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European shares are modestly lower as investors monitor tense events in Spain and as focus turns to Thursday’s ECB meeting; US equity futures have rebounded from yesterday's sharp but shallow selloff and are in the green amid rising odds of U.S. tax reform and the imminent unveiling of the next Fed chair while Asian shares rise and Japan extends its winning streak to a record 16 days. The euro edged higher after data showed Europe’s economy is maintaining momentum, while the USDJPY managed to recover all of yesterday's sharp losses.

Having been responsible for the biggest flash crashes in recent years, it is no surprise that when it comes to the market's growing structural vulnerabilities, high frequency traders have emerged as the primary authority on how to crash the market in the blink of an eye. Which is perhaps why none other than the Pentagon is seeking advice from HFTs on how hackers could "unleash chaos" in the US financial system.

While Hurricane Irma, which was reclassified as a tropical storm early Monday, spared Miami from a "worst case" scenario, the former hurricane saved some of its worst storm surge impacts for northeast Florida, coastal Georgia, and South Carolina.

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Yesterday, when stocks surged at the market open following Politico's report that Trump is unexpectedly "making strides" on tax reform, we warned that "it can all be wiped away as soon as tonight, when Trump will deliver a speech to his "base", in which he may promptly burn any of the goodwill he created with capital markets following his far more conventional Afghanistan speech last night."Well, that's precisely what happened, because on Tuesday night, in another fiery campaign rally, Trump fiercely defended his response to violence in Charlottesville, made passing remarks from a