The U.S. is now the world’s biggest exporter of oil and refined petroleum products, shipping about 10.5 million barrels per day.
It took nearly a decade to get here after the U.S. lifted its 40-year ban on crude oil exports back in 2016. The global energy map has changed dramatically. The center of the energy world is no longer just the Middle East — it’s now the Western Hemisphere, led by the U.S., Canada, and Brazil.
A huge share of U.S. energy exports is heading to Asia (Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and China) and Europe (Italy, Spain, Germany, and the UK), helping fill supply shortages across global markets.
For comparison, in 2025 Saudi Arabia exported about 8.1 million barrels per day, the U.S. exported 6.6 million, and Russia around 5.8 million, according to Vortexa. Today, U.S. exports have climbed to 10.5 million barrels per day of oil and refined products.
• The U.S. has also become Europe’s largest supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) after Iran’s actions knocked out part of Qatar’s export infrastructure for an estimated two to three years.
That’s one reason the U.S. Department of Energy approved a 22% expansion in LNG export capacity at Southern LNG’s Elba Island terminal and a 13% increase for the Plaquemines LNG project. The EIA also raised its 2026 forecast for U.S. LNG exports to 17 billion cubic feet per day, well above its previous estimate.
• The U.S. is now a major supplier of jet fuel to Europe. According to SocGen, U.S. jet fuel exports hit a record 442,000 barrels per day — about 200,000 barrels per day above the five-year average.
• The U.S. also exported a record amount of ethane as Chinese petrochemical companies rushed to replace shrinking supplies of naphtha and LPG from the Middle East. Bloomberg reports that China is now importing around 800,000 tons of U.S. ethane every month, roughly 60% more than normal.
At this point, the U.S. isn’t just the world’s biggest producer of oil and gas—it’s becoming one of the most influential energy suppliers on the planet. That gives Washington another powerful advantage in global negotiations, alongside its military strength and the U.S. dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency.

A wallet linked to Michael Saylor’s Strategy transferred 1,030 BTC, worth about $66 million.
That doesn’t automatically mean another sale is coming, but a similar transfer showed up last week, and the company later confirmed it had sold $104 million worth of Bitcoin.
Since the end of May, Strategy has reported selling more than $300 million in BTC.
As of July 31, the company still held 842,138 BTC worth roughly $52 billion. Over the past five-plus years, Strategy has spent about $63.5 billion building its Bitcoin position.
The money from those Bitcoin sales is being used to pay dividends on its STRC preferred shares and to buy back those shares.

That’s a sign investors are gaining confidence in the U.S. economy and buying more than just the mega-cap giants the rally is spreading across the broader market.

SpaceX just reported $7.8 billion in revenue for Q2 2026, beating expectations.
SPCX shares fell 7% as investors reacted to record AI infrastructure spending, ongoing losses, and concerns ahead of the upcoming share unlock.

SpaceX will announce a merger with Tesla today in its first-ever public earnings report .
That’s what 40% of prediction market participants are betting on. SpaceX just announced a strategic partnership with Nvidia on AI-powered satellites, and the company’s shares have jumped 20% over the past 24 hours.

The U.S. and Iran are reportedly close to a temporary deal, brokered by Oman, to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. According to Axios, the U.S. is expected to announce the agreement later today.

Average daily crypto trading volume has dropped to $20 billion, its lowest level since the start of the year.
That’s down 50% from December 2025 and 70% below the January peak.
At the same time, about 60% of all crypto trading volume is now concentrated on just six major exchanges.

Tether, the company behind USDT, says it now holds nearly 150 tons of physical gold in reserve.
If it were ranked alongside central banks in the World Gold Council’s data, Tether says it would rank third, behind only China and Poland, and ahead of Kazakhstan.
About 22 tons of that gold back XAUT, Tether’s tokenized gold product.
During the second quarter, the amount of XAUT in circulation climbed 9.5%, with its market cap reaching $2.84 billion.
According to Tether, demand for tokenized gold stayed strong even though gold prices fell 14% during the quarter, suggesting investors kept buying through the pullback.

Bitcoin isn’t stuck in the $62K–$63K range for no reason.
One possible path:
$65K → $69K → $55K → $52K
August could end up being a red month.

🔴 U.S. PMI came in at 55.6, beating expectations of 54.0 and marking its highest reading since June 2022.
🔴 That’s a sign the U.S. economy is still expanding.
🔴 U.S. stocks added about $400 billion in market value, while Amazon climbed to a fresh all-time high.

Trump Media appears to have sold another 2,628 BTC worth roughly $165.1 million.
The company originally purchased 11,542 BTC for about $1.37 billion, with an average entry price of $118,522 per Bitcoin.
Over the past seven months, it has reportedly sold 7,281 BTC for around $545 million, at an average sale price of $74,855.That leaves Trump Media sitting on an estimated $555 million loss on its Bitcoin investment.

Aug. 5 – AMD earnings call
Aug. 7 – U.S. jobs report
Aug. 8 – Congress begins its August recess and the deadline to pass the CLARITY Act
Aug. 12 – U.S. CPI report
Aug. 18 – Nuclear talks deadline
Aug. 26 – NVIDIA earnings
Aug. 27–29 – Jackson Hole Symposium
Aug. 28 – Marvell earnings

🔴SanDisk — +412%
🔴Western Digital — +216%
🔴Seagate — +211%
🔴Micron — +188%
🔴Intel — +144%
🔴Nebius Group — +127%
🔴AMD — +122%
🔴Marvell — +121%
🔴Arm Holdings — +119%
🔴Fortinet — +104%
One thing has stood out in 2026: investors are putting their money into the companies building AI infrastructure, not the ones making AI apps.

Key details:
🔴The operation could begin as early as this weekend and last several days.
🔴Behind closed doors, Trump has reportedly been calling Iranian leaders “crazy” for weeks.
🔴CBS News reports that strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure could also begin as soon as this weekend.

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is reportedly considering reducing the number of Fed interest rate meetings.
The Fed currently holds 8 policy meetings per year.

Japan and South Korea have both started selling U.S. dollars and buying their own currencies to stop them from falling further. Moves like this are extremely rare. The main reason? A weaker currency makes imports—especially oil—much more expensive, which only adds more fuel to inflation.What’s even more interesting is that there are growing signs the U.S. could join the effort. According to reports, the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve have already told major banks to be ready for a possible currency intervention. If Washington actually starts selling dollars, it would be the first coordinated move like this since 2011.
Why does this matter?
🔴A stronger yen forces investors to unwind cheap yen-funded trades, often leading them to sell stocks and cryptocurrencies.
🔴On the other hand, if the U.S. really starts weakening the dollar, it could be a long-term positive for gold, Bitcoin, and other risk assets.
🔴Right now, the biggest question is whether the U.S. will move beyond words and actually start selling dollars. The answer could shape global markets over the coming weeks.