Americas

Remember when investing was about reading financial reports, following news, anticipating cash flows, inferring the impact of monetary policy on risk prices, occasionally looking at charts (because while traders say past performance is not predictive, virtually everyone expects a chart to forecast precisely what will happen). Well, now it is about simpler things: like what asset will China's great bubble-chasing army send into the stratosphere or, as has been the case over the past few weeks, what will Donald Trump tweet about next.

Rapper Azealia Banks had admitted that she practises Illuminati rituals in a blood-stained room in order to succeed in the entertainment industry.  On Friday night, Azealia uploaded a video to Instagram that showed a room which she said was used ‘for witchcraft’ in order to cast spells and which she admitted she had sacrificed chickens in. Mirror.co.uk reports: In an Instagram video, that has since been deleted, she chats to the camera looking like she’s ready to get her hands dirty.

Did the Russians really rig the 2016 US election? The Daily Telegraph's Tim Blair exposes 'the truth' - You bet they did!

Secret documents recently discovered in a bin behind a Kremlin-district 24-hour cabbage and tobacco store reveal for the first time the devious extent of Russian interference. These plans were decades in the making.

Authored by Scott Kristoff via Avondale Asset Management,

We started this year with the economy deteriorating and finished it with the second interest rate increase in ten years.  There were a lot of ups and downs along the way, but ultimately 2016 was defined by three key story-lines:  1) Brexit 2) The Presidential Election 3) Fed Policy.

Submitted by Jennifer Thomson via Gavekal Capital blog,