*By Brian Henry*
Even as British Prime Minister Theresa May suffered an embarrassing defeat as her Brexit vote was voted down in Parliament, and then only narrowly survived a no-confidence vote, investors remained relatively unrattled.
According to Chris Demetriou, the U.S. CEO at Aberdeen Standard Investments, the mild response to the vote was not a surprise.
"There are two elements to it," he told Cheddar Wednesday.
"The vote \[Tuesday\] and the no confidence vote \[Wednesday\] weren't really a surprise to anybody. It's long been speculated Theresa May didn't have the votes to carry the deal through Parliament."
Demetriou said that the decision by British lawmakers to reject the Brexit deal by such a historic margin ー 432 to 202 ーearlier this week actually has investors feeling confident.
"The resounding defeat, the size of the defeat, really suggests that a tweak to the deal probably isn't going to help get it through either. I think that, perhaps, is giving investors confidence that the can will be kicked down the road or potentially even a more formal withdrawal of Article 15."
"Investors want as a little change as possible in the current arrangement," he added.
Demetriou says productive trade talks between the U.S. and China as well as the Federal Reserve displaying patience on future rate hikes have led to less market volatility.
"A lot of the uncertainty we saw in the back end of the year, the escalation of trade discussions, perhaps concern around fed policy coming into 2019 ー a lot of that has reversed in the beginning of January."
But will the relative market peace last?
"There's a lot of positive news or certainly constructive news out there to offset some of the uncertainty that exists," Demetriou said.
"We do expect continued uncertainty, which breeds volatility in the markets and that will continue throughout the year."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-uk-government-survives-no-confidence-vote-after-brexit-defeat).
A bipartisan group of 43 representatives joined forces in a letter to President Joe Biden to remind the executive branch that it must seek the approval of Congress before authorizing a war — whether or not its in Ukraine as Russia continues its invasion. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore. 4th District) led the effort and joined Cheddar News Wrap to explain. "It's time for Congress to get back the authority, which is vested to us in the constitution, not in the executive branch," he said. "The president. once we're at war, we speak with one voice with the commander in chief. But before that, it's up to the American people and Congress whether or not we're going to become engaged in a war."
Chris Konstantinos, Chief Investment Strategist at RiverFront Investment Group, explains why he remains encouraged about the S&P and the state of the market despite the major indexes closing mostly lower on Monday.
President Joe Biden will be delivering his first State of the Union address on Tuesday night, and with so many issues from Ukraine to inflation, everyone will be focused on what he might say. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y. 11th District) joined Cheddar News to discuss what she thinks the president should address. "I think what he hasn't done yet is go after the gas, the oil, the minerals, the mining industries, that is incredibly important," she said. "There's still some banks there that are not sanctioned. He needs to go after all the banks, but I also think that providing the equipment that Ukraine needs to continue to protect its capital and its country are incredibly important."
As Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, one of its few big allies remaining appears to be China. Gordon Chang, Asian affairs expert and author of "The Coming Collapse of China," joined Cheddar News to discuss what might be behind China's support for Putin's current strategy. “I think China is looking at what Putin did yesterday, which is to raise his nuclear forces on a higher alert level,” Chang stated, “If they see that Putin gets away with his nuclear threats, which he's been making over the last three or four days, then I'm sure that Beijing is going to ramp up its threats as well, and it could ramp them up against any number of different countries with which it perceives it has a problem with"
Joel Rubin, president of the Washington Strategy Group and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, joins Cheddar News to discuss the Russia-Ukraine tensions and the new sanctions President Biden placed on Russia.
Officials from Ukraine and Russia have begun meeting along the Belarus border to discuss a potential end to the ongoing invasion, even as the fighting continues to drag on. Rep. Al Green (D-Texas 9th District) joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, what to expect from President Joe Biden's State of The Union Address, and the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court. "I'm still hopeful, and I hope that Mr. Putin will understand that he has united the world against him," Green said of the new round of peace talks.
Within hours of Russia's first attack on Ukraine, President Joe Biden addressed the nation by stating that the White House will impose wider sanctions on Russian banks. These sanctions could result in damage to the Russian economy. Host of "Oh My World" on Youtube and Former Spokesperson for the U. S. Mission to the U. N. Hagar Chemali, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
