Business

One month after he shared his preview of the endgame of this current centrally-planned economic regime (expect no happy ending there, as "citizens will soon turn their rage towards Central Bankers.") Albert Edwards is out with a new note asking whether "H2 2017 will undo the trend of lower inflation, bond yields and the dollar?" and - if the answer is no - he cautions that "investors might give some thought to the fact that we are now just one recession away from Japanese-style outright deflation!"

Another 'soft' data survey rolls over...

Following this morning's tumble in the Philly Fed report, Bloomberg's Consumer Comfort survey shows economic expectations plunged back to their lowest since before the election...

The monthly measure of economic expectations fell to 47 in July from 52 in June.

The share of respondents who say economy getting better dropped to 28%; 32% said it was getting worse.

While nobody was expecting much from the ECB's policy statement this morning, with all eyes on Draghi's press conference in 45 minutes, judging by the disappointed market reaction to what were largely canned remarks by the ECB which sent the EURUSD in kneejerk reaction lower, positioning is indeed stretched and unless Draghi comes out with hawkish bazookas blazing, the EURUSD may slide bigly.

The relentless risk levitation continued overnight, as global shares extended their stretch of consecutive record highs on Thursday for a 10th day after a cautious BOJ lifted Asian stocks to a decade high with a dovish announcement that offered no surprises, while pushing back Kuroda's 2% inflation target to 2020, the 6th consecutive delay. With all eyes on the ECB in just over an hour, US equity futures are in the green, following solid gains around the globe. European stocks extended their biggest gain in a week while Asian equities maintained their rally.

Deutsche’s relationship with Trump and questions about hundreds of millions in loans have dogged the German bank and the White House for months, abd now, 'according to sources' reported by The Guardian, Robert Mueller’s team and Trump’s bankers have established informal contacts and formal requests for information are forthcoming.