Josef Schachter of the Schachter Energy Report shares his updated outlook for oil and natural gas.
He sees a buy window potentially opening for stocks in June, and also believes oil prices are due to rise.
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
It was a slow start to the week for gold, but it didn’t take long for the price to pick up.
The yellow metal began the period at the US$3,220 per ounce level, but was gaining steam by Tuesday (May 20), briefly breaking US$3,300. Gold continued higher the next day, and after pulling back briefly on Thursday (May 22) was able to finish the week strong, changing hands at the US$3,360 level.
Bond market turmoil is one factor that’s been influencing gold’s price movements.
A Wednesday (May 21) auction of 20-year bonds was poorly received, with yields surging past 5.1 percent to reach the highest level seen since November 2023. Yields for 10-year and 30-year bonds were also on the rise, with the latter nearing a two-decade high as stocks and the dollar took hits.
The upheaval in bonds came on the back of US President Donald Trump’s efforts to get the One Big Beautiful Bill through the House. Slowing the passage of the wide-ranging domestic policy package were concerns that Trump’s plan to cut taxes would significantly increase US debt.
‘Make no mistake, the bond market will have its own vote on the terms of the budget bill. It doesn’t seem this president or this Congress is actually going to meaningfully reduce the deficit’ — George Catrambone, DWS Americas
Last week’s downgrade of US debt from Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) also didn’t help bonds. The agency bumped its rating down from AAA, its highest ranking, to AA1, which is one step lower. It expects even larger deficits in the US in the coming decade as government revenue stays flat and entitlement spending rises.
The One Big Beautiful Bill ultimately passed on Thursday by a very slim margin, receiving 215 votes in favor and 214 against. It will now proceed to the Senate, where it may face further obstacles.
Contained in the bill are tax cut extensions for both individuals and corporations, as well as provisions for removing taxes on tips and overtime. Among other points, it also allows for tax deductions on American-made vehicles, and offers ‘Trump savings accounts’ for newborns. It cuts funding to initiatives like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP.
Preliminary analysis from the Congressional Budget Office, which is a nonpartisan organization, suggests that the bill will increase the federal deficit by US$3.8 trillion during the 2026 to 2034 period.
The uranium sector got a boost on Friday (May 23) after Trump signed several executive orders geared at overhauling the country’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission and speeding up nuclear reactor deployment.
‘It’s a hot industry. It’s a brilliant industry. You have to do it right,’ Trump told reporters about the nuclear energy sector. The executive orders also focus on power up US uranium mining and enrichment, and will allow nuclear reactors to be built on federal land.
The news sent uranium stocks powering higher, with sector major Cameco (TSX:CCO,NYSE:CCJ) closing the day up 10.04 percent at C$80.55. Denison Mines (TSX:DML,NYSEAMERICAN:DNN) and Uranium Energy (NYSEAMERICAN:UEC) saw even larger gains of 13.49 percent and 25 percent, respectively.
The Sprott Uranium Miners ETF (ARCA:URNM) finished up 12.14 percent.
A note from the European Central Bank (ECB) turned heads this week with the suggestion that certain dynamics could make the gold market a threat to financial stability. Here’s a key excerpt from the report:
While gold prices are driven by many factors, investors showed high demand for gold as a safe haven asset and, at the beginning of 2025, a notable preference for gold futures contracts to be settled physically. These dynamics hint at investors’ expectations that geopolitical risks and policy uncertainty could remain elevated or even intensify in the foreseeable future. Should extreme events materialise, there could be adverse effects on financial stability arising from gold markets.
The full ECB report is definitely worth a read if you have the time.
Gold’s high price hasn’t deterred buyers in China — new customs data from the country shows that April imports clocked in at 127.5 metric tons, an 11 month high.
That’s also a 73 percent increase from the previous month, according to Bloomberg. The news outlet notes that China’s central bank controls the flow of gold in and out of the country, so the strong increase is likely the result of fresh quotas given to some commercial banks.
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
The Federal Trade Commission voted to dismiss a lawsuit filed in the last days of the Biden administration that accused PepsiCo of offering sweetheart pricing to big retailers.
FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson dissented to the suit when it was filed in January, when he was one of the regulator’s commissioners. Now the agency’s leader, Ferguson on Thursday again criticized the case as “a nakedly political effort to commit this administration to pursuing little more than a hunch that Pepsi had violated the law.”
“The FTC’s outstanding staff will instead get back to work protecting consumers and ensuring a fair and competitive business environment,” he said in a statement.
The FTC voted 3-0 to drop the suit. The panel is supposed to be made up of five commissioners, no more than three of whom can share the same political party. But it is currently led by three Republicans after President Donald Trump fired its two Democratic commissioners in March. The two ousted officials have slammed their removals as illegal and are urging a judge to reinstate them.
Pepsi welcomed the FTC decision Thursday. “PepsiCo has always and will continue to provide all customers with fair, competitive, and non-discriminatory pricing, discounts and promotional value,” a spokesperson said in a statement. Beyond its namesake soda, the company makes an array of snacks and other food products, including Doritos, Rold Gold pretzels and Sabra hummus.
Former FTC Chair Lina Khan, who led the commission when the agency brought its case against Pepsi, criticized the move Thursday as “disturbing behavior” by the agency.
“This lawsuit would’ve protected families from paying higher prices at the grocery store and stopped conduct that squeezes small businesses and communities across America,” she wrote on X Thursday evening. “Dismissing it is a gift to giant retailers as they gear up to hike prices.”
The decision comes little more than a week after top-ranking Democrats on Capitol Hill sent a letter to Pepsi demanding more information about its pricing strategy. They sought to revive a Biden-era focus on price-gouging as a driver of inflation, an argument that has taken a back seat to the Trump administration’s attention on purportedly unfair trade arrangements.
But major corporations continue to draw scrutiny from the White House over pricing in other ways. Last weekend, Trump slammed Walmart for warning that it was likely to raise prices to offset the costs of his import taxes, demanding on social media that it “EAT THE TARIFFS.”
In the days since then, other major consumer brands have appeared to tread cautiously around pricing. Target said Wednesday that charging customers more would be its “very last resort.” Home Depot virtually ruled out price hikes this week, and Lowe’s barely mentioned tariff impacts in its Wednesday earnings call at all.
CORRECTION (May 22, 2025, 8:45 p.m. ET): Due to an editing error, a previous version of this article misstated when congressional Democrats sent their letter to Pepsi. It was on May 11, not last weekend.
United Airlines reached an “industry-leading” tentative labor deal for its 28,000 flight attendants, their union said Friday.
The deal includes “40% of total economic improvements” in the first year and retroactive pay, a signing bonus, and quality of life improvements, like better scheduling and on-call time, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA said.
The union did not provide further details about the deal.
United flight attendants have not had a raise since 2020.
The cabin crew members voted last year to authorize the union to strike if a deal wasn’t reached. They had also sought federal mediation in negotiations.
U.S. flight attendants have pushed for wage increases for years after pilots and other work groups secured new labor deals in the wake of the pandemic. United is the last of the major U.S. carriers to get a deal done with its flight attendants.
The deal must still face a vote by flight attendants, and contract language will be finalized in the coming days, United said.
President Donald Trump on Friday cleared the merger of U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel, after the Japanese steelmaker’s previous bid to acquire its U.S. rival had been blocked on national security grounds.
“This will be a planned partnership between United States Steel and Nippon Steel, which will create at least 70,000 jobs, and add $14 Billion Dollars to the U.S. Economy,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
U.S. Steel’s headquarters will remain in Pittsburgh and the bulk of the investment will take place over the next 14 months, the president said. U.S. Steel shares surged more than 20% to close at $52.01 per share after Trump’s announcement.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro applauded the agreement, saying he worked with local, state and federal leaders ‘to press for the best deal to keep U.S. Steel headquartered in Pittsburgh, protect union jobs, and secure the future of steelmaking in Western Pennsylvania.’
In his own statement, Lieutenant Gov. Austin Davis called the announcement ‘promising,’ but added: ‘I want to make sure everyone involved in the deal holds up their end of the bargain. I look forward to seeing the promised investments become a reality and the workers receive everything they’ve fought for.’
President Joe Biden blocked Nippon Steel from purchasing U.S. Steel for $14.9 billion in January, citing national security concerns. Biden said at the time that the acquisition would create a risk to supply chains that are critical for the U.S.
Trump, however, ordered a new review of the proposed acquisition in April, directing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to determine “whether further action in this matter may be appropriate.”
Trump said he would hold a rally at U.S. Steel in Pittsburgh on May 30.
Iran and the United States are set to begin a fifth round of high-stakes nuclear talks in Rome on Friday amid growing skepticism in Tehran about the chances of a deal as Washington hardens its position.
The sources said Iran’s participation in the Rome talks is solely to gauge Washington’s latest stance rather than pursue a potential breakthrough.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated Tehran’s red lines before he departed for Rome on Friday.
“Figuring out the path to a deal is not rocket science,” he posted on X before his flight. “Zero nuclear weapons = we DO have a deal. Zero enrichment = we do NOT have a deal.”
The Trump administration has demanded Iran stop all uranium enrichment activity, which lead US negotiator Steve Witkoff says “enables weaponization.” Uranium, a key nuclear fuel, can be used to build a bomb if enriched to high levels. Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful and says it is willing to commit not to enrich uranium to weapons-grade as part of an agreement.
Speaking Thursday, Araghchi said Iran was open to enhanced monitoring by international inspectors but would not relinquish its right to pursue nuclear energy, including uranium enrichment. Washington is offering to wind back crippling economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for de-nuclearization.
The US had previously sent mixed signals about whether Iran would be allowed to enrich uranium, but in recent weeks it has hardened its stance, insisting that no enrichment will be permitted.
That shift has prompted officials in Tehran to question Washington’s commitment to a deal, as Iran has repeatedly said enrichment is a red line in negotiations.
“The media statements and negotiating behavior of the United States has widely disappointed policy-making circles in Tehran,” the sources said in a joint message. “From the perspective of decision-makers in Tehran, when the US knows that accepting zero enrichment in Iran is impossible and yet insists on it, it is a sign that the US is fundamentally not seeking an agreement and is using the negotiations as a tool to intensify pressure.”
Initially, the sources noted, some Iranian officials believed Washington might seek a “win-win” compromise. However, a consensus has now emerged that the Trump administration is steering discussions toward a deadlock.
The sources said that although neither the US nor Iran wants to leave the negotiating table, the position of the US is making the talks unproductive and formal meetings are unlikely to continue much longer.
They said that Tehran no longer takes seriously US efforts to distance itself from Israel’s hardline stance on Iran, and it sees proposals made by the American side as following the agenda of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has insisted that no enrichment be allowed in Iran.
On Friday, Iranian delegates in Rome aim to probe whether the US has revised its approach. The sources suggested that Tehran will likely take a tougher stance unless the US offers tangible concessions.
Washington has kept up the pressure on Iran with fresh sanctions and threats of war even as diplomatic talks continue.
On Wednesday, the US State Department announced new measures, identifying Iran’s construction sector as being “controlled directly or indirectly” by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and 10 strategic materials that it said Iran is using in connection with its nuclear, military or ballistic missile programs.
“With these determinations, the United States has broader sanctions authorities to prevent Iran from acquiring strategic materials for its construction sector under IRGC control and its proliferation programs,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson criticized US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the move, calling it “as outrageous as it is unlawful and inhuman.”
“The US’s consecutive rounds of sanctions only reinforce our people’s deeply held belief that the American decision makers are set to make every malign effort to hinder Iran’s development & progress. These sanctions, announced on the eve of the fifth round of Iran-US indirect talks, further put to question the American willingness & seriousness for diplomacy,” Baqaei wrote on X.
Depending on who you ask, a nuclear agreement between Iran and the United states is either a non-starter or almost a done deal.
Last week, US President Donald Trump said Washington was “very close” to reaching an agreement with Iran over not making “nuclear dust,” as the US president terms it.
But in Tehran, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei seemed to rubbish the chances of a new accord with Washington, in a post attributed to him on his website Tuesday.
Sanctions on Iran have strangled the country’s economy, cutting off Tehran from most banking and commercial ties with the West and leaving the country reliant on geopolitical allies like Russia and China.
On Iran’s streets, Western brands are becoming ever harder to find but copycat logos are common, appealing to a nostalgia for a rosier period of international relations.
Cars are typically Iranian or Chinese-made and the country’s aviation industry in particular has suffered from nullified aircraft purchase licenses and banned imports of much-needed spare parts.
Russia and China have looked to profit from the West’s more belligerent use of economic punishments, with Moscow allegedly trading nuclear and space know-how for Iranian missiles and drones to attack Ukraine – even though Iran has consistently denied giving drones to Russia for use in Ukraine – and Beijing, the US says, a key source for fuel components for Iran’s military missile program.
In a March Washington Post opinion article, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi pitched the US president on the economic promise that Tehran offers.
“It is the US administration’s and congressional impediments, not Iran, that have kept American enterprises away from the trillion-dollar opportunity that access to our economy represents,” he wrote.
“Try not to talk nonsense,” Khamenei told US negotiators in the post on his website early this week, repeating the Iranian position that Tehran will forge ahead with uranium enrichment for civilian purposes if Iran so desires.
Iran’s enrichment of uranium, a nuclear fuel that can be weaponized if purified to high levels, has emerged as the biggest sticking point in the talks. Iran insists it will never relinquish its right to enrich.
Khamenei will have the final say on any possible deal and his public pronouncements will set the tone for any Iranian interactions with Washington.
As regards US demands that Iran completely stop enrichment of uranium, he said that “after 30 years of investing they (Iran’s leaders) can’t simply back off and say, ‘it’s all yours.’”
“Look what happened to Libya. Libya gave them everything and they still bombed them,” he added. “It’s all an excuse from the West.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Iran reach a Libya-style nuclear deal with the US, which in 2003 dismantled the North African nation’s nuclear program in the hopes of ushering in a new era of relations with the US after its two-decade oil embargo on Muammar Qaddafi’s regime.
Following denuclearization, Libya eventually descended into civil war after a 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed Qaddafi. Iranian officials have long warned that a similar deal would be intended to weaken Iran and eventually overthrow its regime.
As Israel escalates its bloody campaign in Gaza, eyes in Jerusalem are also firmly fixed on the US-Iranian talks.
In comments Thursday, Netanyahu said there is “full coordination” with the US on Iran as the Trump administration pursues a new nuclear deal with Tehran.
He said any deal would have to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and stop the enrichment of uranium.
Iranians were somber in the face of the risk of such an escalation.
(Reuters) – The United States said on Thursday it would impose sanctions on Sudan after determining that its government used chemical weapons in 2024 during the army’s conflict with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, a charge the army denied.
Measures against Sudan will include limits on US exports and US government lines of credit and will take effect around June 6, after Congress was notified on Thursday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement.
“The United States calls on the Government of Sudan to cease all chemical weapons use and uphold its obligations under the CWC,” Bruce said, referring to the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty banning the use of such weapons.
In a statement, Sudan rejected the move, and described the allegations as false.
“This interference, which lacks any moral or legal basis, deprives Washington of what is left of its credibility and closes the door to any influence in Sudan,” government spokesperson Khalid al-Eisir said on Friday.
The war in Sudan erupted in April 2023 from a power struggle between the army and the RSF, unleashing waves of ethnic violence, creating the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and plunging several areas into famine. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and about 13 million displaced.
Washington in January imposed sanctions on army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, accusing him of choosing war over negotiations to bring an end to the conflict.
The US has also determined members of the RSF and allied militias committed genocide and imposed sanctions on some of the group’s leadership, including RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.
The New York Times reported in January, citing four senior US officials, that the Sudanese army had used chemical weapons at least twice during the conflict, deploying the weapons in remote areas of the country.
Two officials briefed on the matter said the chemical weapons appeared to use chlorine gas, which can cause lasting damage to human tissue, the New York Times reported at the time.
Bruce’s statement said the US had formally determined on April 24 under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 that the government of Sudan used chemical weapons last year, but did not specify what weapons were used, precisely when or where.
“The United States remains fully committed to hold to account those responsible for contributing to chemical weapons proliferation,” Bruce said.
“The intention here is to distract from the recent campaign in Congress against the UAE,” a Sudanese diplomatic source said.
The source said the US could have gone to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to investigate the claims and neglected to do so.
Sudan’s government is aligned with the army.
It cut diplomatic relations with the UAE this month, saying the Gulf power was aiding the RSF with supplies of advanced weaponry in the devastating conflict that broke out following disagreements over the integration of the two forces.
The UAE has denied the allegations and says it supports humanitarian and peace efforts.
US congressional Democrats sought last Thursday to block arms sales to the United Arab Emirates over its alleged involvement in the war.
Sudan said this week that the United Arab Emirates was responsible for an attack on Port Sudan this month, accusing the Gulf state for the first time of direct military intervention in the war.
The UAE denied the allegations in a statement and said it condemned the attack.
A Norwegian man managed to sleep through an enormous container ship running aground on his front lawn.
Johan Helberg, who lives in Byneset, on the Trondheim Fjord, was woken by his neighbor on Thursday morning asking if he had noticed a boat outside, TV2 Norway reported.
When he looked out his door, he saw a 135-meter-long (443-foot) container ship parked up in his front yard.
“If the ship had hit the rocky outcrop right next to it, it would have lifted up and hit the house hard. It only missed by a few meters,” Helberg told TV2.
His neighbor, Jostein Jørgensen, who lives about 40 meters (131 feet) from the beach, told TV2 he was woken around 5 a.m. by the sound of a boat approaching.
“When I looked out the window, I saw a boat speeding toward the shore,” he told the local TV network, adding that he ran outside and shouted to raise the alarm.
Jørgensen said the boat, the NCL Salten, got closer and closer until it ran aground about eight meters (26 feet) from the wall of his neighbor’s house.
“He was lying asleep and surprised he had a visitor,” Jørgensen told TV2.
The vessel was reportedly bound for Orkanger, at the southern end of the fjord, and had 16 people aboard when it ran aground.
Bente Hetland, managing director of the shipping company NCL, called it a “serious incident” and said the company was “grateful that nobody was injured in the grounding.”
“At present time, we do not know what caused the incident and are awaiting the conclusion of the ongoing investigation by the relevant authorities,” Hetland said in a statement. “We are currently assessing the damage to the ship.”
A tugboat was initially sent to try to pull the vessel free, to no avail.
On Thursday evening, a salvage company tried to mount an attempt to refloat the ship at high tide, but it was later decided it was not possible, the Norwegian Coastal Administration said in a statement.
It said geotechnical investigations were now needed before another attempt could be made.
While there have been no signs of oil leaking from the vessel, the authority said it had an oil response vessel on standby to respond, if needed.
A major prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine is now under way, according to a Ukrainian source familiar with the matter.
The swap started on Friday, with Kyiv and Moscow swapping hundreds of prisoners.
As with previous exchanges, Ukrainian and Russian authorities were not expected to publicly state that it was taking place until after it had been completed. However, US President Donald Trump broke that convention on Friday, announcing the swap on social media as it was unfolding.
The agreement to release 1,000 prisoners on each side was the only significant outcome of the meeting between Kyiv and Moscow in Istanbul last week, which marked the first time the two sides have met directly since soon after Russia’s full-scale unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Istanbul meeting was initially proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in response to a ceasefire-or-sanctions ultimatum given to Moscow by Kyiv’s European allies – which many saw as a clear attempt by the Kremlin leader to distract and delay.
But while the return of hundreds of Ukrainian detainees will come as a huge relief to their families and loved ones, it remains somewhat underwhelming as the only tangible outcome of the highly touted meeting.
Prisoner swaps have been happening regularly, most recently earlier this month.
Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, a government department, said the exchange on May 7, which saw more than 200 Ukrainian service members return home, was the fifth swap this year and the 64th since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The department said at the time that at 4,757 Ukrainian citizens have been released since March 2022.
Ukraine and its allies demanded that Russia agree to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Istanbul, but that did not happen.
Kyiv also offered direct talks between President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.