So who appointed Powell again? / UST 30's 5.04%, 18y highs / Syria-Israel / EU budget & France austerity

Stéphan
Jul 17
2 min read

France flirts with cutting two public holidays to save money, budget cuts, healthcare cuts, ''everyone has to chip in' time, big cuts, no doubt plenty of strikes coming, won't be easy to get through, but no choice there..
Markets : Trump floats the idea, then decided he wasn't going to fire Powell, for now anyway, nice intraday vol, then, as discussed last week, this is the real risk...Market watchers warn Trump might not ‘chicken out’ of 30% tariffs on the EU, and letters going out to 150 countries wit tariffs between 10 and 15%, Japan's June trade surplus plummets, exports contract again amid U.S. tariffs and weaker Oz employment data, Syria situation worrying, SPX down 1pct and back to where it was on 'Trump/Powell', same for USDollar, precious metals similar price action, 30's UST 5.04%, highest level in 18years or something, no-one seems to be worried about it right now though
Trump : ''he is a terrible Fed chair, I was surprised Powell was appointed, frankly I was'.. couldn't make this up >> it's Trump who appointed Powell.. When he first run for office, he called employment data fake, when he was in place, he called it his economic success, Janet Yellen was slammed for keeping rates to low for Obama, not he wants to fire Powell for not doing the exact same, he promised to expose Epstein's client list, now he claims the whole thing is a hoax..all to distract from the great achievement of achieveing....no trade deal in 100days..but it's coming
Israel stirs pot in S. Syria as casualties rise, cease-fire collapses
EU Budget - Von der Leyen botches €2tn EU budget proposal with chaotic infighting - Centralised process has compromised launch of commission president’s spending plan
Some big US banks plan to launch stablecoins, expecting crypto-friendly regulations >>> they need those stable coins soonest as they can to create demand for UST's..