United States

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.

With the Treasury cash balance collapsing near zero, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin has written to Congress to warn them that Treasury will need to start taking extraordinary measures when statutory limit on U.S. debt is reinstated on March 16.

A copy of the letter dated March 8 was posted on Treasury website:

“Treasury anticipates it will need to start taking certain extraordinary measures in order to temporarily prevent the United States from defaulting on its obligations”

Via ConvergEx's Nicholas Colas,

Just when you thought the 8 year bull market for US stocks had shown us everything, something new comes along. 

 

Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, has confirmed that it hired the consultancy of Tony Podesta, the elder brother of John Podesta who chaired Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, for lobbying its interests in the United States and proactively seeking the removal of various Obama-era sanctions, the press service of the Russian institution told TASS on Thursday.

"The New York office of Sberbank CIB indeed hired Podesta Group. Engagement of external consultants is part of standard business practices for us," Sberbank said.