North Korea: China urges Trump not to worsen situation

• 5 hours ago
 
• From the sectionAsia

• Share this with Facebook
 
• Share this with Twitter
 
• Share this with Messenger
 
• Share this with Email
 
• Share

Media captionPresident Trump says North Korea will be in "big, big trouble" if it acts against Guam

China's President Xi Jinping has urged Donald Trump and North Korea to avoid "words and actions" that worsen tensions, state media say.

Mr Trump and North Korea have been exchanging hostile rhetoric, with the US president threatening to rain "fire and fury" on the North.

But China, North Korea's only major ally, has been urging restraint.

A White House statement said the US and China agreed North Korea must stop "provocative and escalatory behaviour".

A statement by North Korea's official KCNA news agency issued on Saturday said the Trump administration "had better talk and act properly," if it did not want "the American empire to meet its tragic doom".

Long-standing tensions over North Korea's nuclear programme worsened when it tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July.

The regime was also angered by last week's UN decision to increase economic sanctions against it.

• Trump's long nuclear obsession
• North Korea's neighbours consider risk of war
• The North Korea crisis in 300 words

According to Chinese state media, Mr Xi told Mr Trump in a phone call that "all relevant parties" should stop "words and deeds" that would exacerbate the situation.

Mr Xi also stressed China and the US shared "common interests" over denuclearisation and maintaining peace on the Korean peninsula.

Media captionVideo of a phone call from Donald Trump was posted by the governor of Guam, Eddie Calvo.

A White House statement on the phone call did not mention the apparent plea to the US president.

It stressed the two men enjoyed a close relationship, which would "hopefully lead to a peaceful resolution of the North Korea problem".

President Trump has previously chided China for not reining in North Korea, saying it could do "a lot more".

---

From 'fire and fury' to 'locked and loaded'

Tuesday: "North Korea, best not make any more threats to the United States," Mr Trump tells reporters. "They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen"

Wednesday: Mr Trump boasts that the US nuclear arsenal is "more powerful than ever"

Thursday: He says that his "fire and fury" warning maybe "wasn't tough enough". Asked what would be tougher than fire and fury, he replies, "you'll see"

Friday: The US president warns that military solutions are "locked and loaded" should North Korea "act unwisely".

• Trump administration's mixed messages
• Who said it: Trump or Kim?

---

North Korea has announced plans to fire missiles near the Pacific territory of Guam, but there is no indication an attack is imminent.

On Friday, Mr Trump issued a fresh threat against North Korea, saying it should expect "big, big trouble" if anything happened to Guam.

But he added: "Hopefully, it will all work out. Nobody loves a peaceful solution better than President Trump, that I can tell you."

Media captionIt's not the first time North Korea has made threats against Guam

Mr Trump also called the governor of Guam on Friday to reassure him that his island was safe.

"We are with you 1,000%," Mr Trump said in the phone call, recorded and posted on YouTube by Governor Eddie Calvo.

Pyongyang has accused Mr Trump of "driving" the Korean peninsula to the "brink of a nuclear war".

Russia said the exchange of threats between Washington and North Korea worried Moscow "very much". Germany has also expressed alarm.

• N Korea: The possible solutions
• The K-pop concert seeking to broker peace
• Can the US defend itself?

GUNDLACH: Gold's chart has 'one of the most bullish' patterns around

• Jonathan Garber
 

• 23h
• 1,839

 More Charts

 
•  
 

Gold has been gaining steam over the last couple of days following news that North Korea could make nuclear warheads small enough to fit on missiles and the intense rhetoric that followed between President Donald Trump and North Korea's army. 

The precious metal has rallied almost 3% since the news broke on Tuesday morning and is now trading at its best level in more than two months.

And there may be more gains ahead, according to Jeffrey Gundlach, the founder, and CEO of DoubleLine Capital. "Cramer today was positive on a stock pointing out its "cup and handle" chart pattern, one of the most bullish. He's right. Gold has one too," Gundlach tweeted.  

To be clear, Gundlach has not made a specific call for gold, and he has not specified what time frame he is looking at on the chart. 

However, taking a look at the gold chart, it appears Gundlach is talking about the action over the last year or so in the precious metal. 

A cup and handle pattern is such that an asset makes a run at previous highs, fails, and then proceeds to test those highs again over a much shorter time frame. The pattern is triggered on a breakout above the highs, which is also known as the neckline. 

Business Insider/Andy Kiersz/Jonathan Garber, data from Bloomberg

Now to be fair, while it does look like the pattern is taking shape, it has not yet been triggered with a breakout above the neckline. However, should that break out come, it looks like gold has a bit of room to run. Measuring from the late 2016/early 2017 low up to the neckline is good for about $166 ($1,294-$1,128). Add that $166 to the neckline ($1,294) and you get a gold target of $1,460, a move of almost 14% above its current price of $1,284.

That surely seems reasonable should the back and forth between Trump and North Korea go on for much longer. 

Get the latest Gold price here.

SEE ALSO: The market's reaction to North Korea this week is historically unusual

OMR: All in it together?

11 August 2017

Compliance rate with OPEC’s output cut fell again in July to a new low of 75% from June’s revised figure of 77% (Photograph: Getty Images)

The re-balancing of the oil market desired by the leading producers has been a stubborn process and it takes time for the numbers to confirm what many observers instinctively feel has already happened. Sure enough, new data suggests that in 2Q17 global stocks fell by 0.5 mb/d and preliminary data for July, particularly in the United States where stocks fell by 790 kb/d, is supportive. Even so, we must not forget that they are falling from a very great height in volume terms. At the end of 2Q17, OECD commercial stocks, which are the component of the global total for which we have the most visibility, stood at 3 021 million barrels, still more than 219 mb above the five-year average although they have now fallen below 2016 levels. As an exercise, if OECD stocks fell by 0.5 mb/d until the end of 1Q18 when the current output agreements expire they would still be about 60 mb above the five-year average.

There would be more confidence that re-balancing is here to stay if some producers party to the output agreements were not, just as they are gaining the upper hand, showing signs of weakening their resolve. The compliance rate with OPEC’s output cut fell again in July to a new low of 75% from June’s revised figure of 77%. For those non-OPEC countries acting in support, their compliance rate in July was 67%. Together, the twenty-two countries are producing about 470 kb/d in excess of their commitment. Some of them are clearly determined that the output agreements will succeed: Saudi Arabia has indicated that export levels in August will fall to 6.6 mb/d, and, according to recent reports, it will cut customer allocations in September. Other countries currently have very low compliance rates, although this can change. In passing, we must note that the current situation in Venezuela is being monitored closely with respect to any market impact should oil production and exports fall significantly.

Producers should find encouragement from demand, which is growing year-on-year more strongly than first thought. Our growth estimate for 2017 has been increased to 1.5 mb/d, including very strong data for 2Q17 when demand increased by 1.8 mb/d. We also expect relatively strong demand growth for 2018 of 1.4 mb/d. From the producers’ viewpoint, strong growth reduces the stocks overhang when expressed in terms of days of forward demand cover: perhaps this is a more relevant measure than simple volume. However, there is a sting in the tail because recently notified changes to historical data suggest that demand in some developing countries was overstated. We have accordingly reduced our estimate of non-OECD demand for 2015 by 0.2 mb/d and for 2016 by 0.4 mb/d. The impact of carrying this lower demand base into 2017 against unchanged supply numbers is that stock draws later in the year are likely to be lower than first thought.

Even so, this does not dilute the importance of the message that the market is re-balancing. Brent crude oil prices have recently stabilised above $50/bbl following a period a few weeks ago when, as we said in last month’s Report, there was “waning confidence” in the market. If re-balancing is to be maintained, the producers that are committed to seeing the task through to March 2018 need to convince the market that they are in it together. It is not entirely clear that this is the case today.

Nvidia trounces estimates for earnings and revenue, shares still tank

• Akin Oyedele
 

• 19h
• 3,813

Nvidia on YouTube

NVDA NVIDIA

 154.07 -4.10 (-2.60 %)

DisclaimerGet real-time NVDA charts here »

Nvidia reported profits and revenues that were much stronger than analysts had expected Thursday.

The maker of graphics processing units said it earned $1.10 per share on an adjusted basis, topping the forecast for $0.82 according to Bloomberg. Its revenue totaled $2.23 billion, beating the forecast for $1.96 billion.

Nvidia gained 2% before slumping by as much as 8% despite the beats across the board. The decline, Bloomberg reported, reflected a slowdown in revenue growth from Nvidia's data centers to a 2% quarter-on-quarter pace compared to 38% in the first quarter.

Nvidia has been one of the market's hottest stocks this year, rallying 54% through Thursday's close. 

Revenue from data centers surged 175% year-on-year to $416 million. "The recent rise in crypto coin prices resulted in increased demand in OEM GPU sales," Nvidia said. Its GPUs are used in computers that mine cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, which has risen 253% this year.

In the earnings statement, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said use of its chips in games like the Nintendo Switch also helped drive growth during the second quarter.

"Nearly every industry and company is awakening to the power of AI," Huang said.

Markets Insider

Get the latest Nvidia stock price here >>

NOW WATCH: Wells Fargo Funds equity chief: Companies were being rendered obsolete long before Amazon emerged

00:00

02:46

More: nVidia Earnings