Business

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

Yes, this time it's different: all the foundations of a healthy economy are crumbling into quicksand.

In a move that will likely cause at least a few frowns in Beijing, Bloomberg reports that President Trump blocked a Chinese-backed buyer from acquiring chipmaker Lattice Semiconductor, not only a "personal rebuke that bodes poorly for several other Chinese buyers seeking U.S. security clearance for their acquisitions", but also a symbolic escalation of the "cold" trade war with China, hinting that the Trump administration will no longer allow China to acquire advanced US intellectual property, especially when national security may be on the line.

Hope is a strategy...

Authored by Kevin Muir via The Macro Tourist blog,

It seems like the only time Canada makes the news is when America elects some right wing President the Hollywood elite don’t like, and they all threaten to move to Canada.

While asset-gatheres and commission-takers are celebrating the record highs in stocks - after the world did not end last weekend - UBS Technical Analyst team is a little less sanguine, fearing that this move to new record highs in the S&P could well be another false breakout due to a lack of sentiment signals in derivatives-land, and breadth breaking down.