Last month, we did our June Portfolio Review on the 16th and I said "I THINK it’s off now" but I KNOW it's on now as we had a bomb-a-palooza last night in Iran, with the US launching a 7-HOUR WAVE of strikes on Iran. We have resumed our blockade if Iranian ports with 20 warships and hundreds of planes - none of which have been authorized by Congress (who specifically told Trump to stop two weeks ago).
President Trump warned that if Tehran does not return to the negotiating table he said they were at, the U.S. will begin targeting Iranian power plants and bridges (war crimes) next week. He also rescinded a previously announced plan to impose a 20% toll on ships in the Strait of Hormuz thanks to Robo John Oliver's impactful reporting.
At the same time (this morning, in fact), Trump is telling Congress he plans to withdraw troops by Sept. 30th but can he please have another $200Bn to keep bombing until then when he really, really pinky-swear promises he'll have won. That's 77 days - the war is 138 days old so far and that was supposed to take "a few weeks" back in March.
So we take it all with a Lot's wife-sized grain of salt and we do our best to protect our portfolios from the wild market swings. Oil was $78.59/80.93 a month ago and now it's $79.79/85.33 and the spread is widening - which is not a good thing because the people in Europe, paying $85.33, are closer to the conflict than we are and are not consuming Corporate News or listening to our Corporate President and his Corporate Cabinet - who like to insist everything is fine - lest the Consumers stop spending.
