It has been a volatile and unsettling period in the Middle East. If the geopolitical stress isn’t enough, oil prices remain elevated at $105 per barrel (WTI), roughly 57% above levels seen before the bombings began.
On the surface, this negative narrative sounds like a disastrous backdrop for financial markets. Yet, last month’s stock market performance tells a completely different story.
A major contributor to the profit expansion is rising profit margins. Today, companies are earning a profit of approximately 11 cents per dollar of sales, compared to just 5.5 cents during the 1970s and 1980s.
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The Geopolitical Dilemma: Iran Gone Wrong
It has been a volatile and unsettling period in the Middle East. Following more than a month of continuous bombing in Iran, the United States reached a tenuous ceasefire. While the
