MacroVoices #534 Dr. Pippa Malmgren: Superpower War or Superpower Hug?

**SPEAKER_2** (0:07)
This is Macro Voices, the free weekly financial podcast targeting professional finance, high net worth individuals, family offices, and other sophisticated investors.
Macro Voices is all about the brightest minds in the world of finance and macroeconomics, telling it like it is. Bullish or bearish, no holds barred. Now, here are your hosts, Erik Townsend and Patrick Ceresna.

**Erik Townsend** (0:32)
Macro Voices, episode 534 was produced on May 28th, 2026 I'm Erik Townsend. Another week has passed and the Strait of Hormuz is still effectively closed. A few dozen ships got through this week, but we're still well below 10% of normal traffic levels. And I don't think we're any closer to a deal than we were a week ago when oil prices were $8 higher and a deal was supposedly just hours away.
The key to this is Iran's high-enriched uranium, which could be enriched to weapons grade in just a few weeks with operable centrifuges, something Iran may or may not still have. President Trump has from the start of this conflict said that this was the main thing the US simply will not negotiate on. However, never once since the beginning of this conflict has any Iranian official indicated any willingness whatsoever to negotiate by one inch on Iran's position that it will not allow that high-enriched uranium to leave Iran under any circumstance. So neither side is willing to negotiate at all on the central issue that has prolonged this war for three full months as of today.
To break this down and make sense of it, we've got another Macro Voices double header lined up for you. We try and seek out experts with contrasting views. So by popular listener request, I'm delighted to welcome back bestselling author, Dr. Pippa Malmgren. Pippa is much more optimistic than I am, both about how long it will take to bring a close to this war and how resilient the global economy can be to the strait remaining closed, even if it remains closed for a few more weeks or even longer than that. Pippa doesn't share my concern that we could be headed for $200 crude oil prices if this continues for another month, and I think you'll enjoy hearing her rationale for why not. Pippa has some absolutely fascinating ideas about why she thinks President Trump's interest in Iran's high-enriched uranium might go quite a bit deeper than just concern about that country building a nuclear weapon using that material. We'll also discuss several other issues, including AI and robotics, whether they're going to take our jobs, nuclear fusion, disappearing scientists, and much more.
Then Bianco Research Founder Jim Bianco returns for a cameo appearance to talk about the Hormuz crisis in specific. Now, we didn't plan this as an op-ed, but it kind of worked out that way. Jim is much more pessimistic than Pippa is, and he'll explain why he still shares my concern that the president's view that time is on our side is misplaced. Then be sure to stay tuned for our post-game segment after the feature interview, when Patrick's Trade of the Week will explore a setup built around Pippa Malmgren's view that the energy shock may accelerate a broader shift toward nuclear power and energy security. And then we'll have our usual coverage of all the markets of Patrick's post-game chart deck.
I also have quite a few thoughts of my own on the Iran crisis. I wrote a detailed sub-stack post explaining the importance of Iran's 441 kilograms of 60% enriched, near-weapons-grade, high-enriched uranium on Saturday. And you'll find a link to that post in your research roundup email. The spoiler on that? They really do have it, folks. It's not in question. It's been inspected by the IAEA. The claims that Iran doesn't even have a nuclear weapons program are accurate but misleading.
They're speaking out of context. Iran does have the near-weapons-grade uranium that's needed to make not just one but several weapons. So it really is important to understand this, and the press has not covered it. So I encourage you to check out that post on sub-stack, which again is linked in your research roundup email. I'll also have plenty more to say in the crude oil section of this week's Post Game segment.

**Patrick Ceresna** (4:52)
And I'm Patrick Ceresna with the Macro Scoreboard week over week as of the close of Wednesday, May 27th, 2026 The S&P 500 index up 117 basis points, trading at 7520 It's pressing all time new highs as semiconductor leadership continues. We'll take a closer look at that chart and the key technical levels to watch in the post-game segment. The US dollar index up 23 basis points, trading at 9935
The July WTI crude oil contract down 975 basis points, trading at 8868 A substantial retracement on the back of optimism that an Iran deal is imminent. The July Arbob gasoline down 947 basis points, trading at 306