Asia

Authored by Harry Kazianis via The Stratgeic Culture Foundation,

In his recent book The Improbable War, professor Christopher Coker explains that it is “of vital importance that the possibility of a conflict between China and the United States continues to be discussed.” Coker’s rationale for this is simple: “If the United States and China continue to convince themselves that war is too ‘improbable’ to take seriously, it is not they but the rest of the world that may ultimately pay the price.”

It appears the false narrative of the failed healthcare reform bill being somehow great news for stocks has been eviscerated in early Asia trading. The dollar has tumbled to its lowest since Nov 10th, Gold has ripped back above $1250, and S&P futures have plunged to 6 week lows.

The Bloomberg Dollar Index has almost erased the entire post-Trump-election gains...

US equity futures are tumbling - Dow is down over 700 points from its highs...

And gold is back above $1250...

Asian shares and S&P futures rose on optimism that today's rescheduled U.S. vote on health care will pass following Trump's Ultimatum to the Freedom Caucus. European stocks gave up some of Thursday’s gains, falling for the fourth time in five days, and moving further away from a 15-month high reached a week ago while the yen weakened for the first time in nine days before the long awaited U.S. health-care vote that has dominated market sentiment this week. Oil was headed for a third weekly drop this month. Economic data include durable goods orders, Markit U.S. manufacturing PMI.

European and Asian stocks were modestly in the green, with U.S. futures higher, before a critical procedural vote on a Republican health-care bill to repeal Obamacare, while Janet Yellen is set to speak in Washington at 8:45am.

Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com,

It’s been six months now that oil prices have been reacting to OPEC, first to the possibility of an agreement, and then to the production cut deal itself, forged by OPEC to rebalance the market. The deal--initially aired as ‘an agreement to agree on a deal’ in September and signed at the end of November—will likely impact the market for at least the next six months.