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  • Apollo Global Management Chief Economist Torsten Slok on Sunday released a report outlining the timeline for Trump’s tariffs to result in empty shelves, layoffs in the trucking and retail sector and a recession this summer.
  • Trump announced his “liberation day” tariffs on April 2 and it takes about 20-40 days for container ships to sail to the U.S. from China, according to Apollo. Slok estimates that container ships coming to U.S. ports could come to a stop by mid May.
  • It then takes about 1-10 days of transit time for trucking/rail to bring goods from the ports to cities. Apollo Global Management predicts that my late May domestic freight demand will “come to a halt” and that there will be “empty shelves” with companies responding “to lower sales.”
  • By early June, Slok forecasts there will be layoffs in the the domestic freight and retail industries with a recession hitting the U.S. this summer.

Source: ibd.com

White House says Trump would veto effort to eliminate ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs

 

  • The Trump administration issued a formal veto threat Monday morning regarding a bipartisan resolution that would terminate the president’s emergency powers underpinning his sweeping global tariffs.
  • The Senate is set to vote as early as this week on a resolution to rescind Trump’s national emergency declaration justifying the imposition of broad tariffs on imported goods. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said the president would veto the resolution in the event the resolution makes it to his desk, according to a statement of administration policy exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
  • “There can be no doubt that S.J. Res. 49 — if passed — would undermine U.S. national and economic security,” the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) wrote. “If S.J. Res. 49 were presented to the President, he would veto it.”
  • Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden and Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul are co-leading the effort to eliminate the foundation of Trump’s tariff authority. Congress has the power to force a vote on terminating the president’s emergency powers, which is subject to a simple majority vote in both chambers.

Source: wnd.com

  • “What I do know is that Americans are behaving very differently from what the surveys say,” he added. “So the surveys may say that, but consumers are still spending. So I prefer to look at what Americans are doing rather than how they’re answering pollsters.”
  • The poll shows that only 39% of the adults in the country approve of how Trump is handling his job, with 55% who disapprove, including 44% who strongly disapprove.
  • Bessent, meanwhile, said that he has his doubts about the poll numbers that are coming out. “When I look at the sum of the things that are being published, there was a story 10 days ago that said this is the worst April for the stock market since the Great Depression.”
  • But just 10 days later, the Nasdaq is up, said Bessent, but “I haven’t seen a story that says, Oh, the stock market has the biggest bounce back ever.”

Source: newsmax.com

China Just ‘Folded’ in the Trade War

  • [O]n April 24 about a dozen Chinese officials, including a “high-ranking official from the Chinese Ministry of Finance,” were seen entering the U.S. Treasury’s main building in Washington at 7:00 in the morning as Chinese security officials attempted to prevent photographers from recording the entry.
  • “In fact, the tariff waivers underscore that not only does Beijing need access to the American market far more than Americans need the China market but also that the United States makes vital products that simply aren’t Made in China, and won’t be for years at best.” — Alan Tonelson, trade expert at RealityChek, to Gatestone, April 25, 2025.
  • When Trump has to raise the temperature, Beijing has just shown him which U.S. products China believes it cannot do without.
    •  
    • The move is significant, but why is Beijing making such important trade concessions without admitting it is making concessions?
    • Xi Jinping’s regime simply cannot admit that it is not able to stand up to Washington.

Source:  gatestoneinstitute.org/ 

BREAKING: Chaos Sweeps Iberia: Mass Blackouts in Spain, Portugal, and France Spark Fears of Cyber Attack

  • Millions across Spain, Portugal, and parts of southern France were plunged into darkness today, as a sudden and sweeping blackout—already being called one of Europe’s largest—has sparked chaos, crippling cities, halting train networks, shuttering airports, and forcing critical infrastructure to limp along on emergency generators.
  • Amid mounting speculation and a lack of clear answers, some have voiced fears that the blackout could be the result of a coordinated cyber attack—an explanation that conveniently fits the narrative of a globalist-led Europe looking to ready the continent’s population for war with Russia.
  • The lights first flickered and died around midday, with Spain’s power grid showing a stunning collapse in a matter of seconds. Airports in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, and Valencia scrambled as their systems crashed, while metro services ground to a halt in Madrid, Porto, Lisbon, and Valencia. Even the Madrid Open tennis tournament had to call an abrupt time-out, The Telegraph reported.
Source: thegatewaypundit.com

This atmospheric phenomenon could have caused the voltage and frequency of some parts of the grid to fall out of sync, REN said.

But some analysts have suggested that the Spanish grid operator’s reliance on renewable energy sources to supply the majority of the nation’s electricity could have led to the blackout.

Traditional generators, like coal and hydroelectric plants or gas turbines, are connected directly to the grid via heavy spinning machines.  

Cyberattack on power grids ‘not science fiction,’ expert warns

  • Dutch cybersecurity experts have been closely monitoring a major power outage affecting Spain and Portugal, raising concerns about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure. Initially, there were fears that a cyberattack could be behind the widespread disruptions. However, Spain’s grid operator has since confirmed that the outage was not caused by a cyberattack.
  • While Spanish authorities have attributed the outage to weather-related factors, experts in the Netherlands cautioned that similar issues with critical infrastructure could be caused by cyberattacks. Dave Maasland, director of the cybersecurity firm ESET, emphasized the growing risk of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure. He warned that power grids remain vulnerable to such attacks, even if the current outage was not caused by one.
  • “A cyberattack on power infrastructure is not science fiction,” Maasland said. “Attacks on power supplies are possible and have already caused disruptions in the past.”
  • He pointed to several examples of cyberattacks on power grids, including the 2015 attack by Russian hackers that disabled power systems in western Ukraine. A similar attack occurred in Kyiv in 2016. More recently, a cyberattack on Ukraine’s power grid was narrowly avoided in 2022, after Russia’s invasion. Maasland described the malware used in these attacks as a “digital hand grenade,” designed to not only disrupt power but also destroy critical systems, complicating recovery efforts.

Source:  nltimes.nl 

 

  2001. This comes as gold prices have risen 66% over the last 2 years to over $3,300/oz. Meanwhile, the median sale price of a new home came at $403,600 in March. Gold has helped investors preserve purchasing power.

  rallied 26.5% while the S&P 500 has declined 6.1% so far this year. Gold is now on track for its second consecutive year of S&P 500 outperformance. Since the October 2022 low, gold prices have returned 102%, nearly DOUBLING S&P 500’s gain of 54%. Keep watching gold.