Latest news with #ZeroHedge
Gulf Insider
3 days ago
- Business
- Gulf Insider
Rich Countries, Short Weeks: Europe's East-West Labor Divide
Europe's labor landscape reveals a clear regional split: wealthy nations in the North and West, including the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and Denmark, thrive on flexibility, shorter workweeks, and robust employment rates exceeding 75%. As Visual Capitalist reports, these countries strike a balance between prosperity and adaptability, highlighting how economic strength is aligned with modern, flexible working arrangements. In contrast, Eastern and Southern European countries, including Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, and Hungary, as well as Mediterranean states such as Portugal, Malta, and Cyprus, strongly prefer traditional full-time schedules, with fewer than 10% of jobs being part-time. Countries like the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany exemplify efficiency, consistently working up to four hours fewer than predicted by their GDP. Conversely, Luxembourg, Greece, and Iceland work longer hours than their wealth suggests. Across most of Europe, prosperity tends to align with flexibility, reduced working hours, and higher employment rates, yet cultural traditions and unique economic factors continue to shape these exceptions. Source Zero Hedge
Gulf Insider
26-06-2025
- Business
- Gulf Insider
Shell In Talks To Acquire BP In Blockbuster $80 Billion Deal
It appears that after we spent years pounding the table on the sector, someone else also figured out that energy stocks are trading at single digit PEs. The WSJ reports that European energy giant Shell is in early stage talks to acquire the other European energy giant, BP, in what would be the largest oil deal in a generation, and one of the largest merger deals of all time. The Journal writes that while talks between company reps are active, BP is considering the approach carefully as the resulting company would be one of the biggest energy companies in the world; acquiring BP would put Shell on firmer footing to challenge larger competitors such as ZeroHedge favorite Exxon Mobil and Chevron, and would be a landmark combination of two so-called supermajor oil companies. A Shell spokesman told the WSJ that 'we are sharply focused on capturing the value in Shell through continuing to focus on performance, discipline and simplification.' While potential terms of any deal couldn't be learned and a tie-up is far from certain, BP is currently valued at around $80 billion, and when taking into account the usual acquisition premium, a deal could end up as the largest corporate oil deal since the $83 billion megamerger that created Exxon Mobil at the turn of the century. It would also easily be the biggest M&A deal of the year, and one of the largest deals of the century, in a market that has been rattled by President Trump's trade war and other geopolitical tensions. Shell is coming into the acquisition talks from a position of strength, with its stock sharply outperforming BP in recent years. Shell, which like BP is based in the U.K. but has operations around the world, has a market value of more than $200 billion. Meanhwhile, BP has been the laggard among major oil companies and a poster child for getting woke and (almost) going broke, after an ill-fated push away from fossil fuels into renewable energy, to signal just how virtuous the company is sent the stock into a tailspin. It has also suffered years of management upheaval and operational disasters. Activist investor Elliott Investment Management, which owns more than 5% of BP's shares, has pushed for changes at the energy company since at least February, underscoring the oil and gas producer's exposure to a potential takeover bid from a rival. BP has since adopted several measures to try to address investor frustrations. It announced plans earlier this year to boost oil and gas production and sharply cut investments in clean energy. While BP has struggled, Shell has focused on its most profitable operations, pledging to pump more oil and gas and rolling back green energy targets. When asked publicly, Shell CEO Wael Sawan has said recently that the company's bar for big dealmaking would be high. Shell in May announced a multibillion-dollar share buyback plan, the latest in a long series of big share repurchases. Shell has been working with bankers on a potential sale of its chemicals assets in Europe and the U.S., The Wall Street Journal previously reported. For Shell, acquiring BP would take years of integration, complicated by culture clashes and possibly the sale of overlapping assets. But a deal could give Shell's global trading business greater reach and bolster its dominance in areas like liquefied natural gas. Analysts and investors also see a good matchup in the companies' Gulf of Mexico operations. Acquiring BP would also offer an opportunity for Shell to spread costs over a larger operating base and would box out rivals. Shell would also be more politically palatable to U.K. regulators who may oppose a foreign buyer from acquiring BP, a more than century-old company that traces its roots to oil exploration in Persia during the height of the British Empire. While huge, a Shell-BP deal would be only the latest in a wave of M&A activity across the energy landscape as the producers look to achieve greater economies of scale. Chevron is still working to close its $53 billion megadeal for Hess, which has been held up due Exxon's effort to challenge the deal's legality. Meanwhile, Exxon is already boosting its operational efficiency after closing a $60 billion deal to buy US shale giant Pioneer Natural Resources. Diamondback Energy sealed a $26 billion deal for Endeavor Energy Resources to bolster its position in the Permian Basin. In response to the news, BP stock spiked 10%, erasing all losses since Liberation Day… … while the rest of the energy sector is also trading higher. Also read: UK Gov't Secretly Used BBC & ITV Soaps For 'Underhanded' Vaccine 'Propaganda' To Covertly Shape Public Opinion, Coerce Compliance
Gulf Insider
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Insider
Kremlin: No 'Negotiations With Terrorists' - We'll Retaliate At 'A Time Of Our Choosing'
Russia says that President Putin is preparing to retaliate at 'a time of our choosing' for all the latest drone and 'terror attacks' – including the targeting of trains and bridges with explosives. 'Russia will respond to Ukraine's latest attacks as and when its military sees fit,' the Kremlin said Thursday. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed what President Trump revealed of the Putin phone call Wednesday – that the Russian leader made clear that Moscow is obliged to retaliate. Peskov, speaking of Putin's first televised address since the devastating Sunday drone attacks deep inside Russian territory said, 'The president described the Kyiv regime as a terrorist regime, because it was the regime's leadership that consciously gave the order, the command, the order to blow up a passenger train.' 'This is nothing other than terrorism at the state level. This is an important statement by the president,' he added. Putin had accused Ukraine's leadership of orchestrating a terrorist attack on trains carrying civilians in Russia's Bryansk region, which left seven dead and dozens injured in the derailment of the train and collapse of the bridge due to planted explosives on Sunday. The operation appeared in parallel to the 'Operation Spinder's Web' drone attacks. Putin asserted that Ukrainian political leadership was directly behind the strike. 🚨 BREAKING: Putin accuses Ukraine's leadership of orchestrating a terrorist attack on trains carrying civilians in Russia's Bryansk claims the Ukrainian political leadership is directly behind the strike. — Defence Index (@Defence_Index) June 4, 2025 He also made clear in the address that Ukraine's offer of a summit with Zelensky and an immediate ceasefire has been rejected. It marked a clear rhetorical escalation when compared to prior comments when he said: 'Who has negotiations with terrorists?' Click here to read more… Source Zero Hedge
The Age
28-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
Trump wants to check on the gold at Fort Knox. His allies are cashing in on the fear
Trump's Fort Knox obsession has resurfaced one of the deeper cuts in the American conspiracy theory catalogue. One reason the government holds onto such large stores of gold is to confer a sense of financial stability, even though the country moved off the gold standard in the 20th century. According to the United States Mint, 147.3 million ounces of gold, about half of the government's stash, is held at Fort Knox. The Kentucky facility, known formally as the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, almost never allows visitors and is kept under heavy lock and key – an inaccessibility that may explain much of the intrigue around it. One of the early proponents of the idea that gold was missing was a lawyer named Peter Beter, who earned a modicum of notoriety in the 1970s by spreading dark theories in a mail-order audio cassette series. Among other things, Beter believed that 'organic robotoids' controlled by Bolsheviks had infiltrated the federal government. By 1974, concerns about the gold reserves grew so intense that a congressional delegation and a few news outlets, including The New York Times, were invited to Fort Knox for a rare inspection. A reporter for the Times described the effect of seeing a vault 6 feet wide and 12 feet deep, stacked with 36,236 glistening gold bars, as 'awesome'. Another wave of concern crested in 2011, when then-Republican Ron Paul introduced a bill calling for an inventory of the reserves. At a subcommittee hearing, Paul said people had become worried that 'the gold had been secretly shipped out of Fort Knox and sold'. He added, 'And, still others believe that the bars at Fort Knox are actually gold-plated tungsten.' The inspector general of the Treasury at the time, Eric Thorson, told Paul that audits were performed yearly, with 'no exceptions of any consequence'. More recently, Trump's first-term Treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, had a chance to check on the gold in August 2017, with Senator Mitch McConnell, then the Senate majority leader, in tow. Photos were taken of the men among the gold bars. 'Glad gold is safe!' Mnuchin wrote on Twitter, now known as X. Questions bubble up again The latest concerns appear to have taken off on February 14, when the website ZeroHedge, which occasionally promotes conspiracy theories, tagged Elon Musk in a post on X. The post asked him to make sure the gold at Fort Knox was there. 'Surely it's reviewed at least every year?' Musk replied. 'It should be. It isn't,' ZeroHedge responded. (Bessent would later say that the gold is still audited annually.) Senator Rand Paul, the son of Ron Paul, chimed in, calling for an audit. 'Let's do it.' Then came Glenn Beck, the conservative radio and TV host, who posted an open letter to Trump, asking if he could take a camera crew to Fort Knox to 'restore faith in our financial system'. He later dedicated a segment of his show to casting doubt on the confirmed audits. The chatter about the gold reserves was growing louder. By February 20, Trump was telling a press gaggle on Air Force One that he planned to go to Fort Knox to 'make sure the gold is there'. Sales pitches follow Loading Since then, the idea that the government's gold reserves may have gone missing has been integrated into the sales pitches of companies that trade in gold coins and gold investment accounts. The companies advertise heavily on Trump-friendly TV and internet shows. A number of 'gold IRA' companies have suggested that a future audit of Fort Knox could determine that gold is missing, setting off a crisis among Americans about the stability of the economy. Amid such chaos, the companies argue, privately held gold would be a lucrative safe haven for investors. One of the companies, Birch Gold Group, is endorsed by the president's eldest son and bills itself as 'Donald Trump Jr's gold company'. Loading A recent article on Birch Gold's website stated that the idea of an 'empty Fort Knox' had gone 'from conspiracy theory to mainstream concern'. A discovery that gold was missing from Fort Knox, the article stated, would be the 'quickest way down for the US dollar'. 'It is only those without physical gold exposure that feel the need to panic, perhaps with good reason, about the greenback's admittedly dismal prospects,' states the article, which includes an offer for a 'FREE gold IRA info kit'. The younger Trump lauded his father's plans to visit Fort Knox in a February 24 episode of his online talk show, on which he regularly makes pitches for Birch Gold. 'If it's empty,' he said, 'I would imagine there's hell to pay.' On another section of Birch Gold's website, a 'Message from Donald Trump Jr' raised the possibility that his father's administration could 'revalue America's gold reserves on the national balance sheet from their outdated book value of $42' – the price per ounce the government assigns for bookkeeping purposes – 'to current market prices'. This, he wrote, 'could cause a surge in gold prices', adding that 'the potential upside for gold investors is substantial'. A gold IRA, he added, would be a great way to benefit. He did not mention that Bessent had publicly stated that he had no plans to revalue the gold reserves. Above the message was a digitally altered photo of the president at a desk, showing off an important-looking signed document, a wall of gold bricks behind him.
Sydney Morning Herald
28-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
As Donald Trump raises Fort Knox conspiracies, his allies are cashing in
Trump's Fort Knox obsession has resurfaced one of the deeper cuts in the American conspiracy theory catalogue. One reason the government holds onto such large stores of gold is to confer a sense of financial stability, even though the country moved off the gold standard in the 20th century. According to the United States Mint, 147.3 million ounces of gold, about half of the government's stash, is held at Fort Knox. The Kentucky facility, known formally as the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, almost never allows visitors and is kept under heavy lock and key – an inaccessibility that may explain much of the intrigue around it. One of the early proponents of the idea that gold was missing was a lawyer named Peter Beter, who earned a modicum of notoriety in the 1970s by spreading dark theories in a mail-order audio cassette series. Among other things, Beter believed that 'organic robotoids' controlled by Bolsheviks had infiltrated the federal government. By 1974, concerns about the gold reserves grew so intense that a congressional delegation and a few news outlets, including The New York Times, were invited to Fort Knox for a rare inspection. A reporter for the Times described the effect of seeing a vault 6 feet wide and 12 feet deep, stacked with 36,236 glistening gold bars, as 'awesome'. Another wave of concern crested in 2011, when then-Republican Ron Paul introduced a bill calling for an inventory of the reserves. At a subcommittee hearing, Paul said people had become worried that 'the gold had been secretly shipped out of Fort Knox and sold'. He added, 'And, still others believe that the bars at Fort Knox are actually gold-plated tungsten.' The inspector general of the Treasury at the time, Eric Thorson, told Paul that audits were performed yearly, with 'no exceptions of any consequence'. More recently, Trump's first-term Treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, had a chance to check on the gold in August 2017, with Senator Mitch McConnell, then the Senate majority leader, in tow. Photos were taken of the men among the gold bars. 'Glad gold is safe!' Mnuchin wrote on Twitter, now known as X. Loading Questions bubble up again The latest concerns appear to have taken off on February 14, when the website ZeroHedge, which occasionally promotes conspiracy theories, tagged Elon Musk in a post on X. The post asked him to make sure the gold at Fort Knox was there. 'Surely it's reviewed at least every year?' Musk replied. 'It should be. It isn't,' ZeroHedge responded. (Bessent would later say that the gold is still audited annually.) Senator Rand Paul, the son of Ron Paul, chimed in, calling for an audit. 'Let's do it.' Then came Glenn Beck, the conservative radio and TV host, who posted an open letter to Trump, asking if he could take a camera crew to Fort Knox to 'restore faith in our financial system'. He later dedicated a segment of his show to casting doubt on the confirmed audits. The chatter about the gold reserves was growing louder. Loading By February 20, Trump was telling a press gaggle on Air Force One that he planned to go to Fort Knox to 'make sure the gold is there'. Sales pitches follow Since then, the idea that the government's gold reserves may have gone missing has been integrated into the sales pitches of companies that trade in gold coins and gold investment accounts. The companies advertise heavily on Trump-friendly TV and internet shows. A number of 'gold IRA' companies have suggested that a future audit of Fort Knox could determine that gold is missing, setting off a crisis among Americans about the stability of the economy. Amid such chaos, the companies argue, privately held gold would be a lucrative safe haven for investors. One of the companies, Birch Gold Group, is endorsed by the president's eldest son and bills itself as 'Donald Trump Jr's gold company'. Loading A recent article on Birch Gold's website stated that the idea of an 'empty Fort Knox' had gone 'from conspiracy theory to mainstream concern'. A discovery that gold was missing from Fort Knox, the article stated, would be the 'quickest way down for the US dollar'. 'It is only those without physical gold exposure that feel the need to panic, perhaps with good reason, about the greenback's admittedly dismal prospects,' states the article, which includes an offer for a 'FREE gold IRA info kit'. The younger Trump lauded his father's plans to visit Fort Knox in a February 24 episode of his online talk show, on which he regularly makes pitches for Birch Gold. 'If it's empty,' he said, 'I would imagine there's hell to pay.' On another section of Birch Gold's website, a 'Message from Donald Trump Jr' raised the possibility that his father's administration could 'revalue America's gold reserves on the national balance sheet from their outdated book value of $42' – the price per ounce the government assigns for bookkeeping purposes – 'to current market prices'. This, he wrote, 'could cause a surge in gold prices', adding that 'the potential upside for gold investors is substantial'. A gold IRA, he added, would be a great way to benefit. He did not mention that Bessent had publicly stated that he had no plans to revalue the gold reserves. Above the message was a digitally altered photo of the president at a desk, showing off an important-looking signed document, a wall of gold bricks behind him.
