Continued/intensified Sino-U.S. sabre........>

STOCKS: Continued/intensified Sino-U.S. sabre rattling, coupled with a soft

session for crude, an apparent lack of value seen by Warren Buffett and tensions

surrounding the Korean DMZ weighed on risk in early trade this week, although

USD/CNH's failure to consolidate above CNH7.1500 seemingly allowed the majority

of the key risk yardsticks to recover from extremes.

- Australia's ASX 200 even managed to recover its early losses (which totalled

~1.5% at one point), with some details/technicals to be aware of in an earlier

bullet.

- Elsewhere, the Hang Seng played catch up after the elongated weekend, while

liquidity was thinned by the ongoing Japanese & Chinese holidays.

- E-minis recovered from worst levels, but the risk switch is still flicked to

off as we grind towards European hours.

- Hang Seng -3.8%, ASX 200+1.0%.

- S&P 500 futures -18, DJIA futures -157, NASDAQ 100 futures -58.