North Korea

As President Donald Trump prepares to make his first speech to the United Nations, Secretary of Defense James Mattis was pushing the administration’s line on North Korea, saying that the US has “many military options” available for toppling North Korea’s unstable regime that wouldn’t risk millions of deaths in Seoul.

“There are many military options, in concert with our allies, that we will take to defend our allies and our own interests,” Mattis said, declining to elaborate or provide any further details.

After carrying out bombing drills over the Korean peninsula on Monday following North Korea’s firing of an intermediate-range missile over the Japanese island of Hokkaido, US and South Korean forces are planning to continue their displays of military might early next month, according to a report from Yonhap, the South Korean news agency. However, in a move that is sure to provoke a barrage of threats from North Korea, the US is reportedly sending a nuclear-armed aircraft carrier to the waters off the Korean peninsula, where it will take part in an upcoming round of military drills.

After visiting Naples, Fla. last week to survey the damage wrought by Hurricane Irma, President Donald Trump is traveling to his hometown, New York City, Monday for a week of speeches and meetings with foreign leaders during a session of the United Nations General Assembly. The highlight of the trip is, of course, Trump's first speech before the General Assembly, which will take place Tuesday.

For the past 3 months, Bank of America strategist David Woo has been warning that the market is precariously unbalanced, and as a result the smallest shift away from being "priced to perfection", or spike in volatility, could lead to a waterfall event. As we first reported back in July, Woo first warned that between the ongoing standoff in Washington, and the seemingly endless showdown with North Korea, there are two "dangerous" games of chicken afoot, both of which could culminate in a market crash.

In the ongoing game of escalating verbal ping-pong, North Korea responded on Monday to the latest condemnation by the UN Security Council which responded to Pyongyang Friday missile launch with a harsly worded verbal rebuke, and warned that the more sanctions pursued by the US and its allies, "will only increase our pace towards the ultimate completion of the state nuclear force,” KCNA reported, citing ministry of foreign affairs.