Jeff Currie thinks we are sleepwalking into one of the biggest commodity shocks since Covid and the market is still pricing it like a headline risk instead of a physical crisis (Save this).
He calls it molecular contagion and last week, jet fuel shortages were concentrated in Singapore, where prices spiked to roughly 230 dollars a barrel.
This week the same pattern has shown up in Rotterdam at around 220 dollars and in Thailand, the Philippines, New Zealand, and Australia which means the dislocation has gone intercontinental.
In his words, there is no longer any meaningful spread between Singapore and Rotterdam, no spare barrels to re route, and no policy lever that can solve the problem in the short term.
Currie’s core point is brutally simple, you can print money, but you cannot print molecules.
The futures curve, the paper market is still trading around 100 dollars a barrel.
The physical market on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz is telling a completely different story, with Oman crude spiking to 173 dollars and Asia bound blends effectively clearing around 130 dollars a barrel.
Refined products like jet fuel and diesel are already spiraling north of 200 dollars a barrel in multiple hubs.
That is the tale of two markets he is talking about.
On one side you have screen prices that look volatile but manageable, helped by algorithmic trading, cross commodity hedging and the lingering belief that high prices fix high prices before anything breaks.
On the other side you have physical supply chains that are already breaking, tankers being diverted, refineries bidding against each other for the last uncommitted barrels, and regional shortages that cannot be solved with central bank liquidity.
The People’s Bank of China added 10 tonnes to its #gold holdings in May, further increasing its pace of accumulation. Its YTD net additions now total just over 25 tonnes, with gold holdings now 2,331 tonnes.
Interesting that we've entered a period where both stocks and commodities are in secular long term bull markets. Usually when one is in a bull market the other is in a bear.
I suppose there has just been so much global money printing since the COVID debacle that there is plenty of liquidity to push everything higher (except bonds).
Remember that ALL government money is counterfeit.
It began as real, tangible quantities of an actual commodity you could hold in your hand: Silver or Gold.
Let me remind you about the #silver price floor/revaluation in July.
The #Comex can declare force majeure. They can cash settle their silver contracts.
Ive theorized that the bankers would smash the price of silver to FM as cheaply as possible.
Do not fear dips in June, apes.
Crashing the stock market this time won’t funnel USD liquidity back into the U.S. Treasury market.
The Treasury market is far more complex today than in the past. Notably, Global South countries like China are no longer net buyers of U.S. Treasuries.
I’m not underestimating Bessent, Warsh, or the rest of the Trump administration’s economic team. They have their hands firmly on the levers of the financial markets.
They know exactly what I just laid out above.
This half 8 year cycle low has certainly taken longer than I anticipated but I'm not in the camp this is the end of the bull market.
We've now got a Bollinger band crash signal on the weekly charts and the bullish percent is retesting sub 10%. These have both been consistent levels for rallies to begin.
I think we get the bottom either Monday or Tuesday.
Gold isn't getting more expensive.
The purchasing power of fiat currencies is declining relative to gold.
Since 2000, the US dollar has lost 93.9% of its value in gold terms. EUR lost 92.9%.
In 2025 alone, major fiat currencies lost an average of 35.9% against gold.
Worth asking what asset you are measuring your wealth against. $STEX
Central Bank of Jordan increased its #gold reserves by 1 tonne in May according to IMF data. Its YTD additions now total nearly 3 tonnes, lifting its gold holdings to 76 tonnes.
Is this what Larry Fink meant by your retirement and pensions funds will fund the AI revolution and 'Compute' power? [Your Surveillance grid]
"Nvidia funds a shell company with $1.9 billion. The shell company buys $5.4 billion in Nvidia chips.
Apollo finances the remaining $3.5 billion.
Apollo sells the debt to its own insurance arm.
That insurance arm packages it into annuity products and sells them to retirees who think they're buying something safe.
The retirees have no idea that their retirement savings are now backed by 100,000 computer chips sitting in some data center that will be worth pennies on the dollar in three years."
I think this is the best example, easy to understand for younger generations, of why to buy physical gold as protection against the evaporating purchasing power of fiat currencies:
- Cost of the FIRST iPhone: ~0.92 oz of gold
- Cost of the iPhone17 Pro Max 1TB memory: ~0.36 oz