Global markets were oddly calm on Friday, the last day of trading before the first round of France's closely fought presidential election, with European stocks posting modest declines ahead of Sunday's main event, Asian shares rising, and set for first weekly gain in the past month, while U.S. futures were unchanged. French bond yields hit three-months low even as the euro has seen some recent weakness.
Billionaire investor Paul Tudor Jones has a message for Janet Yellen and investors: Be very afraid.
Echoing a number of recent high profile managers' warnings...
Guggenheim Partner’s Scott Minerd said he expected a "significant correction" this summer or early fall, citing as potential triggers President Donald Trump’s struggle to enact policies, including a tax overhaul, as well as geopolitical risks.
The Shanghai Composite Index, notorious for its wild swings over the past two years, has gone 85 trading days without a loss of more than 1% on a closing basis, the longest stretch since the market’s infancy in 1992.
The last 4 days have highlighted the unusual effect in Chinese stocks.. each time the Shanghai Composite dropped over 1% (red dotted line) it was miraculously lifted to ensure it closed with a loss less than 1%...
"The president wants a trillion dollars worth of work on the ground and we're going to give it to him," explained Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney this afternoon. By the magic of leveraged private investment (that is not buying back its own stock or stashing cash overseas), the Trump administration will transform a $200 billion line item into a trillion-dollar stimulus plan (but it won't be ready until the fall).
Authored by Charles Hugh-Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
When "socialist" states have to impose finance-capital extremes that even exceed the financialization of nominally capitalist economies, it gives the lie to their claims of "socialism."