United States

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the US intelligence services of performing a massive cyberattack against Russia.  According to a senior security official, Russia is facing “increased cyber attacks” originating in the U.S. Reuters reports: U.S. intelligence agencies say Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a cyber campaign aimed at boosting Donald Trump’s electoral chances by discrediting his Democrat rival Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential campaign. Russia has dismissed the accusations as a “witch-hunt”.

We start our Sunday with some gloomy predictions from Morgan Stanley's appreciately named "Sunday Start" periodical, in which the bank's Chief Global cross-asset strategist, Andrew Sheets, explains why the market return under the Obama administration will be a tough act to follow. His argument in a nutshell: "good market environments often involve a shift from economic despair to optimism, and a shift in psychology from ‘fear’ to ‘greed’. Both occurred over the last eight years, producing returns well above the long-run average.

Following Rex Tillerson’s “astonishing” and “unprofessional” comments made during his confirmation hearing, Chinese state media has predicted a “large scale war” in the South China Sea if US tries stopping China accessing its man-made islands. The former ExxonMobil CEO likened China’s island-building in the South China Sea to “Russia’s taking of Crimea” during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

Submitted by Chris Martenson via PeakProsperity.com,

Fair warning, my family just received a 61.5% increase in our healthcare insurance premium of 2017, on top of last year’s 24.8% increase, so I am quite annoyed at the moment.  For my non-US readers, perhaps what follows will interest you as a means of understanding how and why Donald Trump came to be elected President.  I am going to be channeling some of my inner crank today.

One of the reasons behind the first ever visit by a Chinese president to next week's Davos boondoggle is that, as reported last week, president Xi was open to a meeting with US president-elect Donald Trump’s team, if clearly not the president-elect himself, who will be far busier on January 20 - the day the World Economic Forum in Davos ends - getting inaugurated.