The Trump rally turns into the Trump rout–for today at least

If you’ve been wondering–as I have–exactly how much erratic behavior and how many off-the-cuff executive orders it would take to unsettle the global financial markets, today provides, perhaps, an answer. About this much. Over the weekend the Trump administration threw the global airline industry, international norms on refugees, and the U.S. Constitution into chaotic disaster. I don’t know what part of the reaction to the executive orders that President Donald Trump issued on Friday struck the markets as too much, but they sure seem to be saying “This worries us” today.

Mexico’s President Pena Nieto cancels next week’s meeting with President Trump

Let the negotiations begin! On one side U.S. President Donald Trump who wants to build a wall between Mexico and the United States (and have Mexico pay for it) and to renegotiate NAFTA. On the other side the Mexican government of President Enrique Peña Nieto, who, to generalize, doesn’t. Until today the two leaders were scheduled for a January 31 face-to-face meeting in Washington. And now they’re not.