1.925 TONNES OF A QUEUE JUMP/NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 115.844 TONNES
STANDING FOR THE LAST 5 MONTHS JANUARY TO MAY:
FINAL STANDING FOR GOLD, JANUARY CONTRACT AT 59.2108 TONNES OF GOLD
FEBRUARY: INITIAL STANDING FOR GOLD: 157.878 TONNES!! WHICH INCLUDES ALL QUEUE JUMPING, THREE EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL TRANSFERS TO LONDON AND OUR SIX ISSUANCES EXCHANGE FOR RISK!!
MARCH: INITIAL STANDING AT 8.099 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR FINAL DAY: 0.2320 TONNES QUEUE JUMP AND THEN ADD +22.3818 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK//NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 67.6648 TONNES
APRIL: INITIAL STANDING 52.600 TONNES PLUS 27,800 OZ QUEUE JUMP (0.8648TONNES): NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 70.286 TONNES PLUS OUR TWO EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR 223,900 OZ OR 6.964 TONNES/NEW STANDING: 77.726 TONNES
MAY: INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD WILLING TO STAND; 12.24 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR NEXT QUEUE JUMP FOR 345 CONTRACTS/34,500 OZ// 1.073 TONNES/ THEN WE MUST ADD OUR EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE: TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK MAY// 5 OCCASIONS: 24.635 TONNES///NEW STANDING NOW ADVANCES TO 51.554 TONNES
JUNE: INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD WILLING TO STAND: 64.496 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR NEXT QUEUE JUMP OF 1.925TONNES//NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 115.844 TONNES
JAN. 2025: 257.919 TONNES (ISSUANCE WILL BE PRETTY GOOD THIS MONTH BUT MUCH LOWER THAN LAST MONTH)
FEB: 207.21 TONNES//EX FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE (WILL BE A FAIR SIZED ISSUANCE THIS MONTH)
MARCH 130.84 TONNES//QUITE SMALL THIS MONTH.
APRIL; 208.57 TONNES. STRONG THIS MONTH
MAY: 113.499 TONNES OF GOLD EFP ISSUANCE//QUITE SMALL THIS MONTH
JUNE: 97.79 TONNES OF GOLD EFP ISSUANCE/EXTREMELY SMALL
JULY : 150.877 TONNES// QUITE SMALL
AUGUST: 175.86 TONNES A LOT LARGER THIS MONTH.
SEPT. 116.13 TONNES VERY SMALL
OCT. 252.72 TONNES//CERTAINLY MUCH LARGER THIS MONTH/VERY STRONG
NOV: 124.74 TONNES
DEC: 190.04 TONNES//GOOD SIZED THIS MONTH FINAL.
TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUED FOR YEAR 2025: 2,026.20 TONNES (LOWER THAN LAST YR 2,569.00 TONNES
JANUARY: 209.08 TONNES ( (WILL BE A STRONG MONTH FOR EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL)
FEB. 176.35 TONNES (WHICH IS A FAIR ISSUANCE)
MARCH: 214.67 TONNES//WILL BE STRONG ISSUANCE THIS MONTH
APRIL; 88.00 TONNES// WILL BE VERY SMALL THIS MONTH
MAY 118.430 TONNES
JUNE: 96.087 TONNES
HERE IS A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF HOW THE CROOKS FLEECE UNSUSPECTING LONGS
YOU WILL ALSO NOTICE THAT THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST STARTS TO RISE BUT SO IS THE OPEN INTEREST OF SPREADERS. THE OPEN INTEREST IN WILL CONTINUE TO RISE UNTIL ONE WEEK BEFORE FIRST DAY NOTICE OF AN UPCOMING ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH (OCT), AND THAT IS WHEN THE CROOKS SELL THEIR SPREAD POSITIONS BUT NOT AT THE SAME TIME OF THE DAY. THEY WILL USE THE SELL SIDE OF THE EQUATION TO CREATE THE CASCADE (ALONG WITH THEIR COLLUSIVE FRIENDS) AND THEN COVER ON THE BUY SIDE OF THE SPREAD SITUATION AT THE END OF THE DAY. THEY DO THIS TO AVOID POSIT
WHAT IS ALARMING TO ME, ACCORDING TO OUR LONDON EXPERT ANDREW MAGUIRE IS THAT THESE EFP’S ARE BEING TRANSFERRED TO WHAT ARE CALLED SERIAL FORWARD CONTRACT OBLIGATIONS AND THESE CONTRACTS ARE LESS THAN 14 DAYS. ANYTHING GREATER THAN 14 DAYS, THESE MUST BE RECORDED AND SENT TO THE COMPTROLLER, GREAT BRITAIN TO MONITOR RISK TO THE BANKING SYSTEM. IF THIS IS INDEED TRUE, THEN THIS IS A MASSIVE CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD AS WE NOW WITNESS A MONSTROUS TOTAL EFP’S ISSUANCE AS IT HEADS INTO THE STRATOSPHERE.
The crooks also use the spread in the TAS account (trade at settlement). They buy the spot TAS (e.g. June) and sell the future TAS two months out (e.g. August). Then they unload the front month (i.e. unload the buy side first so the price of gold/silver falls. This occurs in the middle of the front delivery month cycle. They unload the sell side of the equation, two months down the road. The crooks violate position limits as the OCC refuse to hear our complaints.
First, here is an outline of what will be discussed tonight:
SILVER:
1.TODAY WE HAD THE OPEN INTEREST AT THE COMEX IN SILVER ROSE BY A HUGE 1145 CONTRACTS TO AN OI OF 109,146.
EFP ISSUANCE 183 CONTRACTS
OUR CUSTOMARY MIGRATION OF COMEX LONGS CONTINUE TO MORPH INTO LONDON FORWARDS AS OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE:
JULY 183 CONTRACTS and 0 ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 0 CONTRACTS. EFP’S GIVE OUR COMEX LONGS A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON. IF WE TAKE THE COMEX OI GAIN OF 1145 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 183 E.FP. ISSUED
WE OBTAIN A HUGE GAIN OF 1328 OI OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES DESPITE OUR LOSS OF $4.80
THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES TOTALS 6.640 MILLION PAPER OZ
OCCURRED DESPITE OUR LOSS IN PRICE.OF $4.80
2.ASIAN AFFAIRS JUNE 19 /2025
SHANGHAI CLOSED
HANG SENG CLOSED
Nikkei CLOSED UP 369.51 PTS OR 0.52%
//Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED DOWN 0.27%
//Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) CLOSED
/ OFFSHORE CLOSED DOWN AT 6.7893 Oil UP TO 76.30 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT UP TO 79.50 Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL MOSTLY GREEN
ONSHORE USA/ YUAN// WITH YUAN TRADING XXX (XXX) OFFSHORE YUAN TRADING DOWN TO 6.7893 ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFF SHORE AND DOWN ON THE DOLLAR// / AND THUS WEAKER/OFF SHORE YUAN TRADING DOWN AGAINST US DOLLAR/ AND THUS WEAKER
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1. COMEX DATA//AMOUNTS STANDING//VOLUME OF TRADING/INVENTORY MOVEMENTS
LET US BEGIN:
THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST ROSE BY A STRONG 7183 CONTRACTS TO 345,132 WELL ABOVE ITS NEW LOW OF 326,052 OI SET JUNE 3, SURPASSING THE PREVIOUS ALL TIME LOW OF 345,705 SET (MAY 28) AND SURPASSING THE PREVIOUS ALL TIME LOW IN OI OF 353,490 SET MAY 27.. PREVIOUS TO THAT THE ALL TIME LOW IN OI WAS 390,000 SET IN THE YEAR 2001 WHEN GOLD WAS TRADING $260.00. THE CME SHOULD BE PROUD OF THEMSELVES AS MANY HAVE ABANDONED THIS CROOKED ARENA!!THUS OUR NEW ALL TIME LOW OF COMEX OI HAS NOW BEEN SET AT 326,052 //JUNE 3 2026 WITH GOLD AT AN EXTREMELY HIGH $4,450.00 WHICH MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE!!!
WE HAD NO T.A.S. LIQUIDATION DURING WEDNESDAY’S COMEX TRADING JUNE 17!!. IT SEEMS THAT MANY OF THE SPECULATORS HAVE NOW CONTINUED AGAIN TO GO MASSIVELY ON THE LONG SIDE BUT WITH THE BANKERS NOW PROVIDING THE PAPER,AND CENTRAL BANKS DOING THEIR QUEUE JUMPING IN AN INCREASING MANNER
CENTRAL BANKS TENDERED THEIR NEW LONG CONTRACTS AT THE END OF THE DAY FOR PHYSICAL GOLD. YOU CAN VISUALIZE THIS WITH THE STRONG AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING AT THE COMEX FOR THIS JUNE CONTRACT MONTH!!
THE STRONG SIZED GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES (8447 CONTRACTS) OCCURRED DESPITE OUR LOSS IN PRICE IN GOLD (DOWN $135.40)
WE THUS HAD A STRONG SIZED GAIN IN OI ON BOTH OF OUR EXCHANGES, THE COMEX AND LONDON’S EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL EQUATING TO 8447 CONTRACTS (OR 26.27 TONNES) DESPITE OUR LOSS IN PRICE, AS WE WERE INFORMED OF A FAIR CONTRACT EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE, EQUATING TO 1260 CONTRACTS.
THEN WE WERE NOTIFIED TODAY OF A 0 CONTRACT FOR RISK ISSUANCE IN GOLD CONTRACTS FOR 0 OZ OR 0 TONNES OF GOLD. ON FRIDAY, BY FAR WE HAD THE HIGHEST EVER EXCHANGE FOR RISK EVER ISSUED AT ONE TIME BEATING THE PREVIOUS SINGLE HIGHEST ISSUE BY ONE TONNE. THUS MAY 22 RECORDS THE HIGHEST EVER EXCHANGE FOR RISK AT 12.4416 TONNES. WE HAD OUR FIRST ISSUANCE FOR EXCHANGE FOR RISK IN THE MONTH OF MAY ON MAY 7, THEN OUR 2ND ISSUANCE FOR OUR MAY GOLD MONTH ON MAY 12. THE THIRD ON MAY 18 , THEN MAY 21 OUR 4TH ISSUANCE AND THEN FINALLY FRIDAY, OUR 5TH ISSUANCE. THIS GOLD WILL BE ADDED TO OUR NORMAL MAY DELIVERIES TO GIVE US OUR FINAL AMOUNT OF GOLD WILLING TO STAND AT THE COMEX..
HISTORY OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE THIS YEAR: FEBRUARY THROUGH JUNE
FEBRUARY:
DURING THE MIDDLE OF THE FEBRUARY CONTRACT MONTH, WE HAD TWO IDENTICAL MONSTER 3,000 CONTRACT ISSUED FOR THE SAME 9.33 TONNES OF GOLD, AND THESE WERE THE HIGHEST EVER IN TONNAGE EVER ISSUED BY THE COMEX. ALTOGETHER THE TOTAL ISSUANCE FOR FEB TOTALLED SIX.(31.251 TONNES).
MARCH:
THURSDAY MARCH 17 WE RECEIVED ITS INITIAL 2000 CONTRACT EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE FOR 6.22 TONNES. LAST FRIDAY: 0 ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK. BUT ON MONDAY MARCH 23 WE RECEIVED NOTICE OF OUR SECOND EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE FOR 2,200 CONTRACTS (220,000 OZ OR 6.843 TONNES) AND NOW FRIDAY WITH A MONSTER 2996 CONTRACTS FOR 9.3138 TONNES. THESE THREE ISSUANCES WILL NOW BE ADDED TO THE REGULAR AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING, I.E. 22.3818 TONNES TO OUR NORMAL GOLD STANDING TO GIVE US WHAT WILL STAND FOR PHYSICAL GOLD FOR MARCH!
APRIL;: 2 EXCHANGE FOR RISK SO FAR, I.E. 2239 CONTRACTS FOR 223,900 OZ OR 6.964 TONNES AND THIS TOTAL TONNES WILL BE ADDED TO OUR NORMAL DELIVERY TO GIVE US WHAT WILL STAND IN APRIL
MAY: FIVE ISSUANCES SO FAR FOR 7920 CONTRACTS OR 792,000 OZ OR 24.635 TONNES.
JUNE: 0 SO FAR!!
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A LITTLE HISTORY OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK DECEMBER THROUGH TO JUNE:
IN DECEMBER WE HAVE RECORDED 5 ISSUANCES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK/4 FOR DEC AND THE LAST ONE ON DEC 31 FOR JANUARY. WE NOW HAVE 3 CHOICES FOR THE RECIPIENT OF THIS ISSUANCE AND IT MUST BE A CENTRAL BANK. YOU WILL RECALL THAT THE BUYER ASSUMES THE RISK OF THAT DELIVERY. (THUS TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER IS 6.56 TONNES/4 OCCASIONS.
MONTH OF JANUARY/EXCHANGE FOR RISK
IN JANUARY THEY HAVE 6 TOTAL ISSUANCE : 3.446 TONNES EARLY, THEN JAN 9 ISSUANCE OF 9,331 TONNES AND THEN JAN 16: 0.1996 TONNES JAN 26: 1.499 TONNES, JAN 27: 3.160 AND FINALLY JAN 29: 4.659 TONNES TONNES//TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK JANUARY 22.315 TONNES WHICH WAS ADDED TO OUR NORMAL DELVERIES.
AND FEBRUARY:
FEB EXCHANGE FOR RISK: NOW 6 ISSUANCES: 10,080 CONTRACTS FOR 1,008,000 OZ OR 31.251 TONNES!
HERE ARE THE CHOICES FOR THE RECIPIENT OF THOSE ISSUANCES:
1 THE CENTRAL BANK OF ENGLAND. BUT THEY RECEIVED CLEARANCE THAT THEIR GOLD IS BACK SO IT IS NOT LIKELY THAT THEY WOULD LIKE TO ADD TO THEIR RESERVES.
2. THE CENTRAL BANK OF THE USA: THE FED. LOGICAL CHOICE AS THEY CLAMOUR TRYING TO REDUCE THEIR 146+ TONNES OF SHORTAGE. HOWEVER THEY SEEM NOT TO BE IN A HURRY TO COVER THEIR HUGE SHORTFALL
3. THE CENTRAL BANK OF CHINA AS THEY BATTLE WITS WITH THE USA.
TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR DECEMBER IS 6.56 TONNES AND THIS WAS ADDED TO OUR NORMAL DELIVERY TOTALS..
THE JANUARY ISSUANCE OF 17.656 TONNES WAS ADDED TO OUR DAILY DELIVERY TOTALS!!
FEBRUARY ISSUANCES 6 FOR; 31.251 TONNES !! AND THIS WAS ADDED TO OUR DELIVERY TOTALS FOR THIS MONTH.
MARCH: CME ANNOUNCES ITS FIRST EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR 2000 CONTRACTS FOR 200,000 OZ OR 6.22 TONNES OF GOLD DURING THE FIRST WEEK OF MARCH, AND THEN MONDAY, MARCH 22, WE RECEIVED ITS SECOND NOTICE ISSUANCE OF 2200 CONTRACTS OR 220000 OZ (6.843 TONNES). THEN FINALLY WE RECEIVED NOTICE OF OUR THIRD EXCHANGE FOR RISK OF 2996 CONTRACTS OR 9.3188 TONNES. TOGETHER ALL 3 ISSUANCES TOTAL 22.3818 TONNES WHICH WILL BE ADDED TO OUR NORMAL DELIVERY SCHEDULE.
APRIL: 2 EXCHANGE FOR RISK SO FAR FOR 223,900 OZ OR 6.964 TONNES. AND THIS TOTAL WILL BE ADDED TO OUR NORMAL DELIVERY TO GIVE US WHAT WILL STAND FOR APRIL!!
MAY: FIVE ISSUANCES SO FAR FOR 7920 CONTRACTS, 792,000 OZ OR 24.635 TONNES OF GOLD. THIS TOTAL WILL BE ADDED TO OUR NORMAL DELIVERIES IN MAY TO GIVE US WHAT WILL STAND IN MAY.
JUNE: ZERO SO FAR
DETAILS ON OUR NEW JUNE COMEX CONTRACT MONTH//
IN TOTAL WE HAD A STRONG GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 8,447 CONTRACTS DESPITE OUR LOSS IN PRICE ($135.40). HOWEVER, OUR FRIENDLY PHYSICAL LONDON BOYS HAD ANOTHER FIELD DAY AGAIN THROUGHOUT THIS WEEK AS THEY WERE READY FOR THE FRBNY.S CONTINUED ORCHESTRATED ATTACKS VERY EARLY IN THE COMEX SESSIONS AS THEY TRIED TO ABSORB EVERYTHING IN SIGHT FROM THEIR DAILY ATTACKS. LONDONERS EXERCISED THEIR BOUGHT CONTRACTS FOR PHYSICAL GOLD VIA THE EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ROUTE AND THANKED THE FRBNY AND OUR SHORT SPECULATORS FOR THEIR THOUGHTFULNESS.
LONDON ANNOUNCED EARLY IN THE YEAR (AND SCARCITY CONTINUES TO THIS DAY) THAT THEY WERE OUT OF GOLD. WRONGLY IT WAS ATTRIBUTED TO THEIR SHIPPING PHYSICAL GOLD TO COMEX FOR STORAGE DUE TO TRUMP’S INITIATION OF TARIFFS. THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER IS THAT THIS GOLD LEFT LONDON TO OTHER CENTRAL BANKS, AND COMEX BANKS HAVE BEEN PAPERING THEIR LOSSES (DERIVATIVE) WITH KILOBAR ENTRIES. BOTH COMEX AND LBMA ARE WITNESSING MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF GOLD LEAVING THEIR VAULTS.
THE LIQUIDATION OF T.A.S. CONTRACTS THROUGHOUT THE MONTHS OF JUNE/ CONTINUES TO DISTORT OPEN INTEREST NUMBERS GREATLY ALTHOUGH THE T.A.S. ISSUANCES IN GOLD HAVE GENERALLY BEEN ON THE LOW SIDE COMPARED TO SILVER WHICH HAVE BEEN HUGE. TODAY’S NUMBER HOWEVER IS A STRONG SIZED T.A.S ISSUANCE CONTRACTS .THE CME NOTIFIES US THAT THEY HAVE ISSUED1895 T.A.S CONTRACTS. THESE ARE GENERALLY USED FOR RAID PURPOSES TO STOP GOLD’S RISE AND TO TEMPER HUGE LOSSES IN OTC DERIVATIVE BETS
IT SURE LOOKS LIKE THE BIS HAS SOMEHOW LOOKED THE OTHER WAY WITH ITS GOLD SWAPS WITH THE FRBNY AS THIS ENTITY FOR THE FED REFUSES THE BIS MARCHING ORDERS TO COVER AND THAT MAY EXPLAIN THE STRONG NUMBER OF T.A.S. ISSUANCES IN DECEMBER , JANUARY AND THROUGHOUT FEBRUARY TO GO ALONG WITH OUR HUGE NUMBER OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUED DURING THESE MONTHS INCLUDING FEBRUARY’S 6 EXCHANGE FOR RISK WHICH ALSO INCLUDED TWO MONSTER 9.3312 TONNE ISSUANCE (FEB 10 AND FEB 12). TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK/FEB EQUALS 31.251 TONNES!! AND MARCH’S THREE ISSUANCES FOR 22.3818 TONNES! OTHER CENTRAL BANKS ARE PAYING ATTENTION AS THEY TAKE DELIVERY OF HUGE AMOUNTS OF PHYSICAL GOLD. APRIL HAD 2 EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCES FOR 6.694 TONNES. AND NOW MAY WITH ITS 5TH ISSUANCE FOR 12.4436 TONNES///TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR MAY: 24.635 TONNES ISSUED MAY 6 ,MAY 12, MAY 18 MAY 21 AND NOW MAY 22..
JUNE: ZERO SO FAR.
WE MUST ALSO REMEMBER THAT THE FRBNY IS SHORT 146+ TONNES OF GOLD, THIS COMMENCED ON JAN 2 2023 AS THEY REFUSE TO COVER DESPITE THE BIS’S PLEA TO DO SO. WE WILL KNOW IN JUNE WHETHER THEY COVERED ANY OF THEIR SHORTFALL.
HERE IS A SUMMARY OF GOLD STANDING FOR DELIVERY ON OUR LAST 12 MONTHS:
1.APRIL AT 209 TONNES
2. AND THIS CONTINUED INTO MAY WITH FINAL STANDING AT 90.23 TONNES.
3. JUNE WHICH IS A HUGE DELIVERY MONTH , FINAL STANDING WAS RECORDED AT A STRONG 93.085 TONNES. //(TOTAL NET QUEUE JUMPING FOR THE JUNE MONTH: 31.027 TONNES.)
4. IN JULY WE HAD HUGE DELIVERY NOTICES ESPECIALLY FOR A NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH WITH INITIAL STANDING AT 17.947 TONNES PLUS MANY QUEUE JUMPS + 3.75 TONNES EX FOR RISK = 41.106 TONNES OF GOLD // FINAL TOTAL TONNES STANDING JULY: 41.106 TONNES
5. FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST:
INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR AUGUST: 60.547 TONNES PLUS THE MONTHS HUGE QUEUE JUMPS OF 47.2312 TONNES +44.696 TONNES EX FOR RISK (7 ISSUANCES) //NEW STANDING 152.208 TONNES WHICH IS MONSTROUS!!!
6. FINAL AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR SEPT; INITIAL STANDING; 2,602 CONTRACTS OR 260,200 OZ FOR 8.093 TONNES OF GOLD FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 0.4883 TONNES QUEUE JUMP TO GO ALONG WITH TODAY’S 1.244 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE TODAY AND // TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE SEPT: 22.923 TONNES//NEW TOTALS STANDING ADVANCES TO 48.801 TONNES OF GOLD!!!
7. OCTOBER:
OCTOBER: INITIAL STANDING FOR GOLD: 90.164 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR LATEST OCT 30 QUEUE JUMP OF 0.00311 TONNES WHICH FOLLOWS OCT 29 QUEUE JUMP OF .4096 WHICH FOLLOWS; OCT 28 QUEUE JUMP OF .5069 TONNES WHICH FOLLOWS OCT 27 OF 0.3048 TONNES WHICH FOLLOWS: OCT 24 OF 0.8615 TONNES, FOLLOWING OCT 23 QUEUE JUMP OF 1.695 TONNES OCT 22 JUMP OF 8.622 TONNES WHICH FOLLOWS OCT 21: 3.8600 TONNES TO OCT 20 QUEUE JUMP OF 7.695 TONNE
SUMMARY FOR OCTOBER STANDING:
NOVEMBER WHERE INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING IS REGISTERED AT 15.651 TONNES OF GOLD FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S QUEUE JUMP OF 2 TONNES AND FOLLOWED BY ALL OTHER NOV QUEUE JUMPS OF 21.3775 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR TWO EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE FOR 4.5596 TONNES.
/STANDING ADVANCES TO 43.9716 TONNES OF GOLD.
DECEMBER: INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR DELIVERY IN THIS ACTIVE MONTH IS 83.813 TONNES FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 0.05 TONNES QUEUE JUMP. THIS FOLLOWS ALL OTHER QUEUE JUMPING: 37.163 TONNES//NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 115.390 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR FOUR EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE OF 6.559 TONNES//NEW STANDING THUS INCREASES TO 121.977 TONNES
JANUARY: INITITAL STANDING: 13.785 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR QUEUE JUMP OF 0.000 TONNES WHICH FOLLOWS ALL OTHER QUEUE JUMPS OF 30.7117TONNES //NEW TOTAL QUEUE JUMPS 30.7117//NORMAL DELIVERY OF GOLD ADVANCES TO 36.8958 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR SIX EXCHANGE FOR RISK OF 22.315 TONNES//NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 59.2108 TONNES.
FEBRUARY: . FEBRUARY: INITIAL STANDING: 93.566 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR NEXT QUEUE JUMP OF 0.0248 TONNES WHICH MUST BE ADDED ALL OTHER QUEUE JUMPS OF 41.2087 TONNES QUEUE JUMP//TOTAL QUEUE JUMP FOR FEB::ADVANCES TO 41.233 TONNES///STANDING ADVANCES TO 126.628 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR SIX EXCHANGE FOR RISK OF 31.251 TONNES/NEW STANDING RISES TO 157.879 TONNES
MARCH: INITIAL STANDING FOR GOLD: 8.099 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR NEXT QUEUE JUMP OF 0.2320 TONNES AND THEN WE ADD OUR THREE EXCHANGE FOR RISK OF 22.3818 TONNES////NEW STANDING FOR GOLD ADVANCES TO: 67.6648TONNES WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY HUGE FOR A NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH!!
APRIL 2026: INITIAL STANDING FOR GOLD: 52.20 TONNES FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S SMALL 500 OZ QUEUE JUMP/ TO WHICH WE ADD OUR TWO EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCES TOTALLING 223,900 OZ OR 6.964 TONNES//STANDING ADVANCES TO 77.726 TONNES WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY HUGE
MAY: INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD WILLING TO STAND: 12.24 TONNES OF GOLD TO WHICH WE ADD OUR NEXT HUGE QUEUE JUMP OF 34,500 OZ (1.073 TONNES) TO WHICH WE ADD OUR FIVE EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE FOR 792,000 OZ OR 24.635 TONNES////NEW TOTALS STANDING FOR GOLD ADVANCES TO 51.554 TONNESS
JUNE: INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD WILLING TO STAND: 64.496 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR NEXT QUEUE JUMP OF 1.928 TONNES//NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 115.844 TONNES// TOTAL QUEUE JUMPING FOR THE MONTH; 51.216 TONNES OR AVERAGING 3.414 TONNES PER DAY IN JUNE.
HERE ARE THE AMOUNTS THAT STOOD FOR DELIVERY IN THE PRECEDING 48 MONTHS 2021-2024
DEC 2021: 112.217 TONNES
NOV. 8.074 TONNES
OCT. 57.707 TONNES
SEPT: 11.9160 TONNES
AUGUST: 80.489 TONNES
JULY 7.2814 TONNES
JUNE: 72.289 TONNES
MAY 5.77 TONNES
APRIL 95.331 TONNES
MARCH 30.205 TONNES
FEB ’21. 113.424 TONNES
JAN ’21: 6.500 TONNES.
TOTAL YEAR 2021 (JAN- DEC): 601.213 TONNES
YEAR 2022: STANDING FOR GOLD/COMEX
JANUARY 2022 17.79 TONNES
FEB 2022: 59.023 TONNES
MARCH: 36.678 TONNES
APRIL: 85.340 TONNES FINAL.
MAY: 20.11 TONNES FINAL
JUNE: 74.933 TONNES FINAL
JULY 29.987 TONNES FINAL
AUGUST:104.979 TONNES//FINAL
SEPT. 38.1158 TONNES
OCT: 77.390 TONNES/ FINAL
NOV 27.110 TONNES/FINAL
Dec. 64.000 tonnes
(TOTAL YEAR 656.076 TONNES)
JAN/2023: 20.559 tonnes
FEB 2023: 47.744 tonnes
MAR: 19.0637 TONNES
APRIL: 75.676 tonnes
MAY: 19.094 TONNES + 1.244 tonnes of exchange for risk = 20.338
JUNE: 64.354 TONNES
JULY: 10.2861 TONNES
AUGUST: 38.855 TONNES(INCLUDING .6842 EXCHANGE FOR RISK)
SEPT: 15.281 TONNES FINAL
OCT. 35.869 TONNES + 1.665 EXCHANGE FOR RISK =37.0355 tonnes
NOV: 18.7122 TONNES + 16.2505 EX. FOR RISK = 34.9627 TONNES
DEC. 47.073 + 4.634 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK = 51.707 TONNES
TOTAL 2023 YEAR : 436.546 TONNES
2024/STANDING FOR GOLD/COMEX
JAN ’24. 22.706 TONNES
FEB. ’24: 66.276 TONNES (INCLUDES 1.723 TONNES EX. FOR RISK)
MARCH: 18.8398 TONNES + 1.1695 EX FOR RISK = 20.093 TONNES
APRIL: 2024: 53.673TONNES FINAL
MAY/ 2024 8.5536 TONNES + 3.3716 TONNES EX FOR RISK/= 11.9325
JUNE; 95.578 TONNES. + 1.045 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK =96.623 THIS IS THE HIGHEST RECORDED GOLD STANDING SINCE AUGUST 2022
JULY: 11.692 TONNES
AUGUST 69.602 TONNES//FINAL STANDING
SEPT. 13.164 TONNES.
OCT 39.474 TONNES + + 20.917 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK =60.391 TONNES
NOV . 11.265 TONNES +4.665 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK/TUESDAY + 3.11 TONNES OF EX. FOR RISK/PRIOR = 19.0425 TONNES
DEC: 80.4230 TONNES PLUS DEC MONTH EXCHANGE FOR RISK TOTAL 14.6836 TONNES EQUALS 95.1066 TONNES
total year 2024: 540.30 tonnes
COMEX GOLD TRADING BEGINNING JUNE,. CONTRACT;
THE SPECS/HFT WERE SUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT FELL BY $135.40)
WE HAD HUGE T.A.S. SPREADER LIQUIDATION THURSDAY // COMEX SESSION// WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE , OUR SPECULATORS WENT TO THE SHORT SIDE LED BY THE NOSE BY OUR HIGH FREQUENCY MOMENTUM PLAYERS WITH CENTRAL BANKERS TAKING THE LONG SIDE. THE SPECS WILL BE ANNIHILATED.
OTHER EASTERN CENTRAL BANKS TENDERED FOR PHYSICAL EVERY NIGHT WHICH ALSO EXPLAINS THE HUGE NUMBER OF TONNES OF GOLD THAT STOOD FOR GOLD DURING THESE PAST SEVERAL MONTHS
THURSDAY NIGHT//FRIDAY MORNING
THE CROOKS COULD NOT STOP OTHER CENTRAL BANK LONGS, SEIZING THE MOMENT, THEY EXERCISED AGAIN FOR PHYSICAL IN A BIG WAY TENDERING FOR PHYSICAL THURSDAY EVENING //FRIDAY MORNING AND THUS OUR HUGE NUMBER OF GOLD CONTRACTS STANDING FOR DELIVERY AT THE COMEX. CENTRAL BANKERS WAIT PATIENTLY FOR THE GOLD
ALL OF THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $135.40
WE HAD XXX CONTRACTS REMOVED FROM THE COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST (CROOKS)//PRELIMINARY TO FINAL.
NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES: 8447 CONTRACTS OR 844,700 OZ (26.27 TONNES)
JUNE DELIVERY MONTH
JUNE 19
| Gold | Ounces |
| Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory in oz | nil |
| Withdrawals from Customer Inventory in oz | 1 ENTRIES i) Loomis: 643.02 oz (20 kilobars) total withdrawal 643.02 oz |
| Deposit to the Dealer Inventory in oz | 0 ENTRY |
| Deposits to the Customer Inventory, in oz | DEPOSITS/CUSTOMER//gold ENTRIES: 1 ENTRIES: 1 Into Manfra: 63,499.109 oz total deposit: 63,499.109 oz xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| No of oz served (contracts) today | 628 CONTRACTS OR 62,800 OZ 1.9537 TONNES OF GOLD |
| No of oz to be served (notices) | 26 Contracts 2600 OZ 0.0808 TONNES |
| Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month | 37,218 notices 3,721,800 oz 115.7636 TONNES |
| Total accumulative withdrawals of gold from the Dealers inventory this month | NIL oz |
| Total accumulative withdrawal of gold from the Customer inventory this month |
dealer deposits: 0
0 ENTRY
DEPOSITS/CUSTOMER
ENTRIES: 1
Into Manfra: 63,499.109 oz
total deposit: 63,499.109 oz
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
comex withdrawal
1 ENTRIES
1 ENTRIES
i) Loomis: 643.02 oz (20 kilobars)
total withdrawal 643.02 oz
adjustments: 4// dealer to customer
a) Brinks 90,609.516 oz
b) JPMorgan; 14,467.908 oz
c) Loomis: 4,203.200 oz
d) Manfra: 38,980.172 oz
total dealer to customer 148,260.856 oz
COMEX IS DRAINING GOLD
chaos inside the comex
THE FRONT MONTH OF JUNE OI STANDS AT 654 CONTRACTS HAVING A LOSS OF 514 CONTRACTS.
WE HAD 1134 CONTRACTS SERVED ON THURSDAY, SO WE GAINED 620 CONTRACTS OR 62,000 OZ. (1.928 TONNES) EXERCISED A QUEUE JUMP WHERE THEY WILL TAKE PHYSICAL GOLD ON THIS SIDE OF THE POND. THIS IS NO DOUBT CENTRAL BANKS STANDING FOR PHYSICAL GOLD.
JULY GAINED 638 CONTRACTS UP TO 5950 CONTRACTS.
AUGUST GAINED 5578 CONTRACTS TO AN OI OF 265,518
.
We had 628 contracts filed for today representing 62,800oz
Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from J.P.Morgan dealer and 595 notices issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equate to 628 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 77 notice(s) was (were) stopped (received) by J.P.Morgan//customer account
To calculate the INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for JUNE. /2026. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (37,218) to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of JUNE(654 CONTRACTS) minus the number of notices served upon today 628 x 100 oz per contract) equals 3,724,400 OZ OR (115.844 Tonnes of gold)
THUS: INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for JUNE. /2026. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (37,218) to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of JUNE( 654 CONTRACTS) minus the number of notices served upon today 628 x 100 oz per contract) equals 3,724,400 OZ OR (115.844Tonnes of gold)
new total of gold standing in JUNE becomes 115.844 TONNES//
TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING FOR JUNE 115.844 TONNES TONNES WHICH IS NOW REALLY HUGE FOR THIS ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF JUNE.
confirmed volume THURSDAY confirmed 99,679// poor// many have left the arena
COMEX GOLD INVENTORIES/CLASSIFICATION
NEW PLEDGED GOLD:
241,794.285 oz NOW PLEDGED /HSBC 5.94 TONNES
204,937.290 OZ PLEDGED MANFRA 3.08 TONNES
83,657.582 PLEDGED JPMorgan no 1 1.690 tonnes
265,999.054, oz JPM No 2
1,152,376.639 oz pledged Brinks/
Manfra: 33,758.550 oz
Delaware: 193.721 oz
International Delaware:: 11,188.542 oz
total pledged gold: 1,692,905.420 oz 52.656 tonnes pledged gold lowers
total inventories in gold declining rapidly
total pledged gold: 1,692,905.420 tonnes oz 52.656 tonnes
TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED GOLD 27,998,768.924oz
TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD 15,081,102.583 tonnes (469.085 tonnes)
TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD 12,917,866.251 oz//eligible gold leaving hand over fist
REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON 13,388,197oz ((REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD)=
416.429 Tonnes //
total inventories in gold declining rapidly
SILVER COMEX
JUNE DELIVERY MONTH
JUNE 19
| Silver | Ounces |
| Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory | NIL oz |
| Withdrawals from Customer Inventory | 1 entries Out of: a) Manfra: 320,110.517 oz total withdrawal: 320,110.517 oz |
| Deposits to the Dealer Inventory | 0 entries |
| Deposits to the Customer Inventory | DEPOSIT ENTRIES/CUSTOMER ACCOUNT ONE ENTRY ONE ENTRY i)Into Asahi: 602,433.300 oz total deposit: 602,433.300 oz oz |
| No of oz served today (contracts) | 12 CONTRACT(S) (60,000 OZ) |
| No of oz to be served (notices) | 4 Contract (20,000 oz) |
| Total monthly oz silver served (contracts) | 2407 contracts 12.035 MILLION oz |
| Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Dealers inventory this month | NIL oz |
| Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Customer inventory this month |
DEPOSITS INTO DEALER ACCOUNTS
0 ENTRIES
DEPOSIT ENTRIES/CUSTOMER ACCOUNT
ENTRY:1
ONE ENTRY
i)Into Asahi: 602,433.300 oz
total deposit: 602,433.300 oz oz
total deposit 605,069.076 oz
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
withdrawals: customer side/eligible
Out of:
a) Manfra: 320,110.517 oz
total withdrawal: 320,110.517 oz
adjustments 2
i) dealer to customer: CNT 77,547.650 oz
ii) customer to dealer Manfra: 05,431.718 oz
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 86.246 MILLION OZ//.TOTAL REG + ELIGIBLE. 321.345 Million oz
registered silver dropping in numbers
CALCULATIONS FOR THE NEW STANDING FOR SILVER FOR JUNE
silver open interest data:
FRONT MONTH OF JUNE /2026 OI: 6 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FOR A LOSS OF 12 CONTRACTS.
WE HAD 12 NOTICES SERVED ON THURSDAY SO WE NEITHER GAINED NOR LOST ANY CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL 0 OZ WILL STAND AS A QUEUE JUMP AT THE SILVER COMEX.
JULY SAW A LOSS OF 1245 CONTRACTS DOWN TO 39,356 CONTRACTS.
AUGUST SAW A GAIN 0F 18 CONTRACTS UP TO 987…
TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 2 or 10,000 OZ oz
CONFIRMED volume THURSDAY; 47,817// fair
XXX
AND NOW JUNE. DELIVERIES:
To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in JUNE. we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 2409 X5,000 oz = 12.045 MILLION oz
to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of JUNE(6) AND the number of notices served upon today (2 )x (5000 oz)
Thus the standings for silver for the JUNE 2026 contract month: (2409 )Notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of JUNE ( 6) minus number of notices served upon today (2)x 5000 oz equals silver standing for the JUNE..contract month equating to 12.065 MILLION OZ.+
We must also keep in mind that there is considerable silver standing in London coming from our longs
There are ONLY 86.246 million oz of registered silver
JPMorgan as a percentage of total silver: 138.474/321.315 million: 43.30%
The record level of silver open interest is 234,787 contracts set on April 21./2017 with the price on that day at $18.42.
The previous record was 224,540 contracts with the price at that time of $20.44.
BOTH GLD AND SLV ARE MASSIVE FRAUD
JUNE 19 /2026/WITH PROVIDE ON MONDAY /HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 0.XXXX TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD/./ //// ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1013.069 TONNES
JUNE 18 /2026/WITH GOLD DOWN $135.20 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 0.856 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD/./ //// ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1013.069 TONNES
JUNE 17 /2026/WITH GOLD UP $20.80 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.427 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD/./ //// ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1012.213 TONNES
JUNE 16 /2026/WITH GOLD UP $4.45 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: //// ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1013.640 TONNES
JUNE 15 /2026/WITH GOLD UP $111.10 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: //// ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1013.640 TONNES
JUNE 12 /2026/WITH GOLD UP $123.30 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: //// ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1013.640 TONNES
JUNE 11 /2026/WITH GOLD DOWN $15.15 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.855 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD//// ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1013.640 TONNES
JUNE 10 /2026/WITH GOLD DOWN $153.05 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.426 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD//// ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1016.495 TONNES
JUNE 9 /2026/WITH GOLD DOWN $75.60 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:// ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1019.921 TONNES
JUNE 8 /2026/WITH GOLD DOWN $3.05 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 6.936 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD// ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1019.921 TONNES
JUNE 5 /2026/WITH GOLD DOWN $134;85 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1026.857 TONNES
JUNE 4 /2026/WITH GOLD UP $39.25 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.143 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD// ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1026.857 TONNES
JUNE 3 /2026/WITH GOLD DOWN $51.80 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.856 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD// ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1028.000 TONNES
JUNE 2 /2026/WITH GOLD UP $7.45 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.712 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD// ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1028.856 TONNES
JUNE 1 /2026/WITH GOLD DOWN $79.30 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1032.568 TONNES
MAY 29 /2026/WITH GOLD UP $59.20 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.285 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1032.568 TONNES
MAY 28 /2026/WITH GOLD UP $52.00 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1034.853 TONNES
MAY 27 /2026/WITH GOLD DOWN $51.00 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1034.853 TONNES
MAY 26 /2026/WITH GOLD DOWN $25.45 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.9988 TONNES OUT OF THE GLD ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1034.853 TONNES
MAY 22 /2026/WITH GOLD DOWN $13.45 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1036.851 TONNES
MAY 21 /2026/WITH GOLD UP $7.60 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: ./ //:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1036.851 TONNES
GLD INVENTORY: 1013.069 TONNES, TONIGHTS TOTAL GOLD INVENTORY
SILVER
JUNE 19 WITH SILVER WILL PROVIDE ON MONDAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: HUGE CHANGES IN INVENTORY A XXXXX././ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 480.302 MILLION OZ
JUNE 18 WITH SILVER DOWN $4.80: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: HUGE CHANGES IN INVENTORY A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.086 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV././ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 480.302 MILLION OZ
JUNE 17 WITH SILVER UP $0.79: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: NO CHANGE IN INVENTORY AT THE SLV /./ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 481.388 MILLION OZ
JUNE 16 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.13: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 0.362 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV /./ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 481.388 MILLION OZ
JUNE 15 WITH SILVER UP $3.25: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.357 MILLION OZ OUT THE SLV /./ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 481.026 MILLION OZ
JUNE 12 WITH SILVER UP $3.34: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.769 MILLION OZ OUT THE SLV /./ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 482.383 MILLION OZ
JUNE 11 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.12: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.226 MILLION OZ OUT THE SLV /./ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 483.152 MILLION OZ
JUNE 10 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.50: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.909 MILLION OZ OUT THE SLV /./ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 483.378 MILLION OZ
JUNE 9 WITH SILVER DOWN $3.35: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 1.407 MILLION OZ INTO INTO THE SLV /./ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 484.287 MILLION OZ
JUNE 8 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.52: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 543,000 OZ FROM THE SLV /./ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 482.880 MILLION OZ
JUNE 5 WITH SILVER DOWN $4.86: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV /./ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 483.423 MILLION OZ
JUNE 4 WITH SILVER UP $0.52: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV >> A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.432 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/./ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 483.423 MILLION OZ
JUNE 3 WITH SILVER DOWN $2.55: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV >> /./ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 483.423 MILLION OZ
JUNE 2 WITH SILVER UP $0.25: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV >> A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.2222 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/./ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 484.855 MILLION OZ
JUNE 1 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.52: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLVA WITHDRAWAL OF 1.9 MILLION OZ FORM THE SLV/./ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 486.077 MILLION OZ
MAY 29 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.03: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 487.977 MILLION OZ
MAY 28 WITH SILVER UP $1.02: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 487.977 MILLION OZ
MAY 27 WITH SILVER DOWN $1.61: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.176 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV/ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 487.977 MILLION OZ
MAY 26 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.14: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 1.131 OF 0.315 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV/ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 489.153 MILLION OZ
MAY 22 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.26: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.315 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 488.022 MILLION OZ
MAY 21 WITH SILVER UP $0.64: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:/ // :INVENTORY RESTS AT 488.338 MILLION OZ
CLOSING INVENTORY 480.802 MILLION OZ OF SILVER
GOLD COMMENTARIES:
1.PETER SCHIFF
2. MATHEW PIEPENBERG/EGON VON GREYERZ
ALASDAIR MACLEOD.
Stop, thief!
They want your gold and silver, and they use every psychological trick to get you to hand them over!
The sell-off in gold and silver continued this week, doubtless with the establishment’s paper shorts eying up the 4,121 tons held in gold ETFs: shake the trees and some is bound to come out.
The point is that bullion banks and market makers understand how to manipulate investor psychology — after all, that’s their business. It’s what makes people buy high and sell low.
Their success is illustrated in the World Gold Council’s chart above. Record investor demand for ETFs was in January, when gold peaked, followed by a massive North American liquidation (the black bars) when the price fell by $1,400 from the all-time high on 29th January to $4,100 on 23rd March. Liquidation of North American ETFs in March took out all the bulls of the two previous months combined.
This leaves the prices of gold and silver down on the year so far.
This week, at $4166 gold is down $50 from last Friday’s close in generally light trade on Comex, while silver at $65.10 was down $2.80 on the week in reasonable turnover. Stand-for-deliveries continue at pace this month with buyers for the expired June gold contract evident, presumably with a view to taking delivery. So far this year, 437 tonnes of gold have been stood for delivery, and 5,899 tonnes of silver.
Peace agreement uncertainties
Late last week, President Trump announced a peace agreement with Iran which turned out to be a Memorandum of Understanding merely setting out points for discussion. Following its signing this week, peace talks due to commence in Switzerland were cancelled this morning due to ongoing Israeli strikes in Lebanon which Iran insists must cease.
While a few oil tankers have been able to leave both the Persian Gulf and Iran’s port of Chabahar in East Iran, it is clear that the situation is far from resolved. Nevertheless, WTI oil has declined this month so far from $96 to $76 this morning, fuelling hopes that the inflation spike for the dollar and G7 currencies will not be as bad as earlier feared.
However, at its Wednesday meeting the Fed held its funds rate steady, citing inflation uncertainties. Furthermore, nine of the 18 committee members indicated that they expected a rate rise later this year.
This should not have been a surprise, but it was an excuse for market makers to mark down gold and silver on the tired basis that higher rates are bad for gold and silver. This is 180 degrees wrong: higher rates being talked about still amount to interest rate suppression, leading to falls in the dollar’s purchasing power relative to that of gold. In other words, gold priced in dollars should be going higher, not lower.
Nowhere is this better understood than in China which also sees the US in geopolitical retreat making holding dollars doubly undesirable. Her export surpluses are higher than ever leading her to be continual sellers of dollars. And in selling dollars, her preferred alternative is gold and commodities, especially silver. The message from China’s authorities is understood by her banks, which offer gold accumulation accounts to their $21 trillion-equivalent depositors.
The Chinese flight out of dollars is also driving the renminbi higher:
For China’s banks, this makes gold even cheaper priced in yuan, and the marking down of dollar prices represents an opportunity to build physical gold reserves to back their gold accumulation accounts.
Paid subscribers to MacleodFinance.com received a detailed analysis of these factors driving the gold price this week. A second analysis covering silver is planned in the coming days.
Inv
3. CHRIS POWELL AND HIS GATA DISPATCHES
4. ANDREW MAGUIRE/LIVE FROM THE VAULT; 277
LAST WEEK 276
5. COMMODITY REPORT//ALUMINIUM/rare earths
YOUR EARLY CURRENCY VALUES/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN AND EUROPEAN BOURSE MOVEMENTS/AND INTEREST RATE SETTINGS FRIDAY MORNING.7:30 AM
SHANGHAI CLOSED
HANG SENG CLOSED
Nikkei CLOSED UP 369.51 PTS OR 0.52%
//Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED DOWN 0.27%
//Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) CLOSED
/ OFFSHORE CLOSED DOWN AT 6.7893 Oil UP TO 76.30 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT UP TO 79.50 Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL MOSTLY GREEN
ONSHORE USA/ YUAN// WITH YUAN TRADING XXX (XXX) OFFSHORE YUAN TRADING DOWN TO 6.7893 ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFF SHORE AND DOWN ON THE DOLLAR// / AND THUS WEAKER/OFF SHORE YUAN TRADING DOWN AGAINST US DOLLAR/ AND THUS WEAKER
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
YOUR EARLY CURRENCY VALUES/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN AND EUROPEAN BOURSE MOVEMENTS/AND INTEREST RATE SETTINGS FRIDAY MORNING.7:30 AM
ONSHORE YUAN: CLOSED
OFFSHORE YUAN: DOWN TO 6.7893
1.HANG SANG CLOSED
2. Nikkei closed UP 387.35 PTS OR 1.59%
WEST TEXAS INTERMEDIATE OIL UP TO 76.80
BRENT; 79.50
3. Europe stocks SO FAR: ALL MOSTLY GREEN
USA dollar INDEX DOWN TO 100.589/// EURO RISES TO 1.1462 UP 4 BASIS PTS
3b Japan 10 YR bond yield:RISES TO. +2.643 UP 3 FULL BASIS PTS/ VERY TROUBLESOME//Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese YEN vs USA CROSS NOW AT 160.890… JAPANESE YEN NOW FALLING AS WE HAVE NOW REACHED THE ENDING OF THE YEN CARRY TRADE AGAIN AND THE REPATRIATION OF YEN DENOMINATED BONDS TRADING IN THE USA/EUROPE. JAPAN 30 YR BOND YIELD: 3.848 UP 9 FULL BASIS PTS
3c Nikkei now ABOVE 17,000
3d USA/Yen rate now well ABOVE the important 120 barrier this morning
3e Gold DOWN /JAPANESE Yen DOWN CHINESE ONSHORE YUAN: XXX( XXX) AND OFFSHORE: DOWN AT 6.7893
3f Japan is to buy INFINITE TRILLION YEN worth of BONDS. Japan’s GDP equals 5 trillion USA
Japan to buy 100% of all new Japanese debt and NOW they will have OVER 50% of all Japanese debt.
3g Oil UP for WTI and BRENT UP this morning
3h European bond buying continues to push yields HIGHER on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund YIELD UP TO +2.9673// Italian 10 Yr bond yield UP to 3.680// SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD UP TO 3.439%
3i Greek 10 year bond yield UP TO 3.631%
3j Gold at $4163.00 //Silver at: 65.10 1 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $100.00
3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble DOWN 0 AND 14/ 100 roubles/73.46
3m oil (WTI) into the 76 dollar handle for WTI and 79 handle for Brent/
3n Higher foreign deposits moving out of China// huge risk of outflows and a currency depreciation. This can spell financial disaster for the rest of the world/
JAPAN ON JAN 29.2016 CONTINUES NIRP. THIS MORNING RAISES AMOUNT OF BONDS THAT THEY WILL PURCHASE UP TO .5% ON THE 10 YR BOND///YEN TRADES TO 161.259 // 10 YEAR YIELD AFTER FIRST BREAKING .54% LAST YEAR NOW EXCEEDS THAT LEVEL TO 2.643% UP 3 BASIS PTS STILL ON CENTRAL BANK (JAPAN) INTERVENTION//YEN CARRY TRADE NOW UNWINDING//YEN BOND TRADING OVERSEAS REPATRIATED.//JAPAN 30 YR: 3.848 UP 9 PTS..: USA/SF this 0.8057 as the Swiss Franc . Euro vs SF: 0.9235
USA 10 YR BOND YIELD: 4.463 UP 0 BASIS PTS…
USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 4.900 UP 0 BASIS PTS/
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.179 UP 0 BASIS PTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 46.45 UP 0 BASIS PTS/LIRA GETTING KILLED//IDIOTS FOR SELLING GOLD AND USA DOLLAR RESERVES.
10 YR UK BOND YIELD: 4.8272 UP 4 PTS
30 YR UK BOND YIELD: 5.532 UP 8 BASIS PTS
10 YR CANADA BOND YIELD: 3.374 DOWN 5 BASIS PTS
5 YR CANADA BOND YIELD: 3.034 DOWN 5 BASIS PTS.
EARLIER;
Futures, Gold Slide, Oil Jumps After Iran Peace Talks Delayed
Friday, Jun 19, 2026 – 08:51 AM
With US markets closed for the Juneteenth holiday, global stocks are ending a strong week on a cautious note as the recent relief over an interim peace deal between the US and Iran gave way to a focus on the challenges of securing a lasting agreement. As of 8:30am, S&P 500 futures slid 0.4% after the benchmark posted its best week since the end of May (despite the drop, the S&P is still up on the week, and up 11 of the past 12). Europe’s Stoxx 600 was little changed, while Asian stocks retreated 0.4% from an all-time high. Markets in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan were shut as well.
Brent crude rebounded from the lowest price since the start of the war, and fluctuated near $80 a barrel as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz appeared to thin on Friday, just a day after a pledge by the US and Iran to lift a dual blockage prompted a burst in oil flows.
Precious metals, which had already dropped ahead of the overnight escalation, extended losses with gold dropping to the mid-$4100s.
Talks on a permanent deal between Washington and Tehran that were meant to be held in Switzerland on Friday have been delayed, after Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants clashed overnight in Lebanon, a development the Financial Times reported was behind the postponement. Iran has made a truce in Lebanon a condition of its preliminary deal with the US. At the same time, the White House announced late on Thursday that Vance would not be traveling to the talks and said the logistics had not been “simple or predictable”.
The latest snafu comes a day after the US dropped its naval blockade of Iran after the two countries signed a deal aimed at ending the conflict.
“Of course, with Trump there can always be some derailment along the way, but we believe that we’re set into a new phase of de-escalation,” said Alexandre Drabowicz at Indosuez Wealth Management. “There are 60 planned days of negotiations,” he said, advising investors not to rush to conclusions about a permanent deal.
Meanwhile in the UK, gilts led a rise in European bond yields after Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham won a seat in Parliament, handing him a pathway to challenge Prime Minister Keir Starmer for his job. Investors are debating whether a Burnham premiership might shift to a looser fiscal policy (spoiler alert: yes).
In rates, the pound outperformed most major currencies, while the dollar held at its highest level since March. Bitcoin fell for a fourth consecutive day.
Despite today’s hiccup, global markets are wrapped in a debt-funded AI euphoria: stocks are closing a pivotal week marked by the US-Iran interim deal, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s first policy meeting and the early days of SpaceX as a public company. Stocks have shown unprecedented resilience, buoyed by the frenzy around artificial intelligence and the billions of debt dollars funding it on the assumption that cheaper Chinese alternatives will not be able to dethrone expensive, token-sucking US incumbents.
Strategists surveyed by Bloomberg have raised their S&P 500 year-end targets from a month ago as Iran war disruptions eased and the earnings outlook improved. The average target climbed to 7,716 from 7,612 in May. That’s almost 3% higher than the last close and implies a near 13% gain for the year. Earnings estimates also increased for this year and next.
“Markets seem to be entering a rare couple of weeks with no major catalysts ahead,” said Roberto Scholtes, head of strategy at Singular Bank. “Hopefully, this is a chance to take a breather after a hectic year, and possibly also a period of sector rotation.”
END
THEN:
Futures Rebound, Oil Slides, After Israel And Hezbollah Agree To Ceasefire
Friday, Jun 19, 2026 – 08:51 AM
Update: the Yo-Yo insanity that is the on again, off again Iran war. Moments after we reported that futures and global risk assets had sold off overnight on a delay to today’s start of peace talks in Switzerland due to Iran’s protest of ongoing violence in Lebanon, moments ago Reuters reported that Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to a ceasefire set to begin at 4 p.m. local time on Friday, citing a senior US official
“Hezbollah and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire,” the official said on background, adding that negotiators for the U.S. and Qataris worked out the deal with help from Iran. “We understand that after the exchange of fire earlier today, Israel and Hezbollah are now in a ceasefire.”
The report was confirmed by an Israeli official speaking to the Jerusalem Post: “We have entered a ceasefire. We will continue to act against threats and will remain in the Strip. If Hezbollah harms our soldiers or civilians, we will respond forcefully”.
In kneejerk reaction, S&P futures which were down 0.4% erased half their losses…
… while oil dropped from session highs.
And now we wait the inevitable next reversal of this neverending newsflow yoyo.
* * *
Earlier:
1b European opening report
1 c Asian opening report
DXY continues to firm & US stocks rally, Europe set for weaker open – Newsquawk EU Market Open
Friday, Jun 19, 2026 – 01:29 AM
- US VP Vance is no longer travelling to Switzerland. Reports suggest this is due to the situation around Lebanon. Crude in the red, but off lows.
- Labour’s Burnham won the UK Makerfield by-election, meaning he is on course to become PM though the process for that largely depends on current PM Starmer.
- Two-way APAC trade in thin holiday conditions. European futures points to a softer open, Euro Stoxx 50 -0.4%.
- USTR has commenced a Section 301 probe into German pharmaceuticals.
- DXY gradually extended on recent momentum to the modest detriment of peers across the board.
- Looking ahead, highlights include German PPI (May), UK Retail Sales (May), PSNB (May), Canadian Retail Sales (Apr), Speakers including ECB’s Lane, Cipollone & Elderson.
- Note, US markets are closed for Juneteenth. Newsquawk desk is operating as usual.
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IRAN CONFLICT
SWITZERLAND TALKS
- US VP Vance is no longer travelling to Switzerland, while the White House confirmed that US VP Vance will not travel to Switzerland on Thursday night and they will provide a follow-up when they have a concrete update on the next steps, while they look forward to beginning the technical talks as soon as possible, according to Axios’s Ravid.
- US official reportedly said one reason for the postponement of US VP Vance’s Switzerland trip “could be Iranian demands regarding the situation in Lebanon”, according to Axios’ Ravid.
- Swiss Foreign Ministry confirmed US-Iran talks in Burgenstock will not take place as planned on Friday.
- Today’s planned talks between the US and Iran were postponed due to Tehran’s insistence that Israel would cease its operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to Walla’s Guy Elster. It was separately reported that the departure of Iran and US delegations to Switzerland was postponed due to IDF attacks in Lebanon, according to an N12 reporter.
- The situation in Lebanon is reportedly one of the reasons why US VP Vance is not going to Switzerland, according to Asharq’s Nasr, who noted reports that a number of Israeli soldiers were killed by Hezbollah and that Israel wanted to retaliate.
- Israel launched intense air and artillery strikes in southern Lebanon, according to Tasnim. It was separately reported that Israeli strikes hit residential areas and that Israeli forces carried out artillery strikes targeting the town of Kfar Jouz in the Nabatieh district of southern Lebanon.
- Hezbollah issued a statement announcing the launch of a series of military operations called Operation Ashura in response to the Israeli regime’s repeated violations of the ceasefire in southern Lebanon, according to Tasnim.
IRAN
- US President Trump said to expect a complete ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel. It was separately reported that Trump said the US would back Israel if it attacks Iran, according to Channel 14.
- US President Trump told Axios that the MoU is probably unconditional surrender and that in the aftermath of the Iran war, there are no limits to his power.
- Israel’s Ambassador to the US said they will maintain the ceasefire if Hezbollah does not violate the agreement, and will reserve the right to respond, while they will respond to any attack or threat that is detected.
- Lebanon and Israel negotiations on June 23rd are to focus on establishing pilot zones, according to sources cited by Al-Arabia
- Diplomatic track negotiations between Lebanon and Israel will address ceasefire terms, as well as border security and sovereignty.
- US Deputy Defence Secretary said the Pentagon needs USD 80bln to cover the costs from the Iran conflict and other expenses, WSJ reports citing sources.
- The Trump administration will allow Iran to access USD 6bln in oil funds held in Qatar to purchase humanitarian and non-sanctioned US goods under the interim deal, according to FT. The funds are to be released in phases during the 60-day ceasefire extension, subject to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and progress towards a final agreement.
- US envoy Whittaker claimed the IAEA will go to Iran to inspect nuclear sites, according to ISNA.
- Iranian Supreme Leader said the MoU was signed between the presidents of Iran and the US, while he added that on the way to reaching this stage, the officials made many efforts out of compassion and goodwill, and of course, it was the President of the United States who, out of desperation, used all kinds of levers for this purpose. He added that from this moment, they will await the fulfilment of the stated conditions and that it is obvious the future face-to-face negotiations will not mean acceptance of the enemy’s opinion.
- Iran’s top negotiator and Parliamentary Speaker Ghalibaf said any breach of the agreement or excessive demands will be met with a strong response, while he added that they have no doubts about delivering a forceful response if the other side breaks its commitments.
- Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said the Persian Gulf Waterway Management has been instructed to process and respond to requests quickly and with priority to achieve the objectives of the memorandum. It added that given the special conditions and the presence of certain safety hazards along the passage route, and due to the necessity of ensuring safe transit and preventing maritime accidents, ships must pass at the time and route announced to them so that the possibility of transit can gradually increase. Furthermore, it stated regarding other matters, including mine clearance, that necessary actions will be taken in accordance with clause 5 of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, as well as noted that under the MoU, merchant vessels applying to transit the Strait of Hormuz will be exempt from fees for 60 days.
- Iran reiterated language that it is ready to take action if the US breaches the US-Iran MoU.
- Joint Maritime Information Centre said the maritime security threat level in the Strait of Hormuz has been reduced to moderate.
- EU’s Kallas said “not there yet” when asked about lifting Iran sanctions.
UK MAKERFIELD BY-ELECTION
- A convincing win for Labour’s Andy Burnham in the Makerfield by-election. Burnham secured a majority of around 9.2k votes, markedly clear of the 5.4k majority Labour had in the seat in the 2024 General Election. Additionally, the tally eclipsed the combined votes for Reform and Restore.
- Burnham is now firmly on course to become PM. The process for that largely depends on current PM Starmer. Starmer may, given the strength of Burnham’s victory and in the context of public and internal Labour perception of himself, concede that he would not win a leadership contest and such he may agree to progress an orderly transition of power to Burnham; an update on this is unlikely until next week, Sky’s Coates reported.
- Burnham is left of Starmer on the political spectrum and his premiership would add 7-14bps of additional political premia to the UK 10yr yield, according to Pantheon Macroeconomics; on that, we remain attentive to his Chancellor selection, reports suggest Ed Miliband is the frontrunner. An appointment that could enhance the soft-left assessment of and reaction to a Burnham government.
US TRADE
EQUITIES
- US stocks saw gains on Thursday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 outperforming amid broad-based strength in semiconductors and memory names due to two bullish stories: 1) Trump said Apple has agreed to work with Intel to design and build its chips in America, and 2) Apple CEO Cook said it plans to raise prices due to the memory chip crunch. As expected, it meant Technology was the clear outperforming sector, followed by Consumer Discretionary and Communication Services. Nonetheless, sectors were overall mixed, with Energy and Health the laggards. Energy saw 1.7% losses despite crude prices settling flattish, while Middle East newsflow was actually fairly sparse, as participants await the US-Iran talks and potential formal signing ceremony of the MoU in Geneva.
- SPX +1.08% at 7,501, NDX +2.48% at 30,406, DJI +0.14% at 51,570, RUT +2.12% at 2,980.
- Click here for a detailed summary.
TARIFFS/TRADE
- USTR said they have commenced a Section 301 probe of Germany regarding pharmaceuticals, to determine whether persistent underpayment for innovative pharmaceutical products by Germany is unreasonable or discriminatory, while the USTR will hold a hearing in connection with these investigations on Sept. 22nd.
- USTR Greer said US and Mexican teams have advanced talks on rules of origin, and the third round of negotiations will take place next month in Mexico City, while he added that they began initial talks on agriculture, labour, and environment.
- US told ASML (ASML NA) it is concerned that China could have its top chip tool, while the Co. said it has never shipped EUV or specific parts to China, according to Bloomberg.
- Canadian PM Carney said they had a series of detailed and technical discussions on trade with the US at the G7 meeting.
- China’s Commerce Minister Wang met with Canada’s Industry Minister, while it was stated that China is willing to work with Canada to expand the cooperation list.
APAC TRADE
EQUITIES
- APAC stocks saw two-way trade in holiday-thinned conditions owing to the closures across Greater China for the Dragon Boat Festival and with the early weekend stateside due to Juneteenth, with the region failing to sustain the initial positive bias seen at the open following the tech-led gains on Wall St.
- ASX 200 was pressured with the declines led by losses in miners, materials and resources following a drop in gold prices and with BHP shares hit after it flagged a USD 2.36bln impairment on the Jansen project.
- Nikkei 225 was choppy with the index initially printing a fresh record high just shy of the 72,000 level, where it then reversed course, while the latest inflation data from Japan mostly printed in-line with expectations, and participants remain on FX intervention watch after with USD/JPY at the 161.00 handle.
- US equity futures gradually retreated overnight after the prior day’s rally, and with today’s planned US-Iran negotiations in Switzerland said to be postponed following IDF’s strikes on Lebanon.
- European equity futures indicate a lower cash market open with Euro Stoxx 50 futures down 0.5% after the cash market closed with gains of 0.4% on Thursday.
FX
- DXY gradually extended on the hawkish FOMC momentum, with the dollar unfazed by the recent pullback in yields and absence of US participants on Friday for the Juneteenth holiday, while oil prices were rangebound amid the delay in technical talks between the US and Iran in Switzerland.
- EUR/USD trickled lower and further beneath the 1.1500 handle as it gives up further ground to the firmer buck, and despite recent comments from ECB officials continuing to toe the hawkish line.
- GBP/USD price action was choppy but ultimately dipped into sub-1.3200 territory. The focus overnight was on the Makerfield by-election, which Andy Burnham won convincingly, paving the way for his return to parliament and a leadership challenge, while Retail Sales data for the UK looms.
- USD/JPY traded indecisively following mostly in-line Japanese inflation data, although there was some volatility seen during US trade, in which the pair suddenly dropped from near the 162.00 level despite no obvious catalysts, which spurred speculation of intervention.
- Antipodeans gradually retreated as the dollar resumed its recent strengthening trend, with price action also not helped by the absence of any pertinent data and holiday closures across Greater China.
FIXED INCOME
- 10yr UST futures were lacklustre in thin trade after recently nursing some of the FOMC-triggered losses, while overnight demand was not helped by the closure of US cash markets on Friday for Juneteenth.
- Bund futures resumed yesterday’s intraday pullback after recent fluctuations and continued hawkish ECB rhetoric, while German PPI data looms.
- 10yr JGB futures were subdued after Japanese inflation data mostly matched forecasts and following an enhanced liquidity auction for longer-dated JGBs.
COMMODITIES
- Crude futures were marginally lower with price action rangebound amid relatively quiet geopolitical headlines and recent conflicting reports surrounding US-Iran talks in Switzerland on Friday, while the latest from a White House official confirmed that US VP Vance would not be travelling on Thursday night, citing complex logistical aspects of the negotiations, although other sources claimed the talks were postponed due to Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
- Iraq’s Oil Minister said they will gradually restore oil production to normal operations until output returns to previous levels, and oil fields are ready to resume production operations, while he said the crude export recovery will be gradual and contingent on smooth passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
- Kuwait Petroleum Corp confirmed it is moving towards restoring pre-war production levels and will increase production to 2mln BPD within a week, coinciding with the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and resumption of international commercial shipping.
- Petrobras executive said a drop in oil prices and agreement to end the Iran war will allow for maintenance work at refineries that was postponed.
- Spot gold breached its post-FOMC trough with prices slipping beneath the USD 4,200/oz level.
- Copper futures retreated with demand subdued amid the closure of key markets on Friday, including its largest buyer, due to the Dragon Boat Festival.
CRYPTO
- Bitcoin marginally declined after several failed tests of the USD 63,000 level.
NOTABLE ASIA-PAC HEADLINES
- BoJ Minutes from the April Meeting stated that many members said more time was needed to confirm the impact of Middle East developments on Japan’s economy and prices, while many members said the likelihood of the BoJ’s baseline forecast materialising was not that high, and it’s hard to assess the balance of downside risk to growth versus upside risk to inflation. Furthermore, members shared the view that it is appropriate to continue raising rates in response to economic price and financial developments, while a few members said BoJ could debate the pros and cons of a rate hike if inflation risks far exceed downside risk to growth, and one member said the situation is not imminent to warrant rushing in raising rates.
- BoJ’s Himino said they expect to continue increasing rates in accordance with developments in the economic, price and financial situations, while the timing and pace of action will be considered alongside the likelihood of the baseline scenario occurring.
- Japanese Finance Minister Katayama said won’t rely on debt to fund food sales tax cut, and reiterated that they are prepared to take decisive action on speculative moves in forex.
DATA RECAP
- Japanese CPI YY (May) 1.5% vs. Exp. 1.5% (Prev. 1.4%)
- Japanese CPI Ex. Fresh Food YY (May) 1.4% vs. Exp. 1.4% (Prev. 1.4%)
- Japanese CPI Ex-Food and Energy YY (May) 1.8% vs. Exp. 1.9% (Prev. 1.9%)
GEOPOLITICS
RUSSIA-UKRAINE
- Ukrainian President Zelensky called for fast-tracking EU membership for Ukraine, while he said Europe’s future is being decided on the battlefield and its security depends on financial guarantees for Ukraine’s army from the EU and the coalition of the willing. Zelensky separately commented that they want to end this war before winter through diplomacy and pressure on Russia.
- Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov said nukes in Belarus balance NATO and Ukraine threats, while he warned that a NATO-Russia direct clash risks nuclear exchange, according to IRNA.
- EU approved an extension of Russian sanctions for 12 months.
EU/UK
NOTABLE HEADLINES
- Labour’s Andy Burnham won the UK Makerfield by-election with 24,937 votes (54.8%), while the Reform candidate received 15,696 votes (34.5%).
- Labour’s Burnham reportedly has the nominations required to trigger a Labour leadership contest, according to three people close to the matter, and intends to present the list to PM Starmer to urge him to step down without a contest, according to New Statesman’s Rea.
- No immediate challenge is expected from Burnham against UK PM Starmer, if Burnham wins the Makerfield by-election, Sky’s Coates reports citing sources, while the expectation is for Burnham in Parliament on Monday, and then a call between Burnham and Starmer.
- EU leaders are to resume budget talks on Saturday, with the EU budget fight set to intensify at the council summit, according to POLITICO.
- EU will remove barriers to banks’ cross-border capital flows, according to FT
DATA RECAP
- UK Gfk Consumer Confidence (Jun) -23 vs. Exp. -23 (Prev. -23)
2.NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA AND JAPAN
SOUTH KOREA
JAPAN
3 CHINA
CHINA/USA
“No Greater Threat To America’s Way Of Life”: Senate Unanimously Passes Resolution To Condemn CCP Leader Xi Jinping
Friday, Jun 19, 2026 – 09:30 AM
Authored by Dorothy Li via The Epoch Times,
U.S. senators have voiced support for ordinary Chinese people and denounced communist regime leader Xi Jinping for lying to Americans and committing human rights abuses.
The U.S. Senate unanimously approved on June 16 by voice vote a resolution (Senate Resolution 444) condemning Xi for “deceit, undermining prospects for peace and security, and orchestrating crimes against humanity.”
The resolution also encourages the U.S. government and its agencies to use all available tools—including the authorities under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which allow sanctions against individuals responsible for serious human rights violations or corruption—to hold Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials accountable.
The vote came just a day after Xi’s 73rd birthday.
“There is no greater threat to America’s way of life, peace, and prosperity in the world than Xi Jinping and the CCP,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who introduced the resolution earlier this month, told the Senate before the vote.
“Xi Jinping hates us. Communist China wants to destroy us. He is not a partner. He is not a competitor. He is a brutal dictator leading a criminal organization that lies, cheats, steals, exploits slave labor, and commits genocide and crimes against humanity on an industrial scale.”
Under Xi’s leadership, the CCP covered up the COVID-19 outbreak after it first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, allowing it to develop into a global pandemic.
The resolution notes that the CCP lied to the world about where the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, originated and how easily it was transmitted, while using international organizations such as the World Health Organization to “peddle falsehoods.”
As a result of these deceptions, more than 1 million people died from COVID-19 in the United States alone, according to the resolution.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference in Grapevine, Texas, on March 28, 2026. Leandro Lozada/AFP via Getty Images
In addition to the global pandemic, the resolution also highlights the CCP’s role in the fentanyl crisis in the United States.
Xi pledged, in 2019 and again in 2023, to work more closely with the U.S. government to curb the flow of fentanyl precursors from the country. Despite these promises, more than 70,000 Americans died from fentanyl overdoses in recent years, with the 2025 National Drug Threat Assessment identifying fentanyl and other synthetic drugs as the “primary drivers of fatal drug overdose deaths nationwide,” the resolution stated.
On the trade front, Xi “doubled down” on the CCP’s decades-long “tradition of cheating,” the resolution stated.
When the Clinton administration sponsored China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, the CCP promised to transition to a more market-oriented economy, including reducing state control of trade and protecting intellectual property.
However, after more than 25 years, the CCP still “fails to uphold many” of those promises and continues to violate WTO obligations, the resolution stated.
Espionage and cyberattacks have also surged, according to the resolution. In 2017, for instance, four Chinese military-backed hackers carried out a cyberattack against the U.S. credit company Equifax and stole the personal information of about 145 million Americans, according to the FBI.
More than 60 espionage cases linked to the CCP were documented in 20 U.S. states from February 2021 to December 2024, according to the resolution.
Among these was a naturalized U.S. citizen who, in December 2024, pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an agent of the Chinese regime in relation to running a secret Chinese police station in New York City.
The resolution cites the CCP’s records of human rights violations, including the massacre of student-led protesters demanding political reform and greater freedom at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in June 1989.
Even 36 years later, the bloody repression continues to serve as a “stark reminder of the sheer evil and cowardice” of the CCP and its inability to quash the aspirations of the Chinese people, according to the resolution.
It also highlights the regime’s ongoing abuses, such as the state-sanctioned practice of killing prisoners of conscience—most notably Falun Gong practitioners—for organs.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said that he spoke directly with Xi about releasing Lai during his recent visit to Beijing, but that Xi called Lai’s case “a tougher one” for him.
Scott, in a June 16 statement, called for courage and action.
“The CCP, especially under Xi Jinping’s tyranny, has a particular brand of evil,” Scott said in a statement. “They seek to control the world, and in their mind, that means destroying anyone who stands in their way—whether it’s their own people or not.
“We cannot be afraid to stand up to our enemies and hold the line for the next generation of Americans.”
4. EUROPEAN AND SCANDINAVIAN COMMENTARIES PLUS NATO
SWEDEN
Sweden Passes Law To Revoke Residence Permits From Migrants Who Fail ‘Good-Behavior’ Test
Friday, Jun 19, 2026 – 05:30 AM
Sweden has passed a new migration law that will allow residence permits to be refused or revoked if foreign nationals are deemed not to have lived in an orderly manner, marking another major tightening of the country’s immigration system.
The Swedish Parliament adopted the government’s amendments to existing immigration laws on Monday by 302 votes to 44, with the Left Party and the Green Party voting against the measure. The changes will mainly come into force next month.
Under the new rules, a foreign national’s conduct will carry greater weight when authorities decide whether to grant, extend, or revoke a residence permit. The law does not set out an exhaustive list of behaviors that will be treated as unacceptable, leaving the Migration Agency to assess cases individually. It means that an immigrant who may not hold a criminal record but has acted in a disorderly manner in other ways could be told to leave.
Decisions can be appealed to a migration court.
Government representatives and investigators have cited several examples of conduct that may count against an applicant, including failing to follow Swedish laws and regulations, ignoring decisions by public authorities, systematically avoiding debts or fines, working illegally, failing to pay taxes, criminality, and links to extremist organizations.
Migration Minister Johan Forssell defended the proposal when it was presented in March, saying Sweden should demand more from those seeking to remain in the country.
“Anyone who doesn’t make the effort to do the right thing shouldn’t be able to count on staying,” Forssell said.
The measure forms part of a broader shift in Swedish migration policy under the current government, which has moved to make residence, citizenship and asylum rules more restrictive.
Earlier this month, Parliament also approved the removal of permanent residence permits for several asylum-related categories, including people granted protection, long-term residents in Sweden, and their family members.
Hailing the move, the right-wing Sweden Democrats wrote on X, “The Sweden Democrats are delivering on our election promises! Today, the Swedish parliament voted yes to double penalties for gang criminals, the reintroduction of official liability, and character requirements for residence permits.”
While the party is not in government, it props up the current administration on the proviso that restrictive immigration reforms continue to be implemented.
Earlier this year, Sweden also passed a strengthened return package giving police and migration authorities more tools to enforce deportation decisions. Several public authorities will be required to share information with police if they suspect a foreign national has no right to remain in the country. The package also expands the use of fingerprints, photographs, and checks of mobile phones in migration cases.
Other recent changes include stricter work-permit rules, including a salary threshold of at least 90 percent of the Swedish median salary for most applicants, and tougher citizenship rules.
The ordinary residence requirement for citizenship recently rose from five to eight years, alongside tougher requirements on self-sufficiency, conduct and knowledge of the Swedish language and society.
The government also increased voluntary repatriation grants at the start of the year, allowing eligible adults with protection-related residence permits to receive up to 350,000 Swedish kronor if they return permanently to their country of origin.
END
NATO/USA
Hegseth Orders Review Of US Force Posture In Europe, Warns NATO Laggards Of Consequences
Friday, Jun 19, 2026 – 04:00 AM
Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,
U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on June 18 announced a six-month review of U.S. force posture and basing in Europe, warning that NATO allies failing to meet defense spending commitments could face consequences as Washington pushes the alliance toward what he called a new era of burden-sharing.
Speaking at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, Hegseth said the review would examine America’s military footprint in Europe and help ensure that European allies assume primary responsibility for the continent’s conventional defense.
“I’m announcing today a six-month Department of War review that will examine America’s force posture and basing in Europe,” Hegseth said.
The review comes as the Trump administration is pushing NATO members to increase defense spending and take over capabilities long provided by the United States.
Earlier this month, NATO officials disclosed that the United States would no longer assign certain capabilities—including an aircraft carrier strike group, support ships, aerial refueling aircraft, and dozens of combat aircraft—to NATO crisis-response plans.
The Trump administration has said that the United States must preserve greater military flexibility as it prepares for the possibility of simultaneous conflicts, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region.
Hegseth described the U.S. force posture review as part of a broader transformation of the alliance into “NATO 3.0,” a return to what he characterized as NATO’s original mission as a hard-edged military alliance focused on deterrence and warfighting.
“It will be designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe leading, stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defense of Europe, stepping up to ensure our forces are postured for America’s global needs,” Hegseth said.
Although Hegseth did not question the U.S. commitment to NATO’s Article 5 collective defense clause, he indicated that allies failing to meet spending targets could see reductions in U.S. contributions.
“Going forward, our annual NATO dues will be contingent on other countries meeting their defense spending targets,” he said. ”Where other allies do not spend with urgency, our dues contributions will go down. … It’s a review that some countries will fail and others will pass with flying colors.”
NATO 3.0
Hegseth sharply criticized what he described as decades of underinvestment by European allies.
“For too long, NATO has been a paper tiger and a one-way street,” he said. “No more.”
He argued that after the Cold War, NATO drifted away from its core military mission and toward issues unrelated to deterrence and defense. He described an era in which the alliance had lost its way by focusing on “gender equity and climate change and defense austerity.”
Instead, he said, the alliance must return to being “a real military alliance that’s focused on hard power and real deterrence.”
Hegseth said European allies had made progress in boosting military spending, citing NATO’s new benchmark of spending 5 percent of gross domestic product on defense and related investments.
He also highlighted planned increases in U.S. defense spending, saying that U.S. President Donald Trump had committed to defense budgets exceeding $1 trillion in 2026 and $1.5 trillion in 2027.
“We will lead and exceed our own NATO spending standards,” Hegseth said.
US Contributions Already Cut
The review comes weeks after Washington informed allies that it would reduce certain contributions to NATO’s force model, a planning framework that assigns military capabilities to respond to crises and defend alliance territory.
“In May, the Department of War told allies that we’re reducing our contributions to the NATO force model,” Hegseth said, noting that some allies had already begun stepping in to fill the gaps.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte holds a news conference ahead of a defense ministers’ meeting at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels on June 17, 2026. Yves Herman/Reuters
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte confirmed on June 18 that those reductions have already taken effect.
“The question yesterday came up: Is this immediate or not?” Rutte told reporters before the ministerial meeting. “It is immediate.”
Rutte clarified that the changes relate to NATO planning assumptions rather than actual wartime commitments.
“Why I’m a little bit reluctant to say this is because it is a planning tool,” he said. “So what would happen in reality? If war would break out … all allies, including the U.S., will max out what they can do to make sure we can fight the war.”
Despite the changes to force planning, NATO officials said that the alliance’s nuclear deterrence posture remains intact.
In a statement following a June 18 meeting of NATO’s nuclear planning group, allies reaffirmed that they maintain a “safe, secure, effective, and credible nuclear posture to preserve peace, prevent coercion and deter aggression.”
They described the alliance’s strategic nuclear forces as the “supreme guarantee of Allied security” that underpins NATO’s deterrence architecture.
end
UK
‘Two-Tier’ Britain: White Jobseekers Locked Out Of Employment Schemes
Friday, Jun 19, 2026 – 07:00 AM
Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity,
Local councils are running race-exclusive job support programmes for ethnic minorities using central government grants, leaving white Britons on benefits to fend for themselves in a system that claims to promote fairness.
This fresh example of identity-driven exclusion follows a clear pattern of public and private sector policies that disadvantage white applicants in hiring, training and now benefits-linked help, all justified under the banner of “positive action” and “levelling up.”
A Telegraph investigation published this week exposed how multiple local authorities are directing taxpayer money into employment programmes closed to white jobseekers.
In Sheffield, the Labour and Green-led city council runs a £340,000 Pathways to Work project offering “targeted employment support for ethnic minority groups.”
The report notes that the scheme, delivered through local charities, focuses on “economically inactive” minorities and draws funding from the Department for Work and Pensions’ Economic Inactivity Trailblazer plus the £2.6 billion UK Shared Prosperity Fund administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority, under possible soon to be Prime Minister Andy Burnham, has used similar grants for “culturally appropriate employability support” aimed at BAME residents in Oldham.
This includes CV workshops and mentoring sessions reserved for those groups. While the authority maintains other programmes remain open to everyone, the ring-fenced elements explicitly prioritise ethnicity.
In Scotland, Labour-run North Lanarkshire Council restricted some business growth support programmes to local black and minority ethnic entrepreneurs only.
These initiatives sit inside the broader “levelling up” agenda, where central government funnels multi-billion-pound grants to local and combined authorities.
The money is meant to tackle economic inactivity, yet in practice it is being channelled through race-based filters.
William Yarwood, Campaigns Director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance stated “Taxpayers should not be funding schemes that exclude people because of their race.”
He added that “Race-based eligibility smacks of identity politics and a two-tier system, which undermines public confidence in the system. Ministers should end these discriminatory programmes and ensure taxpayer-funded support is open to all jobseekers who need it.”
Alka Sehgal Cuthbert, Director of Don’t Divide Us, labelled the approach segregationist and questioned the selective focus on race while ignoring other variables that actually drive employment outcomes.
“Have they looked at age, locality, educational background, language proficiency and other relevant variables before proceeding with yet another divisive, race-based, segregationist plan for social in-cohesion?” he urged.
“If and when there is civil disobedience, it will be in no small part due to the patronising stupidity of leaders who think this is a good plan,” Cuthbert prophesied.
The public sector had already come under pressure to rethink diversity policies following the murder of Henry Nowak in Southampton. Bodycam footage and court evidence showed police initially treating the white victim in a manner that drew sharp criticism, while the Sikh perpetrator’s false claim of racial abuse complicated the response. That case accelerated reviews of race guidance across policing and public services.
Why default to skin colour as the targeting mechanism instead of straightforward need, postcode deprivation, age, skills gaps or family background?
White working-class communities in many former industrial areas face stubbornly high economic inactivity and poor educational outcomes too.
Treating race as the primary lens simply injects identity politics into British benefits and employment services.
This is not an isolated experiment. It sits squarely inside an established trend of public bodies using the Equality Act’s positive action provisions to tilt opportunities away from white applicants.
In April 2025, West Yorkshire Police – one of the country’s largest forces – operated a system where BAME candidates could apply year-round for constable roles while white British and Eastern European applicants were restricted to specific recruitment windows.
Internal descriptions labelled minority applicants “gold” and white applicants “bronze.” A whistleblower described how the process restricted progression opportunities for white British candidates, with ethnic minority applications advanced ahead of the general pool.
Earlier, in January 2025, Westminster City Council advertised an Executive Assistant role and openly stated it would use positive action to appoint a candidate from a “Global Majority” background where two candidates were of equal merit.
The advert made clear that white British applicants would not be favoured over non-white candidates.
Whites Need Not Apply — British Police Force Blocks Applications From White People
In favor of ‘diversity’ candidates
A parallel controversy erupted this month when the National Audit Office was criticised for running an internship scheme closed to middle-class white men, limiting eligibility to female applicants, those of black heritage or from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
Similar patterns have appeared in other public sector recruitment and in private hiring data. Reports from previous years documented cases where managers were instructed to deprioritise white male candidates, and employment tribunals accepted arguments that wanting to hire fewer white men did not constitute unlawful discrimination.
The thread running through policing, local government jobs and now benefits-linked employment support is consistent: race is treated as a legitimate sorting category, with the white majority positioned as the group whose exclusion or deprioritisation requires the least justification.
When central government grants intended for economic revival are filtered through racial eligibility tests, the message sent to ordinary taxpayers is unmistakable.
Some citizens are deemed deserving of dedicated help on the basis of ancestry; others – regardless of their personal circumstances – are not. This is the very definition of a two-tier system.
The Equality Act was never meant to license routine racial gatekeeping in taxpayer services. Positive action was framed as a limited tool for overcoming specific, proven disadvantages. In practice it has become a bureaucratic justification for embedding identity preferences across swathes of public life.
Britain already struggles with social cohesion after years of rapid demographic change and elite-driven multiculturalism. Adding explicit race-based rationing of job help on top of that is reckless.
It fuels precisely the resentment and withdrawal of consent that critics like Alka Sehgal Cuthbert have warned about.
The alternative is straightforward. Employment and benefits support should be allocated according to individual circumstances – skills, work history, local labour market conditions, health, caring responsibilities – not membership of a favoured racial category.
Jobcentres are being remodelled on a universal basis; local add-ons should follow the same principle or lose their funding.
Taxpayers of every background contribute to the same pot. They are entitled to expect that pot is not used to tell one group of citizens they are second-class when it comes to basic help getting back into work.
The current approach does not level anyone up. It entrenches division, rewards grievance entrepreneurship and erodes the principle that public services treat citizens as individuals rather than avatars of their ancestry. That principle is worth defending before the two-tier logic spreads further.
END
UK
UK Gilt Yields Spike As Burnham Win Opens Door To Oust Starmer
Friday, Jun 19, 2026 – 09:05 AM
The odds of embattled UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer being ousted by the end of July are soaring this morning…
…after Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham won a decisive victory for the ruling Labour Party that delivers him a seat in Parliament and, with it, a pathway to challenge Starmer for his job.
Burnham was elected in a standalone contest for the constituency of Makerfield, in northwestern England, with a convincing 54.8% of the vote. He defeated Robert Kenyon from Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK, who secured 34.5%, while third-placed Restore Britain registered just under 7%.
In a post on X, Starmer congratulated his rival on his victory.
“Voters chose Labour’s campaign of hope and optimism over division and hate,” he wrote.
Farage said he was “disappointed,” in a video posted after the result.
Addressing voters who left his party for Restore he asked:
“What do you want? We are the challenger party to the left in this country, and I would urge you to think again.”
A defiant Starmer said in response that he would run against Burnham in any leadership contest.
“If there is one, I’ll stand,” he told broadcasters on Friday morning, hours after Burnham’s victory:
“I’m not going to walk away.”
As Bloomberg reports, the prime minister’s fortunes have faded after he led his party to a dismal showing in the May locals, where Reform gained ground. In the aftermath, almost a quarter of Labour’s more-than 400 MPs called on Starmer to go.
“Tonight could, just could, be the turning point,” Burnham said after the results were announced to loud cheers from his supporters.
“I do say to my own party, this is a final chance to change.”
“We must hear it, we must act upon it, and we must get it right,” he said.
“There will be no second chance.”
Despite, Burnham’s ruling out changing the government’s limits on borrowing if he were to gain power, in a bid to reassure investors about his fiscal plans, his win pushed Cable slightly lower and gilt yields notably higher:
“With Burnham having made a statement win, the next few months will likely see domestic political risks dominating headlines in the UK and as a result markets pricing in real political risk premium,” said Megum Muhic, a strategist at RBC.
Burnham has the best (least worst) ratings of any major UK politician…
“The prime minister is now in political quicksand,” James Lyons, Starmer’s former director of communications, told Sky News.
“There is now a very good chance that Andy Burnham will be installed as prime minister without a contest,” he said, adding that the size of the win makes that more likely.
If Starmer steps down or is voted out by the Labour Party membership, the UK would usher in its fifth prime minister in less than four years.
5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS//
ISRAEL/USA VS IRAN//THURSDAY NIGHT
Diplomatic agreements may lead to Israel-Iran escalation, former Navy commander warns
Maj. Gen. (res.) Eliezer Marom also addressed the progress of Iran’s nuclear program and expressed deep skepticism about the reliability of international understandings.
Israeli military vehicles and tanks are seen in Northern Israel, Upper galilee, amidst the ongoing war between Israel-US and Iran and Hezbollah, March 14, 2026.(photo credit: MICHAEL GILADI/FLASH90)By103FMJUNE 19, 2026 01:22
Israel must prepare for repeated rounds of fighting with Iran, former Navy commander Maj. Gen. (res.) Eliezer Marom warned in an interview with 103FM on Monday.
According to Marom, the Middle East has entered a new phase in which diplomatic agreements do not necessarily create stability, and may even lead to escalation.
Marom opened with a direct reference to the Iranian threat and the implications of emerging agreements.
“We are in a long war with Iran, and Israel needs to prepare every few months for an operation or war with Iran that will last several days or weeks. If the agreement is signed, we need to understand that and prepare for it,” the former senior officer warned.
During the interview, he analyzed the emerging ceasefire agreement and its regional significance for Israel, and sharply criticized the conduct of Israel’s political leadership.
“The inner circle around the prime minister does not exist. One person is making decisions, and here even Ron Dermer, who understands America and did good things with this administration, simply left and went,” he said. “He should be called up for reserve duty.”
Marom also addressed diplomatic moves surrounding Lebanon, saying Israel should move diplomatically and do so quickly.
“President Trump, in what he signed last night, is approving Iran’s conquest of Lebanon. Do you understand that? He is now signing an agreement with the Iranians about Lebanon. The president of Lebanon should be offended by this, and all the leaders in the Middle East who are listening to this, Sisi, Erdogan, and bin Salman, should understand that this is a bad agreement.”
He later added that he sees a preferable diplomatic alternative. “The IDF recommended doing this earlier; let’s move quickly toward an agreement on Lebanon, and along the way thwart Iran’s taking over Lebanon. The only thing that can be done diplomatically right now is to close an agreement with the Lebanese and say that once the Lebanese Army is strong enough, we will give southern Lebanon back to it. President Aoun accepts this, and we need to move along this path,” Marom said.
“It is impossible that we are going to talk in Washington with two brigadier generals.”
When asked about the possibility of escalation, he answered firmly: “And what will happen if Iran responds to every Israeli action on Lebanese soil?” “Then let there be missiles, please. This agreement is bad for us in any case. If they want to return to fighting? I hate to say it, but from Israel’s perspective, this is a preferable alternative,” Marom said.
‘No reason to believe the Iranians’
Later in the interview, Marom also addressed the progress of Iran’s nuclear program and expressed deep skepticism about the reliability of international understandings.
“There is no reason to believe the Iranians. They have enriched uranium in Iran, and the oversight is not entirely clear; that is the cornerstone of any agreement on the nuclear issue. How do they suddenly have uranium enriched to 60%? Isn’t that a violation? It is a complete violation,” he said.
“They are highly motivated to obtain nuclear weapons, because despite all their bravado, they understand that Israel made a mockery of their air defenses.”
Marom concluded with a call for Israel to preserve freedom of security action even without American backing. “Israel is not alone, we do not need the Americans, we did it excellently in the 12-day war,” the reserve major general said. He said he is not worried that independent Israeli action in the region would harm relations with the United States. “Beyond values, there are interests, and the American interest is that Israel be here in the Middle East; there is nothing like Israel, and they know that very well,” he argued.
“Beyond that, the political system, even with all the bad polls, when you ask an American, he will tell you that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and that he will not let it fall. There may be brakes, but that’s fine.”
END
ISRAEL/USA VS IRAN//FRIDAY
Opening Round Of US-Iran Nuclear Talks Postponed After Israel-Lebanon Clashes Erupt
Friday, Jun 19, 2026 – 07:25 AM
Talks between Iran and the US were postponed on Friday in Switzerland, delaying what was supposed to be the opening round of negotiations towards a permanent peace and nuclear deal.
The delay appears to center on a new escalation between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, a troubling development that threatens the fresh interim deal signed by President Trump and Iran just days ago. Tehran has insisted that a ceasefire in Lebanon is part of the interim deal, meaning the Israel-Hezbollah front could derail the US-Iran diplomatic path to a sustained reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Financial Times provided more details on the overnight development:
Talks between Iran and the US in Switzerland were postponed due to Israel launching a wave of deadly air strikes on southern Lebanon, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Iran did not send a delegation to Switzerland for the nuclear talks because of the attacks, the people said. The interim agreement signed by the US and Iran on Wednesday stipulates the “immediate and permanent termination” of fighting, including in Lebanon.
A diplomat familiar with the Switzerland talks told the outlet:
The Iranians have asked for guarantees that hostilities in Lebanon will end, as outlined in the signed agreement, and mediators are currently working to resolve the issue.
According to other FT sources, Iran’s position is effectively “no Lebanon, no deal,” arguing that it has restrained Hezbollah while Washington has failed to restrain Israel.
Israeli airstrikes across more than 10 villages in southern Lebanon killed 18 people and wounded 33, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, reacted on X to the latest fighting in Lebanon:
For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep. All of Lebanon must burn! With all due respect to the Americans, Israel must make it clear to the entire world that the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not forfeit. All of Lebanon must burn. Our supreme duty is to protect the citizens of Israel and the soldiers of the IDF, and this commitment takes precedence over every other consideration. I told the Prime Minister, even in our private meetings: For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep. Enough with the ping-pong. In the Middle East, you don’t win with measured responses and restraint—you need to go berserk. To obliterate. To crush the terror.
Drop Site provided more color on the canceled talks:
- Al Mayadeen report earlier today that Iran’s delegation suspended its trip to Geneva due to ongoing Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon.
- A White House spokesperson later said Vice President JD Vance, head of the US delegation, also canceled his planned trip to meet Iranian negotiators and begin talks on negotiating and implementing the postwar framework
- Reuters reported the delegation had been preparing to launch the first round of the agreement’s 60-day negotiations. Tehran had previously told Washington and mediators that developments in Lebanon would be a key factor in whether talks proceed.
Pakistani journalist Kamran Yousaf wrote on X, “Pakistan has called back its advance team from Switzerland, throwing the next round of Iran-US talks into uncertainty.”
He added, “With Tehran seemingly reluctant to engage at a European venue, diplomatic sources say Islamabad or Doha is now the most likely destination for the next round of negotiations.”
Beyond the overnight fighting in southern Lebanon, the takeaway is that the interim deal still gives Washington and Tehran a 60-day ceasefire window, immediately reopening the Strait of Hormuz and creating a framework for eventual talks on Iran’s nuclear program.
The problem now is that both sides need to control their proxies and allied partners. Tehran must keep its Hezbollah fighters restrained, while the Trump administration must keep its Israeli ally from escalating in Lebanon. Without that dual restraint, the 60-day ceasefire window could collapse.
FRIDAY MORNING
Israel-Hezbollah Agree To Ceasefire After Clashes Stall Opening Round Of US-Iran Nuclear Talks
Friday, Jun 19, 2026 – 09:08 AM
Summary:
- Israel and Hezbollah Agree To Ceasefire
- Opening Round Of US-Iran Nuclear Talks Postponed After Israel-Lebanon Clashes Erupt
Israel and Hezbollah Agree To Ceasefire
Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to a ceasefire that will begin on Friday at 4 p.m. local time, Reuters reported.
- ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH AGREE TO CEASEFIRE STARTING ON FRI: RTRS
- ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH AGREE ON CEASEFIRE FROM 4PM LOCAL: REUTERS
WTI futures tumbled on the ceasefire headline, falling from about $76.40 a barrel to $75.56, as traders priced in reduced geopolitical risk.
The earlier escalation between Israel and Hezbollah increasingly looks as if both sides were squeezing in last-minute strikes ahead of the ceasefire set to take effect later today.
The ceasefire – if it holds – now sets up for nuclear talks between US and Iran.
Opening Round Of US-Iran Nuclear Talks Postponed After Israel-Lebanon Clashes Erupt
Talks between Iran and the US were postponed on Friday in Switzerland, delaying what was supposed to be the opening round of negotiations towards a permanent peace and nuclear deal.
The delay appears to center on a new escalation between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, a troubling development that threatens the fresh interim deal signed by President Trump and Iran just days ago. Tehran has insisted that a ceasefire in Lebanon is part of the interim deal, meaning the Israel-Hezbollah front could derail the US-Iran diplomatic path to a sustained reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Financial Times provided more details on the overnight development:
Talks between Iran and the US in Switzerland were postponed due to Israel launching a wave of deadly air strikes on southern Lebanon, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Iran did not send a delegation to Switzerland for the nuclear talks because of the attacks, the people said. The interim agreement signed by the US and Iran on Wednesday stipulates the “immediate and permanent termination” of fighting, including in Lebanon.
A diplomat familiar with the Switzerland talks told the outlet:
The Iranians have asked for guarantees that hostilities in Lebanon will end, as outlined in the signed agreement, and mediators are currently working to resolve the issue.
According to other FT sources, Iran’s position is effectively “no Lebanon, no deal,” arguing that it has restrained Hezbollah while Washington has failed to restrain Israel.
Israeli airstrikes across more than 10 villages in southern Lebanon killed 18 people and wounded 33, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, reacted on X to the latest fighting in Lebanon:
For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep. All of Lebanon must burn! With all due respect to the Americans, Israel must make it clear to the entire world that the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not forfeit. All of Lebanon must burn. Our supreme duty is to protect the citizens of Israel and the soldiers of the IDF, and this commitment takes precedence over every other consideration. I told the Prime Minister, even in our private meetings: For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep. Enough with the ping-pong. In the Middle East, you don’t win with measured responses and restraint—you need to go berserk. To obliterate. To crush the terror.
Drop Site provided more color on the canceled talks:
- Al Mayadeen report earlier today that Iran’s delegation suspended its trip to Geneva due to ongoing Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon.
- A White House spokesperson later said Vice President JD Vance, head of the US delegation, also canceled his planned trip to meet Iranian negotiators and begin talks on negotiating and implementing the postwar framework
- Reuters reported the delegation had been preparing to launch the first round of the agreement’s 60-day negotiations. Tehran had previously told Washington and mediators that developments in Lebanon would be a key factor in whether talks proceed.
Pakistani journalist Kamran Yousaf wrote on X, “Pakistan has called back its advance team from Switzerland, throwing the next round of Iran-US talks into uncertainty.”
He added, “With Tehran seemingly reluctant to engage at a European venue, diplomatic sources say Islamabad or Doha is now the most likely destination for the next round of negotiations.”
Beyond the overnight fighting in southern Lebanon, the takeaway is that the interim deal still gives Washington and Tehran a 60-day ceasefire window, immediately reopening the Strait of Hormuz and creating a framework for eventual talks on Iran’s nuclear program.
The problem now is that both sides need to control their proxies and allied partners. Tehran must keep its Hezbollah fighters restrained, while the Trump administration must keep its Israeli ally from escalating in Lebanon. Without that dual restraint, the 60-day ceasefire window could collapse.
ISRAEL TBN/
TOUSI IRAN TV
HEZBOLLAH
Four IDF soldiers killed while fighting in southern Lebanon, military announces
The military revealed that one of the soldiers was Lieutenant-Colonel Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon, aged 32, from Beit HaShita, the commander of the 52nd Battalion, 401st Brigade.
Lieutenant Colonel Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon, from Beit Hashita, commander of the 52nd Battalion, ‘Iron Footsteps’ (401) formation, fell in battle in southern Lebanon, aged 32 when he fell(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON UNIT)ByESTHER DAVISJUNE 19, 2026 09:45Updated: JUNE 19, 2026 13:30
The IDF announced on Friday that four soldiers were killed while fighting in southern Lebanon, with the commander of the 52nd Battalion, 401st Brigade, Lieutenant-Colonel Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon, aged 32, among the fallen troops.
At approximately 00:20 a suspicious object struck a tank belonging to Battalion 52 forces under the Givati Brigade who were operating in the area of the village of Tebnit, the IDF reports.
The incident is under investigation.
Lt. Col. Ben Simhon had taken over command of Battalion 52 from Lt. Col. Y on April 20, 2026, after Lt. Col. Y was seriously wounded in southern Lebanon.
While the military said that all the families were notified, the names of the other three fallen soldiers have not yet been revealed.
Responses to Lt. Col. Ben Simhon’s death
Lieutenant Colonel Dor was married and the father of two daughters.
He came from a family of combat soldiers, he and four of his brothers enlisted in the 401st Brigade, while another brother enlisted in the Golani Brigade. His wife serves as a combat officer in the Combat Intelligence Collection and Border Defense Corps.
Kibbutz Beit Hashita, Lt. Col. Dor’s home, and a kibbutz that has been identified over the years with significant service in the Israeli Army, said in a statement that “When the need arose, Lieutenant Colonel Dor stepped up and accepted command of the battalion during some of the most difficult moments of the fighting.”
They described him a detremined and responsible leader who was always willing to step up to a challenge.
The Gilboa Regional Council also put out a statement, saying “The Gilboa Regional Council bows its head, grieves and salutes
upon the fall in battle of Lieutenant Colonel Dor Ben Simhon, commander of the 52nd Battalion of the 401st Brigade, who fell tonight in combat on the frontline along with three of his tank crew members.”
They described him as having “led his fighters with determination, supreme courage and extraordinary responsibility.”
Defense Minister Israel Katz also reacted to the soldiers’ deaths, “This morning brought difficult news with the announcement of the fall of Lt. Col. Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon, commander of Battalion 52, and three additional soldiers whose names have not yet been cleared for publication, in a battle in southern Lebanon.”
“Dor was a courageous, determined, and dedicated commander who fulfilled senior roles in the northern sector during the campaign and led his soldiers on the battlefield against our enemies. Their loss is a heavy blow to the IDF, the defense establishment, and the State of Israel as a whole.”
Lapid shares condolences with fallen soldiers’ families
Opposition leader Yair Lapid also reacted to the four soldiers’ deaths, mourning their loss and expressing condolences to their families.
“The heart breaks with the news,” he wrote in a post on X/Twitter. “Endless pain. I share in the family’s grief from the depths of my heart. May their memory be blessed.”
Democrats MK Rabbi Gilad Kariv also mourned the fallen soldiers, stating that “The heroism of the fighters and our eternal debt to them compel us to also say things as they are.”
“The role of the IDF is to win on the battlefield. The role of the government is to translate the IDF’s strength into diplomatic moves that will prevent the need to return to the battlefield time and again,” he continued.
“We owe this to the soldiers and commanders, to the children and grandchildren of us all.”
This is a developing story.
end
Israel, Hezbollah agree to ceasefire starting on Friday, Israeli source tells ‘Post’
According to an Israeli source, Israel will not continue attacking Hezbollah for the time being, with the 80 sites targeted being the full response to the recent Hezbollah drone attacks.
Smoke billows from southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, as seen from Kfartibnit, Lebanon, June 19, 2026.(photo credit: REUTERS/STRINGER)ByTOBIAS HOLCMANJUNE 19, 2026 16:12Updated: JUNE 19, 2026 17:08
Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to a ceasefire, an Israeli source confirmed to The Jerusalem Post.
The ceasefire was set to begin at 4 p.m. local time on Friday, a senior US official told Reuters.
“Hezbollah and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire,” the official said on background, adding that negotiators for the US and Qataris worked out the deal with help from Iran. “We understand that after the exchange of fire earlier today, Israel and Hezbollah are now in a ceasefire.”
At a press conference on Friday afternoon, an IDF spokesperson said the IDF will continue operating in Lebanon unless it receives different directives.
Earlier on Friday, the United States relayed a message to Iran via mediators assuring that Israel will not continue its attacks against Hezbollah, according to a CNN report.
According to CNN’s sources, Israel will not continue attacking Hezbollah for the time being, with the 80 sites targeted during Thursday night and Friday morning being the full response to the recent Hezbollah attack that killed four IDF soldiers.
“Hezbollah violated the ceasefire. Israel has agreed to let it be, which was relayed to the Iranians, and it’s up to Hezbollah to stop,” the US sources told CNN.
Iran demanded guarantees that Israel would not attack Hezbollah before continuing the negotiations with the United States, which were scheduled to continue in Switzerland on Friday but were eventually canceled after the latest round of fighting in Lebanon.
The latest Hezbollah attack killed the commander of the 52nd Battalion, 401st Brigade, Lieutenant-Colonel Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon, aged 32, along with three other soldiers whose names have not been revealed yet.
Netanyahu says IDF will exact ‘very heavy price’ from Hezbollah
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that he instructed the IDF to strike at Hezbollah “with full force” in response to four IDF soldiers being killed by Hezbollah on Friday.
“My directive is clear: Israel will not tolerate attacks on our soldiers or our territory, and it will exact a very heavy price from Hezbollah for these attacks,” Netanyahu wrote in a post on X/Twitter. “The IDF will act to thwart any threat to our forces and our territory.”
He also stated that IDF troops would remain in the security zone in Lebanon “for as long as required to protect the settlements in the north.”
While many Israeli politicians demanded attacks against Beirut’s Dahiyeh neighborhood, which is one of Hezbollah’s main strongholds, the IDF attacks were centered in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa valley, the military confirmed.
Throughout all the strikes, dozens of Hezbollah terrorists were killed, the IDF stated.
Tzvi Jasper and Esther Davies contributed to this report.
Advertisement
RUSSIA VS UKRAINE
Russia Vows “Massive Group Strikes” On Ukraine After Drone Swarm Attack On Refinery
Friday, Jun 19, 2026 – 10:45 AM
Ukraine’s massive drone swarm attack on the Russian capital, targeting critical energy infrastructure including a major refinery and storage tank farms, has sparked fuel-shortage fears in Moscow while prompting Russia to warn Kyiv of “massive group strikes” in retaliation.
On Thursday, 200 Ukrainian suicide drones swarmed Gazprom’s Moscow Refinery in what military observers are calling Kyiv’s most brazen offensive of the four-year war to date.
Footage from the southeastern outskirts of the city showed the drone swarm attack and the resulting columns of black smoke billowing from the heavily damaged refinery and storage tank farms.
“It is no coincidence that the president announced some time ago, after yet another Kyiv terrorist attack, that we will now conduct massive group strikes on a regular basis against targets whose condition directly affects the combat readiness of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters yesterday, according to Interfax.
Ukraine’s drone attack appears to have targeted Russia’s refining capacity, as concerns grow that fuel shortages could soon materialize in the capital area.
Sergey Vakulenko, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia and Eurasia Center in Berlin and a former Russian oil executive, told Bloomberg that a gas shortage in Moscow is now unavoidable.
“The authorities will do everything they can to bring fuel in from other regions,” Vakulenko said. “However, rail capacity is not unlimited, and nearby refineries have also been damaged.”
Kyiv has been pounding away at Russia’s energy infrastructure with drones. The latest data from EA Analytics indicates that Russian crude-processing rates are set to drop to two-decade lows in June.
Here’s TD Securities Roman Schweizer’s first take on the attack:
The G7 confab happened without any major blowups. The formal declaration is here. Notably, the group promised support for UKR and tougher sanction on RUS. “We commit to increase the pressure on the Russian war economy. In this context, we will strengthen our sanctions, including those on the oil and gas sectors. We consider this the right moment to proceed with additional measures, as President Trump has delivered a deal that we support in reopening the Strait of Hormuz.” UKR continues to make incredibly effective long-range strikes into Moscow, spectacularly hitting a storage tank at an oil refinery. There is stunning footage of black smoke billowing over Moscow (generating both real and psychological effects). The war isn’t going well for Putin either tactically or strategically. UKR has seized the momentum – the big question is what comes next: a diplomatic off-ramp or military escalation? We struggle to see how RUS could do something to change the battlefield dynamics and worry that a desperate Putin might try something desperate.
What Russia’s “massive group strikes” response will look like remains to be seen, but the threat of gray-zone sabotage across the West is rising. That could include a campaign of cyberattacks, arson, logistics disruption, rail and port interference, telecom or undersea-cable incidents, and attacks against defense supply-chain nodes supporting Ukraine.
RUSSIA/USA
KORYBKO..
Is Trump Preparing To “Escalate To De-Escalate” With Russia?
Thursday, Jun 18, 2026 – 11:25 PM
He feels personally insulted by Putin rejecting his proposal to freeze the conflict in exchange for a resource-centric strategic partnership and also, whether one agrees with him or not, senses weakness after the US built a “cordon sanitaire” around Russia over the past year.
Trump signed the “G7 leaders’ statement on geopolitical issues” agreeing “to increase the delivery of air defence capacities, additional systems and interceptors, and long-range capabilities. We are also ready to consider extending to Ukraine the benefit of licenses to allow for an increase in Ukraine’s military production…we will strengthen our sanctions, including those on the oil and gas sectors.” This amounts to him preparing to “escalate to de-escalate” with Russia, the reason for which will now be explained.
From Trump’s perspective, which is an explanation but not an excuse in case anyone misinterprets the following, Putin wasted his time these nearly 18 months by talking about peace but rejecting Trump’s proposal to freeze the conflict in exchange for a resource-centric strategic partnership.
Likewise, from Putin’s perspective, Trump reneged on the reported “Spirit of Anchorage” by declining to coerce Zelensky into withdrawing from Donbass in exchange for Putin then declaring a full ceasefire.
Putin accordingly carried on with his special operation, albeit while still eschewing any escalation thereof due to his belief (no matter how outdated some of his supporters think that it’s since become) that Russians and Ukrainians are brothers, which Trump considered to be an insult.
It thus wasn’t the Europeans or Ukrainians who convinced him to renege on the reported “Spirit of Anchorage”, but his ego after he felt offended that Putin rejected his abovementioned proposal to his face in Anchorage.
In retrospect, Trump already had his eyes on Venezuela and Iran once again too, which is why he held off on “escalating to de-escalate” till both of those were wrapped up.
Meanwhile, he implemented his Neo-Reagan Doctrine of rolling back Russian influence worldwide with a focus on Russia’s entire southern periphery in the South Caucasus and Central Asia, which completed Russia’s strategic encirclement. A “cordon sanitaire” has now been established around the entire country.
This US-organized geostrategic construct was built in the Arctic-Baltic through UK-led efforts, Central Europe through Polish-led efforts, along its entire southern periphery through Turkish-led efforts, and Northeast Asia through Japanese-led efforts. Trump was therefore almost certainly advised by the deep state that now is the perfect moment to intensify pressure on Russia so as to coerce it into unilateral concessions for ending the Ukrainian Conflict and consequently alleviating some of this pressure.
Whether or not Putin will comply remains a matter of debate, but the aforesaid uncertainty doesn’t mean that Trump wasn’t convinced that now is the perfect time to “escalate to de-escalate” upon sensing what he truly believes to be weakness.
The risk is that Putin finally abandons his belief in the brotherhood of Russians and Ukrainians to reciprocally escalate, possibly even going as far as limited conventional strikes against NATO members to call what he might believe is the big bluff about Article 5.
Unless Russia either capitulates to the US’ demands or there’s a diplomatic breakthrough whereby a balance of interests is reached through a series of mutual compromises, the first of which is improbable while the latter is possible even if unlikely, then a major escalation in NATO-Russian tensions is expected.
Trump ultimately settled for less than he demanded from Iran despite earlier threatening to destroy its civilization if it didn’t unconditionally surrender so he might once again “chicken out” and cut a deal.
6/.GLOBAL ISSUES, COVID ISSUES, VACCINE INJURIES/HEALTH ISSUES
Fauci lied: they now know that the virus came from the China’s Wuhan lab:
(zerohedge)
Gabbard Drops Fauci Covid-19 Receipts On Last Day: He Funded The Research, Cooked The Cover Story, Then Lied To Congress
Friday, Jun 19, 2026 – 08:35 AM
Newly declassified documents released Thursday by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard show that a U.S. national laboratory assessed the COVID-19 lab-origin hypothesis as a serious possibility as early as May 2020, as well as evidence of U.S.-funded coronavirus research that included planning for spike-protein modifications, receptor-adaptation experiments, and testing in humanized mice in collaboration with researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The documents also prove that Anthony Fauci lied under oath.
The release, issued on Gabbard’s last day on the job, includes an eight-page May 27, 2020, assessment from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Z Program. That assessment concluded that “all of the necessary conditions for an accidental release of a laboratory-modified coronavirus – specifically a coronavirus adapted to recognize human cell receptors – were present at the Chinese Wuhan Institute of Virology in mid-to-late 2019.” It assigned equal weight to a laboratory-modification hypothesis and a natural-origin scenario.
Meanwhile, Recall that while the government was locking us down, Dr. Anthony Fauci and those in his orbit were actively fabricating a ‘wet market’ narrative that would conceal US research as a possible origin – despite his own advisors initially insisting that COVID-19 looked manmade.
In his January 2024 transcribed interview, Fauci was asked about conversations concerning the same three topics – COVID origins, WIV, and EcoHealth. When asked about the CIA, he answered yes: he said he was briefed “once or twice” in a secure NIH facility and also recalled a briefing in a White House situation room.
The newly released documents then show a June 4, 2021 briefing involving CIA/WCP personnel, NSC officials, and Fauci, during which Fauci offered views on pangolin research, sick WIV researchers, single-lineage vs. multi-lineage evidence, and recommended scientists for the IC to contact. A separate CIA-context email says that same 40-minute secure video teleconfrenece involved CIA/WCPMC officials and that Fauci gave thoughts on the 4 May 2021 COVID-origin briefing and recommended U.S. scientists to consult.
So, he lied.
According to a statement released with the files, “Fauci worked with politicized career leadership in the Intelligence Community (IC) to suppress the truth about his actions, the virus’ lab-leak origins, and his role in directing U.S. funding for this dangerous research that caused immeasurable harm and countless lost lives. These documents expose Fauci’s direct role in influencing and manipulating IC assessments on COVID-19, and how Fauci lied to Congress in 2024, when under oath he denied knowledge of or participation in discussions with intelligence officials about viral research.”
U.S.-Funded Research and Planning for Coronavirus Manipulation
The files include the Year 5 progress report for EcoHealth Alliance’s NIH grant 5R01AI110964-05. Under Specific Aim 3, the project outlined plans to:
- Sequence spike genes from bat coronaviruses.
- Create mutants to assess how much further evolution would be needed for efficient use of human ACE2 or other receptors.
- Conduct receptor-mutant pseudovirus binding assays.
- Perform infection experiments in cell lines and humanized mice.
This research track overlaps with work described in the 2018 DEFUSE proposal, which involved EcoHealth Alliance, Peter Daszak, Ralph Baric of the University of North Carolina, and Shi Zhengli’s team at WIV. The proposal sought to create chimeric bat coronaviruses with enhanced human infectivity, including consideration of furin cleavage site insertion to improve lung-cell entry, and to test the resulting viruses in humanized mice originally developed in Baric’s lab.
A 2016 WIV paper included in the release describes a synthetic shuttle vector system for assembling large DNA fragments, with demonstrated capability up to 31 kilobases. The authors presented the method as a tool for “genome-scale DNA reconstruction,” a technique relevant to synthetic biology and virus engineering.
Surveillance work under the same NIH grant reported that 9 of 1,497 rural residents in southern China (0.6%) were seropositive for bat SARS-related or HKU10 coronaviruses.
And from leaked emails three years ago:
Among other things, the NIH helped fund experiments at WIV that infected genetically engineered mice with “chimeric” hybrids of SARS-related bat coronaviruses in what some scientists have described as unacceptably risky research.
…
Andersen laid them out plainly in an email to Fauci that same evening. “The unusual features of the virus make up a really small part of the genome (<0.1%) so one has to look really closely at all the sequences to see that some of the features (potentially) look engineered,” Andersen wrote in the email. “I should mention,” he added, “that after discussions earlier today, Eddie, Bob, Mike and myself all find the genome inconsistent with expectations from evolutionary theory. But we have to look at this much more closely and there are still further analyses to be done, so those opinions could still change.” –The Intercept
Internal Discussions and Awareness of Manipulation Research
A June 8, 2021, internal email in the release references a 2016 New York Academy of Medicine meeting at which Peter Daszak reportedly discussed colleagues in China “manipulating the spike protein on coronavirus to make them more virulent.”
Other 2020–2021 emails show officials debating technical concerns, including references to a DOD report on a “suspicious added furin-site” and FBI reporting containing unusual genetic descriptions. One analyst noted the risk that non-experts could misinterpret technical data while still calling for scrutiny. Another observed that “the IC took direction straight from NIH… the people that funded the Wuhan Lab” and referenced “a complex web of money and politics influencing analysis.”
Picking Their Reviewer
July 2021 emails concerning the selection of outside reviewers for COVID-origin assessments show officials rejecting several candidates for political sensitivity or conflict-of-interest reasons:
- James Clapper was viewed as too politically “hot.”
- Anthony Fauci was flagged due to his position as a “customer” of the assessment through NIH funding ties.
- Michael Morell was considered “too public.”
- Sue Gordon and another individual identified only as “Beth” were also set aside.
And so…
These materials provide primary-source documentation that a U.S. national laboratory assessed a laboratory origin as equally plausible to natural emergence at a time when prominent scientific publications were publicly emphasizing a natural zoonotic source and characterizing alternative hypotheses as conspiracy theories. This includes the February 2020 Lancet letter and the March 2020 Nature Medicine paper “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2”, along with subsequent amplification by NIH leadership.
The research details in the declassified grant reports and proposals involved techniques and modifications – spike-protein engineering, receptor adaptation, humanized-mouse testing, and consideration of furin cleavage sites – that later featured prominently in scientific debate over SARS-CoV-2’s characteristics.
GLOBAL ISSUES
MARK CRISPIN MILLER
DR PAUL ALEXANDER/
RABOBANK/MICHAEL EVERY/OR OR PICTON/GIFFIN OR RABOBANK EXECUTIVE/COMMENTARY ON WORLDLY AFFAIRS
7. OIL AND NATURAL GAS//ENERGY COMMENTARIES
Gulf Oil Is Available Again, But Asian Refiners Balk At Soaring Tanker Rates
Thursday, Jun 18, 2026 – 06:00 PM
Iran and the US have a peace deal? check (for 60 days, allegedly).
Strait of Hormuz open? check (for 60 days, allegedly).
Ships transiting freely? check (not really)
Massive build up of Gulf oil desperate to reach Asian refiners? check.
All great news, which means that oil should now flow freely and in huge amounts, right?
Wrong: two of Asia’s largest refiners, PetroChina and Indian Oil, failed to secure very large crude carriers to lift Iraqi Basrah crude in late June, Reuters reported, while another Chinese major Sinochem is on the hunt for a tanker.
The inquiries from the state energy firms followed an interim deal between the United States and Iran to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. PetroChina had sought a VLCC (which can carry up to 2mm barrels) to load from Iraq’s Basrah Oil terminal between June 25 and 30. And while the Chinese major received at least six offers at worldscale points of 650 to 750, these rates were nearly triple those charged before the Iran war broke out in late February. The worldscale measure is used by the shipping industry to calculate freight rates.
“There are tankers available, but the problem is it’s too expensive and there is no guarantee you can exit the strait,” a PetroChina official said.
Indeed, a quick look at the latest gulf tanker rates shows that while not nearly as bad as when the war broke out, rates on tankers from the Gulf to various Asian destinations have doubled in the past weeks as buyers scramble to secure their shipments. Expect these prices to soar much higher in the coming days.
The punchline: securing supplies from the Gulf will remain complicated despite the peace deal, and not just due to the soaring tanker prices.
“It’ll be still difficult to fix a vessel due to the rate, and I assume that both parties need to agree to some special clause (in the contract for transiting the strait),” the source said.
On Thursday, another Chinese state major, Sinochem, sought a VLCC to load oil in the Gulf between June 20 and 30 for Asia, the shipping sources said. It was not immediately clear if the company would succeed in finding a vessel.
Remarkably, as this was taking place, India’s giant oil company IOC did not receive any offers in a tender last week seeking a VLCC to lift oil from Iraq on June 22 and 23 and deliver to Paradip port on India’s east coast, a Reuters source said.
IOC, India’s largest refiner, subsequently issued a force majeure on the cargo.
END
Traffic rebounds to its highest level since the beginning of the war: however Iran renews restrictions
(zerohedge)
Hormuz Ship Traffic Rebounds To Highest Level Since Start Of War, Iran Renews Restrictions
Friday, Jun 19, 2026 – 07:50 AM
Oil prices are on track to close lower for the week, with WTI futures down more than 9% versus last Friday’s close after the US and Iran secured an interim peace deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The normalization phase for tanker traffic through the Hormuz maritime chokepoint is still in its early stages, but the market is already beginning to price in a major wave of physical crude and crude products to hit global markets.
Roughly 60 million barrels of seaborne crude that had been trapped in the Persian Gulf for months are now expected to return to global markets, with much of that supply likely headed toward Asian refiners.
The latest shipping data from Bloomberg shows 21 vessels have transited the critical waterway so far on Friday, the most since the start of the conflict in late February. The data does not account for vessels turning off their transponders.
Shipping data also show that, on a bidirectional basis, the bulk of traffic consisted of 15 tankers and 6 dry cargo ships.
Moments ago, the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, or PGSA, Iran’s newly created body for regulating transit through the Strait of Hormuz, released a statement: “Following the Islamabad MoU and official directives, vessels that submit compliant transit requests will be permitted to pass through the Strait of Hormuz during the announced period.”
Christian Keller, the Managing Director and Global Head of Economics Research at Barclays, told clients, “With the first half of 2026 ending, the second half looks to be shaped by the US-Iran peace deal’s stability to moderate oil prices …”
Related:
On Friday, Daan Struyven, Goldman Sachs’ co-head of Global Commodities Research, told clients, “We now assume that Persian Gulf exports normalize to pre- war levels by the end of July.”
END
8. EMERGING MARKETS//AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND ISSUES
U.S./GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN CLOSING MARKETS AND EUROPEAN BOURSE OPENING AND CLOSING/ INTEREST RATE SETTINGS FRIDAY MORNING 6;30AM//OPENING AND CLOSING
OPENING LEVELS OF CURRENCIES// AND CLOSING ASIAN STOCK MARKET AND OPENING EUROPEAN STOCKS:6 AM EST
EURO VS USA DOLLAR: 1.1462 UP 0.0004
USA/ YEN 161.259 DOWN 0.034 NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT 1.75% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…//YEN STILL FALLS//END OF YEN CARRY TRADE BEGINS AGAIN DEC 2024/Bank of Japan raises rates by .25% TO 1.75 ..TAKAICHI NEW PM AS YIELDS RISE//JAPAN DEEPLY IN TROUBLE WITH RISING RATES AND A FALLING YEN!!
GBP/USA 1.3236 UP 0.0035 OR 35 BASIS PTS
USA/CAN DOLLAR: 1.41400 UP 0.0001 //CDN DOLLAR DOWN 1 BASIS PTS//
Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED
Hang Seng CLOSED
AUSTRALIA CLOSED DOWN 0.27%
// EUROPEAN BOURSE: ALL MOSTLY GREEN
Trading from Europe and ASIA
I) EUROPEAN BOURSES: ALL MOSTLY RED
2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SENG CLOSED
/SHANGHAI CLOSED
AUSTRALIA BOURSE CLOSED DOWN 0.27%
(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED UP 369.51 PTS OR 0.52%
INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE RED
Gold very early morning trading: $4163.00
silver:$65.10
USA DOLLAR VS TRY (TURKISH LIRA): 46.45 PLUS 0 BASIS PTS AND NOW WE SEE THEIR STUPIDITY OF SELLING SOME OF THEIR GOLD AND ALL OF THEIR USA DOLLAR RESERVES. THE COUNTRY IS IN BIG FINANCIAL TROUBLE
USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIAN ROUBLE: 73.46 ROUBLE// DOWN 0 ROUBLE AND 15 BASIS PTS. WOULD YOU BELIEVE THAT THE RUSSIAN ROUBLE AND THE ISRAEL SHEKEL ARE THE STRONGEST CURRENCIES BESIDES THE DOLLAR .
UK 10 YR BOND YIELD: 4.8272 UP 4 BASIS PTS
UK 30 YR BOND YIELD: 5.5320 UP 8 BASIS PTS
CDN 10 YR BOND YIELD: 3.374 DOWN 5 BASIS PTS
CDN 5 YR BOND YIELD; 3.034DOWN 5 BASIS PTS
USA dollar index early FRIDAY MORNING: 100.59 DOWN 6 BASIS POINTS FROM THURSDAY’s CLOSE
FRIDAY MORNING NUMBERS ENDS
And now your closing FRIDAY NUMBERS 10.00 AM
Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 3.336% UP 4 in basis point(s) yield
JAPANESE BOND 10 yr YIELD: +2.646% UP 3 FULL POINTS BASIS POINTS /JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/
JAPAN 30 YR: 3.852 UP 9 BASIS PTS//
SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 3.436 UP 4 in basis points yield
ITALY 10 YR BOND: 3.680 UP 5 points in basis points yield ./ THE ECB IS QE’ ING ITALIAN BONDS (
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: 2.9670 UP 4 BASIS PTS
IMPORTANT CURRENCY CLOSES : MID DAY TUESDAY
Closing currency crosses for day /USA DOLLAR INDEX/USA 10 YR BOND YIELD/10:00 AM
Euro/USA 1.1467 UP 0.0009 OR 9 basis points
USA/Japan: 161.151 DOWN 0.105 OR YEN IS UP 11 BASIS PTS// HIGHLY INFLATIONARY TO JAPAN
Great Britain 10 YR RATE 4.8132 UP 7 BASIS POINTS //
GREAT BRITAIN 30 YR BOND; 5.511 UP 6 BASIS POINTS.
Canadian dollar DOWN 22 BASIS pts to 1.4163
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The USA/Yuan CNY XXX ON SHORE ..
THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE// CNH DOWN TO 6.7858
TURKISH LIRA: 46.45 PLUS 0 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WATCH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.//
Your closing 10 yr US bond yield UP 1 in basis points from MONDAY at 4.467.% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%)
USA 30 yr bond yield 4.900 DOWN 0 basis points /10:00 AM
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.179 UP 0 BASIS PTS.
GOLD AT 10;00 AM 4170.00
SILVER AT 10;00: 65.11
Your 11:00 AM bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates FRIDAY CLOSING TIME 10:00 AM///
London: CLOSED DOWN 36.43 PTS OR 0.35%
GERMAN DAX: CLOSED DOWN 40.98 OR 0.16%
FRANCE: CLOSED DOWN 46.84 PTS PTS PTS OR 0.55%
Spain IBEX CLOSED DOWN 56.70 PTS OR 0.29 %
Italian MIB: CLOSED UP 160.71 PTS OR 0.31%
WTI Oil price 76.44 10.00 EST/
Brent Oil: 79.02 10:00 EST
USA /RUSSIAN ROUBLE /// AT: 73.37 ROUBLE DOWN 0 AND 4 / 100
CDN 10 YEAR RATE: 3.374 DOWN 0 BASIS PTS.
CDN 5 YEAR RATE: 3.022 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS
CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM// NOT TODAY/ WILL PROVIDE ON MONDAY
Euro vs USA XXXX DOWN 0.0053 OR 53 BASIS POINTS//
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TRADING today ZEROHEDGE 4 PM: HEADLINE NEWS/TRADING
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Illegal Alien Alleged To Be Ringleader In Terror Plot To Kill “Capitalist Elites” At UFC White House Event
Thursday, Jun 18, 2026 – 05:20 PM
Federal prosecutors allege that Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez, a Mexican national who overstayed a B2 visitor visa and was living in Omaha, Nebraska, used the online alias “Shepherd” and was the ringleader of a failed terror attack targeting “billionaires” and “capitalist elites” at UFC Freedom 250 at the White House.
The Department of Homeland Security released a statement on Thursday morning regarding the criminal complaint, filed in the District of Nebraska, charging Alvarez with conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S.
The FBI said the investigation began after local authorities in Ohio responded to concerns about 19-year-old Tycen Proper, whose family reported that he had been stockpiling firearms, ammunition, body armor, and communicating with an online group about “missions” and “recons.”
“Alvarez and his co-conspirators face federal charges of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit violence on White House grounds. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has lodged a detainer for Alvarez,” DHS wrote in a statement.
“This illegal alien from Mexico should never have been allowed in our country. He was the ringleader of a failed terror attack targeting UFC Freedom 250 at the White House,” Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis wrote in a statement.
Bis added, “He and his co-conspirators now face charges of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit violence on White House grounds. He will face justice and swiftly be removed from our country.”
The Department of Justice wrote in the criminal complaint, “It was unclear if Shepherd was involved in these chat messages, but the targeting of US Congressional targets was related to the original plot that PROPER tied to Shepherd.”
DHS pointed out, “Alvarez entered the United States on a B2 visitor visa and failed to depart before it expired in December 2001. The Obama Administration granted him Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2014.”
The plot pattern appears anti-government, anti-elite, anti-capitalist, conspiratorial, and revolutionary…
… with rhetoric not that different from that of prominent far-left influencers that cross paths with socialist and DSA groups.
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON
KING NEWS
SWAMP STORIES FOR YOU TONIGHT
GREG HUNTER..
harveyorganblog.com 
