Morning Briefing: Trump comments rattle markets

Trump comments rattle markets

President Trump’s done it again; he’s made comments regarding both trade and conflict, rattling markets.

This time it is South Korea that’s been upset by the president’s words. He warned that a “major, major” conflict with North Korea was possible and that Seoul should pay for a $1 billion missile defence system which the US has sent to the region. The US Defense Dept. says this is not the policy currently.

The president also said that the free trade deal between the US and South Korea is “horrible” and may decide to renegotiate it.
Asian markets have reacted to the comments with Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong closing lower. Shanghai posted gains along with Sydney, despite mixed Australian data.

European markets are trending higher as corporate earnings dominate focus, although geopolitics creates the underlying narrative. French GDP was lower than expected year-over-year in the first quarter while the Eurozone’s inflation gained by more than expected.

Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open flat. Canadian and US GDP data is due.
 

	Latest	1 month ago	1 year ago
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones	20,981.33 (+0.03 per cent)	+1.35 per cent	+17.67 per cent
TSX Composite	15,506.47 (-0.91 per cent)	-0.59 per cent	+11.67 per cent
Europe (at 5.00am ET)
UK FTSE	7,221.00 (-0.22 per cent)	-1.67 per cent	+14.21 per cent
German DAX	12,456.58 (+0.10 per cent)	+2.53 per cent	+20.69 per cent
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300	3,439.75 (-0.20 per cent)	-0.87 per cent	+8.83 per cent
Japan Nikkei	19,196.74 (-0.29 per cent)	-0.03 per cent	+15.18 per cent
Other Data (at 5.00am ET)
Oil (Brent)	Oil (WTI)	Gold	Can. Dollar
51.96 (+1.01 per cent)	49.52 (+1.12 per cent)	1268.40 (+0.20 per cent)	U$0.7332
			Aus. Dollar
			U$0.7483

This is one the hottest tech challenges right now

With violent acts and other inappropriate video and images spreading across the internet, the tech sector has a challenge which will bring rich rewards for those who can solve it.

Reuters reports that tech firms worldwide are racing to create an artificial intelligence solution which can identify violence in videos and block them before they ‘go viral’ online.

Firms in Finland, Russia and Singapore are among those that are vying to be first to market with the sophisticated solution to a modern-day problem.

While automated systems for spotting violence and pornography do exist, there is still some way to go before they are good enough to battle against the proliferation of undesirable material online.