Aside from the fact the president thinks this is a good thing when he normally doesn't, Why in June 2026 is the president linking to a Reuters article from January 2026 talking about the 94.6% increase in the trade deficit in November 2025, the largest increase since March 1992, is the question you should be asking yourself.
Of course the numbers have been revised in the interim, but the November 2025 percent change was still YUGE.
And yes, what does that have to do with the report of the April number today, which is the occasion of the president's post?
The answer is nothing.
Needless to say, Trump thinks trade deficits are a bad thing when he has all his marbles together, which this evening he clearly does not.
And we called Joe Biden President Applesauce Brains.
And incidentally, President Trump has a cumulative trade deficit to date of $1.154 trillion.
... the recall covers 2021 through 2025 model-year Jeep Wrangler SUVs and
Jeep Gladiator trucks due to an electrical connection issue in the
electric-hydraulic power steering pump wiring. ...
... Lavazza will officially launch Tablì in the U.S. in August. A $99.99
bundle that includes the machine, a 60-count variety pack of tabs and a
milk frother is available now to pre-order on the company’s website. ...
There was no "pre-order" tab on the U.S. website.
The question is, Will the coffee from a tablet be any good?
And, Do you want to be hostage to the company for future supply?
Personally, I prefer Kimbo to Lavazza, but I will drink Lavazza.
My advice is to buy a moka pot and a grinder instead, and buy the beans or ground coffee of your choosing.
You will have the coffee you want when you want it, and if you never put the moka pot in the dishwasher it will last you a lifetime.
I have used several different sizes in both aluminum and stainless steel since the 1990s and have never gone back to percolators, pour-overs, French presses, drip machines, steam or pump espresso makers, et cetera. And I keep several different brands and styles of coffee going all the time.
Plus, the moka pots will work over a flame in a power outage, take up no counter space, and can travel with you at leisure or in an emergency.
... Construction that was slow during Trump’s first term, and
abandoned during Joe Biden’s time in office, is now accelerating in
Trump’s second term. The key was the passage of last year’s One Big
Beautiful Bill Act, which included $46.5 billion for the construction of
what is now called a “smart wall” — that is, a wall that includes not
only the basic structure but detection technology, cameras, lighting,
and roads.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 221 miles
of what is called primary smart wall are currently under construction.
Contracts have been awarded, and design is underway for an additional
370 miles. Another 44 miles of replacement wall are under construction,
plus 183 miles of secondary wall to provide backup security in
high-traffic areas where there is already a primary wall.
Things are moving quickly. “Construction crews are erecting five miles of wall a week, according to Customs and Border Protection officials,” reports the Washington Post.”
The crews are “introducing barriers in parts of Texas that did not
previously have them and installing a second wall across much of
California, Arizona, and New Mexico to further deter illegal
immigration.” ...
... "You don’t need other people. The point of getting rich is so you don’t have to need other people, so you don’t have to get along with others.” ...
Stocks were down across the board, with the NASD 100 notably down 4.77%. The equal weight S&P 500 is down 0.52% month to date.
The Tech sector was down the most on the day, 5.78%.
The Consumer Staples sector was up the most on the day, 1.64%, which looks defensive against a possible coming recession. The Utilities sector was up half that.
The U.S. 10Y yield rose to 4.55%, and the 20Y and 30Y yields rose above 5.00. YTD return for VUSUX is now down 0.85%.
Oil retreated 3%.
Metals were down across the board, silver down over 8%.
Crypto was down across the board, too, with Bitcoin falling below $60k.
But DXY climbed! +0.658 to 100.071.
The theory is investors are upset that today's "strong" jobs numbers (the 70k hospitality hires is probably World Cup related, a one off, so forget that) indicate easy money from the Fed is now absolutely out of the question, and maybe even a rate increase is coming because the economy is running too hot, which is silly with 1Q GDP at 1.6% annualized. CNBC called that "solid" lol.
Jokers say everyone's just raising cash to buy overpriced SpaceX in its IPO next week.
... Oil and product exports through the Bab el-Mandeb nearly doubled to 7.2
million barrels per day in April compared with 3.9 million bpd in
February before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, according to data
provided by Kpler.
The interactive chart by Kpler in the story is a shipwreck.
The data is in millions of barrels per day passing through, as explained in the story. Unfortunately you don't see "million" anywhere in the chart.
What you see is 5.2B, 7.7B, 2.9B, etc., which could easily be misinterpreted as either "barrels" or "billion".
The proper designation should be MMb/d or perhaps MMB/D in the chart, but maybe just leave that out entirely next time because it's already too busy and just put "million" in the subtitle before "barrels" and leave it 5.2, 7.7, 2.9, etc. in the chart.
... "The United States has defeated this pest before, and we will do it again," the USDA said.
... Dudley Hoskins, undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs at the USDA ... “USDA invested heavily in the tools needed to eliminate NWS ever since
cases started increasing in Central America and Mexico,” Hoskins said.
“The United States has defeated this pest before, and we will do it
again.” ...
... Washington has halted cattle imports from Mexico and invested millions
in setting up a new sterile fly production plant in Metapa, Mexico. But
it will take roughly a year to come online.
... The U.S. eliminated screwworms in the 20th century by flying planes over
hotspots to drop red-striped boxes packed with sterile flies, sometimes
called “cupcakes” by ranchers. The USDA constructed a fly production
plant in Mission, Texas, in 1962, that pumped out 96 trillion flies
until it was decommissioned in 1981. Now the USDA is planning to
resurrect the plant to disperse sterile flies, while Texas officials
have scattered 100 screwworm traps along the border.
USDA inspectors known as Tick Riders who patrol the border on horseback
to guard against another pest, the cattle fever tick, have also been
tasked with conducting screwworm preventive treatment for all cattle and
horses they find in the border area.
At the heart of the problem is an unworkable math equation. The USDA
estimated 500 million flies need to be released weekly to push the fly
back to the Darien Gap. At its maximum, the Panama plant produces just
100 million.
“It’s an overwhelming situation at this point,” Dr. Lansford said.
“Screwworm is obviously doing well in Mexico, and they’re up against the
same challenges we are.” ...
... Moscamed, as the factory is called, will begin manufacturing 100 million sterile flies by July 2026. ...
Until now, the sterile flies that are spread throughout the country to
combat the screwworm plague (100 million each week) are brought from a
plant managed by the Panama-United States Commission for the Eradication
and Prevention of the Cattle Screwworm (Copeg), in Panama, where they
have been working at maximum capacity to control the pest since January
2025. ...
With the other leg of the project, the construction of a manufacturing
plant for these flies in Texas, international efforts project a
production of up to 500 million flies per week, which will be released
throughout the region. If international cooperation continues, myiasis
could be eradicated in less time than the first time. Some
representatives of Senasica have even talked about achieving this goal
in five years. ...
USDA didn't break ground on the Texas facility until two months ago.
... Initial operational capability targeted for November 2027, reaching production of 100 million sterile flies per week.
Construction continues immediately beyond initial operations to scale
full production capacity to 300 million sterile flies per week. ...
This new state-of-the-art facility will complement USDA’s ongoing
production of 100 million sterile flies per week at the Panama-based COPEG facility.
USDA has also invested $21 million to support modernization of Mexico’s
Metapa, MX facility, expected to be operational in summer 2026. ...
The four-week moving average of initial claims has been falling for a year.
The four-week moving average of continued claims has been falling for ten months, not very fast at first, but falling decisively nevertheless.
The actual number unemployed 27 weeks or longer is down since December 2025. Yes, it is slightly higher than in January.
The percentage of population unemployed 27 weeks or longer is not surging either. At 0.666% in April, the percentage has been holding fairly steady near this level also for ten months.
In this latter metric, a surge would look more like a steady climb toward 1.00% of population unemployed 27 weeks or longer, which is common after recessions begin. The climb to the current level has been very choppy, reflecting the chaos of positive and negative developments under Trump II.
And incidentally, a contraction in this metric falling below 0.5% would indicate good times are here indeed, so this right now is not that either, as Trumpty Dumpty keeps saying.
Of course all of this could be about to change for the worse because of oil.
... The White House declined to comment on the report when asked by CNBC. A
White House official said while Trump “always prefers a diplomatic
solution, he has been clear about the consequences if Iran refuses to
make a deal.” ...
House lawmakers on Wednesday passed legislation designed to force
President Trump to end the Iran War, marking a victory for Democrats and
the constitutional purists who say the conflict is illegal without
explicit congressional approval.
The development is largely symbolic, since there are lingering disputes
about whether the measure, known as a concurrent resolution, carries the
force of law. And Trump is certain to contest the authority of the
measure even if it’s also passed by the Senate, where it’s headed next. ...
Behind Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.),
most Republicans have argued that the conflict does not rise to the
level of a war, and therefore doesn’t require congressional approval. ...
The administration is also challenging the measure from a practical
angle, arguing that the conflict ended when Trump called for a ceasefire
in early April. ...
Core inflation has been rattling around 3% or higher for nearly five consecutive years as our betters fail to get inflation down to their 2% goal.
I say their goal because 0% is the goal in the law.
Goals are real nice, aren't they?
They, too, are meaningless. They are tricks to persuade you that our elected officials are serious people who agree with you while they have no intention of doing what they say they will do.
"Well I'm really sorry, Mr. Smith. We tried really hard to get inflation down but we had all these unexpected events ruin our best efforts."
In 1Q2026 core inflation rose, to 3.11%, and under current circumstances no one thinks 2Q is going to be lower, which will make it five full years of this and headed the wrong way again.
One good blip deserves another, I guess.
The Treasury Secretary is not serious about inflation, and just about everyone points to Scott Bessent as the serious person in this administration.
