Donald Trump. His meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker was more than astonishing. Both pessimistic at first, their interests finally converged. The crisis on tariffs seems to be over on the Atlantic side, or at least unresolved. The EU will import "a lot of soybeans" from the United States, while Trump has stated his willingness to go to term with "zero tariffs" in their industrial exchanges - except the key automotive sector. This reconciliation can only be good for the financial markets, since the two blocks account for more than 50% of global GDP!


European indices are almost all in the green before market opening (Source: Bloomberg)

WTO. This US-European agreement is timely, as the WTO said last night that "this dynamic of an eye for an eye" would have consequences that are not yet visible today, but would create havoc in the long run. Moreover, Trump and Juncker also agreed on their willingness to reform the WTO as soon as possible.

France. Political parties are tearing apart, in full turmoil of the Benalla affair, which is emerging as the worst political crisis of the President's term. The statement of Emmanuel Macron did not please everyone, almost a week after the start of the controversy. This morning, the Senators are interviewing Alexis Kohler, the President's right-hand man.

Venezuela. The country starts its economic recovery plan on August 20th and intends to remove five zeros from its currency, the bolivar. The goal is to avoid reaching the symbolic figure of 1,000,000% inflation by December.