Just day after President Trump suggests Germany is a currency manipulator, and as Merkel looks set to lose her Chancellorship, Europe's powerhouse economy just collapsed in December. Industrial production plunged 3.0% MoM in December - the biggest drop since Jan 2009 and over 8 standard deviations below expectations.
President Donald Trump’s executive order to ban citizens of seven Muslim-majority states from entering the US for 90 days, and temporarily freeze all refugee arrivals (including Syrians indefinitely), has been interpreted widely as an attempt to curtail the inward migration of Muslims, which Trump and his supporters argue pose a threat to national security. It has also been challenged legally, and today a showdown between the DOJ and a San Francisco Court of Appeals is scheduled for 6pm, at which point the Trump order may be formally rejected, forcing Trump to engage the Supreme Court.
Following yesterday's shocking poll by INSA, which as we reported put the center-left SPD on 31 percent and Merkel's conservative CDU bloc on 30 percent, suggesting if the election were held today, Germany's new chancellor would be the SPD's new boss and Nigel Farrage's European Parliament nemesis, Martin Schulz...
... Germany's mass-selling tabloid Bild has openly questioned on its front page whether voters have had enough of Chancellor Angela Merkel. "Is Germany tired of Merkel?" Bild asked in a headline, noting the result of the INSA survey.
The dollar rebounded from a key 200-DMA support level, strengthening against all major peers, pushing S&P futures higher as European shares rose, led by basic resources and real estate, while Asian stocks fall. Gold fell from its highest level since November as demand for some haven assets ebbed while global bonds declined. Oil dipped, pressured by a stronger dollar.