New Zealand

For the second day in a row, most Asian markets - at least the ones that are open - were dragged lower by tech stocks and Apple suppliers, with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index down 0.2% led by Samsung Electronics and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in response to the previously noted report that Apple will slash Q1 sales forecasts for iPhone X sales by 40% from 50 million to 30 million. Most Asian equity benchmarks fell except those in China. European stocks were mixed in a quiet session while U.S.

The overnight fireworks in Japan, which saw the Nikkei plunge by 860 intraday points and sent vol and volumes soaring (before recovering most losses), spooked traders in Asia and around the globe, and U.S. equity futures are red this morning, along with European shares and oil.

Authored by Martin Armstrong via ArmstrongEconomics.com,

The New Zealand Prime Minister that took the country back into Marxism, has fired its first shot across the bow. 

Thirty-seven-year-old Jacinda Ardern, a member of the New Zealand Labour Party, became the world’s youngest female leader. Hillary must be crying in her martini.

Kim Dotcom; hacker, serial entrepreneur - and for a while the #1 ranked Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 player in the world - may be the key to the entire Seth Rich saga. From testimony in the Wikileaks investigation to Rich's still unsolved murder - and facing extradition - Dotcom is ready to go nuclear...

To bring you up to speed

Submitted by Wayne Madsen via The Strategic Culture Foundation,