• President Donald Trump said he's planning on increasing the defense budget by "many billions of dollars."
"We're going to be increasing our budget by many billions of dollars because of North Korea and other reasons having to do with the anti-missile," Trump told reporters Thursday at his New Jersey golf club.
It wasn't immediately clear how the president intends to achieve that spending increase. Trump said, however, that the White House may be able to provide more detail over the next week.
“That is a big part of the reason why I'm currently bearish gold for the short-term (bullish for long-term portfolios).”
• President Donald Trump said he's planning on increasing the defense budget by "many billions of dollars."
"We're going to be increasing our budget by many billions of dollars because of North Korea and other reasons having to do with the anti-missile," Trump told reporters Thursday at his New Jersey golf club.
It wasn't immediately clear how the president intends to achieve that spending increase. Trump said, however, that the White House may be able to provide more detail over the next week.
• U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for ordering the United States to slash its diplomatic staff in Russia, remarks likely to rekindle criticism of Trump's kid-gloves handling of Putin.
• Undeterred by escalating tensions between Pyongyang and Washington rattling nerves globally, a steady stream of tourists from China each morning passes through the immigration checkpoint at the border trading hub of Dandong.
• Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Thursday that his country would support the United States if it were attacked by North Korea.
“Australia would come to the aid of the U.S. as America would come to our aid if we were attacked,” Turnbull said, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
• If North Korea launches an attack that threatens the United States then China should stay neutral, but if the United States attacks first and tries to overthrow North Korea's government China will stop them, a Chinese state-run newspaper said on Friday.
• Oil prices fell on Friday, dragged lower by persistent oversupply worries despite a bigger-than-expected drawdown in U.S. crude inventories.
Investors were also keeping a close eye on the broad market impact of tensions between the United States and North Korea.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, was at $51.62 a barrel at 0652 GMT, down 28 cents, or 0.54 percent from its last close. That was the lowest since Aug. 1.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 32 cents, or 0.66 percent, at $48.27 per barrel, reaching the lowest since July 26.
Reference: Reuters
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