Reservoir Dogs.

The political drama gripping America continued apace on Thursday, as the Trump administration tried desperately to sort out who said what to who and critically, who Michael Wolff caught on tape.

This, in brief, is the problem (from a piece by Wolff published today by The Hollywood Reporter):

There was, after the abrupt Scaramucci meltdown, hardly any effort inside the West Wing to disguise the sense of ludicrousness and anger felt by every member of the senior staff toward Trump’s family and Trump himself. It became almost a kind of competition to demystify Trump. For Rex Tillerson, he was a moron. For Gary Cohn, he was dumb as shit. For H.R. McMaster, he was a hopeless idiot. For Steve Bannon, he had lost his mind.

And this, friends, is what panic sounds like:

  • TRUMP ATTORNEY SENDS BANNON CEASE AND DESIST LETTER, ABC SAYS
  • TRUMP ATTORNEY SENDS AUTHOR WOLFF CEASE AND DESIST LETTER: ABC
  • SANDERS SAYS PHONES TO BE BANNED FOR WEST WING GUESTS, STAFF

Meanwhile, Jeff Sessions isn’t going to win any popularity contests for this ill-advised decision:

  • AG SESSIONS TO RESCIND LEGAL MARIJUANA POLICY: AP

“Don’t worry”…

 

I’m not sure we’d call it a “freakout” (man), but the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (the first US-listed, pure-play weed ETF) did take a hit (get it?) before recouping some of its early losses:

MJX

Meanwhile, the Dow crossed 25,000:

Dow

And guess who’s excited?

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/948944124132167680

Now if only the people who voted for him actually owned any stocks…

NoSoupForYou

(Deutsche Bank)

Despite the blizzard, folks were trading with volumes up sharply through midday:

Volume

Does this mean investors can now go to cash without giving up income?..

Yield

Treasurys were mixed on the day, but there was of course more of this:

Or, visually:

5s30s

The dollar resumed its slide, as everyone weighs a continuation of upbeat growth abroad against the possibility that tax reform in the U.S. will generally underwhelm when it comes to boosting the greenback:

DXY

As usual, all eyes will be on AHE when the jobs report hits Friday.

The euro resumed its ascent on Thursday and you should remember this:

The stronger the euro, the more gun shy the ECB has to be lest they should inadvertently catalyze further strength in the common currency and thereby undermine the progress they’ve made on the economic front.

That said, FX strength didn’t derail European equities on Thursday. Thanks in no small part to still more upbeat econ, stocks across the pond had a veritable barnburner of a session and even as the FTSE underperformed, it still hit a record high:

Europe

The MSCI EM FX index, riding high thanks to the beleaguered dollar and the commodities rally, rose for a 10th consecutive day. That’s the longest stretch in seven years. It’s up 20% from its January 2016 low (that was back when oil was plunging and China risk was rearing its ugly head) to its highest level since 2013:

EMFX

Four-month high for the yuan by the way:

Yuan

Oh, and if you missed it early this morning, Japan came back from the long break ready to buy some damn stocks.

The Nikkei soared a truly incredible 3.3% on Thursday. That’s the best gain in more than a year and marks the best start to a year since 1996:

Nikkei

Just so we’re clear, we’re looking at a 26-year high on the Nikkei. And if Abenomics doesn’t work, well don’t tell equity investors:

Nikkei2

Finally, for your moment of zen, here is Sarah Huckabee Sanders quite literally playing a propaganda video of Trump at today’s press briefing…

 

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2 thoughts on “Reservoir Dogs.

  1. I ordered the book trump hates so much, must be some good stuff in there.

    its funny how he says ‘crashes’ through 25000 instead of flies/climbs/breaks.

    the reason he is still president is b/c the market is high. the market isnt high b/c he’s president. public opinion will let anything slide if mkts are going up. the public will crucify you if mkst are down, no matter how ‘good’ you are. exampes: clinton/lewinsky and jimmy carter. it makes me smile everytime trump ties his wagon to the stock market. live by the sword, die by the sword.

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