United States

Authored by David Stockman via The Daily Reckoning blog,

The Deep State is escalating its war on President Trump but the Wall Street partiers apparently couldn’t care less until today's relatively modest drop. When the machines tagged 2402 on the S&P 500 yesterday, it was surely a historic case of “look ma, no hands!”

It’s hard to imagine what more will be needed to ignite an eruption of fear and panic in the casino amidst Wall Street’s record and wholly irrational state of somnolence.

It was just over two months ago - well before VIX hit its record stretch of nearly 20 days below 11 - when we first discussed why one of the major threats to the complacent market was the danger of a forced liquidation by trend-following and vol-neutral, CTA, risk-arb and other systematic funds - many of whom have been the fundamental catalyst for the unprecedented VIX compression seen in May -  resulting in an explosive unwind of vol positions.

Authored by Goldbroker.com's Helder Mello Guimares via Acting-Man.com,

Chugging along in Nosebleed Territory

Last Friday, both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite indexes closed at record highs in the US, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average only a whisker away from its peak set in March. What has often been called the “most hated bull market in history” thus far continues  to chug along in defiance of its detractors.

After spending 7 years in a military prison, Army whistleblower Chelsea (aka Bradley) Manning walked free today courtesy of clemency deal granted by President Obama.  According to NBC, Manning, 29, will remain an active-duty soldier in the U.S. Army, but won't be paid a salary and is highly unlikely to be called into active service.  That said, her "excess leave" status will legally entitle her to military medical care.

A risk-off mood dominated the overnight session amid growing concern over the turmoil engulfing the Trump administration, as fresh allegations add to deepening political scandals in Washington, the latest coming from Tuesday's NYT report citing former FBI director Comey’s memo which raises possibility of obstruction of justice, an impeachable offense. The dollar, already in retreat after a report that the U.S.