Europe

While Trump's push to build a wall along the Mexican border has quietly moved to the backburner in recent weeks, especially with the expiration of the Continuing Resolution looming on April 28, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has continued to receive proposals from numerous companies for what Trump's wall could look like. As we discussed previously, CBP has called for two designs, one made of concrete and one of alternative material, for a wall to be built across the nearly 2,000-mile border.

S&P futures are little changed at 6am ET, trading at 2347.55 and paring an earlier 0.4 percent drop, on the back of the USDJPY ramp which for the second day in a row has emerged alongside the European open, just as the key 110 support level appears in danger, soothing concerns about the Fed's balance sheet reduction and "some" Fed officials warning that stocks have gotten expensive.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has apparently decided she's not willing to take the chance of becoming the latest politician to fall victim to the same "Russian hacking" and "fake news" campaigns which 'undoubtedly' caused the downfall of America's liberal darling, Hillary Clinton (forget those pay-for-play scandals, federal record retention violations and willful non-compliance with Congressional subpeonas...total non-factors in the 2016 election). 

Authored by Chris Hamilton via Econimica,

The change in nations Core populations (25-54yr/olds) have driven economic activity for the later half of the 20th century, first upward and now downward.  The Core is the working population, the family forming population, the child bearing population, the first home buying, and the credit happy primary consumer.  Even a small increase (or contraction) in their quantity drives economic activity magnitudes beyond what the numbers would indicate.

Authored by Brendan Brown via MisesInstitute,