Trump doesn’t like what the Fed is doing

Daily Analysis - 17/10/2018

Trump states that the Fed is the 'biggest threat

Yesterday Donald Trump increased his attack on the FED naming it "my biggest threat."

Trump said in an interview with Fox Business, "Because the Fed is raising rates too fast. And it's independent, so I don't speak to him." "But I'm not happy with what he's doing because it's going too fast. Because – you look at the last inflation numbers, they're very low," referring to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.

President Trump's announcement was the newest in his list for beating the Fed. Trump has announced that the central bank has "gone crazy," he's accused Powell of last week's huge drop in stocks and said he was "not happy" with Powell's "loco" choice to continue increasing interest rates.

"I'm not blaming anybody, I put him there," Trump said of Powell. "And maybe it’s right, maybe it's wrong. But I put him there.

Asia stocks rise due to a bounce on Wall Street

Wednesday stocks in Asia broadly climbed higher ahead of a strong overnight bounce on Wall Street.

The Nikkei 225 raised by more than 1.17% in afternoon trade, as the Topix index advanced about 1.44% with most sectors continuing to go up.

Softbank shares dumped some earlier profits but traded higher by around 1.*% in the afternoon following the company's Chief Operating Officer Marcelo Claure’s statement earlier that it was "anxiously looking" for progress regarding the disappearance of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Softbank holds strong relations to the Saudi government, with a notable proportion of its investment capital arising from the country.

Saudi Arabia could raise oil prices due to the Khashoggi case

Concerns continue growing that Saudi Arabia, in retaliation to the increasing global outcry caused by the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, probably may react by striking back with potential economic penalties by weaponizing its oil dominance.

Saudi Arabia's warning appeared in a government announcement declaring its "vital role in the global economy" and that any effort to hurt that role will be met with "greater action". But as oil rises, a glance at history and geopolitics implies that while a Saudi-driven oil price spike would cause discomfort to much of the world, it would eventually backfire on itself.

Warren Patterson, a commodities analyst at ING, told CNBC's Squawk Box Europe on Tuesday.

"If this is something the Saudis were allowed to do, they'd be really shooting themselves in the foot," "In the short to medium term we'll definitely see an incremental amount of demand destruction, but the bigger issue is in the longer term.”

Brexit: Expectations stay low

UK Prime Minister Theresa May will go to Brussels today and she will speak to the European leaders before the pre-summit dinner that is programmed to take place. Notwithstanding her appearance, any beliefs of a Brexit opportunity breakthrough is as low as it has been in recent weeks.

Discussions stalled over the weekend between UK Brexit secretary Dominic Raab and EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, and that is what drove to the delay we're witnessing now among the two parties.

If there isn't going to be a meaningful improvement from the summit this week, then why is it important? Well, the problem here is all about opinion and more particularly, deadlines.