The situation in the Middle East currently resembles the old story about the father who asks his young child to tell him when a balky taillight isn’t working. Without realizing it, he trips the turn signal, causing his young child to start singing out “On.Off.On.Off.On.Off.” Right now, the U.S and Iran agreement is, most definitely, “off.” Consequently, oil prices are rising, precious metals are getting more expensive, and the ships bobbing around off the Strait of Hormuz are going nowhere fast….Taylor and Travis’s wedding in MSG is still causing OMG in social circles, and in a bang of reality to boomers, Bonnie Tyler, better known as the singer of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” has died..at age 75. Oh, and celebrity ownership does not guarantee success. Aviation Gin, backed by Ryan Reynolds, quietly shuttered its Oregon distillery, citing “changing business needs.”
Next week..more potential “real news” following the slow week that always follows a long federal holiday weekend. The continuing saga of peace talks are scheduled to resume next week, NATO continues the post-mortem of this week’s summit in Turkey, Russia and the Ukraine will exchange drones, missiles and invectives, while Maine Democrats look for a non-Nazi, non-predator type to replace their now-withdrawn candidate who was their hope to defeat Republican Susan Collins…and Major League Baseball will hold their All-Star game in Philadelphia. And Wall Street? Your guess is as good as mine.
As always, we’ll keep you posted.
– Jim Shepherd