Iran Says 35 Ships Exited Strait Of Hormuz As Rubio Condemns Tolls

Here Is What America's Largest Banks Reported In Their Q2 Earnings Reports In terms of perceived report quality relative to positioning, the ranking appears to be Goldman Sachs first, followed by Bank of America (pending guidance), then Wells Fargo, and finally JPMorgan. The broader theme across the group was fairly consistent: NII was generally underwhelming, fee income was strong as expected, capital markets results were very strong, and there was a clear halo effect from the strong deal calendar (SpaceX IPO most notably) that benefited equities trading. At the same...

US Defense Stocks Take Epic Fury Beating, Leaving UBS Asking Why Despite the launch of Operation Epic Fury against Iran in late February, U.S. defense stocks have moved lower rather than higher, prompting a UBS analyst to pen a note to clients this week attempting to answer why the makers of missiles and tanks failed to sustain a wartime rally. Analyst Allyson Gordon asked the question: "Why Is US Defense Performance Lackluster?"  Let's start with iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF, or ITA, a basket of major U.S. defense firms. ITA caught...

Vegetable-Oil Inflation Sends World Food Prices Higher The benchmark for global food commodity prices rose for a third consecutive month in April, hitting its highest level since early 2023, as Middle East supply disruptions, elevated energy costs, and tightening supplies of certain agricultural products appear to be driving the next leg higher in global food prices. This is a major risk we have warned about throughout the U.S.-Iran war, as energy and supply chain disruptions spread quickly through fertilizer, diesel, freight, biofuels, grains, and vegetable oils. We even treated readers to...