Asia

With the Dow Jones set to open just 15 points away from 20,000, and likely to cross the key psychological threshold, here is one explanation for the overnight euphoria from JPM's Adam Crisafully.

The day the Dow crosses 20,000 may finally be here, because with DJIA futures trading 65 points higher in premarket trading, added to yesterday's close of 19,912 and latest record high in the S&P, it means that all it will take is a modest of only 25 points for the critical Dow threshold to be finally breached. Celebrating the upcoming record, world stocks hit a 19-month high on Wednesday, lifted by strong Japanese trade data, strong European company earnings and hopes that U.S. President Donald Trump will press ahead with a large fiscal spending package.

Submitted by Saxo Bank's Martin O'Rourke via TradingFloor.com,

Submitted by Robert Berke via OilPrice.com,

It’s now clear to nearly everyone that U.S. President Trump intends to seek warmer U.S. relations with Russia, while putting China and Iran relations in the deep freezer. Trump has made no secret of this major shift in policy. It’s also clear that he sees China, very much like Obama, as a major threat to U.S. global leadership.

While much has been said about the impact on the dollar from the proposed Border Tax Adjustment, which may or may not be implemented depending on what Trump says/tweets on any given day (and as a reminder, there has already been a loud outcry against it by powerful lobby groups, including the Kochs, as a result of the expected decimation of US retailers should BTA be implemented) little has been said about how it could impact US commodity production in general, and oil in particular.