China probably should not give much on intellectual property. If Meng is prosecuted, it would not surprise me if US exec's in China are arrested. This is about shipping stuff to Iran. There may be more to it but Trump will lose 4.5 billion Asian customers if this keeps up. Bad business all around. Trump never should have brought Yosemite Sam Bolton on board.

That was a quick end to peaceful trade vibes.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the massive Canadian housing bubble. Maybe a frozen market.

I appreciate your stand against US bullying of China coming from both parties. It makes no sense. We have 4.5 million customers in Asia that no longer trust us even if a semblance of a trade deal is reached. China helped bail us out of the Great Recession. We are quite unappreciative.

Interesting concept, prof. I have wondered why central banks are so reluctant to carry a large balance sheet as does the BOJ. But as you say, central banks in Japan and Europe buy low or negative interest bonds. Is that because they are trying to create more demand for the bonds? Would there be a surplus of bonds if they did not buy, resulting in the need to offer higher yields? Japan seems to between a rock, the need to keep rates low, and a hard place, the need to sell the bonds by offering a better yield.

Could be that Google would have a hard time speaking to runaway self driving cars, lol.

I love your chart at the end showing commercial paper. So now we have a series of additional lies, like Williams saying the RStar is obsolete, when they still try to measure it and Wilbur Ross saying we have labor shortages and not enough workers. In Ross's case, if there is a skilled worker shortage, that is a function of education, not of a total labor shortage.

Fascinating conclusion. Rate hikes kill stocks. Powell paused and stocks got killed anyway, probably from hikes already in place. Coddling the stock bubble is a worse option than helicopter money to the masses, but nobody has accused the Fed of rational thinking. The stock bubble must, somehow, be a reflection of banking strength.

Also, since most of the demand for steel is in Asia, China would be stupid to buckle on steel prices just to make the United States happy.

The goal of the tariffs is to raise steel prices worldwide. If China holds the line, keeping steel prices low, the US will be the primary victim of steel tariffs.