ANYONE looking at United States stocks recently will believe the country's economy is bullet-proof.
At the same time as US forces rain billions of dollars of death and destruction, in Congress the guardians of the nation's morals are going through the process of having the most powerful man in the world removed from office.
Overseas, emerging markets remain fragile. Brazil's Bovespa Index regained some ground on Friday having lost nearly two-thirds of its value in the past two weeks.
So just when you would expect US investors to look a little rattled, what happens? Up come the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 Index for their first weekly gain in three weeks.
The Nasdaq Composite Index rose a further 2.07 per cent to a record high of 2,086.14 points.
The currency market seems to be a little more clued in. The dollar fell to 115.65 yen from 116.35 yen in late trade on Friday. That leaves the mighty greenback 11.4 per cent lower for the year.