29Aug2017 Open Market Commentary: Wall Street Sinks Along With Falling Global Stocks As North Korea Fires Missile Over Japan, WTI Slips To The Mid 46 Handle, Gold Prices Jumped 1.2%

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

European markets are sharply lower today with shares in Germany off the most. The DAX is down 1.84% while France’s CAC 40 is off 1.30% and London’s FTSE 100 is lower by 1.12%.

North Korea missile and strong euro sink European stocks

MILAN (Reuters) – World stocks tumbled and safe-haven assets soared on Tuesday after North Korea fired a missile over northern Japan, fuelling worries of fresh tension between Washington and Pyongyang.

Oil prices dip as market grapples with hurricane damage

LONDON (Reuters) – Crude prices dipped on Tuesday as the market grappled with the shutdown of some 13 percent of refining capacity in the United States after a hurricane ripped through the heart of the country’s oil industry.

Wall Street to open lower as North Korea missile test rattles investors

(Reuters) – U.S. stocks were set to open sharply lower on Tuesday as North Korea’s missile test over Japan escalated tensions with the United States, and President Donald Trump warned that “all options are on the table”.

Apple, Accenture team up on iPhone, iPad apps for businesses

(Reuters) – Technology company Apple Inc and professional services company Accenture PLC said Tuesday they will team up to help businesses build better applications for iOS, the operating system that powers Apple’s iPhone and iPad.

Despite new U.S. sanctions, Russian oil traders say it’s business as usual

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian oil companies will quickly find ways to work around tighter restrictions imposed this month by the United States on the foreign finance they can use, multiple Russian oil industry sources told Reuters.

Deutsche Bank names Postbank CEO to management board

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank has named the chief of its Postbank unit to its management board as the lender further integrates its retail arm in a commitment to its home market.

Best Buy lifts annual sales forecast after strong second-quarter results

(Reuters) – Best Buy Co Inc , the No. 1 U.S. consumer electronics retailer, reported better-than-expected quarterly sales and earnings on Tuesday and raised its annual revenue forecast, led by robust demand for smartphones and wearable devices.

Power of love: China’s latest arranged match rattles utilities

BEIJING (Reuters) – Beijing announced its latest arranged marriage by matching the country’s top coal miner with one of its biggest utilities to create a global powerhouse worth $280 billion on China’s Valentine’s Day.

BAML, FAB to get roles in IPO of Emaar’s UAE real estate unit: sources

DUBAI (Reuters) – Bank of America Merrill Lynch and First Abu Dhabi Bank are set to join Goldman Sachs in getting roles in the share sale of the UAE real estate development business of Emaar Properties , sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

There Is “Eight Feet Of Water” On Houston Roads, And It’s About To Get Much Worse

Amid desperate efforts to save stranded citizens – police report over 3,000 rescues alone – and the arrival of the so-called ‘cajun navy’ to assist, Harvey continues to pummel Texas, paralyzing Houston as the region braces for yet more rain after the Tropical Storm recharged over warm waters and heading back in-land.

“This is, if not the largest, it has to be categorized as one of the largest disasters America has ever faced,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared at a press conference Monday afternoon.

Houston’s main water-way, Buffalo Bayou, shows over 30 inches of rain and it’s about to get a lot worse. Buffalo Bayou is the main waterway that snakes through the heart of Houston, and the water levels of two reservoirs that feed into it are particularly concerning.

“The reality is the water is continuing to rise,” Mr. Turner said. “The water level along Buffalo Bayou in all likelihood will increase.”

Israel Threatens To Bomb Assad’s Presidential Palace

More information has emerged from Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s meeting with President Putin last week. The two met in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi on August 23rd to discuss recent developments in Syria. According to new shocking reports in both Arab and Israeli media, a senior Israeli official accompanying Netanyahu on the trip threatened to assassinate Syrian President Assad by bombing his palace in Damascus, while further adding that Israel will seek to derail the US-Russia brokered de-escalation deal reached in Astana, Kazakhstan earlier this summer.

According to the Jerusalem Post:

A senior Israeli official warned the Russian government that if Iran continues to extend its reach in Syria, Israel will bomb Syrian President Bashar Assad’s palace in Damascus, according to reports in Arab media.

Israel also warned that if serious changes do not happen in the region, Israel will make sure the ceasefire deal, reached by the United States and Russia in Astana, Kazakhstan, will be nullified.

A senior Israeli source told the Al-Jadida newspaper that no understanding was reached between the Israelis and the Russians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did, however, make it clear to Putin that its concerns must be met or Israel will be forced to act.

The warnings occurred in a meeting between Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.

As we noted at the time, Netanyahu’s brazen words to Putin that ‘preventative’ …

Trump Vows “All Options On The Table” After North Korea Missile Launch

After an uncharacteristically long, “Gen. Kelly-mediated” delay, Donald Trump finally issued an official response to last night’s North Korean launch which flew over Japanese airspace. And, instead of tweeting, perhaps indicative of the gravity of the situation, moments ago the White House issued an official statement saying that “all options are on the table.”

Full statement below:

Statement by President Donald J. Trump on North Korea

The world has received North Korea’s latest message loud and clear: this regime has signaled contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior.

Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table.

While that may be, judging by North Korea’s repeated provocations, at least Kim is convinced that Trump really has no options. Indeed, as Bill Blain commented earlier, “What will Donald do? After last week’s “Fire and Fury” rant, the N Koreans are expecting him to fulminate, look stupid, make some further angry comments – in short more bluster. They will continue to goad him into doing something “angry”… at which point America gets the blame, and China can step in as peacemaker.”

In other words, North Korea – and China – appear to have set a trap for the US president. Will Trump avoid the temptation to walk straight in it, or – in an attempt to “boost ratings” – will Trump do what Gens Kelly and McMaster are telling him to do? One more launch by North Korea may be all it …

The 5 Steps To World Domination

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

You don’t need an army to achieve World Domination; all you need is enough cheap credit to buy up everything that generates the highest value and/or income.

World Domination–it has a nice ring, doesn’t it? Here’s how to achieve it in 5 steps:

1. Turn everything into a commodity that can be traded on the global market: land, leases on land, options to purchase land, houses, buildings, rooms in slums, labor, tools, robots, water, water rights, mineral rights, rights to air routes, ships, aircraft, political power, shares in corporations, government bonds, municipal bonds, corporate bonds, student loans that have been bundled into debt-based instruments, the income from city parking meters, electricity, software, advertising, marketing, media, social media, food, energy, insurance, gold, metals, credit, interest-rate swaps and last but not least, financial instruments that control and/or pyramid all the real-world goods and assets that have been commoditized (i.e. almost everything).

Why is this the essential first step in World Domination? Once something has been commoditized, it can be bought and sold in the global marketplace in fiat currencies–currencies that are not backed by any real-world asset and that can be created out of thin air by central and private banks.

You see the dynamic, right? Create credit-currency out of thin air, and then use this “free money” to buy up the real world. Quite a trick, isn’t it? Get a means of exchange for essentially nothing (i.e. money at near-zero interest rates) and then trade this for assets that produce goods and services everyone else needs or wants.

Now we understand steps 2 and 3:

2. Enab …

Apple, Samsung Taking Phone Prices to the Edge

The newest smartphones are taking their screens to the edge. Apple and Samsung Electronics seem to be doing the same with their prices, in what amounts to a gamble to revive growth.

Investors Overestimate Nestlé’s Appetite for Radical Change

Finding a new recipe for growth at food giant Nestlé could take longer than investors like New York activist Dan Loeb seem to think.

Harvey’s Lessons for U.S. Energy

The hurricane’s hitting the Gulf Coast of Texas highlights how the U.S. now relies on fewer refineries, run closer to their limits, to turn crude into fuel and get it to consumers.

How to downsize your home without losing your mind

Senior move managers clean out the house, throw away or donate keepsakes and set up the new home.

Need to Know: Gold’s 2016 peak now looks easy to reach after the metal’s big breakout

North Korea is again looking like Public Enemy No. 1, as Harvey’s mounting toll adds to the bleak mood. Gold and other safety plays are scoring sizable gains, sparking chatter about how much more they could climb.

Market Extra: How North Korea’s latest offensive, Harvey carnage, and low volumes rattle stock market

Wall Street looks rattled on Tuesday after North Korea launched delivered its most provocative ballistic-missile launch in years, flying at least one missile over Japanese airspace and drawing widespread and swift rebuke from the U.S. and its Asian neighbors.