Europe

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.

The day the Dow crosses 20,000 may finally be here, because with DJIA futures trading 65 points higher in premarket trading, added to yesterday's close of 19,912 and latest record high in the S&P, it means that all it will take is a modest of only 25 points for the critical Dow threshold to be finally breached. Celebrating the upcoming record, world stocks hit a 19-month high on Wednesday, lifted by strong Japanese trade data, strong European company earnings and hopes that U.S. President Donald Trump will press ahead with a large fiscal spending package.

Submitted by Stefan Frank via The Gatestone Institute,