Daily Briefing For Wednesday, April 5

The exhaustion of 'strategic patience' is not foremost on the market's 'worry list', but perhaps it should be. It's been some weeks since Secretary of State Tillerson warned of that decades-long policy on North Korea (both the former dictator and his current wacko sibling) essentially coming to an end.

Since then Pyongyang has signaled absolutely no softening or interest in an economic or diplomatic solution; and has become more belligerent. Current exercises between the United States and South Korea as well as Japan and other allies are ongoing (they take place annually), and are larger this year in-response to the intransigent attitude of the North.
 

A State Department 'source' (when they refuse attribution it's usually higher than otherwise) on Tuesday noted the talks forthcoming between Presidents Xi and Trump take on increasing urgency, as North Korean beligerency has increased. The source said (and should be in evening newscasts): "It is now urgent, because we feel that the clock is very, very quickly running out".

He continued: "we would have loved to see North Korea join the community of nations. They've been given that opportunity over the course of different dialogues and offers, over the course of four Administrations, with some of our best diplomats and statesmen doing the best they could to bring about a resolution."

As I mentioned the other day, the US can ameliorate the language of 'Trade' with China (which won't drastically be reduced I suspect, nor protectionist or other measures 'other than' were dumping and obvious market flooding may and has prevailed); with this version of 'Art of the Deal' perhaps relating not just to China influenced the North; but 'handling it', with promises that of US Forces not occupying the North in-event of reunification of the two Korea's.

Just a hint of what I suspect is on the plate for Palm Beach this weekend. In the course of typing the above comments, I learned that early Wednesday in Tokyo time, North Korea just fired a ballistic missile toward Japan yet again. So the response by the dictator in North Korea is more provocations, at the time of China's President visiting the United States this week and the largest assembly of Allied Forces in Korea and adjacent waters perhaps since the landing at Inchon by General MacArthur's Forces.

Across the world, another dictator, Assad, presumably is responsible for the chemical attack that killed or mortally injured scores of civilians in Syria. The chief of mission to remove chemical weapons from Syria, Gerry Smith of the UK, said to the BBC today that all 'declared' was accounted for when (with a lot of fanfare by the Obama Administration with Russia's help in negotiating) an agreement to do that was implemented, without knocking-out Syria's Air Force or helicopter bases, as was a post-Red Line being crossed plan (that was aborted). So now that crisis is back on the table and Tillerson strongly reversed his stance that softened toward Syria just last week.

Bottom-line:

You know what the stock market is focused-on: tax reform; an early bringing to a vote of a revised Healthcare Bill (debatable if it's close to being beyond conceptual if you listened to Speaker Ryan) and earnings that really are not key presently.