Europe

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.

The Czech Republic is in the grip of Islamophobia following terror attacks in Europe. The Interior Minister Milan Chovanec has warned citizens that a Super Holocaust is about to be committed in Europe and wants Czechs be able to use their guns against Muslim terrorists. The government is rushing new gun laws through parliament, working toward amending the constitution. In the near future ordinary citizens may be able to shoot a potential terrorist on-sight in the absence of police.

Submitted by Paul-Martin Foss via The Mises Institute,

With a new year come new opportunities as well as new issues to take into consideration. Here are the five most important issues to keep an eye on in 2017.

1. Trump Presidency

Global stocks were fractionally lower in early European trading, closed Asia mixed, while S&P futures were unchanged, as the dollar fell for a second day on concerns ahead of Trump's press conference on Wednesday. Oil rebounded after its Monday plunge, while commodity metals like iron ore rose limit up in Chinese trading. Top overnight stories include Valeant announcing the sale of $2.1 billion in assets to pay down debt; VW managers warned to stay in Germany as U.S. charges near; Yahoo! plans to shrink board, get rid of Marissa Meyer and change its name after Verizon deal.

Submitted by Soeren Kern via The Gatestone Institute,