■ Dow scores 11 consecutive all time highs

■ Stocks decline globally as U.S. Treasury Secretary reluctant to provide info on tax reform

■ USD/JPY loses 0.6% and U.S. 10 year bond slides to 2.31% on flight-to-safety

■ Oil rises to USD 54.02 per barrel, in spite of crude production gains

Looking through the right prism of the binary options trader in particular, the trading week seems as a rather positive one. The Dow Jones, substantially, has now concluded its 11th consecutive daily gain, each of which marked a new all-time high. At 20,821.76 points and more than a 5% increase for February alone, it is reasonable to deduct that greed triumphed fear in markets as of late.

Further examination of the markets behavior, however, yields a different conclusion. Similar to the Dow, the S&P 500 was in the green for three of the four trading days of the last week. However, of this, change over Wednesday to Friday only amounted to a 0.08% gain. Going across the Atlantic, points to a DAX, which lost 1.6% between Thursday and Friday, and a FTSE 100 that, shelled off 0.8% at that time. In East Asia, losses at the Hang Seng spanned to as much as a percentage point Thu-Fri.

Is reflation still on?

The downturn for equity markets followed Thursday remarks by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin by which Trump’s government is aiming for a “very significant” tax reform passed before Congress takes its August recess. At this point, evidently, markets are expecting guidance that is more concrete though. Schdule-wise, this commentary countered Donald Trump’s claim from earlier this month, by which a “phenomenal” tax plan will be unveiled no longer than in three weeks.

Signs of an overall flight to safety were abundant these last two days. EUR/USD declined some 0.5% this week. However, at times like these it is the JPY that is the safest haven, strengthening about 0.6% vs. the U.S. Dollar, to 112.12. After trading sideways for most of the week, gold started picking up as well, adding 1.8% on Thu-Fri. Further supporting the argument that the reflation trade’s foundations are a bit shaky as of late, the yield of the U.S. 10 year slid to 2.31% on Friday, its lowest for more than a month, expressing disbelief that Trumps due tax reforms will manage to breathe new air into the U.S. economy.

In spite of the volatility in most assets, oil prices express some optimism, as they increase 1.2% weekly to a level of USD 54.02 per barrel. Gains of oil prices are even more impressive considering Friday reports of yet another increase at the U.S. oil rig count, adding five more this time, to 602. Crude production was also reported to increase, as it climbs back above 9 million barrels per day.