Europe

With the IMF and Germany again at each other's throats over the neverending drama that is Greece, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble repeated the same line he has used since the third Greek bailout from the summer of 2015, and in response to the IMF's demands for a reduction in Greek debt and fiscal surplus, the German ruled out a debt cut for Athens "as a violation of European rules", adding that "the country would have to leave the euro area to do so."

Submitted by Robert Berke via OilPrice.com,

“With Tillerson's confirmation, Exxon just annexed the United States,” --anonymous blogger.

To many observers, the appointment of Tillerson to the helm the State Dept signaled the Administration’s priority of supporting the oil industry, which in recent years has been under severe pressure from OPEC’s campaign of over-production that forced prices down to a post-recession low.

It's a story that has been told many times in part, but not in total. While Goldman Sachs' role in helping to create the environment for Greece's government-debt crisis is well known, less discussion is given to the role the Clinton family played in helping Angela Merkel to consolidate political control of Greece while also assisting Goldman as it continued to benefit from the meltdown once austerity measures had begun. The Clintons appear to have received funds from both Germany and Goldman Sachs during this period.

Via KeepTalkingGreece.com,

In a mostly quiet Wednesday session, Asian stocks rose overnight along with European bourses, which were led higher by miners after Rio Tinto posted higher profits for the first time in three years and a bigger-than-expected dividend, while India’s Sensex extended declines after the central bank unexpectedly left rates unchanged. US futures were little changed as oil continued to fall after API reported a huge inventory build in the last week.