re: There are some major issues lurking in the US financial markets

Well it appears that I may have been off on the timing. I thought we'd see news of concessions/breakthroughs coming from the Trump Administration in its dealings with Congress and with China going into this week. That's okay though. The federal government shutdown is mostly a sideshow distraction, and the March 1 deadline for U.S.-China trade negotiations dictates that some kind of progress be made relatively soon. I can wait another week for sure.