Asia

A few months ago, we noted that the Bank of Japan had decided to throw every textbook out of the window and crank their plunge-protection to '11'after reports surfaced that they owned a staggering 75% of Japan's ETFs.

The BOJ first started their buying spree in December 2010 - when they held no ETFs at all - and have since accumulated some $150 billion in aggregate holdings.  The buying was all as part of unprecedented "economic stimulus" which has undoubtedly contributed to the Nikkei 225 Stock Average surging roughly 125% since December 2010.

Authored by Daisy Luther via The Organic Prepper blog,

Everywhere, it seems like officials are actively preparing for the possibility of nuclear war.

Tensions are high in practically every corner of the world but somehow, despite the proliferation of imminent threats, many people are still blithely unaware of the hell that could be unleashed.

Authored by Federico Pieraccini of Strategic Culture

The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), by lending out money using an alternative currency to the dollar, opens up huge spaces for investment and the strategic transformation of the region.

Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Asia Times,

Is the world's center of gravity shifting to the heart of the Indo-Pacific – a new pivot to Asia?

Once again weakness in the US carried through to Asia with stocks unable to hold any National-Team-inspired gains, but it was the contagion to commodities that was most notable (as a hike in exchange fees snuffed out a lot of speculative fervor)

• European equities have followed suit from their Asia-Pac counterparts to trade higher across the board
• Markets await Brexit headlines amid Barnier deadline
• Looking ahead, highlights include US weekly jobs and potential comments from ECB’s Draghi.

ASIA