Europe

Authored by Alastair Crooke, originally posted at The Automatic Earth blog,

In the latest surprise to come from the Trump administration, the NYT reports that in the Trump administration is preparing a set of executive orders aimed at isolating the US and which would allow the United States to "drastically reduce" its role and involvement in the United Nations and other international organizations, "as well as begin a process to review and potentially abrogate certain forms of multilateral treaties, officials said." The order calls for then enacting “at least a 40% overall decrease” in remaining United States funding toward international organizations.

As previewed last night, on Wednesday afternoon Italy’s Constitutional Court struck down parts of the electoral law for the lower house, effectively devising a new voting system for the country, and bringing the country one step closer to early elections in a boost to former Premier Matteo Renzi. The court, which had been tasked to rule on Renzi’s 2015 electoral reform, struck down a provision for a run-off vote for the lower house, saying it should be held in just one round. The rest of the law was left largely intact and the court ruled that it can be applied immediately.

Submitted by Axel Merk via MerkInvestments.com,

Faced with a Tweeter-in-chief, how are investors to navigate what’s ahead? Is there a strategy behind President Trump’s outbursts; and if so, how shall investors position themselves to protect their portfolios or profit from it?

With the Dow Jones set to open just 15 points away from 20,000, and likely to cross the key psychological threshold, here is one explanation for the overnight euphoria from JPM's Adam Crisafully.