News

It was business as usual yesterday for the Dow, and even with some pre-holiday profit-taking likely to be on the cards towards the end of the year the index continued to perform well, despite the pressure that President Trump has to face on a daily basis. Embattled on many fronts, but still making progress, business still likes Trump's Presidency. His opponents, both within his party & without, are throwing as much mud as they can in the hope that some will eventually stick. We know Trump is no more of a saint than anyone else in Washington, but one of these attacks is likely to hit home if only by the law of averages.

When that happens, the Dow will give up a lot of the gains made over the last year. This won't just impact US citizens of course. A sliding Dow is bad news for everyone. The interesting question is what will become the 'Safe Haven' of choice. Gold has been to some extent marginalised by Bitcoin. It is highly likely that political uncertainty in the US can only be good news for crypto-currencies. BTC has had (by its recent standards) a fairly relaxed week. With CME launching Bitcoin futures on Monday even more liquidity should become available. It will be interesting to see if any of the large holders use this pool to crystallise some profits.