Business

The U.K. government is funding ISIS to the tune of $723 million, according to leaked British government documents. The leaked documents reveal the British government is sending $723 million in “aid” to Somalia while admitting it is “certain” to be used to fund terror groups ISIS and Al-Shabaab. The revelation that the UK is funding ISIS comes in a leaked 41-page business plan drawn up by the UK’s Department for International Department. The Daily Mail reports that the document, leaked to The Mail on Sunday, outlines strategy until 2020, and is marked ‘Official Sensitive’ on every page.

Donald Trump has vowed to abolish the Federal Reserve and reinstate the gold standard when he enters the White House in January.  One of Trump’s picks for the Treasury Department Secretary, John Allison, is planning to begin implement the gold standard when the current Federal Reserve Chief, Janet Yellen, retires in 2018. Conservativedailypost.com reports: On the campaign trail, Trump often questioned the future of the Federal Reserve’s political independence. In line with these comments, Allison wants to abolish Federal Reserve all together and go back to the gold standard.

Having been on the fence about an upside case for the S&P for the greater part of 2016, Goldman's chief equity strategist David Kostin finally threw in the towel earlier this week when, as we reported, Goldman raised its S&P price target from 2,100 (as of year end 2016) to 2,400 for mid-year 2017 on what it calls "Trump Hope" (as apparently does everyone else, see "The World Has Changed" - Average S&P Target Before Trump: 2,087; After Trump: 2,425"), which it then sees dipping to 2,300 by year-end 2017 on "Trump Fear."

Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

With Carrier setting the precedent for what future negotiations with the Trump administration may look like, Ford CEO Mark Fields has come forward to layout potential policy changes that would be important to preserving auto jobs in the United States.  Not surprisingly, per an interview with Bloomberg, Fields' opening "ask" focused on less restrictive fuel economy standards, new currency-manipulation rules to promote free and fair trade and corporate tax reform.