France’s 30-year government bond yield rose over 5 basis points on Tuesday, reaching its highest level since 2008, after Prime Minister Francois Bayrou announced a confidence vote in his own administration. Bayrou’s minority government could be deposed on September 8 after three major opposition parties declared they would not support him in a vote he called over his plans for drastic budget cuts. As of 9:12 am CET, the 30-year gilt was up by 5.7 basis points, yielding 4.415%, while the 10-year rose by 3.1 basis points to 3.521%. On the other hand, the 2-year Treasury yield dropped 3.3 basis points to 2.043% at the same time.
Long-term Treasury yields rise amid Trump-Fed clash
Long-term US Treasury yields rose in early trading on Tuesday after President Donald Trump moved to oust Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, deepening concerns about political interference in the central bank. The yield curve steepened as markets priced in increased institutional risk and the possibility of upcoming rate cuts. Trump’s attempt to remove Cook, citing mortgage-related allegations, has drawn legal scrutiny and heightened investor unease. Analysts called the move an “unprecedented challenge” to Fed independence, raising questions about the central bank’s autonomy under the current administration. At 1:10 am ET, the 30-year yield climbed 4.8 basis points to 4.937%, the 20-year rose to 4.903% and the 10-year gained 3.1 basis points to 4.306%. In contrast, short-term yields remained steady or declined, with the 2-year yield falling 1.1 basis points to 3.719%, reflecting expectations of a more dovish monetary stance.
NN: MSSSS Cook is another example of totally unqualified blacks put into power under the Biden administration run buy Mohmand Obama.
Our beloved 0 coupon 30 year bond trade is on simmer. Ihope to start operations at 5.30%
Trump: Big consequences if Putin, Zelensky don’t meet
United States President Donald Trump said on Monday that there could be “big consequences” if Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky do not agree to meet.
“Sp, we’ll see what happens over the next week or two, and at that point I’ll step in. And if I have to be there, I’ll be there. We’ll either have the deal or we won’t, but a lot of people are dying and I want get this done,” Trump told reporters during his meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung.
The US president reiterated that the two presidents should meet before he joins their meeting to “probably close the deal.” He said that while Putin and Zelensky “do not exactly get along well,” the Russian president “perhaps wasn’t happy about coming to the US either,” but he did it.
Trump: Big personality conflicts with Russia, Ukraine
United States President Donald Trump stated on Monday that while he thought bringing an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia wouldn’t be too difficult, “that turns out to be some big personality conflicts.” “Seven thousand soldiers died last week … in the fight between Ukraine and Russi. And they are not our soldiers but they are souls,” Trump commented while addressing journalists at the White House. He insisted that even with all the challenges, including the disagreements between the leaders of the two countries, the conflict would be resolved.
NN: Ukraine peace deal is blowing up in Trumps face. And the oil market senses it. Oil is off its peace fantasy lows by $4..00.
FBI said to raid home of Trump’s ex-aide Bolton
FBI agents raided former United States National Security Advisor John Bolton’s home on Friday, The NewYork Post revealed in an exclusive. The investigation was ordered by FBI Director Kash Patel himself, the news agency reported, citing a Trump administration official. Shortly before the reported action, Patel wrote on his X account, “NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission.”
Last week, United States President Donald Trump lashed out at Bolton, who claimed that “Putin has already won” ahead of the Alaska summit, prompting Trump to call him a “fired loser.”
NN: Bolton is a great man. Figures never is head a despairing word.
Katz: Hamas to face hell until they agree to our terms
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened on Friday to unleash “hell” on Hamas until the Palestinian militant group agrees to his country’s conditions on ending the war. Katz confirmed in a post on X that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the final approval for the invasion of Gaza City on Thursday, noting the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) plans to “defeat Hamas in Gaza – with intense fire, evacuation of residents, and maneuvering.” “Soon, the gates of hell will open upon the heads of Hamas’s murderers and rapists in Gaza – until they agree to Israel’s conditions for ending the war, primarily the release of all hostages and their disarmament,” Katz warned and claimed that Gaza City will face the same fate as Rafah and Beit Hanoun, which Israel has destroyed, unless Hamas agrees to his country’s terms.
NN: I am all in on hell!
Putin’s demand to Ukraine: give up Donbas
MOSCOW, Aug 21 (Reuters) – Vladimir Putin is demanding that Ukraine give up all of the eastern Donbas region, renounce ambitions to join NATO, remain neutral and keep Western troops out of the country, three sources familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking told Reuters. The Russian president met Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday for the first Russia-U.S. summit in more than four years and spent almost all of their three-hour closed meeting discussing what a compromise on Ukraine might look like, according to the sources who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. Speaking afterwards beside Trump, Putin said the meeting would hopefully open up the road to peace in Ukraine – but neither leader gave specifics about what they discussed. In the most detailed Russian-based reporting to date on Putin’s offer at the summit, Reuters was able to outline the contours of what the Kremlin would like to see in a possible peace deal to end a war that has killed and injured hundreds of thousands of people. In essence, the Russian sources said, Kyiv rejected those terms as tantamount to surrender. In his new proposal, the Russian president has stuck to his demand that Ukraine completely withdraw from the parts of the Donbas it still controls, according to the three sources. In return, though, Moscow would halt the current front lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, they added.
Russia controls about 88% of the Donbas and 73% of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, according to U.S. estimates and open-source data. Moscow is also willing to hand over the small parts of the Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine it controls as part of a possible deal, the sources said. Putin is sticking, too, to his previous demands that Ukraine give up its NATO ambitions and for a legally binding pledge from the U.S.-led military alliance that it will not expand further eastwards, as well as for limits on the Ukrainian army and an agreement that no Western troops will be deployed on the ground in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force, the sources said. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly dismissed the idea of withdrawing from internationally recognised Ukrainian land as part of a deal, and has said the industrial Donbas region serves as a fortress holding back Russian advances deeper into Ukraine.
“If we’re talking about simply withdrawing from the east, we cannot do that,” he told reporters in comments released by Kyiv on Thursday. “It is a matter of our country’s survival, involving the strongest defensive lines.” “There are two choices: war or peace, and if there is no peace, then there is more war,” one of the people said.
NN: This ends badly for Ukraine
Trump: Impossible for Ukraine to win without attacking Russia
United States President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday to explain that Ukraine does not stand a good chance of winning the war against Russia if it is only permitted to defend its territory. “It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country. It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offensive. There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia. Crooked and grossly incompetent Joe Biden would not let Ukraine FIGHT BACK, only DEFEND defend,” the president wrote, asking, “How did that work out?” Trump ended the post by promising “interesting times ahead” and reiterated that the conflict between Moscow and Kiev would never have started if he had been president, insisting there would have been “zero chance” of that happening.
IEA Weekly Petroleum Data
Summary of Weekly Petroleum Data for the week ending August 15, 2025
U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) decreased by 6 million barrels from the previous week. At 420.7 million barrels, U.S. crude oil
inventories are about 6% below the five year average for this time of year. U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 17.2 million barrels per day during the week ending August 15, 2025, which was 28 thousand barrels per day more than the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 96.6% of their operable capacity last week. Gasoline production decreased last week, averaging 9.6 million barrels per day. Distillate fuel production increased by 193 thousand barrels per day last week, averaging 5.3 million barrels per day. U.S. crude oil imports averaged 6.5 million barrels per day last week, decreased by 423 thousand barrels per day from the previous week. Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 6.4 million barrels per day, 2.3% less than the same four-week period last year. Total motor gasoline imports (including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components) last week averaged 655 thousand barrels per day, and distillate fuel imports averaged 124 thousand
barrels per day. Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 2.7 million barrels from last week and are 1% below the five year average for this time of year. Both finished gasoline inventories and blending componentsinventories decreased last week. Distillate fuel inventories increased by 2.3 million barrels last week and are about 13% below the five year average for this time of year. Propane/propylene
inventories increased by 2.6 million barrels from last week and are 12% above the five year average for this time of year. Total commercial petroleum inventories decreased by 4.2 million barrels last week. Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 21.1 million barrels a day, up by
3.3% from the same period last year. Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 9 million barrels a day, down by 1.2% from the same period last year. Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.7 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, up by 4.7% from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied was up 7.4% compared with the same four
European leaders not confident of Trump’s peace in Ukraine
The prices of crude oil rose by more than 1% as investors digested the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) private data, which showed that crude oil inventories in the United States declined by 2.4 million barrels last week. Supply concerns were also boosted by some reports showing that
European leaders are not confident that US President Donald Trump’s efforts to arrange peace in Ukraine will be successful, and that they are ready to impose stronger sanctions on Moscow.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for settlements in October climbed by 1.26% at 3:34 am ET to go for $62.47 per barrel. Meanwhile, Brent for the same month’s deliveries grew by 1.06% and went for $66.48 a barrel at 3:35 am ET.