United States

President Trump is deploying nuclear bombers to the North Korean border amid fears that an all-out war will break out between the U.S. and North Korea soon. Trump has ordered military chiefs to send B-1 and B-52 bombers, equipped with nuclear weapons, to the Korean peninsula, following Kim Jong-un’s series of missile launches recently. It is thought that Pyongyang’s most recent launch of four ballistic missiles into the seas near Japan this week prompted the decision to take military action against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

All it took for OPEC to panic, was the sharpest drop in oil prices since last summer, sending WTI not only back under $50, but also wiping out all gains since the November Vienna "supply cut" deal.

As tensions between the U.S. and Iran continue to mount, the semi-official news agency Tasnim is reporting that Iran's Revolutionary Guard has successfully conducted yet another ballistic missile test, this time from a navy vessel.  Called the Hormuz 2, these latest missiles are designed to destroy moving targets at sea at ranges up to 300 km (180 miles).

Reports on the latest test quotes Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC's Aerospace Force, who confirmed that "the naval ballistic missile called Hormuz 2 successfully destroyed a target which was 250 km away."

US marines have been sent to Syria to help the assault on the ISIS stronghold, Raqqa according to US officials. Hundreds of marines armed with heavy artillery have arrived in Syria to support local allied forces in the operation to retake the Syrian city of Raqqa from ISIS. The marines were deployed without the permission of the Syrian government, Central Command chief Gen. Joseph Votel said in a congressional hearing on Thursday. “We are not,” Votel stated when asked whether US sent marines at the request or with the permission of the Syrian government.

Bill Gross' letter discussing the credit deluge hitting the US came out at a convenient time: just as the Federal Reserve released its latest Flow of Funds report, which while most track to show the change in average household net worth - which is almost entirely a function of the stock market - we find it far more valuable for its nuanced information on the breakdown of US debt.