Europe

As traders get to the their desks this morning after a 3-day weekend, only to find a market bombarded by a barrage of overnight news from around the globe even as Theresa May is currently delivering her Brexit speech, (so far the most impotant thing she has said is that both houses of parliament will vote on Brexit, leaving a door open that Brexit may not happen at all), here courtesy of JPM's Adam Crisafulli is a recap of all the chaos that has taken place so far.

While traders eagerly await Theresa May's speech set to begin in minutes, even if it was largely leaked last night to minimize "market shocks" and set the stage for a big squeeze in cable which at last check was over 100 pips higher overnight, the big catalyst setting today's risk off mood was the previously noted Trump statement, published overnight by the WSJ, in which Trump called the US currency "too strong", and attacked the Border-Tax Adjustment, expected to boost the value of the USD by as much as 15% should it be implemented.

Angela Merkel and her MEP chums in Europe are calling for a new law that would class robots as “electronic persons,” granting them the same rights as human beings.  The new law would mean that all types of artificial intelligence (AI) would be legally held responsible for their “acts or omissions”. Express.co.uk reports: The European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee voted on the first ever report on robots on Friday.

The leader of the UK’s Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, has been accused of being a Russian spy after he called for a de-escalation of tensions between NATO and Russia.  Corbyn told the BBC on Thursday that he wishes to see a de-militarisation of the border between Russia and surrounding countries. Theintercept.com reports: Along with the U.S., the UK has been rapidly building up its military presence in the Baltic region, including states which border Russia, and is now about to send another 800 troops to Estonia, 500 of which will be permanently based.

Over the weekend, Barron's published its annual roundtable in which prominent investors previewed what they expect out of 2017: "a year of seismic shifts for the markets and, quite possibly, the world. Or, as Goldman Sachs strategist Abby Joseph Cohen said at this year’s Barron’s Roundtable, “We are breaking a lot of trends.” As Barron's dubbed it, "this could be the year the movie runs backward: Inflation awakens. Bond yields reboot. Stocks stumble. Active management rules.