Europe

It appears the 'shrug' of markets assuming a post-Paris panic-buying bounce has faded and now stocks and crude are tumbling as bonds and bullion are bid...

As we detailed earlier,

While stock markets are modestly lower, and "off the lows", perhaps in anticipation of the quite unbelievable panic-buying that occurred after the French terrorist attacks, investors have seemingly rotated from black gold to pet rocks for safety as the former drops back below $41 and the latter bounces back above $1250.

For the past month, despite the biggest quarterly bounce back from its lows in Dow Jones history, the market skepticism has not only remained but intensified: JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, SocGen, all have warned that this is a sucker's "bear market" squeeze, not the start of a real rally. Techniclans have been just as vocal in their skepticism, while the smart money has been selling relentlessly (not in its 8 consecutive week - more shortly).

At the risk of being crass, we've said on several occasions that the Paris attacks, the San Bernardino massacre, and the wave of sexual assaults that have swept Western Europe are the best things that ever happened to Donald Trump's presidential campaign. 

Abandoned life jackets pile up in Greece showing the horrific magnitude of the refugee crisis NBC News reports: “People are still dying in these waters”: At a dumping ground for lifejackets used by refugees fleeing to Europe in the worst refugee crisis since World War II, American volunteers find fake jackets stuffed with newspaper and floatation devices more suited to kiddie pools than the stormy Mediterranean Sea.

• Brussels Rocked by Deadly Attacks With Blasts at Airport, Subway (BBG)
• Death count climbs in Brussels blasts (Reuters)
• Europe on High Alert After Blasts in Belgium (WSJ)
• Brussels Phone Users Urged to Text Not Call as Networks Jammed (BBG)
• U.S. Embassy Urges Citizens in Brussels to Shelter in Place (BBG)
• Oil prices swept lower after Brussels blasts spook investors (Reuters)
• Democratic Party workers pore over videos in bid to hobble Trump (Reuters)
• Trump's Republican Turnout Boost Extends to Battleground States (BBG)