Donald Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to enter North Korea when he stepped over the border to greet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas.
The two leaders met for the third time at the peace village of Panmunjom, the site of the demarcation line drawn as the Korean War ended in 1953. The two leaders first met in Singapore in June last year.
“I never expected to meet you at this place,” Kim told Trump, moments after the U.S. president stepped over the border. The pair then went over to the South side, where they briefly chatted and spoke to the media before greeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
“Stepping over that line was a great honor,” Trump said. “A lot of really positive things are happening,” stressing that he liked Kim from the first time they met.
“I’m sure our special relations will lead to good results,” Kim said. “I’m sure our good relations have a mysterious power that can overcome difficulties.”
Trump and Kim then entered closed door talks without Moon in the House of Freedom on the South side of the DMZ. (more…)
The week’s biggest (sovereign) CDS movers have been released, and we have some new entrants in the most endangered species list. While by now nobody will be surprised that the UK is a consistent top 2 player (coming in this week with $319 million in net notional derisking, this making it the 8th week or so the country has made the top 3), only behind Italy and its $452 million in net notional, and just in front of last week’s #1 Brazil, the presence of the United States at #4 should be a little unsettling. It has been months since the US appeared in the top 5. And just like in the long gold case, the same types of existential questions once again arise when the interest in US CDS picks up: who gets to pay off your contracts in the case of an event of default? Elsewhere, the presence of Korea and Turkey (or Australia) in the top 10 should not come as too surprising. On the other end, short covering was violent in CDS of Spain, Hungary and Portugal – Europe’s newest lepers. Is the CDS community concerned the EU can actually pull out a rabbit out of the hat that actually works for once? Hardly. The top 10 reriskers also saw the inclusion of France and long-forgotten insolvent Greece.