Your IMPORTANT Weekly Briefing: (29th May 2026)

The Neil McCoy-Ward Newsletter

May 29, 2026

Opening Note…

Welcome back again this week

You may have noticed from my videos this week that I’m travelling again at the moment.

This week, my wife and I are in Thailand, and next week we’ll be in Japan.

As the new bathrooms and kitchen are being installed inside the Castle throughout June… we decided to get away for that!

If you’ve ever been home during these sort of renovation works, you’ll know it’s not a pleasant experience! (Noise, dust, banging, loud music, shouting, etc - ha) x3 bathrooms and 1x huge custom built kitchen.

And since we’ve never been to Japan before, we thought it would make for a nice experience. I’ll share my thoughts with you on the Country, people and culture in the coming editions of this newsletter…

Table of Contents

1. Weekly Spotlight

The Bond Market Has Become Unstable

The US Treasury auctioned $25 billion of 30-year bonds and had to pay buyers a yield of 5.046% to sell them all.

That's the first time a 30-year auction has cleared above 5% since 2007, right on the eve of the financial crisis.

Now, why should you care about a number on a government bond? Because this is the price the world charges America to borrow money, and it's the foundation that nearly every other interest rate sits on top of.

When it rises, mortgages, car loans, and business financing all get more expensive and it feeds into everything throughout the economy.

Think of it like this: the bond auction is the world voting on whether America is still a safe bet.

Back in mid-February (just before the Iran war started), a 30-year auction saw the strongest demand in history. Investors were falling over themselves to lend to Washington.

Three months later, the same auctions are drawing what one report politely called "middling" demand. The earlier 3-year and 10-year sales that week also fell flat.

Buyers are still showing up, but only if you pay them more…

So what changed? Two things, working together.

First, inflation: the May producer price index hit 6%. Which is the highest since early 2023, fuelled by the oil shock from the Iran war we've tracked all year.

Lenders who fear inflation will eat their returns over 30 years, are demanding a higher rate to compensate for this risk.

Second, the debt pile itself: The government keeps borrowing more, the supply of new bonds keeps growing, and at some point - buyers start asking for extra reward just to keep absorbing it all.

Investors call this a "term premium," the danger money for holding long-term US debt in an uncertain world.

So why should this worry everyone?

This week a budget watchdog revealed that interest on the national debt is now eating a record 19% of all federal revenue. Almost one in every five tax dollars goes not to roads, defence, or healthcare, but simply to servicing what's already owed (DEBT).

And it compounds too; higher yields mean every new chunk of borrowing costs more, which means more revenue goes to interest, which means more borrowing. That's the debt spiral, and the 5% auction is the sound of it tightening. This is a structural problem that has been building across administrations of both parties for decades. There's no quick fix, and no single person to pin it on.

If you want to know how this will directly affect you, a roughly half-point rise in mortgage rates adds nearly $200 a month to a $500,000 loan, and about $65,000 over its life.

2. Quick Takes

Here are the other top stories shaping the week:

  • Trump Says No Iran Deal Unless Gulf States Sign Up To The Abraham Accords

    Trump has thrown a new condition into ceasefire talks, saying he may refuse a deal with Iran until Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Pakistan all agree to normalise ties with Israel under his Abraham Accords framework. "Those countries owe it to us," he told his Cabinet on Wednesday, suggesting the war shouldn't end until they sign. There's been little sign any of them are keen

  • Half The Countries Backing Ukraine's Big Ammo Programme Have Walked Away

    The Czech-led scheme to buy artillery shells for Ukraine has lost half its donors, with only nine of the original 18 countries still putting in money, according to Czech President Petr Pavel. The programme had been supplying up to half of all the large-calibre ammunition Ukraine fires, and has raised just $1.6 billion against a $5 billion target. It seems the Iran war has pushed Ukraine down the priority list

  • The US And India Just Signed A Rare Earths Pact To Chip Away At China's Grip

    The US and India have signed a deal to jointly mine and process critical minerals and rare earths, during a four-day visit by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The aim is to loosen China's hold, given that China accounts for about 60% of rare earth production and roughly 90% of processing. India has some of the world's largest reserves and the means to develop them. With the US military running low on rare earths, this is Washington scrambling to build an alternative supply chain that doesn't run through Beijing

  • The Aluminium Squeeze Is Getting Worse, And Prices Are At A Three-Year High

    Aluminium is up nearly 17% since the Iran war began, with London prices hitting $3,673 a ton, the highest since March 2022, as desks like Goldman and JPMorgan warn of a serious supply shock. Middle East smelter outages and the Hormuz chokepoint kicked it off, and now China, the world's biggest producer, is cutting output over emissions checks while Guinea prepares to throttle exports of the raw ore. Patreon members were made aware of the profitable trade in both Aluminium & Copper earlier in the year.

  • Bolivia Just Cleared The Way To Put Soldiers On The Streets After A Month Of Chaos

    Bolivia's Congress voted by a two-thirds majority to let President Rodrigo Paz deploy the army and declare a state of emergency, after nearly a month of road blockades that have cut off food, fuel and medicine to the country's main cities. Four people are dead and 90 arrested, with miners, teachers and farmers demanding Paz resign just six months into his term. The root cause is the worst economic crisis in a generation, made worse by scrapped fuel subsidies and the knock-on effects of the Iran war. Bolivia tried a military solution once before in 2024 and it ended in a failed coup

  • US Consumer Confidence Falls For The First Time In Four Months As The War Bites

    The Conference Board's confidence index slipped to 93.1 in May, its first drop in four months, as Americans grow anxious about inflation from the Middle East war. Two in three people say they've cut back on spending, with pump prices now near $4 a gallon and the share of people who say jobs are plentiful at its weakest since 2021. Confidence tends to fall just before recessions show up in the official numbers

  • Americans' Savings Buffer Just Hit A Three-Year Low

    The US personal savings rate has fallen to 3.6%, its lowest since 2022, leaving households with less to fall back on as the cost of living climbs. A thinning savings buffer is one of the clearest signs that ordinary people are stretched, regardless of what the headline growth numbers say.

  • Bitcoin's Market Cap Falls To $1.5 Trillion As Money Flees Into Gold And AI

    Bitcoin has dropped below $76,000, pulling its total market value down to $1.5 trillion, as investors yank cash out and pour it into AI stocks and precious metals instead. I was reading ‘expert’ opinion pieces this week about why Gold will crash in the coming year due to ‘currency weakness’ - it just goes to show that even the so called ‘experts’ just don’t understand Gold…

Opportunity for American readers:

Are your entire retirement savings still fully exposed to the stock market?

Do you actually know where your 401(k) or IRA is invested? Or are you trusting the system with blind faith, just like millions did before the 2008 crash?

I want you to be safe.

Because when markets tumble, your retirement can disappear on paper overnight.

That’s why more Americans are choosing to take back control.

Most people who think they own gold… really don’t.

They own a fund, an ETF, or a certificate - nothing more than a promise from a financial institution…

Alpha Omega Gold specializes in one thing:
Helping Americans move their existing 401(k) or IRA into physical gold they truly own and control.

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In an asset that has preserved purchasing power for thousands of years.

This is a simple, strategic move to protect a small proportion of your retirement with something real.

You’ll have your own dedicated relationship manager who will guide you through the entire process, step by step.

If you’re concerned about the safety of your retirement savings in today’s uncertain markets, this could be the most important conversation you’ll have this year.

Take the first step.
Visit ao.gold/NMW to request a callback.

NEIL’S TAKEAWAYS:

In the United States
The S&P 500 just posted its 8th straight week of gains, the longest run since 2023, helped along by a solid end to earnings season… And normally I'd be cheering that.

The Atlanta Fed is now tracking Q2 growth above 4%, business investment is surging, and the job market is holding up.

But there’s a problem.

Under normal conditions this is brilliant news, but when an economy runs this hot, inflation refuses to come down, and that's exactly what's happening.

Here's the part I really want you to understand, because it affects almost everyone reading this. We are living in a K-shaped economy. Picture the letter K: one line goes up, the other goes down.

At the top, higher-income households sitting on stocks and property are doing great and still spending freely.

At the bottom, everyone else is going backwards. Credit card debt just hit a record, the savings rate has collapsed to 4%, and borrowers are piling onto new cards just to cover the basics.

Two people can look at the same "strong economy" headline and live in completely different realities. I wrote a full Patreon post breaking this down this week, it's up now, so go check it out: LINK

Another major thing from this week was BlackRock, the biggest asset manager on the planet. They said that US Treasuries, government bonds, the thing the entire financial world treats as the ultimate safe place to park money, no longer give portfolios the protection they used to.

With government debt this high and inflation the way it is, bonds and stocks are now moving together instead of one cushioning the other.

Prepare: Don't assume bonds will save you in a downturn the way they did in the past. Hold some genuinely defensive ground, real assets, gold, cash you can deploy, and quality companies with real earnings, rather than leaning on the old stocks-and-bonds safety net

Across Europe:
Europe just had its bluntest week of warnings in a long time. Eurogroup President Kyriakos Pierrakakis, the man who chairs the eurozone's finance ministers, told the meeting in Cyprus on Friday that the bloc is facing "stagflationary pressure" and used the phrase "economic nightmare." His exact words were that "June will be worse than May, July will be worse than June."

Underneath all of this, there's another problem building. ECB reserves have nearly halved from their 2022 peak, down to €2.6 trillion. And the latest bank lending survey shows European banks are finding it harder to access money market funding.

In other words, the pipes that move money around the European banking system are getting tighter. If banks struggle to fund themselves, they will pull back on lending to businesses and households, and that's exactly when a slowdown turns into something worse.

Prepare: Be very selective with European exposure here. Stick to companies with strong balance sheets, low debt, and pricing power. Avoid anything that needs cheap credit or buoyant consumer spending to work. UK-exposed names look the most vulnerable, and energy-intensive industrials in Germany and Italy are in the line of fire.

On the Global Stage:
Japan is quietly burning through billions of Yen, trying to defend its currency, and it's not working well. The Yen weakened to 159.40 per dollar this week, right back at the level that triggered massive Japanese intervention a month ago.

Tokyo spent roughly $35 billion in late April propping the Yen up. A month later, it's exactly where it was. The Bank of Japan just halved its 2026 growth forecast to 0.5% while lifting its inflation forecast to 2.8%.

PM Sanae Takaichi just won an election on a big-spending mandate, and the country imports almost all its energy in dollars, right when oil is surging from the Iran war. That combination has trapped the BoJ. They can't hike rates without crushing growth, and they can't sell dollars forever to defend the Yen.

While Japan struggles, India is seeing the reverse. The IMF, OECD, and World Bank all confirmed this week that India remains the fastest-growing major economy at 6.2–6.6% for 2026, even with the energy shock hitting everyone.

Strong domestic demand, low inflation, rupee-denominated debt, and big foreign reserves give India a cushion that almost no other emerging market has.

Prepare: Be very careful with Japanese exposure here, particularly anything that needs a stable Yen or cheap energy to work. Exporters might look attractive on paper, but the currency mess and political uncertainty add real risk. In India, selective exposure makes sense, focused on domestic-demand sectors rather than chasing the broad index, since a lot of the good news is already priced in.

If you like this kind of commentary - then you’ll love the private finance and investing community over on Patreon (where you’ll also get as many as 3 Significantly Undervalued stock picks each month). Check it out here: LINK

3. Chart Of The Week

China And The US Now Account For A Third Of All Global Trade

The World Trade Organization's 2025 rankings show China and the US sitting at the centre of global trade, with China the world's biggest exporter at $3.8 trillion in goods shipped, and the US the biggest importer at $3.5 trillion brought in.

Germany comes third on both lists. The UK had a BIG year, with imports jumping 16% to $949 billion (that isn’t always good), and Hong Kong and the UAE both posted 17-18% gains as regional trade hubs.

What jumps out is how the same handful of names appear on both lists. Modern supply chains mean countries import the parts, then export the finished product, so today's exporter is often tomorrow's importer of whatever comes next

4. Market Overview

S&P 500 (U.S.) Hit fresh record highs this week. The big lift came from news of a 60-day US-Iran ceasefire memo, and AI names like Microsoft, Oracle, Palantir, and Micron pushed the index along. Financials lagged, with Visa and BlackRock both dropping.

FTSE 100 (UK) Pretty much flat. The index had an 8-session winning streak going before Thursday snapped it, as miners and utilities sold off. Defence stocks (Rolls-Royce, BAE, Babcock) had a good run, but it wasn't enough to push the index meaningfully higher.

S&P/TSX Composite (Canada) Finished the week lower. Oil dropped below $90 on US-Iran peace hopes, which hammered Canadian Natural, Suncor, and Imperial Oil. Gold prices also fell, dragging miners like Agnico and Barrick down with them.

ASX 200 (Australia) Rose overall. Miners did most of the work, with the Materials index up six of the last seven sessions and near all-time highs. Friday saw a sharp jump on US-Iran truce extension news, plus weaker Aussie inflation and jobs data eased rate hike worries.

🇺🇸 United States – S&P 500

  • High: 7,597

  • Low: 7,499

🇬🇧 UK - FTSE 100

  • High: 10,554

  • Low: 10,382

🇨🇦 Canada – TSX Composite

  • High: 34,844

  • Low: 34,255

🇦🇺 Australia – ASX 200

  • High: 8,720

  • Low: 8,574

Cryptocurrency:

  • Bitcoin (BTC): -5.4%

  • Ethereum (ETH): -5.9%

  • Tether (USDT): -0.0%

  • BNB (BNB): -3.4%

  • XRP (XRP): -4.2%

  • USDC (USDC): 0.0%

  • Solana (SOL): -6.7%

  • TRON (TRX): -6.2%

  • Figure Heloc (FIGR_HELOC): 0.5%

  • Dogecoin (DOGE): -7.1%

Metals Market:

Gold–Silver Ratio: ~60:1, Was flat this week. Crept higher. Silver had a volatile week, dipping mid-week before recovering, while gold held its ground. The ratio is still near multi-year lows.

Gold & Silver:

  • Gold: Rose 0.43% with a Week High: $4,580 & Week Low: $4,367

  • Silver: Fell -0.62 with a Week High: $79.30 & Week Low: $71.82

5. Faith & Success

❝

"Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds; for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations."

— Proverbs 27:23-24

Quick question for you this weekend…

When did you actually sit down and last look at your finances? I mean really look - not a quick glance at your bank balance before you go to sleep, but a proper, honest review of where everything stands?

If you're scratching you head right now… you're not alone.

Most people NEVER stop to assess their financial position.

Am I on track for my retirement? Are my debts at the lowest possible rates? Are my savings performing well? Am I getting paid my true worth or do I deserve a pay rise?

It's the last weekend of May. We're almost halfway through the year. And yet most people couldn't tell you - right now, off the top of their head - what their net worth is, what their money is actually doing, or whether they're ahead or behind where they wanted to be at this point in the year.

And I get it, because life moves fast. There's always something more urgent competing for your attention.

But this verse has always struck me as one of the most practical in the entire Bible…

Because it was written for farmers and shepherds - people whose entire livelihood depended on their livestock.

And the instruction is simple but serious: know your flock. Pay attention to your herd. Because wealth isn't static, and you can't afford to look away.

Now translate that to today… your "flock" is your income, your savings, your investments, your business revenue, your property. And the warning is just as relevant now as it was thousands of years ago - riches do not endure forever.

Things change, markets shift, businesses that looked rock solid can wobble.

I learned this the hard way in 2008, I thought I had a handle on my property portfolio… but I'd been so busy building it that I hadn't been paying close enough attention to what was happening beneath the surface.

And when the crash came, I was caught more exposed than I should have been - it was my first and last PAINFUL lesson about ‘watching the pennies’

I know how blessed I am right now to be able to help so many people around the World via my media and courses. I get emails and testimonials every week from people.

But even I know that everything could change in a moment. That’s why I try to be a good steward of what I have, and to help others with those resource I have.

And these days, I have a standing appointment with myself every Sunday morning before church - no excuses, where I review where everything is.

What's performing, what isn't, what needs attention.

It sounds boring (trust me, sometimes it IS boring!) but it's one of the most important financial habits I've ever built…

Knowing where you herd is at any time you need to know.

Because here's the truth: you cannot manage what you don't measure.

And you can't protect something you're not watching.

So this weekend, I'd encourage you to do one simple thing. Set aside an hour - just one hour…

And give careful attention to your own "herd." Look at your accounts, your investments, your debts, your goals for this year. Where are you actually at?

Because awareness is always the first step.

Have a brilliant weekend my friend!

Take care, and God Bless.

Neil,

Digital Income Mastery (Still discounted, closing by July): LINK

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DISCLAIMER
This newsletter is 100% FREE & is designed to help your thinking, not direct it. These newsletters shall NOT be construed as tax, legal, or financial advice and may be outdated or inaccurate; all decisions made as a result of this information are yours alone.

Trading/Liability: Neil McCoy-Ward operates/trades under a private Ltd company within the Isle of Man.

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