- The US president says Europe will back down and go along with his plans to take Greenland. The response from the Continent was, “Sell America”.
- He also said he is ready to impose 200% tariffs on French wine and champagne.
- As expected, markets reflect the growing chaos with strong rallies in Metals and continues selloffs in Equities.
Morning Summary: As the financial elite gather in Davos, Switzerland this week for the latest World Economic Forum, the war of words between the US president and his country’s European allies continues to heat up. As the president boarded his plane (no, I don’t know if it was the gold plated one, given as a “gift” from his friends in the government of Qatar), he said a number of inflammatory things, including hitting France with 200% tariffs on its wine and champagne. In response, the unified theme coming from the continent of Europe is “Sell America”. While catchy, this is a bit misleading, for there are a lot “Americas”. Much of the world will continue to buy from South America, most notably Brazil, Mexico in Central America, and Canada in North America. Where the world will turn its collective back is on that one big block known as the United States. (It would be interesting to hear what Mr. Buffett has to say. For years he has repeated the phrase, “Buy America”.) Markets reflected the growing chaos overnight through early Tuesday morning. I received a message Monday night from a fund manager, “Shanghai silver price is over $100”. Meanwhile, the US dollar index continues to weaken and the euro strengthen.
