Putting Iran aside for a moment, I want to point out, besides Iranian news, just how strong the American economy is — war or not. By the way, the Dow Jones index just hit a new record high of 53,178. Today’s Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index came in far higher than consensus estimates, and scored its seventh straight monthly gain. And the aforementioned manufacturing AI productivity boom is leading to soaring profits, lower economy-wide costs, and guess what? A record breaking Dow.