Europe

Submitted by Jeffrey Snider via Alhambra Investment Partners,

While we wish one of our favorite market commentators', Mint's Bill Blain, all the best as he recovers from his recent heart attack, we would like to share with readers his inaugural for 2017 note, which lays out his current concerns about the state of the markets, and the global economy.

From the January 10 edition of Blain's Mid-Morning Porridge

Let me start by stating the issues causing me some worry:

Throughout my career, years ending in 7 haven’t been good.

Over the past several months, we have frequently noted the staggering increases in the number of refugees Obama has permitted into the United States just as his Presidency is winding down.  In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, we noted that in the first 84 days of the 2017 fiscal year (October 1, 2016 - December 23, 2016), the Obama administration has accepted 25,584 refugees into the United States, an 86% increase year-over-year (see "Refugee Admissions Surge 86% YoY As Obama Rushes Arrivals Ahead Of Trump Inauguration").  And while we were expecting a large increase in refugee admittances

In a dramatic example of blowback against the establishment in the post-Trumpian world, Hungary announced it plans to crack down on non-governmental organizations linked to billionaire George Soros now that Donald Trump will occupy the White House, according to the deputy head of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s party, cited by Bloomberg.

Earlier this morning we reported the bizarre story of how two hackers had managed to penetrate the email accounts of not only ECB head Mario Draghi, but also former Italian PMs Matteo Renzi and Mario Monti, as well as countless other highly placed politicians and executives. On the surface this may have been a non-event, especially if the hackers were unaware of the potentially market-moving content of the various emails hacked, and had no means of acting on the uncovered information.