One of the most vocal, and angry, reactions to Trump's anti-immigration executive order came from Iran whose foreign ministry, as noted previously, vowed to take reciprocal measures, as the Iranian government called the ban "an insult to the Muslim world." Tehran did not waste any time, and shortly after Iran said it would ban U.S. citizens entering the country in retaliation to Washington's visa ban against the nation.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
Trump's sweeping, and immediately enforced ban on people seeking refuge in the United States and visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries which will last at least three months has caused what Reuters dubs "chaos, panic and anger" - as well as lawsuits - not only among travelers on Saturday - with some denied entry to the US and turned back from U.S.-bound flights - but also among US allies such as France and Germany.
Submitted by Bill O'Grady via Confluence Investment Management,
While the S&P500 market may remain pinned just why of all time highs, this appears to be from ongoing short covering, and is not - at least in the latest week - the result of new money entering the market. Quite the opposite: according to the latest BofA fund flow analysis based on EPFR data, in the latest week, US equities saw $6.3 billion in outflows, the largest weekly redemption from US mutual funds and ETFs in four months, since before the presidential election.
Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will have their first official discussions since the inauguration in a phone call planned for Saturday, the Kremlin said, a first step towards what Trump has billed as a normalization of relations after three years of tensions marked by open hostility during the Obama regime.