Business

Update: the notable statements from Trump's prepared remarks:

• Calls Japan a friend, 'steadfast ally' and says committed to security of Japan
• Says seeking relationship that is free, fair and reciprocal.
• Defending against North Korean nuclear threat is a "very, very, very" high priority
• Thanks Japan for hosting our military

It is not clear what sparked the algos, but one of those keywords launched a mini USDJPY buying spike.

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Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

The only possible output of low social capital is rising inequality.

A curious dichotomy has emerged in global fund flows.

According to the latest flow report from BofA's Michael Hartnett, "it's risk-on in Bonds, it's inflation-on in Stocks, and EM is now playing role of cyclical catch-up trade." In short, in the last week the Trump Trade has emerged from the dormancy in which it had faded for the past month.

But when one looks at where the money is flowing, it is going everywhere except where one would expect, as US stocks continue to be shunned, based on EPFR data.

Here are the details.

Twice in one week.

Just days after ECB president Mario Draghi (and other Europeans) suggested that Trump's proposed deregulation has "sown the seeds of the next financial crisis", when he told the European Parliament that "the last thing we need at this point in time is the relaxation of regulation. The idea of repeating the conditions that were in place before the crisis is something that is very worrisome", clearly ignoring that one of the biggest timebombs facing the world is his own balance sheet... 

After a couple of months of animal-spirit-inducing exuberance in soft-survey-hope-data, UMich consumer sentiment printed a disappointing 95.7 in Feb (versus 98.0 exp and down from 98.5 in Jan). The biggest driver was a notable drop in 'hope' as Democrats Expectations plunged near record lows.