United States

Shortly after we reported that the "restaurant industry hasn't reported a positive month since February 2016", we can add one more month to the running total: according to the latest update from Black Box Intelligence's TDn2K research, in July both same-store sales and foot traffic declined once again, and this time the slide was more pronounced, tumbling by -2.8% and -4.7% compared to declines of "only" -1% and -3% in June, respectively, in the process extending the stretch of year-over-year declines for the US restaurant industry to 17 consecutive months - the longest str

While global stock markets breathed a sigh of dip-buying relief today that the world did not end, North Korea just ratcheted up the rhetoric one more time with state media reporting the North Korean leader is "being briefed on the Guam attack plan" today, adding that "if a second Korean War breaks out, it would inevitably be a nuclear war."

Less than a day after Joseph Dunford, the commander of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told South Korean President Moon Jae-in that the US is ready to use “the full range of military capabilities to defend our allies and the U.S. homeland,” Defense Secretary and retired Gen. James Mattis told reporters that the situation with North Korea “could escalate into war” if the isolated country fires a missile at the US.

"If they fire at the United States, it could escalate into war very quickly," Mattis said, according to Reuters.

Today at 3pm, President Trump signed a memo addressing “China’s laws, policies, practices, and actions related to intellectual property, innovation, and technology” effectively firing the first shot in what many predict will blossom into an all-out trade war with China.

As discussed over the weekend, administration officials said Saturday that memo will direct U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to consider investigating China over its IP policies, especially the practice of forcing U.S. companies operating in China to transfer technological know-how.

As the world focuses on the escalating rhetoric between President Trump and Kim Jong-Un of North Korea, Iranian forces seem to also be growing increasingly hostile toward American Navy operations in the Persian Gulf with the AP reporting a second "dangerous" encounter with an Iranian drone in the span of less than a week.  Just last week we noted that an Iranian drone came within 100 feet of an F/A-18 operating from the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier forcing pilots to take evasive measures to avoid a collision.