Wealthion Macro Bites 5-12
President Trump said the Iranian response to his latest ceasefire proposal was “unbelievably weak” and a “piece of garbage.” Trump warned “the ceasefire is on massive life support,” as he prepares to meet Chines President Xi Jinping in Beijing on May 14-15.
Indian officials confirmed on Monday there are no plans to raise duties on gold and silver, despite Prime Minister Modi’s Sunday call for a year-long pause in gold buying. The current 6% duty (cut from 15% in ’24 to curb smuggling) remains in place. The clarification came as the rupee hit a record low of 95.31/USD and the balance of payments deficit is forecast to widen to $66B-$70B in fiscal ’26. Shares of India’s major jewelers (incl. Titan, Senco, and Kalyan) fell between 6% and 9% on Monday.
Wind and solar projects in Europe are increasingly being developed with battery storage alongside which allows generators to store power rather than sell it at a loss when there is excess in the system, then discharge the power when prices recover. Aurora Energy Research published a report on Monday stating Europe’s co-located renewable capacity reached 6.3GW in 2025 and is expected to increase 455% to 35GW by 2030. Aurora ranked the most attractive EU countries for such projects by expected returns: Germany, U.K., Bulgaria, Spain, Hungary and France.
Officials from China Railway Group met with DRC Mines Minister Louis Watum to discuss joint development with state-owned diamond producer MIBA of up to a 500kt per year copper mine in Kasai-Oriental province, outside the DRC’s traditional Katanga copper region. Congo’s copper output has more than tripled over the past decade, cementing its global status as 2nd largest producer (behind only Chile).
AI watch: As hyperscaler AI capital demands run up against total size of traditional bond markets, Amazon has begun the sale of its first Swiss franc bonds across a record six tranches. Amazon is seeking to raise at least $1.9B Swiss francs ($2.4B) from debt due in three, six, nine, 12, 18 and 25-years. Reuters reports $18B in new paper issued in U.S. bond markets yesterday, following $39B last week and $64B in last week of April. JPMorgan forecasts tech will surpass U.S. banks as largest corporate debt sector by year end.
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