United Kingdom

We own gold bullion to "support national security" - Russian Central Bank

US equity futures continued their push higher into record territory overnight (ES +0.1%), and the VIX is 1.5% lower and back under 10, after yesterday's blistering surge in US stocks which jumped 1%, the most since Sept. 11, following Powell's deregulation promise, ahead of today's 2nd estimate of U.S. Q3 GDP which is expected to be revised up. U.S.

Earlier this month, we noted further evidence that London’s housing bubble is bursting. In its October 2017 survey, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reported the largest proportion of respondents seeing a drop in London house prices versus the previous month since 2009. The net balance was nearly two thirds (-63%) in favour of declines, which contrasted sharply with a national average which was marginally in positive territory (+1%).

This is a first, a new charity in the UK called Action Hunger plans to install a vending machine for the homeless in December. The organization describes itself as a charity with a “new approach to combating homelessness.” The initial plan will be installing a machine in the town of Nottingham in the December time-period, then a second machine in Manchester sometime early 2018.

Update: That did not last long. Shortly after The Telegraph report hit the wires, AP reports that Brexit talks between the UK and European Union are continuing as officials played down suggestions that a deal has been reached on the so-called divorce bill.

 Reports suggested an agreement in principle has been reached which would see Theresa May increase her offer and pay between £40 and £49 billion (45-55 billion euro).