Europe

Authored by Daniel Lang via SHTFplan.com,

Most people inside and outside of the US believe that this country’s gun ownership rate is unique, but that’s not exactly true. Though America has the most privately owned guns per capita, there are other countries that aren’t too far behind us, such as Serbia, Yemen, Cyprus, and many Western nations like Finland and Switzerland. In most cases, these countries don’t have access to the same kind of firearms that we do, but nonetheless there are a ton of guns floating around in these places.

Authored by Paul Craig Roberts,

For sixteen years the US has been at war in the Middle East and North Africa, running up trillions of dollars in expenses, committing untold war crimes, and sending millions of war refugees to burden Europe, while simultaneously claiming that Washington cannot afford its Social Security and Medicare obligations or to fund a national health service like every civilized country has.

The hedge fund industry is finding itself in increasingly dire straits as persistently weak returns and the advent of low-cost investing have forced more and more funds to shut down. So, it's unsurprising that, amid this steadily worsening backdrop, more traders are heading for the exits. But where are the heading? Increasingly, more traders are moving back from where they came - i.e. the big banks, which expect to see a boost in trading revenue as President Donald Trump has vowed to dial back postcrisis regulations that forced banks to wind down their prop desks.

Authored by Robert Huebscher via AdvisorPerspectives.com,

Robert L. Rodriguez was the former portfolio manager of the small/mid-cap absolute-value strategy (including FPA Capital Fund, Inc.) and the absolute-fixed-income strategy (including FPA New Income, Inc.) and a former managing partner at FPA, a Los Angeles-based asset manager. He retired at the end of 2016, following more than 33 years of service.

 

• Rhetorical question of the day: Twisted Geniuses or Bumbling Ex-Academics? (WSJ)
• Markets Steady on Quarter’s Last Day (WSJ)
• Their fortunes enmeshed, Trump and Putin to hold first meeting next week (Reuters)
• Oil Is Set for Longest Rally of 2017 (BBG)
• Brightening economy sets euro up for strongest quarter since debt crisis (Reuters)
• Eurozone Inflation Falls Again in Setback for ECB (WSJ)
• Trump’s Travel Ban Takes Effect, Setting Strict Entry Limits (WSJ)
• China says HK joint declaration no longer has meaning (Reuters)