Very Wide Gap Between US & Iranian Positions As Tehran Blasts White House 'Unreasonable Demands'

Weather & Weak Demand Drive US PMIs Down To 10-Month Lows In February, But... While 'hard' data has been fading modestly in recent weeks, 'soft' survey data has bounced back but today we get a first glimpse at February's PMIs from S&P Global to see if that survey-based confidence is continuing. It is not as both Manufacturing and Services PMIs dropped notably., Flash US Services PMI Business Activity Index: 52.3 (January: 52.7). 10-month low. Flash US Manufacturing PMI: 51.2 (January: 52.4). 7-month low.    Source: Bloomberg Overall that dragged the US Composite PMI down...

New Jersey Governor Sherrill Lifts 40-Year Nuclear Moratorium Governor Mikie Sherrill signed legislation that scraps New Jersey’s 40-year de facto moratorium on new nuclear power plants, clearing the way for expanded baseload generation in a state long plagued by some of the nation’s highest utility bills.  The bill, S3870/A4528, amends the Coastal Area Facility Review Act to remove an outdated permitting roadblock tied to Nuclear Regulatory Commission waste-disposal rules that no modern project could satisfy. The NJ Department of Environmental Protection can now approve permits based on proven, NRC-compliant storage methods that...

Futures Flat Despite Blowout Nvidia Earnings US equity futures managed to erase overnight losses and were trading flat after Nvidia and Salesforce failed to assuage fears about an overheated AI economy while traders awaited color from today's round of US / Iran talks. As of 8:00am S&P futures were unchanged and nasdaq futures were down 0.1%, with NVDA up 1% premarket but well off overnight highs after its earnings report and guidance smashed expectations while CEO Jensen Huang talked about “exponentially” growing computing demand and “skyrocketing” adoption of AI agents. It wasn’t enough, especially...