Europe

After two weeks of vigorously signing executive orders, 20 as of February 6, undoing Obama-era regulations, and engaging foreign leaders in often heated exchanges by phone, Trump is gearing up to make offshore visits to, as Axios puts it, "reedem himself as a diplomat" in coming months. According to the AP, his phone call readout reveal significant upcoming overseas travel, "and Europe is the destination."

Some details: "Trump has been burning up White House telephone lines calling his world counterparts and, during those talks, has committed to several trans-Atlantic trips."

Just as ECB President Mario Draghi states unequivocally that ECB QE policy has worked and has "eliminated fragmentation," French presidential candidate Fillon's apologetic press conference has sparked major disturbances in the core of Europe... fragmenting France from Germany by themost since September 2012...

Initial relief quickly turned to selling panic...

Sending OAT yields to their widest to Bunds since September 2012.

Moments ago, during a hearing of Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament, in his prepared remarks Mario Draghi said that “support from our monetary policy measures is still needed if inflation rates are to converge toward our objective with sufficient confidence and in a sustained manner.” Confirming that no changes to the ECB's monetary policy are due in the near future,  Draghi said that "underlying inflation pressures remain very subdued and are expected to pick up only gradually", adding that "risks to the euro area outlook remain tilted to the downside" but "relate mai

The last time we heard from Dennis Gartman, he has just turned bearish due to a peculiar "catalyst": he had just seen the infamous Barron's "Dow 30,000" cover (with a two day delay) which prompted him to say that "we would very much like to think that Dow 30,000 shall eventually be upon us, and we very, very much would like to believe that any further weakness in  stocks is to be bought, but at the moment we have very serious doubts to that effect…. Very, very serious doubts." Shortly after, the Dow spiked above 20,000 again, and the S&P closed Friday just shy of all time highs.

• The Patriots’ Insane Comeback: One for the History Books (WSJ)
• Euro fades in face of French election risks (Reuters)
• Legal battles to test Trump and his travel ban (Reuters)
• Standoff Looms Over Travel Ban; Trump Rips Judge (WSJ)
• Trump Set to Attend NATO Summit in May (WSJ)
• Trump Administration Aims to Sever Russia’s Iran Ties (WSJ)
• Draghi Takes the Case for QE to Brussels (BBG)
• Tiger Hedge Funds Become Wall Street Prey (WSJ)
• Iran's missile test 'not a message' to Trump (Reuters)