Saudi Arabia’s quarterly budget deficit shrank by nearly three-quarters in the second quarter, courtesy of the same war that hammered its oil industry and sent the economy into its steepest contraction since the pandemic. The Kingdom posted a 34.3-billion-riyal—or $9.1-billion—shortfall for the three months through June, down from 125.7 billion riyals in the first quarter, according to the finance ministry. Oil revenue rose 28% from the previous quarter as crude prices jumped. As for spending, it fell 3.5%. War, as it turns out,…

Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz slightly increased as US-Iran negotiations remained ongoing in an effort to restore peace after the memorandum of understanding collapsed amid two weeks of tit-for-tat strikes, according to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi, who provided no further details. Still, the security situation in the Gulf deteriorated overnight after the US launched a new wave of strikes on Iran following attacks on US forces in Jordan. Additionally, reports emerged that a US-owned LNG vessel was struck…

China’s trade turnover with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the largest economies in Central Asia, showed strong growth in the first half of 2026, as did trade with Tajikistan. Meanwhile, the numbers for Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan fell, according to the PRC’s General Administration of Customs.   China’s overall trade with the region showed a year-on-year increase of 6.5 percent, rising from $49,70 billion in the first half of 2025 to $52.94 billion during the same period this year. The…

Russia is running short of undamaged oil refinery capacity, and it’s looking to Kazakhstan for help. Kazakhstan said Thursday that it is in talks with Moscow to process Russian oil at Kazakh refineries, sell some of the resulting fuel domestically, and send a portion back across the border to Russia. No volumes, commercial terms, or refineries have been named. Kazakhstan’s Energy Ministry said market participants would decide where the products go. For Kazakhstan, Russian crude would help keep its refineries running at stable rates…

U.S. refineries are producing the most gasoline and diesel since before the pandemic lockdowns, refining margins are running at record highs, but the world is still short on fuels. And it would take a while—and maybe a peace deal in the Middle East—before the situation changes. Fuel shortages are the more important oil crisis because it is fuels that the world consumes, not unrefined crude oil. Yet ever since the U.S. and Israel launched their first strikes on Iran at the end of February, it is crude oil prices that have been hogging…

The US economy grew at a far weaker than expected pace in the second quarter despite a pickup in consumer spending and solid business investment. According to the BEA, GDP (inflation adjusted) rose just 1.5% in the period, according to the first estimate issued Thursday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This was well below the 2.0% median estimate.  The contributors to the increase in real GDP in the second quarter were increases in consumer spending, investment, and exports that were partly offset by a decrease in government spending. A…

Crude oil prices ticked lower today on reports that oil tankers were still passing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, despite information about renewed strikes between the U.S. and Iran, and a drone attack on a tanker in an Egyptian port. At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $89.46 per barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at $83.54 per barrel, both down by about 1% since Wednesday’s close. Meanwhile, the U.S. Central Command announced renewed strikes on targets in Iran on Wednesday, saying “The strikes are a powerful response…

The Pentagon’s investment in MP Materials marked the biggest U.S. intervention in the rare earth industry in decades. The deal established a domestic champion for one of the world’s most strategically important supply chains and demonstrated that Washington is prepared to commit federal financial resources to critical mineral production. Mountain Pass is the only large-scale rare earth mine operating in the United States and one of the world’s largest producers of light rare earths. Its ore is rich in neodymium and praseodymium…