Asia

Authored by Soeren Kern via The Gatestone Institute,

Authored by James Durso via OilPrice.com,

It’s the 101st anniversary of the Sykes–Picot Agreement and, in light of the non-stop Syrian Civil War, it’s time to ask, “How’s that working out for you?”

73 years ago today...

Gold remains the big winner post-payrolls...

Via Disobedient Media

As China's economy has boomed, corporations and individuals with historically close ties to the government have been the major beneficiaries. Sitting flush with massive amounts of cash on hand, power players in the Chinese markets have increasingly sought to branch out and increase their investments in foreign countries. Many of these investments target key industries despite their own government often restricting or forbidding the same kind of foreign investment domestically.

With traders realizing that the "Thursday Turmoil Trifecta" looms, world stocks dropped and safe-haven assets rose as investors focused on the growing tension in the Middle East, while caution spread across markets in a week full of risk events including James Comey’s congressional testimony to the ECB’s policy meeting and Britain’s increasingly uncertain election, all in the span of 24 hours. As a result, European and Asian stocks as well as S&P futures all fell, while gold, yen and Treasuries gained.