Over the past couple of weeks, real money clients have pared back their gold exposure after spot reached record highs in early May. 

...the more pointed commentary is really around the nature of the downgrade which is squarely on the continued fiscal imbalance.

...so, not the end of the world?

the key economic data releases this week are initial jobless claims on Thursday and new home sales on Friday. There are also many speaking engagements by Fed officials this week.

Moody’s downgrade does not tell markets anything they did not know and in fact, recent movements in US treasury yields and the US dollar may be of more concern than the official downgrade by a rating agency.

...disappointingly for the “China’s hitting the sell button - panic!” brigade, the amount was only $19 billion.

The market seems to be settling-in to a view that, after an action packed ‘first 100 days’, we’re entering a more predictable period of politics, with a clear expectation of more carrot, and less stick. 

"... signed the deed on May 9 in a deal to borrow $15 million from Breezewood DE LLC, a Denver-based limited liability company."

... no one is quite sure when that will happen, only that when it does there will be almost nowhere to hide.

Investors are bracing for more twists and turns as the two sides negotiate...

"On our trading desk we also had multiple noteworthy “offer wanted” requests (primarily in the tech sector) from US Asset Managers."

An internal Kroger audit found nearly 6% of items had wrong tags—far above its 1% error policy.

There are currently four key parts of America’s global economic and political power.

"...it is unlikely that we will see markets revisiting the lows of April in the near term"

The next bull market will rest on 3 main pillars: i) weaker US dollar; ii) US bond yield top; iii) China economic recovery.

Are people allowing extreme views on politics to dramatically change their investment views?

The market found Trump’s put... the modal case is a “muddling through” one now.