Trump Says He May Bomb Iran’s Kharg Island Again ‘For Fun’

US Retail Sales Dropped In January As Weather, Weak Gas Prices Weigh This morning's retail sales data is for January (still lagging due to the govt shutdown) and is expected to be a decline (BofA's omniscient analysts see a worse than consensus drop MoM, due in large part to weather disruptions). The actual print was a decline but slightly better than expected at -0.2% MoM. Despite two months of no increase, sales rose 3.2% YoY in January (increased from December) Source: Bloomberg The decline was driven by a decline in sales at gas...

Israeli forces killed a five-year-old boy in Gaza on Thursday, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported, as IDF attacks have continued across the Strip amid the US-Israeli war against Iran. Sources told WAFA that the boy, identified as Samih Shehab Samih Marou, was killed by Israeli fire in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza. On Wednesday night, […]

Mind-Numbing Irony: US Asks Ukraine's Help To Shoot Down Iran's Shahed Drones In Gulf In the ultimate irony of ironies, Financial Times is reporting US officials are discussing the purchase of Ukrainian-made drone interceptors to counter Iranian drones, which some analysts say have proven harder to stop than expected. Patriot missile interceptors used by US allies cost more than $4 million each, while the Ukrainian systems are significantly cheaper and designed to defeat the same Shahed-type drones used by Russia. Image source: Come Back Alive Foundation Supplies are dwindling and costs are soaring, after approaching...