"This is the irony of ironies. ... We have chosen to lock up our resources and stand by to be spectators while these two come in and benefit from things right in our own backyard," Charles T. Drevna, executive vice president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association.

He was telling the New York Times about Cuba's collaboration with China and India in the Florida Straits. The U.S. and Cuba signed a treaty in 1977 evenly dividing the waters -- and the oil and gas fields there -- to preserve each country's economic rights. Cuba has recently signed on China and others to extract the resources, but a decades-old U.S. ban on drilling in coastal waters is preventing American efforts there.

btw, spot gold today is chasing the gold futures higher. Spot is up +$9.30 to $690.60, and the June futures up +13 to $693.

The move is parabolic. That's not something that the Fed will let continue.