Europe

A high ranking Israeli general has come under fire following remarks where he suggested a comparison between Nazi Germany and present day Israel. His comments made during during a Holocaust Remembrance speech have fueled heated discussion among politicians and on social media. However, the deputy head of the Israeli military has been forced to backtrack after comparing some attitudes in present-day Israel to “nauseating trends” in 1930s Germany.

The coming ‘sharia gold standard’ or shariah compliant gold could lead to a very significant source of  new demand for physical gold coins and bars in the Islamic world. It is believed that this will contribute to much higher prices and gold “soaring” as some of the $2 trillion of assets held in Islamic financial institutions are allocated to the very small physical global gold market. 

Europe has banned the use of €500 bills.

The reason?

They claim these bills are used in money laundering and for drugs. And if you believe that is the concern, you probably believe the earth is flat.

The fact of the matter is that Europe is now the center for misguided Central Planning for monetary policy. ECB President Mario Draghi has cut interest rates not once, not twice, not even thrice, but FOUR times into NIRP.

The end result has been two items:

• Europe shares, oil snap four-day losing streaks (Reuters)
• Oil rallies as Canada fire and Libya violence threaten supply (Reuters)
• How Trump Won—and How the GOP Let Him (WSJ)
• Hedge Fudge Managers Lose Their Swagger (BBG)
• Turkey Premier Said to Give Up as Erdogan Tightens Grip (BBG)
• Health Insurers Struggle to Offset New Costs (WSJ)
• Judge says Clinton may have to testify in email lawsuit (Reuters)
• Trump's deportation plan could slice 2 percent off U.S. GDP (Reuters)

While markets remain relatively subdued ahead of tomorrow's nonfarm payrolls report, after several days of losses in US stocks, which have taken "sell in May" to heart and pushed the S&P500 to three week lows, overnight markets ignored the latest weak data out of China where the Caixin Services PMI was the latest indicator to disappoint (dropping from 52.2 to 51.8), and instead focused on crude, which rebounded from yesterday's post inventory-build lows and briefly printed above $45/bbl over uncertainty related to the impact of Canada wildfires on production and how long will last.