United States

Judging by recent market action, it is becoming apparent that traders and investors are getting if not tired, then displeased with having to trade what boils down to one of two narratives: Trump Reflation Trade On, and - as has been the case recently - Trump Trade Off. As much is apparent in the latest weekly kickstart note from David Kostin who writes that with the market struggling to readjust its expectations for US government policy following the move away from health care reform, client conversations make clear that investors fall into two camps:

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson tried to reassure America's nervous European counterparts over Washington's commitment to NATO on Friday but it didn't quite work out as expected when he pressed them again to spend more on defense, triggering a sharp rebuke from Germany.

“As President Trump has made clear, it is no longer sustainable for the U.S. to maintain a disproportionate share of NATO’s defense expenditures,” Tillerson said at a meeting of allied foreign ministers in Brussels.

Update:

After a very quick statement from President Trump, who vowed that “from now on, those who break the rules will face consequences,” Wilbur Ross, Peter Navarro and Vice President Pence also made brief statements to the press regarding the new administration's executive orders on trade.  Here were the key headlines:

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

For the 11th week in a row, the number of US oil rigs rose (up 10 to 662 - the highest since September 2015). US Crude production continues to track the lagged rig count, pouring more cold water on OPEC's production cut party.

The rig count grows, tracking the lagged oil price in a self-defeating cycle...

And crude production appears to have plenty more room to run...

And don't forget, as Nick Cunningham detailed, there are thousands of drilled shale wells are sitting idle, unfracked and uncompleted.