Europe

Over the past week we have shown on several occasions that there once again appears to be a sharp, sudden dollar-funding liquidity strain in global markets, manifesting itself in a dramatic widening in FX basis swaps, which - in this particular case - has flowed through in the forward discount for USDJPY spiking from around 0.04 yen to around 0.23 yen overnight. As Bloomberg speculated, this discount for buying yen at future dates widened sharply as non-U.S.

One thing is for sure, when Dr.Copper's price is falling, the silence from prognosticators is deafening; but when it's rising it is the greatest indication of the global growth narrative the world has ever known. However, there's a hole in that story...

LME Copper prices are up for 9 straight days - the longest wining streak since 2004 - (and 13 of the last 14 days) pushing prcies above $7,200 intraday - the highest since 2014...

Gold, Bitcoin and the Blockchain Replaces the Banks - Realists Guide To The Future

The Trump Administration quietly issued an Executive Order (EO) last Thursday which allows for the freezing of US-housed assets belonging to foreign individuals or entities deemed "serious human rights abusers," along with government officials and executives of foreign corporations (current or former) found to have engaged in corruption - which includes the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, and corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources. 

European stocks are steady in post-Christmas trading if struggling for traction after a mixed session in Asia, amid trading thinned by a holiday-shortened week and ongoing worries about the tech sector; however a strong rally in commodities - including copper and oil - buoyed expectations for a strong 2018 and helped offset concerns over the technology sector triggered by reports of soft iPhone X demand.