Its amazing how much news can be made about so little change. This year is headed for a weak upturn in growth barring something major, yet we have been hearing about strong growth and then worries about weak growth. Ho Hum, reality is far less newsworthy.

Trade wars are dangerous not just because of China's large purchase of treasuries and the risk of runaway inflation if a trade war breaks out. They are dangerous because the US has and does benefit so much from foreign trade which includes usually selling high margin goods and buying low margin goods, low inflation, ability to run a continuous deficit, access to other markets, etc. It is also dangerous because it undercuts capitalism which is why the US got as powerful as it has all these years.

As shown before, a country that can't deal with capitalism and creates barriers from it end up becoming old antiquated and bankrupt. We should know better. What is scary is the fact the Republican's aren't united against tariffs as they ought to be.

Good article. Sadly this junk is still floating and no one is watching what will happen if it ever sinks back down into default territory.

Flat recently, but it is has dropped significantly from January last year.

Alcohol. Their response was limited and muted because they don't want a trade war. No one in their right mind should want one who knows anything about capitalism.

Seasonally they tend to jump around here. I don't see anything peculiar besides eternal optimism by those thinking somehow the extraordinary will magically happen every year and the forecasters who get paid to draw straight lines.

As long as it is generating enough profits to pay off its debt and is growing its debt accumulation is not a major concern yet. Of course, some companies add so much debt it is a major concern, but this is not the case here. Eventually when it pays down the debt their profitability will look that much better.

It's a good that some people are noticing this. Commodities are slowly recovering and Canada's economy is showing it.

China is targeting US agriculture because the US is clearly subsidizing it. Therefore, it is an easy case to fight if it ever gets to international bodies to arbitrate. That said, the world is better off with the US supporting food overproduction rather than not and China needs US agriculture the same way the US needs their low cost manufactured goods.

The dollars weakness certainly has not been discussed enough and hasn't created the concern it would have at other times. However, it is a growing concern.

The main concern for the dollar is China more than the Middle East. As China moves to allow oil to be traded in their currency too, it undermines the petro-dollar which is still the lynch pin for the US dollar to be the global reserve currency. Likewise, China, not Russia is a big buyer of out endless streams of debt.

A trade war with China only hastens the problem with massive deficits and a weakening dollar. Hopefully, Washington can stop this risky political gambit in which no one wins economically.