Moscow Oil Refinery Faces Six-Month Shutdown After Relentless Ukrainian Drone Attacks

My Retirement Accounts Fail In The World I Actually Live In Authored by Patrick Brenner via RealClearMarkets, I remember the first time I logged into my retirement account as a young professional. It felt like a milestone: proof that I had entered the world of adulthood, of long-term thinking, of ownership. I work in the nonprofit sector, so technically it's a 403(b), not a 401(k). The distinction is academic; the promise is the same: contribute consistently, invest wisely, and over time, build financial independence. The longer I've contributed, the more I've realized...

Japanese Bond Yields Surge To 30 Year High On Report Tokyo May Hike Defense Spending To 3.5% Of GDP Just in case Japan's bond yields weren't high enough already, Bloomberg reports that Japan is considering a new mid-term defense spending target of 3.5% of GDP in line with NATO and other US allies. Such a move would send a shockwave through financial markets concerned about Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s spending plans at a time when Japan is preparing to trim tax receipts even more by cutting consumption tax to 1%. Japanese defense officials...

US PMI Surveys Signal Growth Rebound In Q3, Strongest Among Global Peers, But... Following the mixed/weak Manufacturing PMI survey data earlier in the week, today's Services PMIs were expected to be just as mixed with S&P Global higher and ISM flat. S&P Global Services PMI for August rose from 54.6 to 56.5 (below the preliminary 56.8 but still up bigly) - the highest since Dec 2024 ISM Services PMI for August rose from 54.1 to 55.4 (better than the 54.1 exp) - the highest since Feb 2026 These improvements come as hard data...