France

The ongoing scramble for German safety away from French political uncertainty, has led to yet another blow out day for German 2 Year Schatz, with the yield tumbling to a fresh all time low of -0.92%, as Eurozone breakup concerns have spread from the bond market, and are now pressuring the euro sending the EURUSD below 1.05 for the first time in over a month.

The rush into German paper and out of France, means that the 10Y Greman-French spread has topped 0.8%, the widest in over four years, while the 2Y US-German spread is now well over 2%, the widest since at least 2000.

Submitted by Yves Mamou via The Gatestone Institute,

Despite US markets being closed in observance of Washington's birthday, S&P futures spiked during overnight trading, reaching new all time highs before fading some of the gains. Both Asian and European markets traded modestly higher after paring early gains. The U.S. dollar traded in a tight range ahead of a busy week for Federal Reserve events, while the pound rallied the most in more than two weeks ahead of a House of Lords Brexit debate, while South Africa’s rand fell on political turmoil. Oil advanced for a third day and spot gold rose for the fourth session in five.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has accused France of sponsoring terrorists, including ISIS militants, in Syria in order to destabilise the Middle East.  In an explosive interview with Press TV, Assad accused French President Francois Hollande of sponsoring terror in Syria and encouraging other Western governments to end diplomatic relations with Assad, in order to oust the Syrian President from power.

The global "risk on" melt-up continues.

After a modestly hawkish Yellen warned that every meeting is live, and refused to take March off the table, sending the dollar and yield higher and the S&P to fresh record highs, world stocks rose hitting a 21-month high on Wednesday with the dollar rising for the 11th straight day, the longest positive streak since July 2015.