Your IMPORTANT Weekly Briefing: (6th March 2026)

The Neil McCoy-Ward Newsletter

March 06, 2026

Opening Note…

Hi and welcome back again this week. 

It’s here… it’s LAUNCH Day. 

Your new training program: ‘Digital Income Mastery’ is now available for pre-release! 

Existing students, Patreon & Email members will always get the largest discount available. This discount will be lower than even the price you see on social media.

You will also get early access to (before anyone else), and you'll get some special bonuses that no one else will get.

A reminder: The program will be made up of three powerful courses to help you to increase your monthly income…

(Individual courses will not be available for purchase until later).

The flash sale will run from Friday (today) until Sunday/Monday (72 hours only!) Then the program will be released at a higher price to social media, and without the extra bonuses.

CLICK HERE to watch the video I’ve made especially for you!

Ok, let's break down the latest...

Table of Contents

1. Weekly Spotlight

This War Is Not "Just Another Venezuela"

I've heard a lot of people this week saying things like "it'll blow over in a few days" or "it's just another Venezuela." I don't even know where to start with that. This is not a raid in the middle of the night, taking out one leader. This is something very different.

On February 28th, the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran. Iran published exactly what they would do if their leader was taken out. They had the whole plan laid out. And that's exactly what's happened. So, for all the people saying, "I'm shocked, I can't believe this". I'm not sure why; It's been published for almost a year.

And now it's escalating fast. As of today, we've had strikes across Israel, the UAE, Dubai, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Cyprus, and even debris landing in Turkey. A UK RAF base in Cyprus was hit by a drone. Saudi Arabia's largest oil refinery, 550,000 barrels a day, was hit. Qatar has shut down its LNG production. The Strait of Hormuz has essentially closed, with ship traffic down around 90%.

NATO countries are now deploying. France is sending the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier and frigates to Cyprus alongside Greece. Germany, which initially said it wasn't getting involved, did a U-turn and is now sending a warship. Italy is sending air defence systems to Gulf states. And the E3 (UK, France, Germany) issued a joint statement saying they're prepared to destroy Iran's missile capabilities "at their source." That's political talk for bombing Iran.

So they're framing this as going to war in order to avoid a war. A very war is peace and peace is war moment.

From an economic standpoint, if we reach $120 a barrel, it could trigger a global recession. We're not there, but it's heading in that direction.

Stay safe out there, wherever you're watching from.

2. Quick Takes

Here are the other top stories shaping the week:

  • Friendly Fire: A Kuwaiti Pilot Shot Down Three US F-15s Worth $187 Million

    A single Kuwaiti F/A-18 pilot shot down three American F-15s over Kuwait, after an Iranian drone struck a US operations centre killing six soldiers and sending the already packed airspace into chaos. All six US crew ejected safely, though one had an uncomfortable reception from a pipe-wielding local who mistook him for an Iranian. - This ends the F-15's legendary 104-0 air combat record with a rather awkward asterisk, and it won't be the last mishap.

  • US Lifts Russia Oil Sanctions For India To Stop An Energy Crisis

    With Hormuz blockaded and oil prices climbing 5% daily, the US has issued a 30-day waiver allowing Indian refiners to buy Russian crude, a sharp U-turn from Trump's earlier tariffs designed to stop exactly that. The licence expires April 4th, which analysts are reading as Washington's own estimate of how long the Iran operation will last.

  • NATO Is Creating A "Defence Bank" To Fund Europe's Arms Race

    NATO is planning a "Defence, Security and Resilience Bank" by 2027, a low-interest lending facility so members can hit 5% GDP defence spending without gutting public services. Poland is the centrepiece, already at 4.8% of GDP and building towards 500,000 troops by 2039, with Russia expected to respond by bolstering forces near Kaliningrad, potentially including tactical nukes.

  • A Record Number Of Americans Are Raiding Their Retirement Savings Just To Stay Afloat

    A record 6% of Vanguard 401(k) participants took hardship withdrawals last year, triple the pre-pandemic rate, most commonly to avoid eviction or cover medical bills, with a median withdrawal of just $1,900. Overall balances are actually up, and enrolment is growing, but that's cold comfort when a growing share of people have nothing left to fall back on but retirement funds.

  • Americans Are Using Tax Refunds To Buy Groceries, Not Holidays

    Credit card debt has blown past $1.2 trillion. Buy-now-pay-later schemes, once used for gadgets, are now covering groceries. Coffee is up 20%, beef is up 15%, and two-thirds of young Americans no longer believe they'll ever afford to live where they want.

  • The Pentagon Has Labelled Anthropic, The Company Behind This AI, A National Security Risk

    The US Defence Department has designated Anthropic a supply chain risk, the first time any American company has received this label, after Anthropic refused to give defence agencies unrestricted access to its AI over concerns about mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. Trump ordered all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic entirely.

  • AI Models Prefer Bitcoin Over Cash

    The Bitcoin Policy Institute tested 36 AI models across 9,000+ responses and found 48% chose Bitcoin overall, with nearly 80% picking it for long-term wealth preservation, and not a single model chose fiat as its top pick.

  • Indiana Just Made Crypto A Legal Retirement Investment Option

    Indiana's governor has signed a bill requiring public retirement plans to offer at least one crypto investment option by July 2027, covering teachers, public employees, and legislators, while also banning agencies from blocking crypto payments or mining.

NEIL’S TAKEAWAYS:

In the United States
I've already covered the broader impact of the Iran conflict and oil prices, but it's worth zooming in on what this means specifically for American inflation. Gas prices, which had only just dropped to around $3 a gallon, are heading toward $3.50, and if the Strait of Hormuz disruption holds, everything that gets made, shipped, or transported starts to cost more.

What makes this particularly uncomfortable is that inflation was already showing signs of life before any of this started. The ISM manufacturing survey this week showed over 70% of factory managers reporting higher prices in February, the biggest jump since mid-2022. So the Iran conflict hasn't created a price problem from scratch. It has landed on top of one that was already building.

Prepare: Think carefully about what higher-for-longer inflation does to consumer spending power. Retail, travel, and any business with thin margins and high transport costs will feel this first. US oil producers and energy infrastructure names stand to benefit from elevated prices, but for most sectors, this is something worth watching closely.

Across Europe:
The ECB's chief economist, Philip Lane, warned this week that a prolonged Iran conflict could cause a spike in eurozone inflation while at the same time crushing growth.

That warning lands harder when you consider that eurozone retail sales were already falling before any of this started, dropping 0.1% in January against expectations of a 0.3% rise. The mainstream called it a surprise. I don’t. European consumers have been cautious for months, and anyone paying attention could see spending was under pressure long before that data landed.

And then there's the UK, where the construction sector just posted its worst reading this entire cycle. The PMI fell to 44.5 in February, the 14th consecutive month of contraction, with residential building collapsing under the weight of mortgage rate uncertainty and planning delays. UK household confidence in job security also hit a six-month low this week. The recovery that was supposed to be building in Britain is losing ground fast.

Prepare: Be very selective with European consumer-facing stocks and anything exposed to energy-intensive production. The stagflation risk ‘Lane’ described is real, and the March 19th ECB meeting will be critical. For the UK specifically, avoid house builders and construction-adjacent plays until there is clarity on rates and planning reform.

On the Global Stage:
On March 1st, eight OPEC+ countries agreed to add 206,000 barrels per day to production in April, a decision made on the assumption that global markets were in reasonable shape.

Within 48 hours, the Iran conflict had effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz, tanker traffic dropped 90%, and the cost of shipping a supertanker from the US Gulf Coast to China hit a record $29 million, double what it was two weeks prior. Whatever OPEC+ thought it was managing, the situation overtook them almost instantly.

That made the IMF's warning this week land even harder, they said the global economy is once again being tested, and that a long conflict will hit energy prices, weigh on growth, push inflation higher, and place pressure on policymakers who are already struggling.

Prepare: The Strait of Hormuz is the single variable that determines how much of the IMF's warning becomes reality. Energy exporters benefit in the short term. For everything else, patience and cash are your best tools right now.

3. Chart Of The Week

One Chokepoint Controls A Fifth Of The World's Energy, And Iran Knows It

About 100 cargo vessels pass through the Strait of Hormuz every single day, carrying roughly 20% of global oil consumption and 20% of worldwide LNG trade through a narrow stretch of water between Iran and Oman.

Around 89% of that crude heads straight to Asia, China, India, Japan, and South Korea, making it the region most exposed to any disruption. Qatar, one of the world's biggest LNG exporters, ships the majority of its gas through this single corridor.

The US, is barely affected; only 2% of its petroleum consumption depends on the route, which explains a lot about how differently Washington and Beijing calculate the risk of a prolonged standoff with Iran.

4. Market Overview

S&P 500 (U.S.)
In the U.S., the S&P 500 fell for the week as U.S. and Israeli military strikes on Iran sent oil prices sharply higher and unsettled investors. The index swung both ways, briefly recovering mid-week on hopes of peace talks, before selling off again after a February jobs report showed the economy lost jobs in the month. Airlines and industrial stocks took the worst of it, while energy was the standout winner.

FTSE 100 (UK)
In the U.K., the FTSE 100 fell this week, on course for its worst weekly loss since the tariff sell-off of April 2025. Rising oil prices have stoked inflation fears and pushed back expectations for Bank of England rate cuts, keeping pressure on the index throughout the week. Mining stocks lost ground as gold and silver prices pulled back, while airlines were hit by widespread flight cancellations following airspace closures. BP and Shell were among the few bright spots, climbing on the back of higher crude prices.

S&P/TSX Composite (Canada)
In Canada, the S&P/TSX Composite closed out one of its worst weeks of the year. The escalating Middle East conflict pushed Canadian bond yields higher, which weighed on the index's heavyweight bank stocks across the board.

ASX 200 (Australia)
The ASX 200 had its worst week in a year, falling after hitting a record high on Monday. The index dropped for most of the week as the conflict in the Middle East grew and the Strait of Hormuz closed to commercial shipping. Materials and gold miners were among the hardest hit, selling off as a stronger U.S. dollar weighed on bullion prices. Energy names were a bright spot on higher oil prices, and technology stocks finished the week stronger as investors rotated into growth names.

🇺🇸 United States – S&P 500

  • High: 6,899.44

    Low: 6,711.81

🇬🇧 UK - FTSE 100

  • High: 10,847.48

  • Low: 10,241.19

🇨🇦 Canada – TSX Composite

  • High: 34,532.74

  • Low: 32,912.93

🇦🇺 Australia – ASX 200

  • High: 9,187.00

  • Low: 8,811.70

Cryptocurrency:

  • Bitcoin (BTC): 3.7%

  • Ethereum (ETH): 2.1%

  • Tether (USDT): 0.0%

  • BNB (BNB): 3.0%

  • XRP (XRP): -0.5%

  • USDC (USDC): 0.0%

  • Solana (SOL): 3.2%

  • TRON (TRX): 1.2%

  • Figure Heloc (FIGR_HELOC): -0.5%

  • Dogecoin (DOGE): -3.6%

Metals Market:

Gold–Silver Ratio: ~51:1. after rising from a weekly low of 56:1. Both metals rallied on safe-haven demand from Trump's new 15% tariff, U.S.-Iran tensions, and inflation. However, gold outpaced silver this week, pushing the ratio higher from its lows. The ratio hit a weekly high of 65:1 before settling back to current levels.

Gold & Silver:

  • Gold: Fell 1.84% with a Week High: $5614.53 & Week Low: $4999.40

  • Silver: Fell 11.24% with a Week High: $100.56 & Week Low: $79.36

5. Faith & Success

❝

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.”

— Ecclesiastes 9:10

It’s easy to spend a lot of time thinking about what we should do… 

The goals we want to reach, the habits we want to build, the person we want to become. 

But growth rarely comes from our thinking alone, this is what many of the modern self help books get wrong. 

Yes thinking is the most important part, because before we can act, we must first think…

Thinking then leads to actions.

I was reading this verse before I went to bed on Wednesday evening and I made a note to include it in today’s newsletter.

It’s a simple reminder to fully commit to what’s in front of you, not halfway, not when the mood is perfect… 

But with intention and effort.

And if you can’t do that, it’s probably because you’re in the wrong job, running the wrong business or in the wrong relationship.

All of these things take effort and actions to fix.

Self-improvement isn’t about giant leaps, it’s about deciding to give your best to the small opportunities that appear each day; the work in front of you, the skill you’re building, the discipline you’re developing…

This week, focus less on waiting for the perfect moment and more on making the most of the moment you have. Progress begins the moment you decide to take action.

Enjoy your new training programs - they’re going to transform your life!

Until next time,

God Bless,

Neil,

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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.