Trump Claims ‘Total Control’ Over Strait of Hormuz

The Frozen Market For Homes Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times, Mortgage rates on a 30-year loan just hit 7 percent, intensifying problems on the demand side. Mortgages plus insurance—which turns a half-million dollar house into a $1.2 million house plus property taxes—became unaffordable for another class of buyers while already out of reach for most people. On the supply side, millions of existing homeowners are locked into COVID-era mortgages of 3 percent or lower, which makes them negative in real terms. That’s a great deal unless you sell and...

S&P500 Futs Jump, Bonds Rally, Oil Tanks On Axios Report U.S.-Iran Nearing Deal Axios reports that the White House is nearing a preliminary deal with Iran to end the war. This is based on a 14-point, one-page memorandum that creates a 30-day negotiating window for a broader nuclear and Strait of Hormuz deal. News of this sparked risk on in U.S. equity index futures, WTI fell to the $95-a-barrel handle, and U.S. Treasury yields dipped. "The U.S. expects Iranian responses on several key points in the next 48 hours. Nothing has...

Oil Spikes As Iran Denies Progress Despite Hasty Lebanon Truce: US Talks Halted For 'At Least A Few Days' Summary: Washington has seen the Lebanon partial truce as opportunity enough to press forward on broader talks, with Trump saying he expects a broader Iran deal "over the next week". But Fars denies this Tuesday: "exchange of messages between Iran & the US has been stopped for at least a few days" on MOU. In Lebanon, "While the ceasefire appears to be largely holding, there was further violence overnight," reports BBC, with more dead & wounded...