The Real Threat From The Iran War Hits Farmers, Not Fuel Pumps Authored by Michael Wilkerson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Prices for retail diesel and gas have each risen by over a third ($1.30+ and $1.00 per gallon, respectively) since the launch of Epic Fury . Americans learned in the 1970s that Middle East conflict means energy pain, and that lesson has been reinforced through every sub...
The Real Threat From The Iran War Hits Farmers, Not Fuel Pumps Authored by Michael Wilkerson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Prices for retail diesel and gas have each risen by over a third ($1.30+ and $1.00 per gallon, respectively) since the launch of Epic Fury . Americans learned in the 1970s that Middle East conflict means energy pain, and that lesson has been reinforced through every subsequent Gulf crisis. This time, however, the more consequential threat to American household budgets is not the fuel pump . It is quietly moving through the global fertilizer supply chain, and it will impact hundreds of millions of Americans who depend on the food that comes out of the ground each fall. Oil tankers and high speed crafts sit anchored at Muscat Anchorage near the Strait of Hormuz, in Muscat, Oman, on March 30, 2026. Elke Scholiers/Getty Images The distinction between fuel and food inflation matters. America’s position in the natural gas market—specifically liquefied natural gas (LNG), the fuel at the center of this conflict—is stronger than it was even a few years ago. The United States is now the world’s largest LNG exporter. Our domestic production runs at over 109 billion cubic feet per day. Our export terminals are running near full capacity. As substantial portions of Qatar’s Ras Laffan complex have been taken offline and the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed to tanker traffic, European gas benchmarks have surged more than 60 percent and Asian spot prices have nearly doubled . The American benchmark, Henry Hub, has barely moved. The Energy Information Administration expects it to average around $3.80 per million BTU for 2026—roughly where it was before the war began. The paradox of being the world’s largest LNG producer is that we cannot easily move our gas to the global market when terminals are already at capacity, which means that global gas scarcity does not drain our domestic supply. On natural gas, the moat holds. The story on fertilizer...
Dividend investors often place too much emphasis on a stock's dividend yield. While that's understandable to some degree, it can lead you into troubling waters if you aren't careful. AGNC Investment 's (NASDAQ: AGNC) 14% yield is an example of the issue. Here's what you need to know, including the company's regular reporting of what the business is really worth. AGNC Investment is a mortgage real ...
Dividend investors often place too much emphasis on a stock's dividend yield. While that's understandable to some degree, it can lead you into troubling waters if you aren't careful. AGNC Investment 's (NASDAQ: AGNC) 14% yield is an example of the issue. Here's what you need to know, including the company's regular reporting of what the business is really worth. AGNC Investment is a mortgage real estate investment trust (REIT). It oversees a portfolio of bond-like securities that are created by pooling individual mortgages. In this way, it operates a bit like a mutual fund. Which is interesting because mutual funds report the value of their portfolio, known as net asset value (NAV), on a daily basis. AGNC Investment reports its tangible net book value every quarter, which is roughly similar to NAV. Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
The Orion spacecraft is now much closer to the Moon than Earth on its 10-day journey into deep space and back, and overall everything is going smashingly well. Things are going so well that, during the daily mission briefings at Johnson Space Center in Houston, there's just not that much of substance to talk about. So the discourse keeps coming back to, of all things, the toilet on board Orion. As...
The Orion spacecraft is now much closer to the Moon than Earth on its 10-day journey into deep space and back, and overall everything is going smashingly well. Things are going so well that, during the daily mission briefings at Johnson Space Center in Houston, there's just not that much of substance to talk about. So the discourse keeps coming back to, of all things, the toilet on board Orion. As you may recall, there were some toilet problems in the initial hours of the mission. During the initial checkout of spacecraft systems, Orion's toilet was supposed to be “wetted” with water to prime the pump. Not enough water was introduced, so the pump was non-responsive. Once more water was added, it began functioning fine. Read full article Comments
Javier Ruiz/iStock via Getty Images Emirates Global Aluminium, the Middle East’s biggest aluminum producer, said Friday it may take as long as a year to restore full output at its Al Taweelah site after sustaining significant damage in an Iranian missile and drone strike a week ago. EGA said it has completed an initial damage assessment of the facilities at the site in Abu Dhabi and is in contact ...
Javier Ruiz/iStock via Getty Images Emirates Global Aluminium, the Middle East’s biggest aluminum producer, said Friday it may take as long as a year to restore full output at its Al Taweelah site after sustaining significant damage in an Iranian missile and drone strike a week ago. EGA said it has completed an initial damage assessment of the facilities at the site in Abu Dhabi and is in contact with customers whose shipments may be impacted Al Taweelah is one of the world's biggest smelters, producing 1.6M tons of cast metal in 2025; EGA said other facilities at the site, including an alumina refinery and a metals recycling plant, could resume some production earlier, pending a final damage assessment. The Middle East accounts for ~9% of global aluminum production, but the impact of the Iran war is compounded because constraints on output elsewhere have eroded inventories , leaving the market with little buffer to cushion any shocks. Aluminum prices ( LMAHDS03:COM ) have jumped more than 10% on the London Metal Exchange since the start of the war. Potentially relevant stocks include Alcoa ( AA ), Century Aluminum ( CENX ), Kaiser Aluminum ( KALU ), Constellium ( CSTM ), Rio Tinto ( RIO ), BHP ( BHP ). More on Alcoa, Century Aluminum, and aluminum futures Alcoa Has A Lot Going For It That Justifies Further Upside Century Aluminum: A High Stakes Strait Of Hormuz Hedge Commodities: Oil Jumps Amid Trump's Escalation Warning