Authored by Cyril Widdershoven via OilPrice.com,
The geopolitical reality in the Middle East is changing dramatically.
The impact of the Arab Spring, the retraction of the U.S. military, and diminishing economic influence on the Arab world - as displayed during the Obama Administration - are facts.
President Trump is poised to announce over the coming days, that the landmark Iran nuclear agreement is no longer in the national interest of the United States. While the so-called “decertification” would not be the fatal blow to the Iran deal that Trump promised on the campaign trail, it would kick the issue back to Congress, which could potentially pull out of the deal entirely.
With tensions between Turkey and the US escalating dramatically and unexpectedly in the past few days, when first Turkish police on Wednesday arrested a local employee of the US embassy in Istanbul and charged him with espionage and an attempt to overthrow the government, which was following on Sunday afternoon by the US embassy in Turkey announcing that "effective immediately" it has "suspended all non-immigrant visa services at all U.S. diplomatic facilities in Turkey"...
It's that time in the quarter again: 3Q earnings season begins this week with Wall Street consensus expecting S&P 500 EPS growth of just 5% (3% ex-Energy), a sharp drop from the last two quarters (Q1 was+14% and Q2 +11%).
Submitted by John Mauldin of Mauldin Economics
Uncle Sam’s Unfunded Promises
Here’s a surprisingly profound question: What is a promise? Dictionaries offer various definitions. I like this one: “An express assurance on which expectation is to be based.”