Opinion: A new concept of risk has emerged for investors

Markets have realised they have a new concept of risk to play with: idiotic risk. Largely unquantifiable, we see many shining examples, whether in North Korea, the White House or No 10.

Everyone makes idiotic mistakes and comments from time to time, but to ensure that every utterance meets the criteria takes another level of skill. Gosling's Grouse: North Korean tensions When Donald Trump, President of the most prolific issuer of debt on the planet (government debt pile of c.$20trn, one third held by foreign investors), was questioned about Puerto Rico's $74bn of municipal bond debt, his response was: "We're going to have to wipe that out". Since May, Puerto Rico, unable to refinance since 2014, has been in delicate judicial debt restructuring negotiations with bo...