Wealthion Macro Bites 6-16

Axios reports Secretary of State Rubio, Secretary of Defense Hegseth and CIA Director Ratcliffe have voiced skepticism on Iranian intentions in the current 14-point MOU negotiations (details yet to be published), while Vice President Vance and U.S. envoys Witkoff and Kushner advocated for it. Axios writes, “The [actual] intelligence reflects that the Iranian intentions are not in line with their commitments under the deal.” Stay tuned…

In the World Gold Council’s ’26 Central Bank Gold Reserves Survey (conducted 2/5-5/19), an overwhelming 89% of a record 76 respondents expect total global central bank holdings to increase over the next 12 months, and a record 45% of respondents expect to increase their own gold reserves over the same period. (Just 1% of respondents expect their institution’s gold reserves to decrease.) 74% of respondents expect “moderate or significantly lower” U.S. dollar holdings in global reserves over the next 5 years.

India’s silver imports plunged 87% y/y in May to their lowest level in more than three years (from $566.2M to just $75.6M), after the world’s largest silver consumer tightened curbs on imports in nearly all forms. In volume terms, silver imports fell 94% y/y to 33t (lowest since Feb. ’23). India spent a record $12B on silver imports in the ‘25/’26 fiscal year (Mar.), up from $4.8B the prior year. Indian gold imports rose 34% y/y in May to $3.4B (while down sharply from April’s $5.6B).

China’s Ministry of Transport announced new targets for electrification of China’s domestic heavy truck fleet. New targets aim for 40% of new heavy truck sales (up from 30% in ’25) and 20% of the total fleet of 1.6M vehicles to be EV’s by 2030. On some short-haul routes around Beijing, the target is 80%.

Chinese Foreign Minister (and Politburo member) Wang Yi said talks with Mongolian Foreign Minister Batmunkh Battsetseg had yielded a broad consensus on bilateral relations and regional cooperation. The two countries reaffirmed their mutual respect for each other's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as their commitment to respecting each other's core interests, major concerns and chosen development paths. China expressed appreciation for Mongolia's adherence to the one-China principle, its opposition to any form of Taiwan independence.

The Fed’s Q1 Z.1 Report estimates total U.S. nonfinancial debt increased $1.14T in Q1, versus a $397B increase in GDP, meaning each incremental dollar of debt produced just 34.8 cents of incremental output.

The DOE reports U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserves have fallen to 340.3Mb, lowest since 1983.

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