European Union

After an early slide last night following the stunning news that Doug Jones had defeated Republican Roy Moore in the Alabama special election, becoming the first Democratic senator from Alabama in a quarter century and reducing the GOP's Senate majority to the absolute minimum 51-49, US equity futures have quickly rebounded and are once again in the green with the S&P index set for another record high, as European stocks ease slightly, and Asian stocks gain ahead of today's Fed rate hike and US CPI print.

The Guardian reports that EU could scrap a divisive scheme that compels member states to accept quotas of refugees, one of the bloc’s most senior leaders will say this week.

The president of the European council, Donald Tusk, will tell EU leaders at a summit on Thursday that mandatory quotas have been divisive and ineffective, in a clear sign that he is ready to abandon the policy that has created bitter splits across the continent.

Last week, as part of its must read 2018 Outlook piece, Bank of America's derivatives team pointed out two particularly notable things: the first was BofA's version of the (central-bank mediated) "feedback loop" diagram that keeps volatility record low and grinding even lower, as selling of vol has become a self-reinforcing dynamic, in which lower VIX begets more vol-selling by "yield-starved investors", leading to even lower VIX as the shock that can reset the feedback loop is no longer possible, and thus the strike price on the Fed's put can not be put to a market test, which also results

Authored by Mike Shedlock via www.themaven.net/mishtalk,

The Polish government increasingly defies EU rules. Since Poland is the largest aid recipient, the EU is hopping mad. 

Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic are all in open defiance of EU migration rules.

In addition, Poland's Law & Justice party move to take control of the courts was condemned by the European Parliament and European Commission.

Gold demand increases along with uncertainty thanks to Trump, Brexit and North Korea