Authored by Chris Hamilton via Econimica blog,
(The following was written as an outline for a potential book. To this point no publisher has shown interest and time and funds have run out.)
Looks like Russian President Vladimir Putin is back at it.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that hackers working for the Russian government have stolen data describing how US intelligence agencies infiltrate foreign computer networks and how they defend against cyberattacks. The data were stolen after a National Security Agency contractor removed the highly classified material and put it on his home computer, according to WSJ’s anonymous sources.
Global markets came off record highs, trading subdued, with US index futures unchanged as traders are unwilling to make major moves ahead of today's ECB minutes and tomorrow’s NFP release, and before speeches by central bankers including SF Fed President John Williams and the potential next Fed chair Jerome Powell, as well as ECB executive board members Peter Praet and Benoit Coeure.
As we reported yesterday, Austria was set to make Eurozone history with the first sale of a 100 year bond direct to public markets, bypassing private syndication. It did that later in the day, when the €3.5 billion offering priced tighter than initially marketed, at RAGB 2/2047 +50, at a price 99.502 to yield a paltry 2.112% and with a negligible 2.1% cash coupon.
With all the talk of hurricanes now officially behind us (at least for now), the media was once again able to return to its favorite topic at today's daily press briefing with Sarah Sanders: Russia. And with Steve Bannon recently referring to it as the biggest mistake "in modern political history," today seemed like the perfect time to once again ask Sanders for her thoughts on the Comey dismissal.