Europe

In what is emerging as the latest headache for Donald Trump, a state-run Russian bank which has been under U.S. economic sanctions since 2014 disclosed on Monday that its executives had met Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and key policy adviser, during the 2016 election campaign. As reported previously, Kushner has been asked to discuss the contact, and a meeting during the same period with the Russian ambassador, with a Senate committee probing Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 election.

Don't play...

The BTFD'ers were back early on, but once the S&P got within a tick of green, shortly after Europe closed, things stalled, only to ramp again in the last hour, pushing S&P into the green, but that was it...

Despite the recent modest drop in stocks, the S&P remains just shy of all time highs, and near valuations which according to Goldman are at nosebleed levels and which market participants recently admitted are the most overvalued since 2000. Furthermore, with the market seemingly finding itself painfully rangebound in a world where until recently volatility was non-existent, traders desperate for alpha, have been scrambling for a strategy that produces a steady stream of profits.

Following disappointing Manufacturing and Services PMIs last week, this week has not started well for the hope embedded in 'soft' survey data. After six straight months higher, The Dallas Fed Manufacturing Outlook slumped in March (down 7.6pts to 16.9). This is the biggest drop since Jan 2016 and was lower than all estimates.

New Orders, Inventories, and number of employees all tumbled. Prices Paid and Received fell (but the latter consierably more than the former).

Global Warming Is Real Say the Academies of Sciences of All of the Major Countries, But a Handful of my Readers Know Better

Paul Craig Roberts

I am fortunate in having readers who look after me. Some have offered me refuge in their countries and their homes from what they expect otherwise will inevitably be the midnight knock on my door. Others correct my mistakes from typos to content. As I have never considered myself infallible, I carefully read what they have to say.