China

Two days after the US military began to move the controversial THAAD anti-missile system into its deployment site in a South Korean golf course (over the protests of hundreds of locals who were promptly quieted when the police showed up), despite vocal protests from China which is "resolutely opposed" to the THAAD deployment and  believes such a move would destabilize the regional balance of power, China said on Thursday that it would stage live fire drills and test new weapons to protect its national security, its Defense Ministry said.

European shares are lower, pressured by disappointing results by Deutsche Bank and ending a six-session gain, as Asian equities and S&P futures were little changed after a record-setting rally in world stocks which pushed the MSCI World index to over $50 trillion yesterday, fizzled after Trump released unconvincing tax cut plans prompting traders to "sell the news" while caution set in as the ECB met.

Authored by Gaius Publius via Down With Tyranny blog,

"We don't want a unified Korean peninsula ... We [also] don't want the North Koreans to cause more trouble than the system can absorb."
—Hillary Clinton, 2013, speech to Goldman Sachs

Exactly one day ago, we reported that "China's first domestically built aircraft carrier will soon launch in Dalian, Liaoning Province for drills and trial voyages, putting to the test proprietary technology meant to further Beijing's expansion in the South and East China seas."

A dock at the Dalian shipyard was being filled with water Sunday the local press reported, in preparation for the launch. The Chinese-made vessel is expected to enter service around 2020, joining China's first and only aircraft carrier, a refurbished Ukrainian vessel known as the Liaoning.

The Chinese and U.S. stock markets are going in opposite directions, as an intensifying crackdown against leverage has slammed the recently 'stable' Shanghai Composite over the past week, erasing all post-Trump gains.

The relatsionship between the two markets is the weakest since August 2008 - just before the collapse of Lehman unleashed chaos on the global financial system.