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Bloomberg: JPMorgan and Goldman See Mideast Oil Flows Near Pre-War Levels
Oil is passing coming through the Middle East again, at essentially pre-war levels. Some of this is from oil bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, and some of this is from oil transiting the Strait under American protection.
Diesel and gasoline are still stymied, but, mostly, because Iranian exports are being blockaded by the US.
But other Gulf States are increasing their own exports to compensate for the missing Iranian piece.
It appears that the Iranians are not capable of stopping exports from flowing through the Straits, and so oil exports are returning to normal.
Meanwhile, Iran seemingly wants to end the war, although none dare call it "surrender":
New York Times: Iran Proposes 7-Day Plan to End War
Iran wants, essentially, to return to something close to June's MOU, except on a faster timetable. Iran agrees to "reopen" the Straits in exchange for getting its confiscated $12 Billion, an end of the sanctions and blockade, and then to open discussions as to the future of its nuclear program.
Contrary to expectations that Iran is biding its time in hopes that Democrats will retake Congress, Iran says that it would prefer to reach a deal before the midterms.
Trump, however, is not interested:
AP: Iran indicates it’s received an official US response to its latest offer on ending the war
Iran prefers to call it a "win-win":
So, here's the current state of the war:
Shipping is moving through Hormuz and is increasing week-to-week. Total traffic out of the Gulf is approaching pre-war levels.
Iran has no ability to seriously threaten shipping in the Straits.
Iran is seemingly unable or unwilling to continue striking other American targets and assets in the Gulf
Iran remains blockaded and unable to export its own products, contributing to severe stress on the Iranian economy.
Iran is more interested in negotiating peace than Trump is.
Forgive me for repeating old arguments but I need to be clear about this: Trump was right about Iran and America is winning.
So they claim, yet real prices are nowhere near pre-war levels. Reminds me of that old Stonetoss comic about Bitcoin.
Then: "Oil rises to $75!"
Later: "Oil CRASHES to $85!"
Later still: "Oil PLUMMETS to $95!"
All this without even mentioning that bond yields continue to soar despite Bessent burning billions in bond buybacks. At this point Trump's best chance to get prices back to normal is to hope for a global depression that kneecaps global demand sufficiently to make the Strait(s) irrelevant.
I would dare, because it's basically an American surrender to expect all the sanctions relief up front, before any discussion of the nuclear issue. Trump obviously wasn't going to accept, the point was to make Trump look obstinate to the neutrals. "Look, we're reasonable but Madman Trump would rather crash the global economy than make any concessions!"
Uh, obviously the Iranians would prefer Trump give up immediately rather than having to endure two more months/years of fighting.
Regardless, the Iranians have already done enough to ensure that the Dems retake Congress. Kalshi has them at 91% for the House and 63% for the Senate. They're already predicted to win Republican strongholds like Texas (62%) and Alaska (70%). The only real question is whether they think they've hurt Trump enough politically to establish deterrence or whether they decide to escalate and give Trump an October Surprise big enough to flip Kansas and Nebraska too.
These are two analyses from JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, not the American government.
Prices are falling. We would expect that the longer supply stays at pre-war levels the closer prices will get to pre-war levels too.
Fantasy world political predictions. It would sound more reasonable if you just said you thought Democrats were going to take the House.
Yet those are the actual odds presented by the most accurate forecasting method we have. Maybe if the public has turned against the Trump admin so much that the electoral odds look like fantasy, it should be reason to self reflect on those failures that brought us here? Maybe one of the most unpopular wars in history was a mistake and no amount of propaganda changes that.
And as always with prediction markets, if you don't believe them, then go bet against it and make a lot of money.
As you regularly invoke LLMs' opinions as evidence, I went ahead and asked Claude Opus 5.5:
Its answer begins:
Claude made it clear that the answer varies based on topic, so I went and asked whether prediction markets are the best forecasting method for predicting who will win in a given state. Its answer:
Is this enough to get you to admit that LLMs' opinions aren't actually conclusive evidence?
You do, actually, have to pick one:
a) You were wrong to call prediction markets the most accurate forecasting method.
b) You shouldn't cite LLMs' opinions as evidence.
This is the most hilarious nitpick I've ever seen.
Your response is Claude pointing out "okay prediction markets are really good but they aren't the best at everything all the time and sometimes other methods are just as good"?
Truly incredible. You dismiss the prediction markets as fantasy and yet your own attempt at a defense admits they are really good. Split hairs all you want over what "best" means, the odds are still the odds.
This is how you act anytime someone points out verifiable facts that go against you, you don't actually address the claims (in fact again your own defense is actively acknowledging the prediction markets are top tier and highly accurate), you just throw a tantrum and try to divert the topic. The odds are the odds and your behavior doesn't change that, reality will not bend because it triggers you.
Stop lying.
Stop lying. Where did I say that?
Stop lying. Where did I say that?
Stop lying. Where did I say that?
Are you confusing me with a different user? Because none of what you've said is in my comment.
I actually think that prediction markets are very good. But my comment is about getting you to acknowledge that LLMs are not a source of evidence. This takes basic reading comprehension to understand, so I get that it's easier to make up a bunch of stuff I didn't say. But could you maybe try being honest for once, instead of just lying?
Frontier models are definitely a form of evidence just not proof. I think it'd be fair to call their position the null hypothesis from which to argue from, not infallible by any means but if you disagree you should have a reason. And the response you got from claude barely disagreed with MK.
Not in general, and certainly not for culture war issues. That's handing a gigantic unearned advantage to any political positions aligned with LLM biases, which are well documented.
Yes, in the same way that everything is evidence. But that doesn't make their opinion valuable when arguing stuff here.
If we're arguing over some factual point, e.g. "are tomatoes a vegetable?", it might make sense to invoke an LLM's response (though linking to an actual source is probably better). But when we're arguing over some high-level subjective thing (e.g. "who broke more norms, Biden or Trump?") then going "Claude agrees with me that Trump is worse!" is not useful evidence.
The point of this place is to actually discuss things, make arguments, and defend positions; not to invoke an LLM's opinion as an authority.
mkc said that prediction markets were the best predictor.
Claude said they are not the best predictor.
If mkc believes prediction markets are very good, that's fine. Calling them the most accurate is a deliberately strong (maximally strong) claim. Words do actually mean things. You don't get to make the strongest form of your claim for convenience, then swap it out for a weaker claim when "disproven".
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Yep I double checked and you're a different person than who I originally responded to. Their claim was that the prediction market odds were fantasy.
I don't disagree much with Claude's take here! It's very hair splitting in determining which forecasting method counts as "best". Prediction markets are extremely good and some of the other traditional methods are also extremely good and if I would rank one as 94 points and the other as 96 points, and vice versa from Claude, I don't see this as radical disagreement.
We both still agree they're ~95 points good.
I accept your apology for falsely attributing a bunch of claims to me.
Dude, I know. I actually agree with you on the object level. I'm trying to get you to understand that what LLMs believe should not be presented as evidence on the Motte.
You claimed that prediction markets are the best predictor.
Claude disagrees.
No one said "radical" disagreement. I'm solely pointing out that, according to Claude, you are wrong. (I actually back you over Claude here; that's my point!)
This is how it reads whenever someone else posts a comment, and you respond by going "well Claude says not-X". Claude saying not-X isn't relevant! It's just going "my LLM could beat up your LLM".
Do you at least agree that, in principle, if I could show an LLM outputting beliefs you believe are wrong (which I think I'vce done a couple of times by now), that this would suffice to show that LLMs' high-level opinions shouldn't be cited as evidence on the Motte?
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