China Preps For War: Spy Balloon Belies Much Larger Economic Warning Signs

Conference Board Confidence Unexpectedly Jumped Amid War In March Despite war (and rising gas prices) now on respondents' minds (the survey period for preliminary results was March 1 to 24), it is perhaps surprising that The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence rose more than expected in March (from 91.0 to 91.8), considerably better than the 87.9 expected. Even more intriguing, the Present Situation rose from 120.0 to 123.3 (118 exp) while Expectations fell from 72.0 to 70.9 (68.4 exp) Source: Bloomberg Among demographic groups, confidence on a six-month moving average basis continued to moderate...

Watch: Armed Robot Dog Leads Close-Quarters Combat Drill A video circulating on X appears to show a close-quarters battle exercise, possibly involving the Chinese military, in which a heavily armed quadruped robot is used for clearing of rooms and hallways. A private company in Shandong, China, demonstrated the correct use of robotic “wolves” and drones: they first provide fire suppression, then soldiers advance. I think the only shortcoming of the robotic wolves is that they don’t perform flanking maneuvers and are not yet smart… pic.twitter.com/QCgWIsS7xh — China pulse 🇨🇳 (@Eng_china5) April 1, 2026 That...

A historic metals shakeout, a simple “stacking plan,” and a bigger question: how do you stay independent when the system punishes savers?