Each day, numerous headlines command investors' attention. Today, I think the most important is the Pentagon's second mass deployment of US Marines to the Middle East.

Meanwhile, the United States has been pounding watercraft and other targets in the Straits of Hormuz.  I was in the US Air Force and saw some amazing aircraft up close, this is by far my favorite.

The goal is to destroy and deter, and soon the Marines will be positioned.

The U.S. Marine Corps, established on November 10, 1775, has historically served as a rapid-deployment force for national crises, foreign interventions, and security duties. It is known as the "force of choice."

Its first combat action was the First Barbary War, from 1801 to 1805, against Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean Sea and in North Africa. Marines overtook the fort at Derna, forcing the surrender of the city and the capitulation of the Bey of Tripoli.

That decisive victory is why "To the shores of Tripoli" became part of the Marines' Hymn.

In passing, I want to say RIP to Chuck Norris, who also served in the Air Force from 1958 to 1962 and was made an honorary Marine in 2007.

As the market waits for events in the Middle East to unfold, investors are grappling with other issues as well.

• Overall bias is to the downside.
• Long only funds sold a record $9.6 billion yesterday.

Private Credit is becoming a Main Street media story. Meanwhile, Wall Street is promoting ways to benefit from the saga.

It reminds me of Orcas hunting Great White Sharks.

The Fed is being held back by rising inflation.

Today is a triple-witching with $5.7 trillion in notional value of options expiring. It’s the largest since March 1995.

The good news is that, on the surface, things have been orderly. Although we know of pockets of turmoil that preceded the Iran Conflict and remain unresolved.

Like the selloff in Software (IGV) resuming after a strong, but short-lived, bounce attempt.

The financial media is now suggesting that resolve is complacency and will bring in a parade of “experts” hoping to spook retail investors out of the market. 

Forget about orcas triggering panic with fundamentals as good as they are. These wolves will swoop in like a pack of piranha, in a feeding frenzy, eating up the bargains.

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