War

Authored by Andrew Bacevich via The American Conservative,

Does any member have the courage and vision to take responsibility?

Growing tensions between Washington and Pyongyang escalated dramatically this week with North Korea laying out plans to target the American island territory of Guam in a missile strike. News reports have shown intercontinental ballistic missiles being tested that have the potential to reach the continental U.S. while intelligence sources believe the regime has now managed to miniaturize a nuclear weapon to fit one of those missiles.

Despite the dramatic action in Bitcoin this weekend, it appears the world's wise capital markets investors know just what to do faced with civil war in America, kinetic war with Venezuela, and nuclear war with North Korea - simple - Buy The Dow and Sell Gold...

Bitcoin suggested some 'angst'...

But the machines wanted to take out The Dow stops from Friday...

Currency markets are dead for now - JPY unch, EUR unch, CNH modestly higher.

How close is the US to war with North Korea? That was the question several top military and national security advisors struggled to answer over the weekend, mitigating fears of an imminent nuclear war even as Trump raises geopolitical tensions and boosts bellicose rhetoric with every public appearance.

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday", and walking a fine line of backing Trump's tough talk but not wanting to raise the alarm at home, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said there’s no indication war will break out.

Did central banks just lose control of the world... again?

For the first time in four months, BofAML's Global Financial Market Stress index has turned positive - signalling more market stress than normal.

As the spat between North Korea and the U.S. worsened, a measure of cross-asset risk, hedging demand and investor flows awakened from its torpor (after spending 78 straight days below zero - with stress below normal).