Business

Well, that escalated quickly.

Just two months after Standard & Poor’s downgraded its general obligation debt to junk status, warning that the historic Connecticut capital could soon follow other once-proud cities like Detroit into bankruptcy, Hartford city officials confirmed as much when they warned on Thursday that the city could be forced into insolvency within two months if the state doesn’t provide emergency financial relief, the WSJ reports.

European stocks dropped, Asian and EM market rose, and S&P were lower by 0.3% as investors assessed the latest overnight carnage in the USD which plunged to the lowest level since the start of 2015, sending the USDJPY tumbling to 107, the euro extending gains to just shy of $1.21 and a slowdown in China’s export growth which however did not prevent the Yuan from posting its best weekly gain on record.

In our concluding comments on the ECB's disjointed message yesterday, in which Draghi feebly tried to talk down the EUR while talking up the European economy, and also hinting at the start of policy normalization but without actually doing so, in the process sending the EUR shooting higher, we said "And now that the market is supremely confused, we expect the ECB to lob the next Reuters trial balloon any moment to punish all those who keep buying the EUR."

Wealthy CEOs and athletes have found a loophole that allows them to minimize their tax bills while traveling in style – all at the expense of the everyday traveler who flies commercial and must bear an outsize percentage of aviation taxes in the US.

Having plunged by the most in 6 months during the US day session, the dollar is continuing to get pounded across AsiaPac with Hong Kong Dollar and Yuan surging. Gold is extending gains, breaking above the spike highs from election night...

The Dollar Index is in free fall...This is the 7th straight down day for the USD Index...

There is not much support below here...

Driven by widespread selling across Asia... The last 3 days have seen the biggest collapse in the dollar since the start of January.