World Cup Hangover Triggers Retail Sales Slump In July, K-Shaped Economy Waning

US Housing Starts Collapsed In May To Lowest Since COVID With housing inventories at recent highs, the US housing market just suffered another sentiment setback as Housing Starts crashed by 15.4% MoM in May (far worse than 2% drop expected and worse since March 2024)), following a revised 8.5% MoM drop in April. Building Permits slipped 0.7% MoM (in line with expectations)... Source: Bloomberg That pulls the Housing Starts SAAR to its lowest since COVID (after reaching the highest since 2024 in April)... Source: Bloomberg Under the hood, it was multi-family (rental) starts that...

"Sub-Second Detect- To-Fire": Futuristic Dome Turret Could Be US Military's Answer To Drone Swarms Picket Defense Systems is developing a next-generation counter-drone turret designed to eliminate the delays conventional systems face when targeting fast-moving, one-way attack drones or incoming swarms. This is a major vulnerability confronting the US military and allied forces as drone threats proliferate across modern battlefields that Picket plans to solve. Its Inferno RTC uses a 54-barrel hemispherical array that continuously maintains 360-degree coverage, allowing the turret to select and fire the optimal barrel without needing to rotate...

Trump Hails Mecca Defense Pact As 'Big, Bold, Important First Step' Since the signing of a defense pact earlier this month by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan - which is being touted as having NATO level protections akin to an Article 5 style 'attack on one is an attack on all' - there's been much speculation on whether Washington would embrace or reject it. After all, it seems to put greater distance between Saudi Arabia and Israel, and thus lessens the potential for Riyadh ever agreeing to join the US-backed Abraham...