A group of nuclear-armed leaders is choosing national control over open markets, which is bad news for global investors and the companies that depend on open borders.

• Power in the world is splitting between money people and what you could call sovereigns — the leaders of nuclear-armed states.
• Sovereign power runs on laws, borders, and tariffs, not on stock prices or foreign investment.
• Putin is the clearest example: he will not sell off Russia's resources and does not care that Russia's stock market is weak.
• Xi Jinping wants the same thing in China — state control and slow, long-term growth instead of Western money. Kim Jong-un is the extreme version.
• Big finance dislikes these leaders because they are unpredictable and waste capital, and they resist globalization because they know they cannot win that game.

Outlook: Expect more walls, tariffs, and state control as these countries keep pulling away from the global money system.