With Friday's focus clearly on Elon Musk's SpaceX IPO, oilprice.com (who wants permissions for every single word they write; a bunch of stubborn weenies in a fluid grown-up world) reports that Brent crude futures traders are shorting crude like the price is headed to $60. These traders have their greasy fingers on the levers of power, political, financial, and societal, and they may be right.
It needs to be understood that prior to the U.S. assault on Iran beginning the last day of February, there was a global glut of oil driving down prices of everything. The abrupt turn in markets on the advent of war naturally set off price hikes. Three months down the road, oil prices, along with gas at the pump, have peaked and retreated from artificial highs. Artificial is the operative word because there has not been a crisis condition and may not be one. Oil inventories were quite high and satisfactory and remained in that state for the duration. Whether or not there's a final resolution to the conflict in the Persian Gulf, the re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz, the end of the Gulf of Oman into the Indian Ocean U.S. blockade, oil continues to flow, though lately only a trickle from the Gulf.
Fact of the matter is that oil isn't as precious a commodity as it used to be. Solar power, especially, has cut into demand for crude, along with other alternative energy sources. The world is changing. China has gone all-in on solar, India following the same path. The U.S., far behind the infrastructure curve by decades due to ignoring infrastructure needs for pretty much the last 40 years is approaching its failure with the usual short-sighted American aplomb. "We have plenty of oil," shouts President Braggart. "We don't need Mideast oil."
While the president may be right about U.S. needs for Gulf oil, the larger issue is technological. The U.S. has been steadily falling behind its peers on innovation as its infrastructure collapses due to neglect, graft, corruption, and plain old ignorance. Blame can be heaped upon the U.S. septuagenarian president, but equal responsibility lies clearly with congress, a do-nothing body whose legislation serves only self-interest and vote-buying. The federal government, top to bottom, is a massive failure yet to be realized. Recognition comes later, after oil matters are settled, after a boost to the economy, after the midterms get stolen by one or another of the two major parties, each working in collusion with the other to keep the corrupt money flowing.
Oil prices have been coming down because there are alternatives that make past comparisons null and void yet remain unmentionable in polite company. While oil companies and their supporters may not like low prices, that's the reality. There's more than enough for everybody if oil production isn't perverted by terrorism, war, mysterious explosions at refineries, and the usual trading games people play. he mainstream media can't cover the story with any sense of trust because they are blind to the truth. The public gets duped, the politicians get rich, the oil companies make profits. That's just the way it goes.
The reality is that owning an electric car, a house heated with natural gas or by electricity, negates the need for crude oil almost completely and nobody wants that information out. People are just supposed to pay more and shut the hell up. It's a pretty slavish relationship that has deeper roots in the debt-based monetary system that is tolerated because change, though often good, is hard.
As far as SpaceX is concerned, The $135/share IPO pricing is likely to result in a big upside as open trading commences because everybody and their brothers and sisters want to be part of Elon Musk's magical path to being the first trillionare. While the company still hasn't generated a profit, it does have potential in building and deploying rockets, satellites, the future of AI, and the well-established Starlink internet connection via LEO (low earth orbit) satellites.
The company may never meet some of the lofty expectations, like establishing a human colony on Mars, but it's likely to be turning a profit in a few years time. It has the backing of some big institutional names and public response is expected to be strong.
Wall Street will pump the stock like its the second coming of Jesus. With the hype machine at full volume, Friday looks to be a glorious return to a profitable week after an unusually bad time the first week in June. Through Thursday's close, the Dow is down, but only by 18 points for the week. The NASDAQ is looking to end up in the black, already up 100 points, and the S&P is up 10 points, conveniently leading into what looks to be a positive finish to a tumultuous week.
Gold and silver have bounced off their lows, with silver trading as high as $68 overnight and gold hitting $4,247 before backing off a bit. Even bitcoin caught a bid as stock futures have ramped higher, though there's still an hour before the open.
This report comes earlier than most Money Daily missives because it's hot, we got up early, and we're all taking the afternoon off. Enjoy the SpaceX show. This is just the premiere. The real business comes later down the road, or, should it be, after escaping gravity?
At the Close, Thursday, June 11, 2026:
Dow: 50,848.75, +929.97 (+1.86%)
NASDAQ: 25,809.66, +640.16 (+2.54%)
S&P 500: 7,394.30, +127.31 (+1.75%)
NYSE Composite: 23,412.90, +332.07 (+1.44%)
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