Trump AK-47 Assassination Attempt – Markets Expected to React

The United States Secret Service (USSS) has fired shots and detained an AK-47-wielding suspect on Trump's golf course as the former president was leaving. The FBI is treating the shooting as an assassination attempt and is scheduled to meet with the USSS and local police. Trump is unharmed.

According to CNN, USSS were sweeping Trump's golf course when they found a man carrying an AK-47. The situation escalated into shots being fired and the suspect abandoned his firearm and fled. He was reportedly apprehended and is being detained.

Trump has released a statement that he is unharmed and that nothing will slow him down, also stating that he will never surrender.

Monday morning in Australia can be very illiquid, and markets can react strongly to news events. Be wary of this big story affecting prices of gold and silver. On another note, investors reached the weekend with high market confidence.

Bets on the size of the Federal Reserve's cut have been volatile and were roughly even by the week's close. Expectations for a 50 basis-point cut jumped to 49% from 28% near the end of the week, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.

Renewed hopes for a bigger cut boosted large-cap indices but, would a 50-point cut be an overstep and scare investors? For clues, we can look at the small market cap stocks. Smaller companies are more sensitive to rate changes as they depend more on borrowed money and loans without fixed rates.

The Russell 2000 small cap index rose roughly four and a half per cent last week. This could be a sign that investors are not scared of a recession, and they've been banking on it. Since the chance of a 50-point cut reached 49% last week, this also could mean that a large cut would not be received as negative or a sign that the Fed delayed too long. We will soon find out if this is true or not.