US Southern Command Kills Two in Latest Boat Strike in Eastern Pacific Ocean

Florida & Texas Lead Jobless Claims Rebound From Near Record Lows The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the first time rose last week to 211k (more than the 205k expected), but remain well within the range of the last five years, near record lows... Source: Bloomberg Florida and Texas saw the biggest rise in initial claims while California and Michigan saw the largest declines... Continuing jobless claims also rose modestly last week, up to 1.782mm Americans (but still well below the 1.9mm Maginot Line)... Source: Bloomberg Combined with last week's positive payrolls...

President Donald Trump claimed that the Iranian government is not engaging in honest negotiations with the US.  “Iranian Leadership is unbelievably duplicitous! They ask for a meeting, some would say ‘beg,’ talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future,” he wrote on Truth Social Monday. “And they say, openly and proudly, that they’re not […]

Beijing Flip-Flops, Asks Banks To Pause Loans To Sanctioned Refiners Days After Ordering Them To Ignore Sanctions Over the weekend, we reported that in what some called a "watershed moment", Beijing ordered Chinese companies not to comply with US sanctions on five domestic refiners linked to the Iranian oil trade, deploying for the first time a blocking measure introduced in 2021 that was aimed at protecting its firms from foreign laws it deemed unjustified. Of note, China's refiners - including Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery which was sanctioned last month and several other...