US-Iran Escalation, Powell Dismisses March Cut & Trump Vs China

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On today's podcast:

(1) The Biden administration vowed more strikes against Iran's forces and its proxies in the Middle East after three straight days of punishing attacks, even as senior officials insisted the US won't be pulled into a prolonged regional conflict.

(2) Iranian-backed Houthis vowed to respond to US and British-led airstrikes after dozens of targets of the Yemen-based rebel group were struck overnight.

(3) Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Americans may have to wait beyond March for the central bank to cut interest rates as officials look for more economic data to confirm that inflation is headed down to 2%.

(4) China has pledged to stabilize markets after shares sank to a five-year low in chaotic trading on Friday, but policymakers offered no specifics on how they plan to end a selloff that's erased more than $6 trillion of value and dented confidence in the world's second-largest economy.

(5) On top of tumbling stocks, an embattled property market and a struggling economy, there's at least one more thing keeping domestic Chinese investors up at night: a potential win by former US president Donald Trump in the November general election.

(6) Former President Donald Trump says he might impose a tariff on Chinese goods of more than 60% if elected, signalling an increasingly hawkish tone against the top supplier of goods to the US.

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