Asia

• Geopolitics, Deutsche Bank drag global stocks lower (Reuters)
• Deutsche Bank Turnaround Plan Gets Mixed Reaction (BBG)
• Conservative Groups Jeopardize GOP Plan to Repeal Health Law (WSJ)
• Russian Hackers Seek Hush Money From Liberal U.S. Groups (BBG)
• Automakers Near a Victory on Rollback of Fuel Standards (NYT)
• Brought Down by Long Bust, Texas Oilmen Pray for Another Boom (WSJ)
• General Motors Waves Goodbye to Europe (BBG)
• PSA targets Opel turnaround as GM exits Europe (Reuters)

World stocks pulled back from all time highs, and European bourses initially followed U.S. futures and Asian shares lower, however both European risk sentiment as well as E-Minis rebounded after an Odoxa poll showed Macron overtaking Le Pen in the 1st round for the first time, and that the addition of Juppe instead of Fillon may see a 2nd round run-off between Macron vs Juppe, leading to a slump in Bund futures to session lows, and a bounce in European stocks.

With the US stock market likely to continue its levitation today, it means that by close of trading, the S&P500 will be above 2,400, the same as Goldman's year end price target, and 100 points away from Bank of America's "euphoric blow off top" destination, which is also known as Michael Hartnett's Icarus Trade. In a note released overnight, Hartnett confirms that he is "sticking with our “Icarus Trade” targets: SPX 2500, GT30 3.5%, DXY 110, oil $70/b", even as he admits that the euphoria level in stocks is unprecedented:

The month of February was a mixed to positive among a broad sample of assets.

Earlier today, the world's biggest fast food retailer spooked its investors when it briefly halted trading in its stock ahead of its annual investor day. However, instead of some dramatic M&A deal revelation, McDonalds had a far less exciting announcement: it had decided to go back to basis in an attempt to recover some 500 million U.S. orders it had lost over the past five years to competition as a result of failed attempts to widen its customer base.