Wimal Samara

Farmers in China are 70% of the 180m urban & rural residents who receive the basic pension. The minimum has risen from Rmb55 when the rural pension system was launched in 2009 to Rmb163 now. But that is progress from a base so low as to border on insult. In 2025 the average monthly pension was only Rmb287. The equivalent figure for urban employees was Rmb3,498. China has spent years narrowing all sorts of gaps. This one still looks feudal. pekingnology.com/p/investing-in…

China doesn’t use minimum wage as its main labor cost tool. It uses the hukou, a system that discriminates by place of birth. ~300 million workers produce in cities where their household registration denies them full access to local healthcare, pensions, or public education. Employers pay reduced or no social security contributions for them. The system was designed in 1958 to manage population flows. Six decades later it still shapes how labor is priced across the world’s largest manufacturing base. tresor.economie.gouv.fr/Articles/2025/…

When markets start to price renewed central bank easing at some point in the future, this could also help to spark another precious metals rally, especially if core inflation remains above target: cmegroup.com/insights/econo…

An absolute masterpiece.

@VGDeepDive Edison can also be added to the ✅ 'resolved' group in $VG's arbitrations: businesswire.com/news/home/2026…

For those tracking the Venture Global arbitrations: Shell: ✅ (currently on appeal in NY court) BP: ❌ Unipec/Sinopec: ✅ Settled, non-material Respol: ✅ Galp, Orlen, Edison: TBD $VG

Another well-justified outcome in $VG Venture Global's favor, this time in the arbitration with Repsol.

“Renewables ...are now commonly perceived as an energy security tool, no longer only a way to combat pollution and climate change, but a geopolitical asset supported by pragmatism rather than idealism,” “Even among governments and citizens with little concern for environmental issues,” ~ Gonzalo Escribano, Elcano Royal Institute.

$TE: ‘Asia’s Ukraine moment’: How the Iran war could accelerate a shift into renewables “Clean energy sources dominated new power installations last year, for example, with renewables accounting for 85% of all new global power capacity, Birol said, citing solar as a primary driver of this trend.” cnb.cx/47osNXH

@RNAiAnalyst How does BEAM-302 compare with these other gene-editing treatments for AATD? * Wave Life Sciences — WVE-006 * CRISPR Therapeutics — CTX460 * YolTech Therapeutics — YOLT-202

$beam the liver injury following the second dose of BEAM-302 could be a blessing in disguise for the AATD program. If there is read-through to prime editing repeat dosing, the most serious genome editing competition will have to achieve a very high single-dose gene correction bar. $prme

Thematic Momentum rotation—systematically shifting exposure among thematic ETFs based on trailing performance—has delivered substantially higher returns and more robust differentiation between winners and losers. Over the past 6 years, a long-short thematic momentum strategy (long top-quintile, short bottom-quintile thematic ETFs) generated a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25%, far outpacing the 11% spread from sector fund rotation. Even a simple long-only approach focused on the top quintile of thematic funds returned over 21% per year. insight.factset.com/harnessing-the…

The Best Trading Style? Thematic Momentum. Not random breakouts. Not low-float gambling. Not indicator signals. Themes. Real money moves in waves: AI. Energy. Defense. Semiconductors. Biotech. Institutions don’t buy stocks. They build exposure to narratives. And they size big. Your job isn’t to predict. It’s to align. Here’s the edge: ✅ Spot the theme early ✅ Buy the strongest stock in the group ✅ Enter tight consolidations ✅ Cut losers immediately ✅ Press winners without fear Weak theme + strong chart = limited move. Strong theme + strong chart = asymmetric upside. You don’t need 50 trades. You need 2–3 monster themes per year. That’s how real returns compound. Ride strength. Ignore noise. Think in waves.

"Last Friday, four senior managers in Tidewater returned to purchase the company' shares at US$75 each, including both the aforementioned general counsel and the company's CEO, Quintin Kneen." But the most recent $TDW insider transactions were sales, but buys. See 👇

What are the commercial implications for the war in the Gulf on rigs & OSVs trapped there? $BORR says its rigs are "suspended" but is that suspended onhire or suspended on a zero rate? Will $TDW and $VAL make announcements? Will contracts be axed? bit.ly/3NW1ygq

@SheDrills How is it that U.S. Oil & Gas Production has been rising since 2022 despite the rig count declining? Have wells become so much more efficient in the recent past?

“2026 is already laid, there is not much we can do to impact production” $COP CEO (same is true for all significant players) #OOTT

As you say in those observations of Iran from 2007: "There is hope there. The difficult question is how best we might nurture it."

What is it actually like in Iran? Here's my experience theamericanconservative.com/iran-past-the-…

"I see a pot that is boiling... it is tilting toward us from the north." (Jeremiah 1:13)

@WimalSamara @DropSiteNews No. Iran can no longer send these oil tank ships to China 🇨🇳 Try to keep up…

💰 U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says he is “jujitsuing the Iranians.” The decision to lift sanctions on the 140 million barrels of Iranian oil stored on tankers, he says, will prevent China from purchasing it at steep discounts, and will allow the U.S. to track the oil flow. Bessent claimed Iran will have “difficulty accessing” the nearly $17 billion in revenue generated from the oil sales because banking sanctions remain in place, suggesting the money could be delayed, discounted, or effectively trapped.

Iran shipped at least 11.7 million barrels of crude through the Strait of Hormuz in the first ~12 days after February 28 (all destined for China). Post-strike, Iran loaded oil at Kharg Island and even at Kooh Mobarak terminal. At least 7–11 ghost fleet tankers departed the Persian Gulf in the initial weeks, many heading east for STS transfers off Malaysia before final delivery to Chinese ports. China accounted for ~79% of tracked Iranian crude volumes. Notable examples of tankers carrying Iranian crude that sailed or transited after February 28, 2026, destined for China: NORA (IMO 9237539, sanctioned VLCC): Loaded ~2.01 million barrels at Kharg Island (departed around March 7). Transited the Strait of Hormuz on March 15, en route to Ningbo, China. Briefly went dark during the strait passage but was observed continuing. As of late March reports, it was sailing toward its destination. Unnamed sanctioned VLCC (from Kooh Mobarak terminal): Departed March 8 with ~1.77 million barrels of Iranian Heavy Crude, bound for Dalian, China. Entered a prolonged AIS blackout (15+ days reported) after departure—one of the first exports noted from this terminal in 2026. HAWK (IMO 9362061, sanctioned VLCC): Loaded ~2.01 million barrels at Kharg Island and departed March 22, en route to China. Previously spent ~30 days in Malaysian floating storage before returning to the Gulf earlier in March. SERENA (IMO 9569645, sanctioned) and ARK III (IMO 9187655, sanctioned): Departed Kharg Island March 15 with a combined ~2.68 million barrels (shared cargo). Destinations not specified in reports but aligned with the broader pattern of China-bound flows. CUME (US-sanctioned VLCC): Noted in early March (around March 9) as having loaded Iranian crude and bound for China; part of limited Hormuz transits. Other ghost fleet/dark fleet tankers: At least 7–11 left the Persian Gulf post-strike (some broadcasting AIS, others dark). Many routed via Malaysia for STS transfers before proceeding to China. Examples include STARK 1 (IMO 9171450, Iranian-flagged, laden from Kharg, reached Malaysian anchorages by late March). Dozens more Iranian oil-laden tankers (up to 72 noted in one area off Malaysia) loiter or transfer cargo in Southeast Asian waters. Iranian-flagged vessels like Dalia and Parimal also appeared in transits. An "Iranian supertanker" (VLCC class) was spotted north of Hormuz in mid-March with a declared destination of China; additional Iran-linked VLCCs, LPG carriers, and bulkers exited the Gulf in clusters (e.g., early March).

That is complete nonsense, and he surely knows that. Whoever buys Iranian oil can only pay in Renminbi. China's CIPS payment network transactions are completely invisible to the U.S.: giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/ac…

@adamscochran Traders placed $580mn in oil bets ahead of Donald Trump’s social media post on Iran talks: ft.com/content/1171d6…

5 minutes before Trump’s announcement: * $1.5B notional worth of S&P500 (ES) futures are bought in a single clip. * $192M notional of oil futures (CL) sold. More than 4x-6x any other trade size during the market close. Insiders profited from his lies in broad daylight!

@PradeepBonde The last time T2108 was below 20 was in April/2025 ...but there tends to be a cluster of daily signals before a washout ends.

The further this gets stretched, the better it is. Levels below 10 are best for the start of new moves. A breadth thrust after such extreme readings will be what I would look for. T2108 is Worden indicator in TC2000

"We want long-term low prices so markets are stable" ~ Mike Sable of $VG after the Vitol agreement: youtube.com/watch?v=i-l01o…

Analyst price targets on Venture Global $VG are the best backward looking indicator of past price performance available in the world. “…Venture offers the highest leverage to global gas pricing within the firm’s coverage and is “the best way to gain exposure to rising TTF prices.”” tipranks.com/news/the-fly/v…

@robert_ivanhoe Original feasibility was based on $150/t. So, Kamoa-Kakula's realised prices are 3x above! Nameplate capacity is expected to rise to 1,900 tonnes of high-strength sulphuric acid per day. ivanhoemines.com/news-stories/n…

Kamoa-Kakula's #copper smelter is currently producing 1,600 tonnes of high-strength sulphuric acid per day. We are currently selling this acid for between $470/t and $500/t to local mining operations in the DRC Copperbelt that critically need the acid to leach the copper from their copper oxide ores. Kamoa-Kakula's copper ore is sulphide, therfore our operations DO NOT consume acid... In the past week, we have started to see the price of acid rise in the DRC Copperbelt, due to the lack of #sulphur being shipped out of the Middle East through the Strait of Hormuz... If supply remains constrained, the price will only continue to rise. Up to 80% of the sulphur imported into the DRC Copperbelt passes through the Strait of Hormuz. @kamoa_copper_sa

@saxena_puru x.com/i/status/20360…

Here you go...good news at last.

@KobieThatcher Since the discussion was about cattle ....

Cory Bernardi destroys this reporter 🔥 "The people of Australia are waking up to the fact that mass immigration has not worked to our economic, our social, or our cultural advantage." "I presume you're a bleeding heart leftie."

@SayNoToTrading @fiscal_ai How $IBKR made more money by offering its customers a better deal for all these decades: fiscal.ai/blog/interacti…

Never thought I’d say this, but today Schwab customer service and reliability makes Fidelity look like Robinhood circa 2021. $IBKR has always been superior for international, margin rates, and execution among some other benefits. My thinking is $SCHW has more competition post-Covid for non-pro retail. For pro, $IBKR less competition.

Interactive Brokers v. Charles Schwab Why is IBKR growing accounts so much faster than Schwab? $IBKR $SCHW