European Union

Today is quad-witching opex Friday, and according to JPM, some $1.3 trillion in S&P future will expire. Traditionally quad days are associated with a rise in volatility and a surge in volumes although in light of recent vol trends and overnight markets, today may be the most boring quad-witching in recent history: global stocks have again rebounded from yesterday's tech-driven losses as European shares rose 0.6%, wiping out the week's losses.

Despite Prime Minister Theresa May’s embarrassing performance earlier this month in a snap election that cost her Conservative party its parliamentary 'majority', more than 70% of Britons still believe the government should push ahead with Brexit – even after the election sparked exclamations from the left for a second referendum, according to the latest YouGov poll.

British Prime Minister (for now) Theresa May is desperately cobbling together a deal today with a small Northem Irish political party that she needs to stay in power after a disastrous election that destroyed her authority days before Brexit talks are due to start.

So how did we get here? Hedge Fund CIO Eric Peters succinctly sums up the state of play...

Authored by Nick Giambruno via The Mises Institute,

France’s new president can’t keep the European Union together.

In early May, France elected globalist darling Emmanuel Macron. His victory gave the EU a short-term boost. However, it did not change the fundamental problems with Europe’s artificial mega-state.

Doug Casey agrees:

"Triple Threat Thursday" is now a distant memory, with both the ECB and Comey testimony "non-events" for the market, although the UK general election was a shocker in which contrary to expectations, Theresa May lost her majority in Parliament, sending sterling tumbling overnight and prompting even more confusion about the UK's political fate and the future of Brexit. That however did not spook risk assets, and on Friday morning, European stocks gained with Asian stocks little changed, while S&P500 futures were set for new all time highs. Just like after Brexit, it was U.K.