"Iran missile attack on UK-US Diego Garcia military base raises fears London could be within striking distance" - The Standard #SmartNews https://t.co/GhfnjVucKi
Acc to the latest projections from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the U.S. govt will continue to run a sizable & growing deficit over the next decade. In 2026, the shortfall will stand at about $1.8 trillion, or 5.8% of GDP. Come 2036, that will have ballooned to $3.1 trillion, or roughly 7% of the American economy. Bonner Private Research
Bank of America Global Fund Manager Survey shows investor sentiment at its most optimistic level since July 2021, & well above its long-term avg. Expectations for further Fed easing alongside fiscal optimism & the psychological legacy of a long bull market since 2009, have combined to reinforce confidence. A significant cohort of today’s investors has never experienced a sustained bear market & recency bias is doing much of the work. Global Investment Letter
There is a notable U.S. and allied military presence increasing in the Middle East amid heightened tensions with Iran, but there is no authoritative evidence confirming a deployment of 500 aircraft as part of a buildup that sets a record. The numbers being discussed in credible reporting are more specific to certain units or types of aircraft moving into the region, not a total force count of that magnitude.
Money managed by BDCs has tripled since 2020 to about $450 billion. And the funds still took in more money from new investors than they paid out in their most-recent quarter, a sign they are still popular among investors and advisers. WSJ
Private Credit Declines: Total returns from five of the largest private-credit funds aimed at individual investors declined to an average of about 6.22% in the first nine months of 2025, compared with 8.76% in the same period of 2024 and 11.39% in 2023, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal.
"Fired CNN Star Don Lemon Under Federal Investigation for ‘Desecrating a House of Worship’ After Anti-ICE Church Protest" - The New York Sun #SmartNews https://t.co/fHBVxOUe69
Justice Ketanji Jackson at the Supreme Court:
"Is treating someone transgender, but does not have, because of the medical interventions and the things that have been done, who does not have, uh, the same, uh, threat to physical competition and safety and all the reasons the state puts forward - that's actually a different class, says this individual. So you're not treating the class the same. And how do you respond to that?"
COAL’s global demand hits record 8.85B tonnes in 2025, up 0.5%; U.S. coal use jumps 8%, snapping 15-year decline as China, India electricity demand grow. Garrett Baldwin
That’s a 54% jump in dismissals from last year.
It’s only the sixth time since 1993 that there have been more than 1.1 million job cuts through November. Morning Brew
Layoffs this year: more than 1.1 million US workers—the most since the pandemic in 2020, according to a report from the consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. For context: