Business

• Futures flat as geopolitical risks weigh; earnings eyed (Reuters)
• Brent oil rises for 8th day on possible extension to supply cut (Reuters)
• U.S. accuses Russia of Syria gas attack 'cover up' (Reuters)
• Xi Tells Trump China Wants Peaceful North Korea Solution (WSJ)
• Tillerson, Lavrov Hold Talks in Moscow Amid Rising Tensions Over Syria (WSJ)
• Russian diplomat says U.S. stance on Syria 'a mystery' (Reuters)
• Trump's message to bankers: Wall Street reform rules may be eliminated (Reuters)

S&P futures are unchanged and Asian stocks closed mixed, however European stocks rebounded for first time this week, led by auto stocks after Daimler’s quarterly profit, as a break in alarming political news prompted traders to "swoop" - as Reuters puts it - on equities, cooling a safe-haven rally that saw the yen and gold at five-month highs and global government bond yields to drop their lowest this year.

After a period of several weeks in which Bloomberg's macro/FX commentator Richard Breslow took a tentative gamble on the skeptical, if not outright bearish, side in this morning's note the former FX trader has shifted his outlook to a modestly more bullish one, cautioning that in light of recent events, "too many commentators have fallen into the “everything is binary” trap and decided that if you assume each event will end badly, there’s material to turn out a good rant.

Let’s get PrOGRessive SPIRIT! (Finally a positive acronym.)  We are either destined for destruction
preferring to wallow in negativity or instead can soar with optimism.  The only difference between the two is
perspective.  Time to focus on the
positives in the world. I choose optimism.

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,