Author: BlackMask Financial

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Libyan commander’s forces choke oil flows, overshadowing peace summit

Sunday, 19 January Forces loyal to eastern commander Khalifa Haftar have shut off production at all Libya’s major oil fields, an escalation that threatened to strangle the country’s finances and overshadowed an international peace summit in Berlin on Sunday. U.N. envoy hopes for, but cannot predict, speedy reopening of Libya oil ports 01:14 The United Nations envoy to Libya said on Saturday he hoped but “could not predict” whether eastern oil ports shut ahead of a pending Berlin summit aimed at reaching a truce in Libya would be reopened soon. Emer McCarthy reports. The closing of Libya’s oil ports is “a huge step” by the Libyan people, the spokesman of Libyan forces loyal to eastern-based commander. Diplomats see the closures as a power play by the LNA aimed at ramping up pressure ahead of a conference on Sunday in Berlin where Germany wants to push for a lasting truce. The National Oil Corp (NOC) declared force majeure on oil exports from the eastern ports of Brega, Ras Lanuf, Hariga, Zueitina and Es Sider, saying the closures would result in the loss of 800,000 barrels (bpd) day in oil output. Some 600 tribesmen camping out in front of Zueitina port said they would keep the terminals shut until the east of the country was able to export its own oil, bypassing Tripoli. “We will not reopen the terminals without any international guarantees,” said Osman Saleh, a tribal leader, told Reuters at a tent where tribesmen sat drinking tea and listening to defiant speeches. Oil revenues are booked via NOC in Tripoli and benefit mainly the internationally recognised Tripoli-based government, although though some public servants in the east are also paid. To get a bigger share the LNA has several times tried to sell oil on its own only to be stopped by the United Nations as this violates an embargo, diplomats say. Salame said a fair distribution of oil revenues needed to be part of any peace settlement in Libya. Production in Libya, which was plunged into chaos with the toppling of longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, was estimated at 1.3 million bpd last week. Salame said he hoped Haftar would be willing to consider extending a truce that has largely held for a week despite the two sides failing to sign a deal at indirect talks in Moscow mediated by Russia and Turkey on Monday. There have been a series of failed conferences and negotiations to stabilise Libya. Haftar and Tripoli-based Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj are expected to be in Berlin for the summit, although the two are not expected to meet. The war over Tripoli has been backed by foreign powers with the LNA supported by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and most recently Russian mercenaries, and Turkey sending troops and fighters from Syria’s civil war to help Serraj. “I can confirm the arrival of fighters from Syria,” Salame said, putting estimates at 1,000 to 2,000. Salame said he had started the process of a new intra-Libyan dialogue between the rival parliaments in Tripoli and the east, an approach that has failed since 2017.  Nick Note: I was sure this would eventually happen. I am looking for disruptions to give us selling opportunities with a S.

 
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Iran may stop cooperation with IAEA over EU pressure

https://www.straitstimes.com/sites/default/files/js/js_YAjn4n9Kea5C0PuYq_Qy27c7FRBUuL73Ch0hsL-5A7I.js

Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Ali Larijani in Tehran, Iran on 13 November 2016 [Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency]
Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Ali Larijani in Tehran, Iran on 13 November 2016 [Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency]

Iran will review its cooperation with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog should it face “unjust” measures, Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said, after EU powers last week triggered a dispute mechanism under Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal, reported Reuters. The move by France, Britain and Germany amounts to formally accusing Iran of violating the terms of the deal and could lead eventually to reimposing UN sanctions that were lifted under the pact. “We state openly that if the European powers, for any reason, adopt an unfair approach in using the dispute mechanism, we will seriously reconsider our cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency,” state TV quoted Larijani as saying. Tehran has continued to gradually roll back its nuclear commitments under the pact in reaction to sanctions reimposed by Washington since the US quit the nuclear deal in 2018. Tehran said last week it would abandon limits on enriching uranium, though it would continue to cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA), which is policing the nuclear pact.President Hassan Rouhani, architect of the nuclear deal, has repeatedly said that Tehran’s nuclear steps were reversible if Tehran’s economy was shielded by other parties to the deal from US penalties. Under the deal between Iran and major powers, Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for lifting international sanctions against the Islamic Republic. The three European nations said they still wanted the 2015 nuclear deal to succeed and were not joining a “maximum pressure” campaign by the United States. The mechanism involves a Joint Commission, whose members are Iran, Russia, China, Germany, France, Britain and the European Union, seeking to resolve the dispute. A group of Iranian lawmakers signed a statement on Sunday warning the European powers to “stop their hostile approach” toward Tehran, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. “Otherwise we, as representatives of the Iranian nation, will decide whether Iran should remain in the nuclear deal or whether it should continue its cooperation with the IAEA,” the lawmakers said. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, not parliament, has the last say on state matters such as Tehran’s nuclear standoff with the West. The Tasnim report did not say how many lawmakers signed the statement, which also called on the government to consider downgrading its diplomatic ties with Britain after Iranian officials accused the UK envoy to Tehran of attending an illegal protest, which he denies. Nick Note: They did the same screwing about with Hitler and it ended up badly, Iran it will be worse. At the time Hitler was building planes, Tanks and Submarines. Iran is building ICBM’s and Nukes. Trump instead of making a marter for Islam should have taken out the Rocket test facilities and the Uranium enrichment centers….

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Palladium sets new all-time high, tops $2,400

The price of palladium continued to surge on Friday by breaking a new record, setting the price of the commodity above the $2,400 mark. The surge in the price of the metal most widely used in the auto industry comes amid growing demand in the sector as a result of tighter emissions regulations that kicked in on January 1, 2020. In December, new car registrations rose 21.7% in the EU, reaching the figure of 1.26 million. The majority of palladium supplies are used for the production of catalytic converters which regulate exhaust emissions in vehicles. Palladium surged 3.87% at 9:10 am ET, to go for $2.407,32 per ounce. Year to date, the metal has rocketed 25.94%.

A Great Great Great short!

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Huge New Field Sends Norway’s Oil Production To 9-Year-High

 

The start-up of the massive Johan Sverdrup oilfield sent Norway’s oil production rising to a nine-year high in December 2019, beating the authorities’ forecast by 12.7 percent, data from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) showed on Friday.  In December 2019, the third month of operation of Equinor’s Johan Sverdrup oilfield in the North Sea, Norway’s oil production averaged 1.759 million barrels per day (bpd), the highest oil production offshore Norway since January 2011.

Norway’s oil production in December rose by 4.3 percent from November and jumped by 17 percent compared to December 2018.

Despite the Johan Sverdrup start-up, the average oil production in Norway in full-2019 was expected to be at its lowest level in three decades, the NPD has estimated previously. But Johan Sverdrup’s development will help Norway boost its oil production over next few years. The huge oilfield in Norway’s North Sea is already producing 350,000 barrels of oil per day, two months after coming on stream, a senior executive at Equinor told Reuters early last month. Daily oil production during the first phase of the Johan Sverdrup development is estimated at 440,000 bpd and is expected to be reached by the middle of this year. Peak production with the second development phase is expected to reach 660,000 bpd. At peak production, Johan Sverdrup will account for around a third of Norway’s crude oil production, operator Equinor says. Norway’s oil production is expected to jump in 2020 through 2023, thanks to the start up of Johan Sverdrup, which began pumping oil in early October 2019. But after Johan Sverdrup and after Johan Castberg in the Barents Sea scheduled for first oil in 2022, Norway doesn’t have major oil discoveries and projects to sustain its oil production after the middle of the 2020s. Nick Note: Oil production will soar this year out of Norway, England, Latin America and the good ole USA. We will be shorting on all bounces. can not cut enough. Now lets consider the fact that Russia and Nigeria are bitterly complaining about their quotes. Soon OPEC will realize the only way to cut global oil output is to cut the price. And that will dry up funding  from very iffy and VERY VERY VERY nervous banker buddies.

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U.S. industrial output falls 0.3% in December, third drop in past four months

Production down at 0.5% annual rate in Q4, down 1% on a year-on-year basis
  There was a 4.6% decline in the output of motor vehicles and parts in December.

The numbers: Industrial production fell 0.3% in December, the third decline in the past four months, the Federal Reserve reported Friday. The decline was in line with Wall Street expectations of a 0.3% fall, according to a MarketWatch survey. The softness in the factory sector was telegraphed in the December unemployment report released last week, where manufacturing shed 12,000 jobs. For the fourth quarter as a whole, industrial production was down at a 0.5% annual rate. Production was down in three of the four quarters of 2019. Output was down 1% on a year-over-year basis.

What happened: Manufacturing output rose 0.2% in December, but was down at a 1% rate for the fourth quarter. The gain in December came despite a 4.6% drop for output of motor vehicles and parts. Assemblies of cars fell to 10.3 million units in December from 11.2 million in the prior month. There have been reports that automakers are planning to reduce production in 2020 in face of projections of slower sales. Mining output rose 1.3% in December on higher oil and gas extraction. Utility output fell 5.6% as warmer weather reduced the demand for home heating. Capacity utilization fell to 77% in December, the second lowest reading in 27 months. The capacity utilization rate reflects the limits to operating the nation’s factories, mines and utilities. It’s still below pre-recession levels, above 80%, that economists believe could fan production costs and prices.

Big picture: The manufacturing sector hurt by the decline in global trade, trade tariffs with China and Boeing Co.’s problems with the 737 MAX airplane The ISM factory index sank in December to its lowest level since the Great Recession. Some economists think the sector could hit bottom in the first quarter.

What are they saying? “The trend in manufacturing output probably is about flat, with no real prospect of any serious improvement in the near term,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, in a note prior to the data’s release.

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American Troops Were Injured in Jan. 8 Iran Missile Attack

Eleven people are being screened for traumatic brain injuries following attacks on two bases in Iraq that house U.S. troops

On Jan. 13, U.S. soldiers stand at the site where an Iranian missile hit the Al Asad air base in Iraq earlier this month. Photo: john davison/Reuters

WASHINGTON—Nearly a dozen American troops were injured in the Iranian missile attack on two bases in Iraq last week, Defense Department officials said, after initially stating that there were no casualties in the strikes. Eleven individuals are being screened for traumatic brain injuries following the attacks on two bases in Iraq that house American troops. Iran fired a dozen rockets total at Erbil in northern Iraq and the sprawling Al Asad air base in the west in retaliation for the American killing of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani days before. Pentagon officials at the time said there were no casualties. Late Thursday, U.S. Central Command acknowledged that there were injuries and the 11 service members suffered concussions during the attack. “While no U.S. service members were killed in the Jan. 8 Iranian attack on Al Asad Air base, several were treated for concussion symptoms from the blast and are still being assessed,” according to Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla. “As a standard procedure, all personnel in the vicinity of a blast are screened for traumatic brain injury, and if deemed appropriate, are transported to a higher level of care.” Eight troops were transported to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany and three others were sent to Camp Arifjan in Kuwait for screening. Those troops are expected to return to Iraq following the screening, Capt. Urban said. “The health and welfare of our personnel is a top priority and we will not discuss any individual’s medical status,” he said. The revelation that there had been injuries followed a confusing week in which administration officials have struggled to explain the intelligence that led to the decision to kill Gen. Soleimani, whose death in Baghdad on Jan. 3 brought the U.S. and Iran to the brink of war. After Iran struck the two bases in eneralIraq, the two countries, exchanging diplomatic communications through the Swiss and others, agreed to a stand-down and tensions have eased for now. Nick Note: Bottom line is Trump is not going to do sht about the Iran retaliation after the hit on General Soleimani

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IEA: There Won’t Be A Low-Sulfur Fuel Oil Crisis

WHAT CRISES? Tanker

Supply of shipping fuels compliant with the stricter, low-sulfur, regulations are growing at a fast pace and are at adequate levels at the key hubs around the world, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday. According to the new rules by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), only 0.5-percent or lower sulfur fuel oil should be used on ships beginning January 1, 2020, unless said ships have installed the so-called scrubbers—systems that remove sulfur from exhaust gas emitted by bunkers—so they can continue to use high-sulfur fuel oil (HSFO). In previous months, refiners, traders, and buyers have been bracing for what was expected to be “the single largest oil market disruptor” and there were concerns that supply of low-sulfur fuels, especially very-low sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO), could not be enough. The IEA allayed those concerns today, saying that early data shows that supply is rising fast. “We are starting to see the first data on the transition and, it appears that deliveries of the new VLSFO bunkers are increasing fast,” the IEA said in its monthly Oil Market Report, as carried by Reuters. “Although there are initial local difficulties as might be expected from such a complex global change, ship operators, products suppliers and ports have so far coped well,” the Paris-based agency said in its report. “As the new IMO rules are introduced, cracks for compliant VLSFO made large gains and HSFO in Singapore drew some support on demand from ships fitted with scrubbers,” the IEA noted. Due to the new IMO rules, demand for heavy and sweet crude grades is high, as those are the most suited for processing into low-sulfur fuel for ships. Strong demand for heavy-sweet crude grades has resulted in a recent spot tender in which a crude from Australia sold for close to US$100 a barrel, making it what traders said was probably the most expensive crude in the world.

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BlackRock’s Assets Blow Past $7 Trillion in Milestone for Investment Giant

Quarterly net profits for them rose 40% to $1.3 billion their clients well that is a much different story
Laurence Fink, chief executive of BlackRock, which reported quarterly results Wednesday. Photo: Alex Kraus/Bloomberg News

BlackRock Inc.’s BLK 0.81% assets surpassed $7 trillion for the first time as the investment giant reported record-setting flows in 2019. The world’s largest money manager logged net inflows of $428.7 billion for the year. BlackRock’s quarterly net profits rose 40% to $1.3 billion. The company’s fourth-quarter earnings exceeded Wall Street forecasts. A flood of investor money into the firm’s fixed-income products and rising equity markets helped lift BlackRock’s assets to $7.43 trillion by the end of 2019, an increase from $5.98 trillion at 2018’s close. The passing of the $7 trillion mark follows a decade of dramatic growth fueled by the rise of funds that trade on exchanges and mirror markets. BlackRock today reaches millions of people with funds that are part of retirement savings; financial software that Wall Street banks and wealth managers rely on to monitor risks; and shareholder votes it casts on behalf of fund investors. The firm’s success brings BlackRock new scrutiny on everything from responsibilities as a shareholder on behalf of investors to its reach across markets. Chief Executive Laurence Fink said in an interview that BlackRock’s $7 trillion milestone hasn’t changed the sense of responsibility he felt toward clients when the firm was starting out. “If we become overinflated about the numbers we’re managing, we’re going to forget our responsibilities and moral objectives,” he said.

BlackRock announced this week that it would take a tougher stance on companies that aren’t providing a full accounting of environmental risks in line with industry standards. The firm is rolling out efforts to address the investment risks of climate change.

Mr. Fink said that public companies across the corporate world are now being held to higher standards. “Society is putting more demands on public companies,” Mr. Fink said. “Purposeful companies have to show their social purpose to clients and to their employees.” To capture the broadest group of investors, BlackRock is continuing its push to diversify its business lines and find new touch points into institutions and individuals.

The movement of money into the firm reflected crosscurrents of investor behavior this year. Investors added $263.6 billion, or 78.5% of the net flows into the firm’s asset-management products last year, to BlackRock’s bond offerings. Investors have increasingly flocked to bond ETFs as a way to hedge their risks or bet on credit markets. BlackRock sees more room to grow in the bond ETF space. BlackRock attracted $24.8 billion into alternatives to stocks and bonds, a growing priority for the firm as it looks to capture more of the world’s money shifting from public securities into private markets. In past quarters, an influx of new money hasn’t always translated to higher profits or an increase in revenue, especially when the firm’s mix of assets shifted into cheaper products. Intense competition in the asset-management industry has pushed fees of the most commonly offered funds near zero. The firm has no channel of its own to directly sell funds to everyday investors. But being a provider of technology gives BlackRock a way to get new visibility and influence into the ecosystem of wealth managers and advisers that oversee the money of individuals. Nick Note: This is a monster that is making very very little  NET money for its clients… By way of example

BlackRock North American (Ordinary Share) NAV 6.68%

WOW where do i sign up?

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Trump’s Impeachment Trial Kicks Off With GOP Moderates Under Pressure

Trump’s Impeachment Trial Kicks Off With GOP Moderates Under Pressure

(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump’s impeachment moves to the GOP-controlled Senate where the president and Democrats will battle over a small group of Republicans whose votes will determine the course of a trial on whether he should be removed from office. The Senate proceedings will begin formally on Thursday with a show of pageantry that includes the reading of two impeachment articles and U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts swearing in 100 senators as jurors. Yet one of the most pressing and contentious issues — whether to meet Democratic demands for witnesses — will remain unresolved for more than a week. The seven House Democrats chosen by Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday to argue the impeachment case will have their best shot when the trial fully gets under way early next week to persuade at least four Republicans that new witnesses must be heard and new evidence presented. Despite Trump’s conflicting statements about wanting witnesses to defend him during the Senate trial, White House officials said Wednesday the president’s team is seeking a short trial and that no additional testimony is needed. The trial is almost certain to end with Trump’s acquittal on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress; 67 votes are required to convict and no Republican senator has said the articles laid out by House merit his removal from office. But the entire proceeding will hang over his bid for re-election as well as his legacy. Before the trial fully gets under way on Tuesday, the Senate must summon the president to respond to the charges and make other procedural moves, including adopting a resolution setting the rules. McConnell has said they would parallel those set out for the 1999 impeachment trial of then-President Bill Clinton. Assuming that resolution is adopted by 51 senators without changes, the impeachment managers will have several days to be present their case, followed by the defense, questions from senators and then either votes to extend the trial or wrap it up and declare Trump guilty or not guilty. Once the House managers and Trump’s counsel begin presenting their cases, senators will find themselves in an unusual setting. They’ve been told they must stay seated at their desks for the proceedings with only reading material related to the case and have been admonished to avoid even talking to neighboring senators. Their telephones and other electronic devices will be kept in special cubbies in the cloakrooms, and access to the Senate side of the Capitol will be unusually limited for both reporters and staff. The trial may go on for six days a week. The managers can file certain preliminary motions under the rules of impeachment, and also file a trial brief stating its overall case. Nadler said one focus of House legal arguments from the start will be to argue for the allowing of evidence not considered or available in the House’s impeachment investigation. The attempt to sway Collins, Romney and the other GOP senators had begun well before the first arguments are made on the Senate floor. “Above all, a fair trial must include additional documents and relevant witnesses,” Nadler said. Among the additional evidence, Nadler cited the materials turned over by Lev Parnas, a former associate of Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who was central to the attempt to pressure Ukraine A lawyer for Parnas, who is under indictment on campaign finance-related charges, turned over to House investigators a trove of notes, emails and text messages that Democrats said “further corroborates the findings and evidence related to the president’s scheme, which was laid out in the Trump-Ukraine Impeachment Inquiry Report.” The material includes a May 2019 letter from Giuliani to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy requesting a meeting “in my capacity as personal counsel to President Trump and with his knowledge and consent.” Schiff said the materials from Parnas showed that Giuliani’s back-channel effort to influence Ukraine was directed by Trump. “There is no fobbing this off on others,” he said. “The president was the architect of this scheme.” He said the documents are only a “small sample” of the kinds of material that were withheld by the White House during the House investigation. “Those documents should be demanded by the senators,” Schiff said. Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas said an impeachment trial is a “unique process” that is unlike a regular court proceeding. “They call us a jury but we’re hardly disinterested,” Cornyn said. “So the analogies we are all trying to make” to judicial trials “have their limitations.” Nick Note: Well the circus is about to begin. I immensely dislike Donald Trump…. BUT this impeachment  saddens me. I know he wlil never be convicted. And their is a good chance he will be reelected by the stupid majority. The great threat to democracy is when the masses figure out they can vote for themselves largesse from the treasury. Want to destroy a man. Pay him not to work. He will become stupid, lazy and he will end up looking for something to fuck, something to fuck up and something to get fucked up on. In other words you created a Fuck Up.

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China, U.S. sign initial trade pact but doubts and tariffs linger

BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – China will boost purchases of U.S. goods and services by $200 billion over two years in exchange for the rolling back of some tariffs under an initial trade deal signed by the world’s two largest economies, defusing an 18-month row that has hit global growth.

Key world stock market indexes climbed to record highs after the deal was signed on Wednesday in Washington, but later stalled on concerns it may not ease trade tensions for long, with numerous thorny issues still unresolved. While acknowledging the need for further negotiations with China to solve a host of other problems, President Donald Trump hailed the agreement as a win for the U.S. economy and his administration’s trade policies. “Together, we are righting the wrongs of the past and delivering a future of economic justice and security for American workers, farmers and families,” Trump said in rambling remarks at the White House alongside U.S. and Chinese officials on Wednesday. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He read a letter from President Xi Jinping in which the Chinese leader praised the deal as a sign the two countries could resolve their differences with dialogue.

The centerpiece of the deal is a pledge by China to purchase at least an additional $200 billion worth of U.S. farm products and other goods and services over two years, above a baseline of $186 billion in purchases in 2017, the White House said.

Commitments include $54 billion in additional energy purchases, $78 billion in additional manufacturing purchases, $32 billion more in farm products, and $38 billion in services, according to deal documents released by the White House and China’s Finance Ministry. Liu said Chinese companies would buy $40 billion in U.S. agricultural products annually over the next two years “based on market conditions” which may dictate timing of purchases in any given year. Chinese companies will import U.S. agricultural goods according to consumers’ need, and demand and supply in the market, Liu told reporters, according to CCTV. Although the deal could be a boost to U.S. farmers, automakers and heavy equipment manufacturers, some analysts question China’s ability to replace imports from other trading partners with more shipments from the United States.

The deal does not end retaliatory tariffs on American farm exports, makes farmers “increasingly reliant” on Chinese state-controlled purchases, and does not address “big structural changes,” Michelle Erickson-Jones, a wheat farmer and spokeswoman for Farmers for Free Trade, said in a statement.

Oil prices rose, helped by expectations of more Chinese purchases of U.S. oil and gas. Trump, who has embraced an “America First” policy aimed at rebalancing global trade in favor of U.S. companies and workers, said China had pledged action to confront the problem of pirated or counterfeited goods and said the deal included strong protection of intellectual property rights. Washington’s insistence on enforcement mechanisms “with real teeth” could tear the deal apart if any tariffs are re-imposed for non-compliance. The deal touted new wins for U.S. companies looking to access China’s $40 trillion financial sector, but many of the changes were already in the works with Beijing stepping up the pace of opening up in the past year.

TARIFFS TO STAY

The Phase 1 deal canceled planned U.S. tariffs on Chinese-made cellphones, toys and laptop computers and halved the tariff rate to 7.5% on about $120 billion worth of other Chinese goods, including flat-panel televisions, Bluetooth headphones and footwear.

But it will leave in place 25% tariffs on a $250-billion array of Chinese industrial goods and components used by U.S. manufacturers, and China’s retaliatory tariffs on over $100 billion in U.S. goods.

Trump, who has been touting the Phase 1 deal as a pillar of his 2020 re-election campaign, said he would agree to remove the remaining tariffs once the two sides had negotiated a “Phase 2” agreement. “We’ve already begun discussions on a Phase 2 deal,” Vice President Mike Pence said in a Fox Business Network interview. Nick Note: Talk about a nothing burger! What bullshit what crap… People are buying into this bullshit hook line and big titted blonds………  for me and you this will be a GREAT pay day.  in essence short the shit out of this joke trade deal,,,,….,,,.. I’ll show you how.