Debt ceiling looms again

The U.S. is on track to run out of money to pay its bills as early as August without congressional action, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned.

“A failure to suspend or increase the debt limit would wreak havoc on our financial system and diminish America’s security and global leadership position,” Bessent wrote in the letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson. “Prior episodes have shown that waiting until the last minute to suspend or increase the debt limit can have serious adverse consequences for financial markets, businesses and the federal government.”

After the debt limit was reinstated in January, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen — in one of her last acts in the position — said the agency would institute “extraordinary measures” intended to prevent the U.S. from reaching the debt ceiling.

Profits at Aramco down 4.6%

Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil giant Aramco posted first-quarter profits of $26 billion on Sunday, down 4.6% from the prior year as falling global oil prices undermine the kingdom’s multi-trillion-dollar development plans.

Aramco, formally known as the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., had revenues of $108.1 billion over the quarter, the company reported in a filing on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange. The company saw $107.2 billion in revenues and profits of $27.2 billion the same quarter last year.

Saudi Arabia has promised to invest $600 billion in the U.S. over the course of President Donald Trump’s term.

Trump, who is set to touch down in Riyadh on Tuesday on his first official foreign trip since he retook the Oval Office, said in January that he wants that number to be even higher, at around $1 trillion.

— Boston Herald Wire Services