Asia

While FANGs cratered in US markets, the turmoil in tech stocks has spread to AsiaPac with Hong Kong down hard as TATS tumble to one-month lows at the open...

Asia's "FANG"  equivalent - accounting for 16% of MSCI Emerging Market Stock index is TATS - Taiwan Semi, Alibaba, Tecent, and Samsung...

All four names are down notably in the last week...

Following the biggest tumble in South Korea Industrial Production (and the first rate hike by Bank of Korea in 6 years), it appears there are no dip-buyers yet. KOSPI is down at one-month lows...

US equity futures continued their push higher into record territory overnight (ES +0.1%), and the VIX is 1.5% lower and back under 10, after yesterday's blistering surge in US stocks which jumped 1%, the most since Sept. 11, following Powell's deregulation promise, ahead of today's 2nd estimate of U.S. Q3 GDP which is expected to be revised up. U.S.

If it were a competition, BnkToTheFuture would be a shoo-in for “most meta business plan” of 2017. To wit, the company is building a blockchain-based trading system for selling and trading stakes in blockchain companies in a play to capture a subset of investors who are growing increasingly wary of the sketchy ICO market.

Authored by Federico Pieraccini via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

In the Middle East and beyond, we are witnessing a series of high-level political meetings between dozens of nations involved directly or indirectly in the Syrian situation. It is crucial to understand all this in order to understand the direction in which the region is going and what the new regional order is.

US equity futures in the green ahead of critical Senate debate on US tax reform and a much anticipated testimony from Yellen replacement Jerome Powell for Fed’s current policy approach.  European stocks advance, led by oil and gas stocks after Shell fully restored its cash dividend and unveiled a bullish outlook. Asian shares slide despite the reappearance of the Chinese "National Team" which stabilized the SHCOMP selloff in the last hour. USD recovers gradually from overnight lows against G-10, pushing GBP/USD and EUR/USD to session lows, while oil and treasuries edged lower.