Report: Trump Considers Pulling Troops Out of NATO Countries Deemed ‘Unhelpful’ to Iran War Effort

Existing US Home Sales Plunged In March, Despite Falling Mortgage Rates Affordability-aiding lower mortgage rates battled a sentiment-sapping surge in geopolitical panic in March, with analysts expecting the latter to outweigh the former with a modest 0.7% MoM decline (after January's plunged - weather? - and February's modest rebound). The analysts under-estimated the fear from war-mongering as existing home sales plunged 3.6% MoM (down bigly from an upwardly revised 2.7% MoM jump in Feb). That is the second biggest drop in existing home sales since Nov 2022... Source: Bloomberg That dragged Existing Home...

FAA Mandates Airlines To Affirm Merit Hiring For Pilots Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times, The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is issuing a new mandatory rule that requires all commercial airlines in the country to formally commit to merit-based hiring for pilots, according to a Feb. 13 statement from the Department of Transportation (DOT). Under the new mandate, all U.S. carriers must certify that the practice of airlines hiring based on race and sex has ended or face a federal investigation. “When families board their aircraft, they should fly with confidence...

Stock Futures Slide As Doubts Over Ceasefire Send Oil Higher Stocks resumed their drop and oil erased about a third of its Wednesday drop as traders watched the fragile US-Iran ceasefire shatter by the hour, with both sides accusing the other of breaches while the Strait of Hormuz is still effectively closed and Israel intensified strikes on Lebanon. As of 8:00am ET, S&P futures fell 0.4% after Bloomberg strategists said a best-case scenario has already been priced in;  Nasdaq futures dropped 0.3% with Mag7 stocks mostly lower. Europe’s Stoxx 600 index fell 0.7%. Emerging-market...