The Market, Energy, And Political Page, Part 3, T+41 -- April 10, 2018 -- Margaret Thatcher Re-Incarnated

China Syndrome: WTI is surging, up 2.6% right now; trading over $65. Lots of reasons. Inflation data this morning possibly driving it. Perhaps. Perhaps, the China syndrome. Xi says he will "relax" tariffs on US automobiles. Energy sector surging. And, of course, that drives the overall market. Xi says he will "relax" tariffs on US automobiles -- how many days has it been since Trump declared a trade war? Forty-one days. How long did God let the rain fall when Noah built the ark? Yeah, there it is: forty days and 40 nights. Yeah, the trade war is over. There are two processes but the outcome is the same. See next data point.

Trade wars: the trade wars are over. There are two process but the outcome is the same. First process: China blinks; those who understood the situation were correct; there was no way China could win a trade war between plastic toy exports and technology, manufacturing, and energy imports; and the war is over because China blinked. Second process: both sides knew this was not going to end well, and Trump was looking for a way out (the Kudlow effect): Xi's speech yesterday i is enough for Trump/Kudlow to move to quiet behind-the-scene negotiations and publicly speechifying that the trade war is over. Note: technically there has never been a trade war. More fake news. The tariffs are not even in place yet; the timeline was at least 90 days into the future. And so, again, the theme song for the "fake" trade war, and Trump's words to his chief of staff (LOL):

You Don't Own Me, Lesley Gore
Panic: Ottawa in meeting over Trans Mountain pipeline project. This is huge. Canada is being balkanized -- just like the US: Alberta calls out BC after pipeline expansion suspension. It would be great to see the transcript of Rachel Notley's speech. Pretty strong words. The "mess with Texas" quote was priceless. It will be most sad when this video is lost / removed from the ethernet. Maybe one of the best videos ever. Whoever does not believe in reincarnation will have to re-think their belief: it appears that Rachel Notley, the 17th and current premier of Alberta is clearly Margaret Thatcher reincarnated. LOL.

"Investors in Houston may or may not ultimately have the stomach for this fight and maybe the government of BC feels they can mess with Texas, and who knows, maybe they can. But let me absolutely clear, they cannot mess with Alberta."

Louis Rukeyser: I have often said that in times like these I wish we still had Louis Rukeyser around. Well, it turns out we do. In fact, we have at least two: Rachel Notley and Scott Adams. This is going to be fun. And it's going to be real. It's going to be real fun.

Bad news: the bad news. I will be on the road later this week -- a bit of a cross-country trip -- I plan to explore a bit of Route 66. Blogging will be significantly compromised.

Midnight in Paris