Authored by Patrick Buchanan via Buchanan.org,
“An act of pure evil,” said President Trump of the atrocity in Las Vegas, invoking our ancient faith: “Scripture teaches us the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Iran's moderate leader Rouhani secured a second term with a landslide victory in Friday's presidential election, winning 57% of the vote and giving a decisive victory to pro-reform groups eager to open up the Islamic republic and re-engage with the outside world, Reuters reported. Rouhani's hardline opponent, senior cleric Ebrahim Raisi who was running for office for the first time, a protege of Iran's Supreme Leader and the custodian of a religious charity worth tens of billions, came in second with 38.5% said Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, Iran's interior minister.
Live Feed from France 24:
With the ECB set to announce its latest monetary policy decision in less than 12 hours, one can summarize in one word what the market expects: nothing. Sure, there are some nuances - the central bank may wax philosophical about Europe's better growth prospects, and maybe even set the stage for a small signal as early as June about an eventual reduction of stimulus, but don't count on it. After all, there is a reason - or rather two - why markets are where they are today, and it has to do with central banks creating a record $1 trillion in new money out of thin air.
Yesterday, Bloomberg's Richard Breslow expressed surprise at the exuberant market euphoria that resulted from a French election outcome that was "everybody's base case." 24 hours later, his surprise remains and as he says in his latest daily note, "what I do question is why everyone keeps telling me this was their forecasted and most likely outcome, yet the world has changed." Maybe nothing Breslow answers, and muses that it is all just the market gaps without any actual price discovery: