Why Recessions Are Not About Declining GDP Authored by Frank Shostak via Mises.org Most economic commentators consider a decline in economic statistics, such as gross domestic product (GDP), as indicative of a decline in the health of the economy. According to most experts, this decline in the GDP—which is called a recession—as a rule, arises because of an overall decline in the aggregate demand for goods and services. This is […]

Trump Imposes 25% Tariffs On Japan, South Korea After Failing To Reach Deal Update (1246ET): U.S. main equity indexes, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, fell to session lows after the Trump administration released tariff letters to a handful of countries, citing “persistent trade imbalances” and the failure to reach trade deals before the July 9 deadline. The tariffs are expected to take effect on August 1. The first two trade letters […]

Canada’s Manufacturing Sector Faces Sharp Decline Amid Tariffs And Trade Uncertainty Canada’s manufacturing sector shrank for the fifth month in a row, with the S&P Global Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) falling to 45.6 in June, down from 46.1 in May — well below the neutral 50 mark that separates growth from contraction, according to the Financial Post. The latest data shows the steepest drop in […]

Israel Bombs Ports, Power Plant In Yemen After Month-Long Pause On Sunday Israel’s military launched airstrikes on three ports and a power facility against Houthi-controlled Yemen, resulting in the group launching a barrage of missiles in retaliation. Israel is calling the major new initiative ‘Operation Black Flag’. The Israeli military (IDF) announced it had targeted the Red Sea ports of Hodeidah, Ras Isa, and as-Salif, as well […]

Luxury Housing Market No Longer Out Of Reach For Some ‘Move-Up’ Buyers: Report Authored by Mary Prenon via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Many people recall the Emmy Award–winning sitcom “The Jeffersons,” whose theme song references George and Weezie “moving on up.” Today, that trend is making a comeback in the luxury market, as “move-up” buyers are entering it for the first time. ppa/Shutterstock Coldwell […]

Gunman Ambushes Border Patrol Agents In Texas Amid Anti-ICE Rhetoric From Democrats Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin reported moments ago that a gunman wearing tactical gear and armed with a rifle ambushed U.S. Border Patrol agents at an auxiliary facility earlier this morning. This shooting comes amid increasingly hostile rhetoric directed at federal agents — primarily fueled by Democratic Party lawmakers and their […]

Wall Street Responds To ‘America Party’; Musk Denies, Calls Party Filing ‘Fake News’ Tesla shares tumbled in premarket trading in New York as investors weighed Elon Musk’s move to launch the new “America Party,” just one day after President Trump signed a tax-cut and spending bill into law—legislation Musk had publicly denounced. Although Musk has denied founding the party, calling the reports “fake news,” the market appears […]

The Big Four Just Became Five: Walmart Quietly Captures The Beef Chain Via Beef News, Walmart’s new case-ready beef facility in Olathe, Kansas isn’t just another fulfillment center—it’s a chess move. A 300,000-square-foot plant. 600 new jobs. Cuts packed, labeled, and shipped straight to Walmart shelves. And all of it fed by one source: Sustainable Beef LLC, the North Platte processor Walmart bought into back in […]

Sleeper Cells, Assassination, Death To America, & Nukes: Carlson’s Full Interview With Iranian President “I’m of the belief that we could very much, easily resolve the differences and conflicts with the United States through dialogue and talks,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Tucker Carlson, based on the full interview (done remotely) released by the Tucker Carlson Network on Monday. Of course, Tehran and Washington […]

Key Events This Week: FOMC Minutes And Trump Tariff Deadline The week after payrolls is usually quiet for data (key US event on the calendar is the FOMC minutes on Wednesday) so all eyes will focus on Wednesday’s 90-day extension to the reciprocal tariffs announced on Liberation Day back on April 2nd. However, there are increasingly suggestions that August 1st might be the new July 9th (see below).  As a benchmark, DB’s […]

Tariff Time Again: Trump Sends Trade Letters Ahead Of Deadline, Threatens 10% Tariff On BRICS-Aligned Nations Trade tensions are once again front and center for investors as President Trump’s tariff deadline looms. On Sunday night, the president announced that the U.S. will begin sending tariff letters to major trading partners, warning of levies on countries that have yet to strike a deal. The president expects letters to be sent […]

What Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Means For Your Wallet Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The One Big Beautiful Bill, which President Donald Trump signed on Independence Day, ushers in significant changes to Americans’ personal finances. Spanning nearly 1,000 pages, the legislation locks in Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and introduces new tax breaks—including deductions for tips, overtime pay, and auto loan […]

Proposed Gaza Ceasefire Details Revealed As Netanyahu Visits White House Monday With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set to visit the White House on Monday for the third time in President Trump’s second term, Associated Press has obtained a copy of the latest ceasefire proposal — which now incorporates a personal guarantee from Trump that Israel won’t violate this ceasefire as it did a previous one.  Contrary to the […]

Futures Drop Ahead Of July 9 Tariff Deadline US equity futures are weaker with investors on edge about the potential for more tariffs from the Trump administration as we head into the July 9 deadline which appears to have been rolled to Aug 1. As of 8:15am ET, S&P 500 contracts declined 0.2% although well off session lows after Treasury Secretary Bessent indicated that some countries may get a three-week extension to trade […]

Are We Training Kids To Beat AI – Or Training AI To Beat Kids? Authored by Kay Rubacek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Commentary In a world racing to build smarter machines, a group of children just reminded us what real intelligence looks like. Various AI apps are seen on a smartphone screen in a file photo. Olivier Morin/AFP via Getty Images At the University of Washington, researchers recently put a group of 7- to […]

Investor Greed Returns With A Vengeance Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestm,entAdvice.com, Retail investor greed again dominates market activity, echoing some of the same speculative behaviors seen during previous risk-on phases. Retail investors show heightened risk appetite across multiple metrics, from options trading to leveraged ETF flows, with little regard for valuation or macroeconomic headwinds. Put/call ratios […]

Texas Flood Disaster: 81 Dead As Search Intensifies; Cloud Seeding Startup Denies Involvement The flash flood that sent a 30-foot wall of water surging down the Guadalupe River in Central Texas has claimed at least 81 lives as of early Monday morning. Law enforcement officials in Kerr County confirmed that at least ten girls from Camp Mystic remain missing. Amid speculation that the so-called “1-in-1,000-year storm” may have been […]

Google Bets Big On Nuclear Fusion Authored by Felicity Bradstock via OilPrice.com, Google signed the first direct corporate power purchase agreement for nuclear fusion energy with Commonwealth Fusion Systems. The global race to achieve commercial nuclear fusion is intensifying, with significant investments from the U.S., China, and the European Union. Nuclear fusion promises to deliver abundant, clean energy, […]

Tanker Explosion Reported At Russia’s Ust-Luga Seaport An ammonia leak during loading operations on the LPG tanker “Eco Wizard” reportedly triggered an explosion, resulting in the tanker sinking at one of Russia’s most strategically important ports, located in the Leningrad Region of northwest Russia on the Gulf of Finland.  German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported that Eco Wizard experienced an explosion during onboard […]

Germany’s Pension Ponzi Scheme Is Collapsing: What Comes Next Submitted by Thomas Kolbe If you’ve ever wanted to witness the slow-motion collapse of a Ponzi scheme, you might want to keep an eye on Germany’s public pension system. Rhetorically and politically sugar-coated as a “pay-as-you-go” system — where today’s workers finance the retirement of yesterday’s — this bureaucratic redistribution leviathan is utterly […]

Ayatollah Khamenei Makes First Public Appearance Since War With Israel, US Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made his first public appearance since last month’s 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel, at the end of which the US sent B-2 bombers in an effort to destroy three key nuclear facilities. Khamenei attended a religious ceremony in Tehran, which was featured in a video broadcast by state media. The 85-year-old […]

The UK Aims To Entrench Its Influence In Estonia In Order To Lead The Arctic-Baltic Front Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack, The possible deployment of nuclear-capable F-35As there, which could be equipped with US air-to-ground nukes since the UK no longer has its own, would give London a leading role in managing the joint Arctic-Baltic front against Russia that’s expected to remain even after the Ukrainian Conflict […]

Russia Army Captures Two More Settlements In 3rd Straight Month Of Advance In Ukraine’s East Russia’s military announced on Sunday that its forces had taken control of two additional settlements in eastern Ukraine, specifically one in the Donetsk region and the other in Kharkiv. The statements indicated the villages of Piddubne in Donetsk and Sobolivka in Kharkiv are now under Russian control, though the Ukrainian side has not yet […]

Germany Is Not Being Honest About Who Is Assaulting Children At Swimming Pools Authored by eugyppius, Migrants will not stop molesting and assaulting children at swimming pools in the best and most democratic Germany of all time… In the last 10 years, we’ve welcomed a lot of ill-behaved and criminal young men into our country for no discernible reason, and along the way we’ve had the dubious privilege of discovering whole […]

Analyzing Xi’s Absence From The Latest BRICS Summit Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack, Chinese President Xi Jinping declined to travel to Rio for the latest BRICS Summit on the reported pretext of scheduling conflicts and having already met with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Ignacia Lula da Silva twice this year. The South China Morning Post speculated that the real reason was that Xi didn’t want to be “perceived as […]