Politics

UMich consumer confidence rose in the preliminary March print, beating expectations at 97.6 with current conditions surging but expectations stalling somewhat.

This exuberance is occurring as real earnings growth slumps. But crucially, the partisan divide is unprecedented.

The overall level of consumer sentiment remained quite favorable in early March due to renewed strength in current economic conditions as well as the extraordinary influence of partisanship on economic prospects.

The Syrian army said Israeli jets breached the war torn country’s airspace in the early hours of Friday morning and attacked a “military target” near Palmyra. The jets were then reportedly targeted by Syrian anti-aircraft missiles. According to a statement from the Syrian Army, a total of four Israeli jets breached Syrian airspace on Friday morning. Syria’s air defenses shot down one of the jets over “occupied ground” and damaged another. The Israeli Army confirmed it had conducted airstrikes on several targets in Syria, but the IDF claim that none of the jets were damaged.

Following Secretary of State Tillerson's clear warning of the potential for a first strike against North Korea this morning:

Just hours after the furious British spy agency slammed the White House for Sean Spicer's claim, made first on Tuesday by Fox News' judge Andrew Napolitano, that the UK's spy agency GCHQ had helped Trump spy on Obama, calling it claim "utterly ridiculous", the US has made a formal apology to Britain, the Telegraph and Sky News reported.

At least 42 Syrian civilians were killed and over 100 injured when US warplanes bombed a mosque full of worshipers during evening prayers on Thursday. The air strikes hit the village of al-Jineh, just over 30 km west of Aleppo according to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.