Europe

It was just over two months ago - well before VIX hit its record stretch of nearly 20 days below 11 - when we first discussed why one of the major threats to the complacent market was the danger of a forced liquidation by trend-following and vol-neutral, CTA, risk-arb and other systematic funds - many of whom have been the fundamental catalyst for the unprecedented VIX compression seen in May -  resulting in an explosive unwind of vol positions.

A risk-off mood dominated the overnight session amid growing concern over the turmoil engulfing the Trump administration, as fresh allegations add to deepening political scandals in Washington, the latest coming from Tuesday's NYT report citing former FBI director Comey’s memo which raises possibility of obstruction of justice, an impeachable offense. The dollar, already in retreat after a report that the U.S.

Despite the elites' desperate hope that recent 'losses' in Holland France 'prove' the anti-establishment movement is fading (although they all saw soaring popularity), with Europeans ready to protest, there are still numerous regions urging secession...

There have been 486 military conlicts in Europe in the last 2000 years and while the last decade or two has been 'peaceful', we suspect that will not last.

After the latest diplomatic scandal involving Donald Trump, which unleashed a frenzy of allegations that Trump is either a traitor or too dumb to govern for sharing allegedly confidential data to the Russian foreign minister, the angry response by Democrats - many of whom now demand hearings, transcripts, or worse - was predictable. What was unexpected was the loud criticism by some very prominent republican senators.

In its first bond sale since the presidential election and the first big test of investor sentiment after Emmanuel Macron won the presidency, France received more than €31 billion in demand for a 30-year bond offering, once again demonstarting the unprecedented demand for duration on the yield-starved continent where the ECB is happily gobbling up every interest-yielding instrument. With some €7 billion in ultra-long duration paper sold via a syndicate of banks, pricing at 30Y FRTR +12, tighter than the +14 price talk, the issue was more than 4 times oversubscribed.