Recession Signal As Consumers Struggle To Pay Bills

Speculation Surges That Pakistan Talks Are A Delay Tactic Ahead Of Expanded US Action On Iran President Trump has made clear that American forces will still be "hanging around" the Persian Gulf area with an eye on Iran, while demanding that the Strait of Hormuz be opened to global energy transit once again.  Trump has vowed to keep troops positioned for a fight "until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with." As direct US-Iran talks are set for Islamabad Saturday morning, there's been an avalanche of speculation...

US Removes Sanctions On Iranian Oil Stranded At Sea To Boost Overall Supply On Thursday, Scott Bessent told Fox News that the US is considering unsanctioning Iranian oil, thereby making the 140 million barrels stuck on Iranian tankers, available to any buyer in the world and not just China, to ease the supply-chain bottlenecks that emerged after the Strait of Hormuz was blocked. In doing so, another formerly sanctioned US nemesis would be allowed free access to global markets, after Russia received a similar "temporary" permit a week earlier.  "In the coming...

"Resilient" US Manufacturing Sector Surges In Face Of War, Prices Paid Up Amid the fog of war and fading 'hard' data, the final March S&P Global Manufacturing PMI printed 52.3 (a small drop from the flash 52.4 print), higher than the 51.8 print for February. “Faster growth of output in March points to encouraging resilience for US manufacturing in the face of the outbreak of war in the Middle East," according to Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence. The ISM Manufacturing PMI also rose from 52.4 to 52.7 -...