Authored by James Rickards via The Daily Reckoning,
With the U.S. preparing to confront China and go to war with North Korea, Russia is an indispensable ally for the U.S.
There are huge implications on capital markets as these hegemonic powers continue to edge toward war.
Here’s an overview of some of the financial implications of improved relations with Russia…
1: The End of OPEC and the Rise of the Tripartite Alliance
After both Brent and WTI rose above their respective 50DMAs on Friday, capping 2017's best weekly rally for oil, the rising tide is accelerating as the latest CFTC COT data confirmed, when net specs boosted bullish Nymex WTI crude oil bets by 27K net-long positions to 423K, the highest in two months, as producers continued to cover short hedges, sending their net position to the most bullish since the summer of 2015.
Following a flood of warnings in the past week about both the precarious state of markets and the global economy, most recently from the otherwise stoic Howard Marks warning about bubble-like condition in the market (especially when it comes to passive investors), as well as Robert Shiller who explained what "keeps him up at night", we were due for some good news.
One month after Trump's ominously tweeted in the aftermath of Otto Warmbier's death, that while he greatly appreciates the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, "it has not worked out", confirming that the post Mar-A-Lago honeymoon period was officially over, moments ago the president blasted out his latest two tweets Saturday tweets, #12 and 13, in which he said he was "very disappointed" in China.
As Foxconn promises to bring 10s of thousands of jobs to Wisconsin amid billions of dollars of investment in new plants, one wonders what is going on in China that makes this economic (aside from the $3 billion 'incentives')...
Perhaps this...
Statista's Isabel von Kessel writes that in 2016, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) in China registered 1.8 million labor disputes – an increase of almost 118 percent compared to the previous year.
You will find more statistics at Statista