Your News to Knowrounds up the most important stories about precious metals and the overall economy. This week, we’ll cover:
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A week ago, the Strait of Hormuz looked like the kind of geopolitical flashpoint that could ripple through everything – energy costs, inflation and even household budgets.
Last Friday, we were told it was “back to normal” and Iran was re-opening the Strait.
Saturday,Reuterstells us20 ships made it throughthe Strait (the most since March 1. One of them, however, was an Iranian-flagged cargo ship, which was fired on and seized by the U.S. Navy as part oftheirblockade duties. And Iran announced the Strait was closed once again.
At the moment, we’re back to a full stop.
It’s hard to overstate just how big a deal this is for the global economy. The Strait of Hormuz is basically the street that leads to the gas station for the entire Middle East. During normal times, 130 ships a day (tankers for oil, natural gas and other industrial gases, container ships and bulk cargo carriers) cross the Strait in both directions.
Note the chart above is only showinghalfthe traffic (it’s jammed in both directions).
Every nation in Asia that isn’t energy independent – notably China, India, Japan and South Korea are the destinations for 69% of these crude shipments – are facing real struggles. Over two weeks, ago,Japan announcedthat the blockade was notyet“survival-threatening.” (I hope that’s still the case.)
Western Europefirst declaredthey “had maybe six weeks of jet fuel left,”then deniedthere was an issue (while quietly preparing toshare remaining stocksacross the Euro Zone).
Source: SGT Report
