He may be catchy, but Trump is hardly a catch.

The economy in some ways is in worse shape than 2013, but the counterparty derivative markets may be stronger due to the existence of clearinghouses. That allows bankers to sleep at night.

Yes, this is an interesting article. World cooperation advances to offset the abuser, our very own nation!

Update 2: Larry Kudlow says no official meeting was cancelled, but that was not the issue. The issue is that the US rejected a Chinese outreach. Add this to continuing threats to Huawei's Meng, and we will have little chance for a trade deal. China will throw Canada into a recessionary position to add to this world turmoil.

This scenario could happen, but, China has bounced back before. It signs onto the Eurodollar, but it doesn't sign on to Basel. It can rope a dope for a long time, wearing out the West. Time will tell.

IP theft is what this is all about. That is why it is unlikely that there will be any agreement and the world economy will tumble. I hope I am wrong, but only if Trump blinks.

Update: The US has halted trade negotiations over IP issues. It is clear that the US is not interested in negotiating with China on trade. The US is taking a hardball approach and wants to humiliate China. Jim Cramer sided with Tech leaders in Silicon Valley who he says want the US to hammer out IP concessions. I wrote this is a very dangerous policy on the part of the USA and that it goes against Cramer's understanding that trade wars are bad and that Wall Street doesn't want them. Interesting to see how Cramer interprets this latest US roadblock to free trade. I think Wall Street should wake up but it likely is looking for soothing words from Jim and also from the liar in chief who said a trade war was likely, knowing it isn't.

Nice pep talk. Key is how open we are going forward. Certainly Ahlsten was astute to point out that we still have immigration. But Trump is becoming an isolationist in many ways, including even legal immigration. The method of US success appears to be turned on its head by POTUS, so will we recover from it?

It looks likeTrump is lying. Things are not going so well in the negotiations.

This is good so far. Rising wages without inflation is a good thing. The issue is, though, how much of a drag on the economy will automation and AI bring in a downturn.