presidential election

While we would never be the ones to question the integrity of "independent" pollsters, how could we given the amazing job they did predicting the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, we're starting to grow a bit curious about the ever-widening gap in Trump's approval ratings between the various polling institutions.

For example, the latest Rasmussen daily tracking poll found that 53% of likely U.S. voters approve of President Trump’s job performance while 47% disapprove.

Authored by Caroline Baum, originally posted at MarketWatch.com,

To clean up Washington, send the swamp creatures packing

When they run for re-election, more than 90% of House members win.

It's a story that has been told many times in part, but not in total. While Goldman Sachs' role in helping to create the environment for Greece's government-debt crisis is well known, less discussion is given to the role the Clinton family played in helping Angela Merkel to consolidate political control of Greece while also assisting Goldman as it continued to benefit from the meltdown once austerity measures had begun. The Clintons appear to have received funds from both Germany and Goldman Sachs during this period.

One day after Trump unexpectedly won the presidential election, a no less surprising announcement came from hedge fund legend and central bank skeptic, Stanley Druckenmiller, who on November 10, told CNBC "I sold all my gold on the night of the election." Why? Because “all the reasons I owned it for the last couple of years seem to be ending", first and foremost his expectations that inflation is now set to spike, forcing money out of safe assets - like gold and Treasuries - and into the US Dollar.

In a mostly quiet Wednesday session, Asian stocks rose overnight along with European bourses, which were led higher by miners after Rio Tinto posted higher profits for the first time in three years and a bigger-than-expected dividend, while India’s Sensex extended declines after the central bank unexpectedly left rates unchanged. US futures were little changed as oil continued to fall after API reported a huge inventory build in the last week.