In light of the only thing that matters for markets (that would be Donald Trump for those who have slept through the past three months), here are some salient thoughts from the latest weekend notes by One River Asset Management's Eric Peters, whose uncanny ability to put a unique spin on events in third person continues to impress.
Shortly after Senators McCain and Graham issued their "joint statement on President Trump's Executive Order on immigration"...
U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) released the following statement today on the President’s executive order on immigration:
“Our government has a responsibility to defend our borders, but we must do so in a way that makes us safer and upholds all that is decent and exceptional about our nation.
As markets continue to break record highs, the echelon of premier finance sites in America continues to undergo deleterious drawdowns in their traffic. Anyone who operates a finance site knows that lack of volatility is the death knell for traffic. People aren't interested in reading about stocks, generally speaking, when markets are effervescently gliding towards new highs. They are, in fact, keenly interested in horrible news and/or rapidly declining equity prices.
Update: The White House has just released a statement confirming this is similar to President Obama's plan...
President Donald J. Trump Statement Regarding Recent Executive Order Concerning Extreme Vetting
"America is a proud nation of immigrants and we will continue to show compassion to those fleeing oppression, but we will do so while protecting our own citizens and border. America has always been the land of the free and home of the brave. We will keep it free and keep it safe, as the media knows, but refuses to say.
By Vitaliy Katsenelson
This a new year, and my crystal ball was supposed to have become magically unfogged by the turn of the calendar. Well, I hate to disappoint you, but it hasn’t. Unlike our new president, I lack certitude about the brightness of our future.
My thinking is caught between two quotations from Mark Twain. The first is, “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” And the second: “I’ve lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.”