Morning Poppers (Orwellian Nonsense Edition)

The ‘high level’ US trade delegation is back in the US and by the looks of the futures markets, people like what they see. The US demand is to reduce the US-China trade deficit by ~$200b by 2020, a very reasonable demand. On the other hand, China, in all of its grand fuckery, is demanding US airlines quit referring to Taiwan as a separate nation, which drew a most humorous rebuke from team Trump.

“This is Orwellian nonsense and part of a growing trend by the Chinese Communist party to impose its political views on American citizens and private companies,” Sanders said, adding that the Trump administration is calling on China “to stop threatening and coercing American carriers and citizens”.

Futures are +87, Nasdaq +35. More importantly, WTI is above $70. Quite frankly, and this goes without saying, it warms my heart to see the price of gasoline edging higher at the pump. I enjoy paying a higher fee because it means jobbies are being created in the shale territories, plus my good friend Putin is ballin’ like a mother-llama.

The dollar is sharply higher by 0.4% v the Euro. This should equate to carnage in the gold markets. Since I am long DUST, I look forward to that eventuality.

The only other news that caught my eye was Nestle paying SBUX $7.5b for the rights to sell their coffee products in stores. Considering the entire product line only does $2b in revenues per annum, one has to believe the good folks at Nestle are fucking retarded.

Also, MDLZ is buying Tate’s Cookies for $500m. Not a fan.

NOTE: CNBC launched the Buffett archives. Wow, great job.