QUICK OVERVIEW

•  (Reuters) North Korea should halt any plans for nuclear and missile activities "for its own security", a Chinese newspaper said on Wednesday, warning that the United States is making clear it doesn't plan to "co-exist" with a nuclear-armed Pyongyang.

• Following repeated missile tests that drew international criticism, China banned all imports of North Korean coal on Feb. 26, cutting off the country's most important export product.

•  Despite rising global tensions and fears of inflation, gold prices have stayed relatively calm. Reminds me of the adage “never sell a quiet market short”.

• The CME announced on that it is in the final stages of testing a venue for trading spot gold that's based on the blockchain, the distributed-ledger technology that powers the bitcoin network.

• Gold demand continues to grow, consumption by Turkey, India, China and Russia alone have exceeded world global mine supply since 2013.

•  Trump says $ is too strong. He’s also considering reappointing Janet Yellen as Fed chair.

•  (Reuters) Global stocks of corn, wheat, rice and soybeans combined will hit a record 671.1 million tonnes going into the next harvest - the third straight year of historically high surplus, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). That's enough to cover demand from China for about a year.

•  54% of Canadians surveyed expect housing prices to rise indefinitely, only 4% expect price drop in 1 year

• (Economist) In America, Chinese investors bought some 29,000 homes in the 12 months to March 2016 with a total value of $27bn, according to the National Association of Realtors.

•   (AP) " Apple is joining the fiercely competitive race to design self-driving cars, raising the possibility that a company that has already re-shaped culture with its iPhone may try to transform transportation too.

• Elon Musk plans an electric semi truck for local, regional, and long-haul routes. Also on tap: a pickup truck, a compact crossover, and a next-generation convertible roadster.

•  U.S. mass shootings in 2017 = 121, so far..