That’s not what many Americans anted to hear, and certainly not what was promised during Trump’s campaign.
The White House quickly realised that and Trump has issued a clarification that somewhat allays concerns.
.@POTUS on what the European leaders said to him: “They want to get back to leading their countries. They’re consumed with this far more than we are… There will be some form of security. It can’t be NATO because that’s just not something that would ever, ever happen.” pic.twitter.com/aHKprrtz5Q
Trump guaranteed that while US planes may patrol skies in a post peace security deal, no troops will be stationed on the ground.
“You have my assurance, and I’m President,” Trump confirmed.
“There will be some form of security. It can’t be NATO because that’s just not something that would ever, ever happen, it couldn’t,” Trump further outlined.
“When it comes to security [the Europeans are] willing to put people on the ground, we’re willing to help them with things, especially… by air because nobody has the kind of stuff we have,” he asserted.
He lays it down: no NATO cover, just tailored SECURITY without dragging America into another permanent quagmire.
Trump revealed Monday that Putin had agreed to accept security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a peace deal.
“I think the European nations are going to take a lot of the burden, we’re going to help them, we’re going to make it very secure,” Trump remarked.
The UK, in contrast to the US, has already said it is willing to send troops into Ukraine “from day one” of a peace deal, according to British Defence Minister John Healey.
Trump also revealed that under Biden, Putin “had no communication with the White House for years as people died” and “wouldn’t talk to the people from Europe.”
“That was part of the problem,” he contiuned, noting that relations had been severely “fractured.”
“In this case, two to tango. They have to have somewhat of a relationship. Otherwise, we’re just wasting a lot of time,” Trump said of Putin and Zelensky along with other European leaders.
Trump clearly cares about ending the killing, noting “if I can save 7,000 people a week from being killed, I think that’s pretty— I want to try and get to heaven, if possible. I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I hear I’m really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”
The full interview is below:
X version:
🚨JUST IN: President Trump’s 🇺🇸Morning interview with Fox News, and Friends, and his thoughts on yesterday’s EPIC White House Peace Summit. pic.twitter.com/aIJZV63UMN
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Syria has issued confirmation of a meeting between its foreign minister and a close confidante of Benjamin Netanyahu in Paris, marking the first official announcement of direct talks between Damascus and Tel Aviv. Earlier, reports had said Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani would meet with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer in Paris.
“Shaibani met today in the French capital, Paris, with an Israeli delegation to discuss several issues related to ‘enhancing stability’ in the region and southern Syria. Discussions focused on de-escalation and non-interference in Syria’s internal affairs, reaching understandings that support stability in the region, monitoring the ceasefire in As-Suwayda Governorate, and reactivating the 1974 agreement,” state news agency SANA reported on Tuesday.
“These discussions are being held with US mediation as part of diplomatic efforts aimed at enhancing security and stability in Syria and preserving its unity and territorial integrity,” it added.
This was not the first meeting between Dermer and Shaibani. US envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, said on July 24 that he met in Paris with Syrian and Israeli officials for “dialogue and de-escalation.” Shaibani and Dermer were both visiting the French capital at the time.
Barrack’s announcement came after the end of violent clashes between pro-government forces and local Syrian Druze factions in the southern city of Suwayda and its countryside, resulting in numerous civilian massacres.
Israel intervened with a series of violent airstrikes targeting Damascus and other areas in southern Syria, under the pretext of “protecting” the Druze minority. According to reports, Syrian-Israeli negotiations, which had been ongoing since the start of the year, resumed quickly after the attacks, following a brief pause.
Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government last year, Israeli forces have established a widespread military occupation across southern Syria.
Occupation forces continue to expand their presence in the country’s south, launching regular raids, incursions, and airstrikes. Israel says it wishes to demilitarize the entire south, protect the Druze minority from persecution, and prevent ‘hostile forces’ from establishing a presence.
Many Syria analysts argue that President Sharaa does not mean to hurt #Syria‘s minorities and will punish those who kill them.@WYazbk in his post, copied below, provides powerful evidence to the contrary.
Damascus has repeatedly signaled that it does not intend to pose a threat to Israel. Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, previously known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani, has also reportedly held meetings with Israeli officials.
A source told Syrian media last month that Sharaa held a meeting with Israel’s National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi in Abu Dhabi on July 7.
Trump Set To ‘Crush’ Russia Economy If Putin Evades Zelensky: Sen. Graham
Republican Senator and notorious anti-Russian hawk Lindsey Graham said Tuesday that he believes President Donald Trump is ready to hit Russia’s economy hard with a new round of sanctions if President Vladimir Putin refuses to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the near future.
The White House has said, after Trump met with Putin in Alaska Friday – and then with Zelensky and European leaders on Monday – that the Russian president agreed to a bilateral meeting with the Ukrainian leader. And then “if necessary” there could be a trilateral meeting involving President Trump after Putin and Zelensky meet.
“President Trump spoke with President Putin by phone, and he agreed to begin the next phase of the peace process, a meeting between President Putin and President Zelenskyy, which would be followed, if necessary, by a trilateral meeting between President Putin, President Zelensky and President Trump,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a Tuesday press briefing.
The Kremlin and even Russian state media have remained vague and non-committal on the question of a Putin-Zelensky meeting. In short, Moscow has yet to offer the same level of confirmation from its side.
Graham, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, spoke with Trump Tuesday morning, and has for months been pushing a major bipartisan sanctions bill targeting Moscow – which if passed would impose heavy tariffs on countries that help fund Russia’s military in Ukraine by purchasing its oil, gas, uranium, and other exports.
Trump has yet to endorse it, leaving time for breakthrough negotiations toward final peace settlement, though it reportedly has the support of 85 senators at this point.
“If we don’t have this thing moving in the right direction by the time we get back, then I think that plan B needs to kick in,” Graham told The Associated Press.
Pressure continues building on the Republican president: “Trump believes that if Putin doesn’t do his part, that he’s going to have to crush his economy. Because you’ve got to mean what you say,” Graham said.
Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the lead Democrat pushing the bill with Graham, says there is a “lot of reason for skepticism and doubt” after the meetings with Trump, especially because Putin has not made any direct promises. He said the Russian leader has an incentive to play “rope-a-dope” with Trump.
“The only way to bring Putin to the table is to show strength,” Blumenthal told the AP this week. “What Putin understands is force and pressure.”
The proposed legislation would most immediately impact major global competitors like China and India, which together make up 70% of Russia’s energy export market. They could be hit potentially with US tariffs as high as 500%.
Zelensky has meanwhile accused Putin of using negotiations to intentionally stall and buy time to build up his forces and solidify battlefield gains. He has alleged that it is pure deception that the Kremlin is genuinely interested in achieving peace.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Aug. 19 that President Donald Trump has requested that the entire wall along the U.S.-Mexico border be painted black in order to deter illegal crossings.
Speaking to reporters in New Mexico, Noem said the border wall is being built tall and extended deep underground to prevent any breaches, and the metal would be painted black to make it even more difficult to climb.
“That is specifically at the request of the president, who understands that in the hot temperatures down here, when something is painted black, it gets even warmer, and it will make it even harder for people to climb,” she said.
“So we are going to be painting the entire southern border wall black to make sure that we encourage individuals to not come into our country illegally, to not break our federal laws.”
Noem noted that cameras and sensors would be installed in the future to enhance security at the border, adding that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also plans to build “water-borne infrastructure.”
“Construction right now is at the pace of a little bit less than a half a mile a day, and the border wall will look very different based on the topography and the geography of where it is built,” she added.
Noem did not provide details on the wall’s construction cost. The One Big Beautiful Bill, signed into law by Trump last month, allocated about $46.5 billion for the construction of a wall along the border with Mexico.
Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border after taking office for a second term on Jan. 20, directing the deployment of armed forces to assist with border security efforts.
Under the declaration, Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were ordered to take “all appropriate action” to construct more physical barriers along the border. Following that order, Noem issued a waiver in April that enabled the immediate construction of 2.5 miles of border in California.
Trump has signed several executive actions aimed at deterring illegal immigration, including a memo authorizing the military to take control of land along the U.S.–Mexico border.
Data released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) last month shows that illegal border crossings fell to their lowest level in June, with no parole releases of illegal immigrants.
There were 25,228 total encounters nationwide in June, down from 29,478 the previous month, marking the lowest monthly total ever recorded by CBP, the agency stated.
Border Patrol apprehensions nationwide also dropped to a historic low, with 8,024 apprehensions recorded, compared with 10,357 in May, according to the agency.
In Live CNBC Audition, Jefferies’ Zervos Says Fed Not Independent, Powell Left-Leaning
David Zervos, the Chief Market Strategist at Jefferies, has garnered significant attention as a potential candidate for the role of Federal Reserve Chair, amid increasing activity on prediction markets.
This morning he placed his flag firmly in the ground as a front-runner and most assuredly got President Trump’s attention when he said during a CNBC interview that it’s inaccurate to describe the US central bank as independent, and moreover, ‘Wall Street Jesus’ (as he has been called given his hirsute characteristics) described the outgoing Fed chief as aligned with the political left.
“The Fed has never been independent, and the political pressures on the Fed have always been growing and continue to grow,” Zervos said on CNBC.
He then went further:
“I think he’s actually quite a bit dependent,” Zervos said of Powell.
“He’s operating politically from the left. Or, let’s put it this way, from the anti-Trump side.”
He highlighted pressure from Democratic lawmakers in recent years on monetary policymakers to lower interest rates.
History features episodes of Treasury secretaries and administrations “behind the scenes” trying to influence Fed chairs, Zervos also said.
Watch the full exchange here (with Andrew Ross Sorkin unable to contain his own ‘independence’)…
The Jefferies strategist is no stranger to the limelight as some may remember he refused to cut his hair until Fed Chair Powell cut interest rates…
…which he did in 2019…
After which appears to have discovered Ozempic (picture here with Kellyanne Conway who he reportedly dated for a time)…
Zervos’ odds are on the rise across prediction markets with PolyMarket seeing a big spike yesterday and now Zervos is up to the 3rd place…
Zervos also repeated his argument that the steady contraction of the Fed’s balance sheet in recent years has left monetary policy more restrictive than many perceive – adding to the case for lowering rates.
“You’re left now with rates at a much more restrictive rate, without that extra kicker from the balance sheet,” Zervos said.
“So we really need to get rates back toward a more neutral level.”
WTI Holds Gains After Biggest Crude Draw In Over 2 Months, US Production Rises
Oil prices are higher this morning, bucking a broadly risk-off sentiment across markets, following API’s report overnight showing US crude stockpiles declined last week, while traders assessed negotiations to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“Focus is gradually shifting back towards fundamentals,” said Arne Lohmann Rasmussen, chief analyst at A/S Global Risk Management.
Declining US inventories in EIA data later “could lend support, as many fear a significant inventory build in the coming quarters.”
The drop shows summer demand remains solid even as supply is on the rise.
Investors are watching on progress toward a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine following a series of high-level talks brokered by President Donald Trump.
“The latest series of meetings aimed at brokering peace in Ukraine was also weighed by financial markets, but had a more pronounced impact on oil. Intense talks about ending hostilities, however elusive, raised the spectre of Russia re-entering the international market. That was until overnight, as Russia, based on comments from its foreign minister, appears less than enthusiastic about a meeting with the Ukrainian leader, a prerequisite for any potential peace,” PVM Oil Associates noted.
Any eventual peace deal could lead to fewer restrictions on Russia’s crude exports, although Moscow has largely kept its oil flowing despite an array of sanctions.
API
Crude -2.4mm (-1.2mm exp)
Cushing
Gasoline +1mm
Distillates +500k
DOE
Crude -6.01mm (biggest draw since June)
Cushing +419k
Gasoline -2.72mm
Distillates +2.34mm
Official data confirmed API’s reported drawdown in crude stocks (but far larger at over 6mm barrels – the biggest draw since the start of June). Stocks at the Cushing Hub rose for the 7th straight week while Gasoline inventories fell for the 5th straight week…
Source: Bloomberg
Despite another 223k barrel addition to the SPR, total US crude commercial stocks fell significantly…
Source: Bloomberg
US Crude production edged higher as the rig count stabilized its declining trend…
Source: Bloomberg
WTI is holding gains after the big crude draw…
Source: Bloomberg
The longer-term outlook for the oil market looks bearish, with expectations for a glut later in 2025 as OPEC+ returns barrels and as Trump’s trade policies spark concerns about demand. Futures are down more than 10% this year.
American Academy Of Pediatrics Pushes COVID-19 Vax For All Infants
In stark contrast to reality, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) – which is heavily funded by pharmaceutical companies, recommended on Tuesday that young children, including infants, receive the COVID-19 vaccine despite the fact that children are minimally impacted by the virus, the fact that the vaccine doesn’t prevent one from contracting it, and that it largely only helps the elderly and medically fragile from severe cases.
According to the organization, all children ages 6-23 months should receive the COVID-19 vaccine – regardless of whether they have natural immunity from prior infection, unless they have a contraindication such as a history of severe allergic reaction to a vaccine ingredient.
While the recommendation is universal, the group said in a statement that their recommendation stems from infants and other children who are “at high risk for severe COVID-19.”
As the Epoch Timesnotes further, the organization pointed, in part, to a paper it published that found that among children hospitalized for COVID-19 from fall 2022 to spring 2024, the majority of those younger than 2 had no underlying conditions.
Of note, the paper cited surveyed 2,490 children who were hospitalized with COVID-19, effectively a rounding error.
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC’s parent agency, told The Epoch Times in an email that the AAP, which receives funding from vaccine manufacturers, should strengthen its conflict-of-interest safeguards.
“By bypassing the CDC’s advisory process and freelancing its own recommendations, while smearing those who demand accountability, the AAP is putting commercial interests ahead of public health and politics above America’s children,” Andrew Nixon, the spokesman, said.
The CDC used to recommend that all children, except for those younger than 6 months, receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
In May, under orders from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the CDC stopped recommending the vaccine for healthy children and pregnant women.
The CDC’s schedule currently states that children with moderately or severely compromised immune systems should receive a vaccine, even if they’ve been vaccinated before.
Children who do not have weakened immune systems “may receive COVID-19 vaccination, informed by the clinical judgment of a healthcare provider and personal preference and circumstances,” the schedule states.
“There’s no evidence healthy kids need it today, and most countries have stopped recommending it for children,” Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said when the schedule was changed.
Many countries, including the UK and Australia, no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccines for most or all children.
The AAP, which previously recommended COVID-19 vaccination for all children 6 months and older, now advises the vaccine for people ages 2 to 18 who meet one of four criteria: they are at high risk of severe illness, live in crowded settings such as long-term care facilities, have never been vaccinated against COVID-19, or live with someone at high risk.
Children who do not fall into any of those categories are not advised to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. At the same time, if a parent or guardian wishes, the child “should be offered” a single dose, according to the recommendations.
“The AAP will continue to provide recommendations for immunizations that are rooted in science and are in the best interest of the health of infants, children and adolescents,” Dr. Susan Kressly, AAP’s president, said in a statement.
AAP has about 67,000 members, including pediatricians, in the United States and other countries. Its funders include Pfizer and Moderna, which manufacture two of the three COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States.
Insurance Coverage
After the government narrowed its recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines, the AAP and some other organizations said they were worried that insurers would stop covering vaccines for children and pregnant women.
Many insurers, as well as Medicaid and Medicare, are required to cover vaccines in the CDC’s schedule.
“As we navigate an evolving health care landscape, maintaining robust immunization coverage continues to be a top priority for protecting both individual and community health,” AHIP, a trade group for insurers, said in a joint statement after the COVID-19 vaccine recommendations were changed.
“We are committed to ongoing coverage of vaccines to ensure access and affordability for this respiratory virus season. We encourage all Americans to talk to their health care provider about vaccines.”
Kressly said on Tuesday that the AAP is urging insurers to cover the vaccines in the organization’s schedule.
“AAP is committed to working with our partners at the local, state and federal levels to make sure every child, in every community has access to vaccines,” she said.
Some states have maintained universal COVID-19 vaccine recommendations.
Other critics of the CDC’s updated schedule also plan on releasing their own recommendations.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, for instance, said it will release recommendations on maternal immunizations at the end of the summer in collaboration with the Vaccine Integrity Project, an effort established this year by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and led by Dr. Michael Osterholm, a former adviser to President Joe Biden.
The project has a presentation scheduled for Aug. 19 titled “From Data to Decisions: The Evidence Base for 2025 Fall/Winter Immunizations.”
Influenza Recommendations
The AAP’s recommendations largely align with the CDC’s recommendations when it comes to influenza vaccination.
Both advise one or two doses annually starting at 6 months of age, with a transition to one dose annually starting around age 11.
The CDC, though, only recommends influenza vaccines that are free of thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative.
The CDC’s vaccine advisory committee told the agency over the summer it should issue a recommendation against thimerosal-containing flu vaccines. Kennedy accepted the recommendation in July.
Advisers and Kennedy said they wanted to act to prevent mercury accumulation in children. Studies have found links between thimerosal and health problems, such as a paper that found an association between thimerosal exposure and tics.
The AAP was among the groups that opposed the move, stating that there were no health concerns with the amount of mercury present in the vaccines.
The organization said in a policy statement that it recommends “any licensed influenza vaccine product appropriate for age and health status and does not prefer one product over another.” It said that “influenza vaccination should not be delayed to obtain a specific product, including a thimerosal-free product.”
The US banking lobby isn’t keen on interest-bearing stablecoins or their supposed challenge to financial systems — but it may be too late to amend these “loopholes” in the GENIUS Act.
The Banking Policy Institute (BPI), an advocacy group for the banking industry led by JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, wrote a letter to Congress last week, arguing that stablecoins present a risk to existing credit systems.
The BPI urged regulators to close supposed loopholes in the GENIUS Act, a new law regulating the stablecoin industry in the US, lest a shift from bank deposits increase lending costs and reduce loans to businesses.
The bank lobby holds considerable sway in Washington, and while it may be able to complicate lawmaking, some argue that it’s delaying the inevitable: a future denominated in stablecoins.
Prominent members in the crypto industry have long argued that stablecoin issuers should be allowed to offer users interest. In March, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said interest-bearing stablecoins would give users more control over financial products.
But according to Andrew Rossow, policy and public affairs attorney, the novelty of onchain interest means problems like solvency, liquidity and investor protection aren’t straightforward.
“Claims of ‘easy compliance’ overlook the complex realities of ensuring proper reserve backing, Anti-Money Laundering/Know Your Customer and prudential oversight simultaneously,” he told Cointelegraph.
The BPI’s letter addressed these concerns directly. It particularly called into question a so-called “loophole” in Sec. 4(a)(11) of GENIUS, which prohibits stablecoin issuers from paying “any form of interest or yield (whether in cash, tokens, or other consideration) solely in connection with the holding, use, or retention of such payment stablecoin.”
This section seems to ban yielding stablecoins, but according to Aaron Brogan, founder of crypto-focused law firm Brogan Law, “many believe that it does not ban deals between exchanges and issuers.”
The ability for other firms, like exchanges, to allow interest on stablecoins is based on factors other than “holding use or retention” as mentioned in GENIUS. The word “solely” in the GENIUS Act is a “powerful legal limiter, and it really does mean that if there is any other basis for the deals, they probably don’t qualify,” he told Cointelegraph.
So, while GENIUS is “written to appear quite complete, the prohibition on interest is probably actually relatively porous.”
Stablecoins, which can often offer much higher interest than traditional bank offerings, “do not substitute for bank deposits, money market funds or investment products, and payment stablecoin issuers are not regulated, supervised or examined in the same way,” said the BPI.
It said that this poses a threat to existing credit models. As things stand, customer deposits allow banks to create a significant portion of the money supply through loans and lines of credit.
“Incentivizing a shift from bank deposits and money market funds to stablecoins would end up increasing lending costs and reducing loans to businesses and consumer households,” the BPI stated.
The banking industry’s concerns may have some grounding, said Rossow. “The bank lobby’s strongest argument is that allowing stablecoin issuers to pay interest risks would create unregulated ‘shadow banks,’ threatening financial stability and consumer safety. Without robust capital, reserve requirements and oversight, stablecoin issuers could trigger liquidity crises and expose users to even more risk,” he said.
However, the banks’ position begins to fall apart when it calls issuer-paid interest on stablecoins “inherently dangerous,” said Rossow. Given that some proposals from the crypto industry show it’s possible to allow issuer interest with proper regulation, “a total ban may seem more about protecting traditional banks than balanced progress.”
Will the GENIUS Act be amended?
Pursuing self-interest at the expense of the greater good is essentially taken for granted in Washington. In this regard, powerful and conflicting influences in the policymaking process can “dilute legislation and regulation, leading to a policy gridlock yielding compromises that would most likely please neither side entirely, only to create further market uncertainty,” said Rossow.
He said that, prior to the 2008 financial crisis, mortgage lenders blocked more strict regulations on predatory lending, directly contributing to the financial risk-taking that led to the financial system’s collapse.
“These lobbying battles only serve to widen the regulatory gaps and weaknesses that undermine our financial stability and consumer protections, further erode public confidence and, now more relevant than ever, our government’s ability to regulate impartially — especially when lobbying appears to grant preferential treatment to vested interests, hidden or not,” Rossow said.
But the banking industry’s ability to actually challenge stablecoins is limited, and it may just be attempting to challenge the inevitable, according to Brogan. It’s unlikely that the crypto industry will accept amendments to GENIUS, a law on which it’s already made concessions.
Jake Chervinsky, chief legal officer of Variant, noted that the law already took bank lobby considerations into account. Source: Jake Chervinsky
“The bank lobby is tilting at windmills here. Sometimes you do see new language snuck into other legislation like pork, but I doubt something so significant could pass under the radar. I don’t expect more stablecoin legislation in this Congress,” he said.
Rather, Brogan said that the banks were pushing back against the inevitable, drawing on the historical example of music executives decrying the rise of digital music and file sharing.
“People never wanted to use banks to make payments, they just had to. Now, they don’t. Just like digital music files were better than CDs, disintermediated finance is better and easier than traditional banking,” he said in a recent blog post.
The banking industry has considerable sway in Washington, but its concerns about stablecoins may be a day late and a dollar short. The crypto industry now has the ability to advocate for its own interests successfully and influentially, and it has done so in the form of GENIUS.
What remains to be seen is how this new financial order shakes out for everyday investors. Per the BPI, a shift toward stablecoins means “higher interest rates, fewer loans, and increased costs for Main Street businesses and households.”
Housing Market Cracks Widen: Top Siding Company Suffers Worst Stock Collapse In 50 Years
James Hardie Industries – the world’s largest producer of fiber cement products, headquartered in Ireland and dual-listed in Sydney and New York – issued a grim housing outlook that sent its Sydney shares plunging the most in 50 years. The warning underscores deepening cracks emerging in the U.S. housing market under the continued weight of elevated interest rates. President Trump issued a new warning overnight about those rates “hurting” the housing industry.
James Hardie generates about 70% of its revenue from North America. Its flagship product, HardiePlank, is widely used in residential housing as an alternative to wood or vinyl siding. That makes the company’s earnings reports closely watched, given its heavy exposure to the U.S. housing market.
Its first-quarter results missed Wall Street expectations, highlighting ongoing uncertainty in the housing market. Quarterly profit dropped to $62.6 million, or 15 cents per share, from $155.3 million, or 36 cents, a year earlier. Adjusted EPS was 29 cents, below FactSet’s consensus of 33 cents, while revenue declined 9% to $899.9 million, also missing the $952.7 million estimate.
“The gloomy outlook reflects weaker-than-anticipated activity in single-family new construction throughout the summer, as well as challenging demand trends in the repair and remodel market,” CEO Aaron Erter stated, adding, “It also factors in expectations for further inventory calibration by the company’s channel partners in the remainder of the calendar year.”
“Uncertainty is a common thread throughout conversations with customer and contractor partners,” Erter said, pointing out, “Homeowners are deferring large-ticket remodeling projects like re-siding, and affordability remains the key impediment to improvement in single-family new construction.”
James Hardie shares are down over 30% in the US pre-open…
…the most since November 1973, following the dismal earnings report and mounting construction challenges across North America.
James Hardie’s results add to the red flags for traders materializing in the construction and property space, with lumber prices sliding in recent months. Also, Toll Brothers gave disappointing guidance.
Meanwhile, President Trump fired off this Truth Social post in the overnight, “Could somebody please inform Jerome “Too Late” Powell that he is hurting the Housing Industry, very badly? People can’t get a Mortgage because of him. There is no Inflation, and every sign is pointing to a major Rate Cut. “Too Late” is a disaster!”
The Federal Reserve’s next policy meeting will be held on September 16-17. Interest rate swaps have odds at about 84.5% of a 25bps cut.
The downbeat outlook for the U.S. housing market and homeowners deferring large-ticket remodeling projects only suggests cracks are emerging. Maybe Trump is right.
The director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency is urging Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook over a pair of mortgages, the latest in a series of moves by the Trump administration to increase legal scrutiny of Democratic figures and appointees.
FHFA Director Bill Pulte wrote a letter to Bondi and DOJ official Ed Martin on Aug. 15 suggesting that Cook may have committed a criminal offense. The letter alleges that Cook “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud under the criminal statute.”
Bloomberg reports that Pulte said Cook took a mortgage on a property in Ann Arbor, Michigan, signing a mortgage agreement that stipulated she would use the property as her primary residence for at least a year.
Two weeks later, according to the letter, she took another mortgage on a Georgia property and also declared it would be her primary residence.
Pulte also called on Bondi to look into whether Cook misrepresented her circumstances by later listing the Georgia property for rental.
The letter includes copies of mortgage documents in Cook’s name, as well as an apparent rental listing from 2022, a little over a year after she bought the Georgia property.
…as the full court press to pack The Fed continues.
Cook was nominated to the Fed by President Joe Biden and took office in 2022, becoming the first Black woman to serve on the Fed’s board of governors.
She was later nominated by Biden for a full term, which expires in 2038.
Bloomberg reports that no charges have been filed and it’s not clear whether Bondi will investigate. The Justice Department declined comment. The Federal Reserve declined comment. Cook did not respond to requests for comment late Tuesday.
