In a relatively quiet session, which may see US traders sleep in a bit after last night's Superbowl thriller, European and Asian shares rose ahead of Mario Draghi’s testimony at the European Parliament, while US equity futures were fractionally higher (up 0.1% to 2,293) after stocks jumped the most in a week, as traders assessed the trajectory for interest rates while scrutinizing every new Trump tweet.
We were skeptical when two days ago we reported that Japan was contemplating investing some of the hundreds of billions of pension savings held in its massive, $1+ trillion GPIF pension fund into US infrastructure projects, a story which the GPIF itself quickly denied. However, we were all too clear about the motives behind this proposal trial ballooned by Prime Minister Abe: appease Trump in any way possible during next week's, Feb.
Scientists at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan have declared a state of emergency as one of the reactors is on the verge of falling into the ocean. Lethal levels of radiation have been detected around the site which scientists say stems from a hole caused by melted nuclear fuel.
Submitted by Paul Brodsky via Macro-Allocation.com,
In Contrarianism in 2017 we cited the following macro dynamics that keep us cautious on equities, bullish on Treasuries and gold, and negative on credit:
Having decided to actively increase its risk exposure over the past few years, including venturing into high beta stocks and junk bonds - a gamble that has lead to a big jump in quarterly volatility not to mention significant downside risk should global markets suffer a crash - Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund, or GPIF, the world's largest pension fund, has decided to invest in US infrastructure projects next.