Europe

Trump Is Being Sabotaged by the Pentagon

Paul Craig Roberts

President Trump says he wants the US to have better relations with Russia and to halt
military operations against Muslim countries. But he is being undermined by the Pentagon.

The commander of US forces in Europe, General Ben Hodges, has lined up tanks on Poland’s border with Russia and fired salvos that the general says are a message to Russia, not a training exercise. http://russia-insider.com/en/us-tanks-fire-salvos-poland-warning-against-russia/ri18767

During this morning's U.S. Steel earnings conference call,  CEO Mario Longhi said he was optimistic that tubular steel had bottomed and that  trade issues were improving thanks to tighter controls by US regulators to make sure Chinese companies weren't circumventing the law and dumping government subsidized steel on American shores.

With general elections scheduled in France, Germany and the Netherlands this year amid an increase in support for anti-euro rhetoric, European bonds from Germany to Greece saw yields surge in January. In fact, as Bloomberg notes, euro-region bonds handed investors the worst start to a year on record.

Worst. January. Ever. for European bonds...

In a shot across the trade war bow with both Japan and Germany, on Tuesday Trump and members of his administration took aim at both Japan and Germany, in addition to China, to accuse them of devaluing their respective currencies, an unexpected move which sent the dollar sliding to multi-month lows.  Specifically, on Tuesday morning Trump said: "You look at what China’s doing, you look at what Japan has done over the years.

European stocks rise the first day in four, with Asian stocks, S&P futures and the Dollar all gaining following strong Apple earnings ahead of today's Fed decision and the U.K. parliament's first vote on the Article 50 bill.