Europe

Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

As ISIS has shown in their own magazine, they’ll probably never try to pull off a massive terror attack on American soil. Instead, they’ll indoctrinate useful idiots who already live here, and convince them to engage in numerous small attacks, similar to the bombings, knifings, and shootings that have plagued Europe in recent years. It’s a strategy that is far less likely to be foiled, costs significantly less, and can be maintained long after ISIS is overrun in the Middle East.

Day after day... another sabre rattled somewhere in the world, another policy-reform hype-destroying debacle in Washington, or another slump in 'hard' economic reality data... and another record high for stocks. Former fund manager Richard Breslow says 'get used to it' - at last until the autumn, when the central bankers return... "AI bots don't care." As he discusses below, it's not the economy, stupid; it's the trading bots...

Via Bloomberg,

Yesterday it was Bank of America, today's it's SocGen's turn.

As we've repeatedly stated in the past, not a day seems to pass without some broker, investor, sellside analyst or pundit (this website certainly included) opining on i) how low the Vix has fallen, ii) how much lower it will fall, and iii) how the inevitable surge will lead to unpleasant consequences.

Welcome to August: you may be surprised to learn that S&P 500 futures are once again levitating, higher by 0.3%, and tracking European and Asian markets. Asian equities traded higher across the board after China's Caixin Manufacturing PMI beat expectations and printed its highest since March, refuting the decline in the official PMI data reported a day earlier, while firmer commodity prices boost both sentiment and commodity stocks across Asia and Europe.

Authored by Soeren Kern via The Gatestone Institute,