US Allies Loudly Reject Trump's Scheme To Blockade Hormuz: 'Not Getting Dragged In'

Trump-Netanyahu "Differences": A Good Cop-Bad Cop Routine By Michael Every of Rabobank As You Were... But As Who Was?  Yesterday nearly saw a full restart of the Israel-Iran war, apparently pulled back from the brink by intervention from President Trump. After yet another Middle East rollercoaster for markets it’s now ‘as you were’, with oil --so everything else-- little changed. The larger issue behind that pricing, however, is the key question - ‘As who was?’ Iran set up its proxy network, centered on terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon, to protect itself: if...

US Services Surveys Disappoint In April Amid Stench Of Stagflation Despite Manufacturing surveys solid (and US factory orders surging), expectations are for the Services sector surveys today to show stagflationary signals (weak growth, surging prices). S&P Global's Services PMI disappointed in April (final), falling from its flash print of 51.3 to 51.0, but still up from multi-year lows below 50 in March, showing just marginal activity growth despite weak drop in sales volumes. ISM Services PMI also disappointed in April, falling from 54.0 to 53.6 (vs 53.7 exp) amid tumbling new orders and...

DOJ Sues New Jersey Town Over Natural Gas Ban Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against Morris Township in New Jersey over its ban on natural gas and other fossil fuels in newly constructed buildings, the department said in an April 1 statement. Blue flames from a gas stove at a home in Arlington, Va., on May 3, 2023. Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images The ban “drives up energy costs for everyday American consumers and weakens our Nation’s energy dominance,” the...