Asia

European and Asian stocks slumped on Thursday following the worst one-day drop in US stocks in 8 months, while S&P futures tumbled to session lows, down 0.3% to 2,350 after initially posting a modest rebound, following a new Reuters report alleging that Trump campaign members communication with Russians on at least 18 occasions, and which prompted today's risk off mood sending the USDJPY crashing by 100 pips from overnight highs of 111.40.

Authored by Irina Slav via OilPrice.com,

When President Trump came into office, he openly resented the major trade deficit with Asia’s number-two economy and vowed to remedy the situation. While his words smacked of economic protectionism to many, the latest news about China-U.S. economic relations reveal a different picture.

A risk-off mood dominated the overnight session amid growing concern over the turmoil engulfing the Trump administration, as fresh allegations add to deepening political scandals in Washington, the latest coming from Tuesday's NYT report citing former FBI director Comey’s memo which raises possibility of obstruction of justice, an impeachable offense. The dollar, already in retreat after a report that the U.S.

Authored by Peter Pry, chief of staff of the Congressional EMP Commission, op-ed via The Hill,

Since Sept. 11, 2001, analysts have been increasingly concerned terrorists might steal, buy, build, or be given a nuclear weapon — and the War on Terrorism would become a nuclear war. The Department of Homeland Security’s National Planning Scenario #1 is detonation of a 10-kiloton nuclear weapon, as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb, in a location such as New York City or Washington, D.C. 

We first brought the world's attention to Noble Group in 2015, as commodity markets crashed and what was Asia's largest commodity trader faced near-bankrutpcy as trading partners lost faith, bonds were dumped, and CDS protection was bid. In the months since, panic subsided and everything  - as it always seems to have been - was fine... until last week!!

Which brings us to the recent price action in Silver (as well as various other commodities). As The Macro Tourist's Kevin Muir asks (and answers) -

Was Noble The Big Silver Seller?