North Korea

With the US out on holiday for the 4th of July, overnight trading volumes have been muted, as Europe started off in the red but has since trimmed most losses (Stoxx 600 -0.1%) while S&P500 futures rose shaprly from session lows spurred by the European open ignoring the risk-off sentiment from North Korea's latest missile launch, trading 0.2% higher, or up 4 points to 2,429 and closing the gap to Monday's last minute tech-driven market selloff.

On Monday night, following news of the latest North Korean ballistic missile launch which as discussed earlier landed in the Sea of Japan, and specifically Japan's quasi-sovereign Economic Exclusion Zone, Trump tweeted his reaction to the latest provocation, which probably falls under the "modern day presidential" umbrella.

Trump decided to eschew conventional diplomacy, and stated matter of facty, that "North Korea has just launched another missile" then prioeeded to ask of Kim Jong-Un, "does this guy have anything better to do with his life?"

Update: According to the S. Korea military, the N. Korea's missile flew more than 930km, before dropping into the sea. Separately, US Pacific Command said in statement that North Korea launched a land-based intermediate-range ballistic missile on Tuesday morning. The missile was tracked for 37 minutes and landed in the Sea of Japan.

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Ahead of this week's G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, Donald Trump called the leaders of China and Japan to discuss the "threat posed by North Korea', along with trade issues, the White House said on Sunday.

Trump's "up and down" relationship with China may be on the precipice of taking a sharp dive into the proverbial abyss.  After frequently threatening to label China a "currency manipulator" on the campaign trail last year, Trump's relationship with China's President Xi Jinping took a decided turn for the better after a meeting at Mar-a-Lago in which China vowed to help address the "menace of North Korea" .