Business

• Dollar Sees Record Winning Run Versus Euro on Trump Policy View (BBG)
• Dollar heads for best fortnight vs. yen since 1988 (Reuters)
• Jeff Sessions Said to Be Trump’s Pick for Attorney General (BBG)
• Flynn set to be national security adviser (Reuters)
• NATO Secretary General Expects to Speak With Trump ‘Very Soon’ (BBG)
• Hensarling Could Be Wall Street’s Best Hope or Worst Nightmare (BBG)
• OPEC moves closer to oil output deal as Iran gets new offer (Reuters)
• President Obama Meets With EU Leaders for Last Time (WSJ)

Gold Sell Off On Fed Noise - "Interesting Times" To "Support Gold"

Gold prices in dollar terms came under renewed pressure today testing strong support at the $1,200/oz level. Gold dropped another 1% to near a 6 month low and is set for a second week of falls after the dollar soared again after Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen suggested a U.S. interest-rate hike could come “relatively soon.”

Following a tumultuous year of declining sales as a result of its emissions-cheating scandal, today Volkswagen agreed to cut 30,000 jobs at the core VW, roughly 5% of its global salesforce of 624,000. After months of intense talks, labor and management agreed on a package to balance cost-cutting with investment as the auto industry shifts away from traditional combustion engines and adapts to car-sharing services and self-driving technologies.

It has been more of the same this morning as the dollar extended its advance on the still undeteremined Trump reflationary policy measures after Yellen signaled an interest-rate hike could be imminent, while bond yields around the globe rose again, metals declined,  European stocks advanced and futures were modestly in the red just shy of all time highs.

Submitted by Robert Gore via Straight Line Logic blog,

Coercion is inseparable from corruption. When a group coerces with impunity, it steals from, lies to, defrauds, and enslaves the subjugated. The dominant group invariably develops a morally comforting ideology of its superiority and the subjugated’s inferiority. Such relationships are the essence of corruption.