United States

Asian stocks hit their highest level in 18 months, with positive momentum lifting European shares which were helped by Societe Generale earnings. Yields fell on some of the euro zone's battered low-rated bonds as investors put aside the political risks that have dominated markets this week. After trading flat, S&P futures bounced as US traders walked boosted by a spike in the USDJPY, ahead of earnings reports from Coca-Cola, Reynolds American, CVS Health, Nvidia and Twitter.

After a fiery start to his foreign policy overtures, Trump is gradually normalizing his approach to international diplomacy.

Submitted by Martin Armstrong via ArmstrongEconomics.com,

The U.S. government has authorised the use of killing citizens via firing squad in an overhaul of the death penalty laws in Mississippi.  Due to the unconstitutional nature of lethal injections, a lawmaker proposed the idea of allowing the State to use gassing, firing squads or electrocutions instead. Rt.com reports: There’s no killing capital punishment in State Representative Andy Gipson’s (R-Braxton) House Bill 638. His legislation would set up a list of replacement methods for execution should the state find any single one unconstitutional.

Submitted by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.com,

For months now, long before the 2016 election, I have been warning about a specific social dynamic which is likely to lead to a form of civil war within the U.S.; namely, the reality that people on the left side of the political spectrum would become despondent at the inevitable loss of their candidate, Hillary Clinton, and that they would react by becoming far more militant. In my article 'Order Out Of Chaos: The Defeat Of The Left Comes With A Cost', published November post-election, I stated: