No Joke, The Petrodollar is Already Dead

Morning Rundown

VBL

Jul 10, 2024

∙ Paid

Housekeeping: Good Morning.

Gold Revaluation is a process not an event.

Today:

Premium: BRICS Gold Standard Play
Commentary: The Petrodollar is already dead

Equity Recap:

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Comp closed at records on Tuesday after Fed Chair Powell said that keeping rates high for too long could hurt US economic growth

Premium / Markets:

The BRICS initiative aims to reshape the global economy, challenging the dominance of the U.S. dollar established since the Bretton Woods Conference.

The BRICS are definitely going on a Gold standard. For the West, this means one thing. If a Western Nation wants to trade with BRICS for certain goods, it needs more gold. If the West does not wish to trade with the BRICS for those items, then they must onshore/friendshore/reshore their supply chains sufficiently in natural resources otherwise provided by the BRICS to obviate the need for both the BRICS resources.

The US must rebuild supply chains to remain self-sufficient in certain commodities or it must trade with the BRICS on the BRICS terms.

The BRICS, in turn, must build payment chains (and value-added portions of supply chains) to replace the SWIFT system.

Continues in Premium

Comment: The Petrodollar is Already Dead

In April 2016, Saudi Arabia threatened Obama it would sell its $750BN in US Treasuries if it were held responsible for Sept 11 (NYT)... It won. In early 2024, Saudi Arabia threatened the G7 it would dump "tens of billions" of European bonds if $300BN in Russian assets are seized (BBG)... It won. - ZH

The divorce is final as of 2016. Full ZeroHedge Story Here

Market News:

"Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday expressed concern that holding interest rates too high for too long could jeopardize economic growth. Source: CNBC

"Traders are betting on a rally in the $27 trillion US Treasury market as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell casts a spotlight on the importance of US inflation data. Source: Bloomberg

Sam Altman and Arianna Huffington announced a new startup backed by OpenAI and Thrive Global that will "build a customized, hyper-personalized AI health coach"... Source: Time

"Andreessen Horowitz, one of the most active venture capital investors in generative artificial intelligence, has added a new tool to its arsenal for winning deals in hot AI startups. . Source: The Information

"Microsoft and Occidental Petroleum have signed a record carbon credit deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars, as the technology industry struggles to keep its climate promises amid a surge in power needs driven by artificial intelligence. Occidental, one of the biggest US oil producers, will sell 500,000 carbon credits for an undisclosed amount to Microsoft over six years." Source: FT

Geopolitics:

"Security source for Al-Arabiya: 3 additional teams of the Israeli ground forces are ready in the Northern Command",
"IRGC commander: If necessary, we will take practical and direct steps and support the resistance forces in the region", according to Al Jazeera.
Israeli military said its air force struck a Hezbollah target in the Janta area of central Lebanon, according to Reuters.
US President Biden said at the NATO Summit that Ukraine will be able to stop Russian President Putin and stand up to him, while they are committed to supporting Ukraine. Furthermore, Biden said the US and its allies will provide Ukraine with five additional strategic air defence systems and they intend to provide Ukraine with dozens of tactical air defence systems in the coming months.
NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg said their support for Ukraine comes with costs and risks and there are no risk-free options in war.
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Finance denied the threat of selling European bonds and maintained that the relationship with G7 and others is mutually respected, according to source via social media platform X.
US' new envoy to Taiwan, Raymond Greene, said “First of all, and the most important thing, the U.S. will strongly support Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities,”, via AP.

Some headlines via NewSquawk or DataTrek