United States

On the heels of a disappointing revised Q4 GDP print, the US trade balance for January printed a $69.2 billion deficit. This is the second largest deficit since August 2008 (slightly smaller than the March 2015 plunge) as the dollar surge has not helped.

The biggest driver the deficit increase was  4.8% MoM increase in Consumer Goods (notably Auto exports rose 9.3%)

The $69.2bn deficit is considerably worse than the $66.0 billion expectations, and is lower than the lowest analyst expectation.

The Iraqi army have discovered a number of US-made missiles in an ISIS military base in the Southern part of Mosul, Iraq. According to local sources, missiles originating from the USA have found their way into the Anbar province before. Realitieswatch.com reports: Provincial officials confirmed that the US-made weapons were sent by the US-led anti-ISIL coalition airplane for the ISIL terrorists in Anbar province.

Via Daniel Lang of SHTFplan.com,

Before Donald trump took office, he promised to rebuild the US military by diverting a lot more funding into the armed forces. And when he made that promise, he wasn’t just talking about our conventional forces. He also proposed expanding America’s nuclear capability; a position he recently reiterated in an interview with Reuters. He stated that “It would be wonderful, a dream would be that no country would have nukes, but if countries are going to have nukes, we’re going to be at the top of the pack.”

The fact that farm incomes have come under increasing pressure over the past couple of years should come as little surprise to our readers (for those who missed our latest update, see: "Midwest Farm Bubble Continues Collapse As Farm Incomes Expected To Crash In 2017").  Unfortunately, at least according to Bank of America's Global Ag Chemical team led by Steve Byrne, farmers shouldn't expect a reprieve any time in the near future.

The Resurrection of Armageddon

Paul Craig Roberts

“The U.S. intelligence community’s extraordinary campaign of leaks claiming improper ties between President Trump’s team and Russia seeks to ensure a lucrative New Cold War by blocking detente.” — Gareth Porter