United States

In an overnight note by Goldman's Ian Wright titled "Calm before the storm", which looks at pricing of risk during the current low-vol episode, the GS strategist writes that in the run up to the inauguration last Friday of the 45th President of the US, investors have remained keen to discuss all things at the intersection of President Trump and markets. And yet, despite the uncertainty, volatility has been very low, which is why Goldman tries to estimate which assets appear the most fragile in the event that volatility picks up.

Authored by Robert Shiller, originally posted op-ed at The Guardian,

Speculative markets have always been vulnerable to illusion. But seeing the folly in markets provides no clear advantage in forecasting outcomes, because changes in the force of the illusion are difficult to predict.

In the US, two illusions have been important recently in financial markets.

• Dollar slips, shares wobbly as Trump reality sets in (Reuters)
• Some Republicans Wary of Repealing ACA Without Replacement Plan (WSJ)
• First days of Trump era signal America's deepening political divide (Reuters)
• Donald Trump Embarks on His First Week With a Heavy Slate (WSJ)
• Equatorial Guinea has applied to join OPEC: OPEC source (Reuters)
• White House Backs ‘Alternative Facts’ (WSJ)
• Samsung says batteries caused Note 7 fires, may delay new phone launch (Reuters)
• Trump Makes Revised Trade Deals an Early Priority (WSJ)

While US stocks closed near session, and all time highs on Friday, the first green close on inauguration day in over 50 years, Monday has seen a modest case of buyer's remorse, with European stocks sliding, Asian shares mixed and U.S.

After the drama of the past few months, Julian Assange could be forgiven for wishing that the world still communicated via passenger pigeon.

Seattle-based email provider Riseup's "canary" expiration baffled the public for months and led to emotional, nonfactual accusations that Wikileaks had been "compromised" by state actors. But what is Riseup's canary and how did an anomaly related to it cause so much concern? To explain that, it is necessary to outline the legal processes that made canaries necessary, how they work in relation to the law and what a canary is exactly.