SYDNEY (Bloomberg) – U.S. stock-index futures fell after a U.S. airstrike near Baghdad international airport killed a top Iranian commander. S&P 500 Index futures contracts expiring in March retreated as much as 0.7% after the attack that killed Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian general who led the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds force. Dow Jones Industrial Average contracts were down as much as 0.7%, while those on the Nasdaq 100 also shed as much as 0.7%. Oil spiked on news of the strike, with futures in New York and London surging more than 4%. Gold also surged, while the dollar weakened against the yen. “This is more than just bloodying Iran’s nose. This is an aggressive show of force and an outright provocation that could trigger another Middle East war,” Stephen Innes, chief Asia market strategist at Axitrader, wrote in a note. “Get the defensive strategy tool kit ready as you will likely need it through the day.” The S&P 500 Index closed 0.8% higher in New York on Thursday, with Apple, Alphabet and Nike all reaching fresh records. Nick Note: The perfect excuse for a badly needed 10% correction… And your boss will not be pissed because how could a algorithm predict a US strike on Iran. And since its the new year traders bonuses calculated on the December 31st close are still guaranteed. Tiffany stores in New York are stocking up!
US confirms Trump ordered deadly strike on Iran’s Soleimani
Pentagon says strike carried out to protect troops in Iraq; IRGC also confirms powerful Quds force leader killed; Trump tweets picture of American flag with no explanation
The US Department of Defense confirmed late Thursday that it had carried out an airstrike in Baghdad to kill powerful Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and the head of a robust pro-Iran militia in Iraq. At least seven people were killed in the strike at the Baghdad International Airport late Thursday night, according to Iraqi officials, including Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iran-backed militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, or PMF. The Pentagon said it carried out the strike at the direction of US President Donald Trump.
“At the direction of the President, the US military has taken decisive defensive action to protect US personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani,” a statement said.
Qassem Soleimani, commander of the IRGC Quds Force, attends an annual rally commemorating the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, in Tehran, Iran, February 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
“General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region. General Soleimani and his Quds Force were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more,” the Department of Defense added. Following Soleimani’s death, Trump tweeted an image of the US flag without any further explanation. Iranian state television also confirmed Soleimani’s death, citing a Revolutionary Guard statement that said he was “martyred” in an attack by US helicopters near the airport, without elaborating. The attack came amid tensions with the United States after a New Year’s Eve attack by Iran-backed militias on the US embassy in Baghdad. The two-day embassy attack which ended Wednesday prompted Trump to order about 750 US soldiers deployed to the Middle East. It also prompted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to postpone his trip to Ukraine and four other countries “to continue monitoring the ongoing situation in Iraq and ensure the safety and security of Americans in the Middle East,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said Wednesday.
Protesters burn property in front of the US embassy compound, in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2019. D (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
The breach at the embassy followed US airstrikes on Sunday that killed 25 fighters of the Iran-backed militia in Iraq, the Kataeb Hezbollah. The U.S. military said the strikes were in retaliation for last week’s killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that the US blamed on the militia. US officials have suggested they were prepared to engage in further retaliatory attacks in Iraq. “The game has changed,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Thursday, telling reporters that violent acts by Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq — including the rocket attack on Dec. 27 that killed one American — will be met with US military force. He said the Iraqi government has fallen short of its obligation to defend its American partner in the attack on the US embassy.
Trump takes massive gamble with killing of Iranian commander
President Donald Trump’s killing of one of Iran’s top military commanders means the elimination of a dangerous U.S. foe – but it also represents a risky escalation in a volatile feud that could backfire on U.S. personnel and allies in the Middle East and beyond. The Pentagon confirmed Thursday that Qassem Soleimani, who leads Iran’s elite Quds force, was killed in what it termed a “defensive action.” Iraqi and other media said Soleimani died in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport. Some media accounts described the airstrike as coming from a U.S. drone, but the Pentagon did not specify. “At the direction of the president, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization,” the Pentagon said. “General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region,” it added, blaming him for recent attacks on U.S. troops and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. “This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans.” Even the possibility that the U.S. had directly targeted Soleimani – especially on Iraqi soil – sent shockwaves around the globe, spiking oil prices and leading to instant assessments of the potential fallout. U.S. officials have long depicted Soleimani as a paramilitary and terrorist mastermind, deemed responsible for attacks on American troops in Iraq and against U.S. interests all over the world.
“It is hard to overstate the significance,” said retired Gen. David Petraeus, who oversaw the “surge” of American troops in Iraq in the violent years after the 2003 U.S. invasion. “But there will be responses in Iraq and likely Syria and the region.”
Some current and former U.S. officials, as well as veteran Iran observers, said the killing was an escalatory move far beyond what they had ever expected. “There’s no chance in hell Iran won’t respond,” said Afshon Ostovar, an expert on Soleimani and author of “Vanguard of the Imam” a book about Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The strike also reportedly killed Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was traveling in the same convoy as Soleimani. It astonished even some members of the Trump administration who said killing the Iranian general had not been seriously considered — at least not recently. “I can’t believe it,” one U.S. official said. “The immediate concern for me is: What’s the next step from Iran? Is this the beginning of a regional conflagration?” A former U.S. official who dealt with the Middle East said the strike was especially notable because it targeted the leader of a state apparatus, as opposed to a non-state actor. “We need to be prepared that we’re now at war,” he said. A second Middle Eastern official said that a retaliation by Iran – known for its own assassinations abroad – could occur anywhere. “It could be targets in Africa, it could be in Latin America, it could be in the Gulf, it could be anything,” the official said. “I don’t think they’re going to take the assassination of one of their key guys and just turn the other cheek.” Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign has intensified in recent months, as the U.S. has clashed with Iran and its proxies. Just days ago, an American contractor died in Iraq after an attack by an Iraqi militia allied with Iran. The U.S. responded by bombing sites held by the group, killing some two dozen militiamen. Within days, protesters believed to be linked to the Iran-backed militia breached parts of the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad. The Iraqi government, meanwhile, condemned the U.S. airstrikes, noting that the militia had ties to its own security forces. In comments Thursday that may have foreshadowed the strike, Esper warned that the U.S. reserved the right to strike preemptively in Iraq or the region. “If we get word of attacks, we will take preemptive action as well to protect American forces, protect American lives,” the defense secretary told reporters at the Pentagon. “The game has changed.” But the killing of Soleimani was a shocking development, even considering how tense U.S.-Iran relations have grown under Trump. The president has heaped economic sanctions on Iran’s Islamist regime and at times threatened Tehran with military action. Nick Note: This is a BIG shit! In my opinion not well thought out. What is Trumps plan B? Iran will retaliate and Trump does not have the resources to guarantee US forces security in the Middle East. My BIG bet is this is not a oil story….. we shall see if i am guessing lucky.
Russia’s oil output hits post-Soviet high despite OPEC+ deal
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) – Russia’s crude oil and condensate output hit a post-Soviet high last year even as it curbed production under an agreement with OPEC. The 11th consecutive year of output growth underscores the reality of Russia’s cooperation with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Despite being one of the architects of the original 2016 deal, Moscow has a poor record of fulfilling its pledged production cuts and has come under pressure from its allies to do better.The country consistently failed to meet its quota last year, overshooting its target in nine of the 12 months, Bloomberg calculations show. The Energy Ministry has come up with various explanations for producing above the target — from the limitations of a harsh climate to technical issues after the Druzhba oil-contamination crisis. Russia produced 560.2 million tons of oil in 2019, up 0.8% from the previous year, preliminary data from the Energy Ministry’s CDU-TEK unit show. That’s equivalent to 11.25 million barrels a day, according to Bloomberg calculations. Russia produced a record 11.416 million barrels a day in 1987, BP Plc data show. Under the OPEC+ deal, Russia pledged to cut output by 228,000 barrels a day from the October 2018 baseline of 11.418 million barrels a day. That allocation will change this month after OPEC and its allies agreed in December to deepen their cuts. Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman has urged the laggards in the deal to carry their share of the burden. The kingdom is making the deepest cuts in the group. Russia has agreed to deepen its reductions by 70,000 barrels a day to about 300,000 a day in the first quarter. But its baseline and monthly production calculations will exclude a type of light oil called condensate, potentially making it easier to hit its cuts target. Energy Minister Alexander Novak has denied that the change is a loophole allowing Russia to pump more oil and still claim compliance. While Russia’s official statistics don’t yet provide a breakdown for crude and condensate, the ministry will regularly inform analysts, the media and OPEC about the composition of its output, according to Novak. Russia has also started making noises about the future of the OPEC+ alliance. When ministers meet next in March, the group will have been restricting output for more than three years, compared with an initial plan for six months. During the meeting, Russia may bring up the issue of exiting the agreement, Novak said in an interview to state TV network Rossiya24 last month. “Oil production cuts can’t be eternal,” Novak said, adding that Russia needs to defend its global market share and let its oil companies develop new projects. “We will gradually need to make a decision on exiting” the accord, he said.
Ending the deal would allow Russia to deploy about 500,000 barrels a day of spare production capacity, which could pave the way for a new output record in 2020.
Platinum hits three-month high
Platinum prices rose on Monday jumping nearly 2% to achieve a three-month high, topping the $1900 per ounce valuation.
Russian oil exports rise 3.3% in 2019 despite cuts
Russian oil exports rose by 3.3% in 2019 comapred to 2018, Moscow’s Central Dispatching Department of Fuel Energy Complex said in a statement on Thursday. Exports to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) declined 2.4% to 17.6 million tonnes while exports to non-CIS countries increased by 3.7% in 2019 compared to the previous year. Russia exported 206.1 million tonnes of oil last year despite being a part of the OPEC+ output cut deal. In December, OPEC+ agreed to extend and widen its output cuts by an additional 500,000 barrels per day, bringing the total cuts to 1.7 million barrels per day. Russia remained the second largest gas, and the third largest oil producer, accounting for 17% and 12% of the global output, respectively. Russian oil exports grew by 2% (to 9.2 Mb/d) and accounted for 13% of the global total; gas exports grew by 5.4% (to 248 bcm) accounting for 26% of the global total. Nick Note: OPEC+ production cuts my ass. Its the height of winter oil production… Of course inventories will drop……. for now. Wait and see their is oil up the ass out their……
Carlos Ghosn: How did the Nissan ex-boss flee from Japan?
He was once a titan of the car industry who held hero status in Japan. He then became one of the country’s most well-known criminal suspects. Now he’s an international fugitive. Carlos Ghosn, the multi-millionaire former boss of Nissan, spent months preparing to stand trial on financial misconduct charges. At least, that was what the Japanese authorities were led to believe. He posted 1bn yen (£6.8m; $8.9m) in bail in April. He was monitored by a 24-hour camera installed outside his house. His use of technology was heavily restricted and he was banned from travelling abroad. Then, in a move that left Japan red-faced and his own legal team baffled, he appeared in Lebanon on New Year’s Eve. “I have escaped injustice and political persecution,” he declared in a statement. “We were completely caught by surprise. I am dumbfounded,” his lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, told a crowd of reporters in Tokyo shortly after learning of Mr Ghosn’s flight. “I want to ask him, ‘How could you do this to us?'” Another pressing question is: how did he do it at all? One Lebanese TV channel – MTV – reported that Mr Ghosn had fled his court-approved residence in Tokyo with the assistance of a paramilitary group who were disguised amongst a band of musicians. It said the band had performed at his house and, shortly after they had finished, the 65-year-old hid himself in a large musical instrument case which was then hurried to a local airport. If this really happened, it may have been a tight squeeze even for Mr Ghosn, whose height is reported at 5ft 6in (167cm). According to the MTV story, he then flew to Turkey, before arriving in Lebanon on a private jet. The broadcaster provided no proof for this theory which, unsurprisingly, spread rapidly across social media. The former CEO’s getaway from Tokyo to Beirut was meticulously planned over a period of several weeks, according to the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper, which cited a number of unidentified sources, said a team was carefully assembled to carry out the plot. The group reportedly included accomplices in Japan who transported Mr Ghosn from his house and onto a private jet bound for Istanbul. From there, he continued his journey to Beirut where he arrived in the early hours of 30 December. The plane tracking site FlightRadar24 showed a a Bombardier Challenger private jet arriving at Beirut-Rafic Hariri international airport shortly after 04:00 local time. Mr Ghosn then met his wife Carole, who was born in the city and was heavily involved in the operation, the Wall Street Journal says. The embarrassment caused by Mr Ghosn’s flight soon sparked a reaction from Japan. One Japanese politician asked whether he “had the support of some country”. A former governor of Tokyo was more forthright, accusing Lebanon of direct involvement. “The government has nothing to do with [Mr Ghosn’s] decision to come,” Lebanese minister Salim Jreissati was quoted as saying by the New York Times. “We don’t know the circumstances of his arrival.” France and Turkey have also said they were unaware of Mr Ghosn’s plan. There is no extradition deal between Japan and Lebanon, which means the future of Mr Ghosn’s trial is now fraught with uncertainty. Nick Note: I salute Ghosen…. No way in hell can you get a fair trial in America or japan. Just for the record the US has the highest incarceration and conviction rate for white collar crime in the world. Even more then in Japan. Tens of millions and hundreds of millions is not enough. The only people i have seen avoid federal prosecution for crimes they obviously committed are people who did runners like Mark Rich (later pardoned by Clinton for a payoff) and billionaire bankers. Federal Prosecutes have more dirty tricks then a Los Vegas casino. Its a rigged game. I had a federal prosecutor tell me (“The guilty are easy to convict but he especially enjoyed prosecuting the innocent” They will drag out the case out to run you out of money. They will prejudice the jury pool. One trick is they have a business publication that is sent to the jury pool that just happens to do a disinformation story on you. They will get their cronies in the media to out and out lie about you. They will look for your enemies like your xWife and get dirt on you real or not they do not care., And everyone is against you Freinds neighbors and especially your lawyer who will milk you dry. (my clients are innocent until proven broke). They will shut down your business, bank accounts and cash flow. Scare off your banks and business associates and freeze your money and assets without any proof of a crime. The will get your associates to testify against you and lie their asses off on fear that they will face charges. Its worse then the inquisition. What Ghosen did was the smartest move imaginable……..
Survival of the richest!
Luxurious doomsday-proof bunkers are becoming more alluring to the ultra-wealthy as they fight to get their hands on the $4.5million post-apocalyptic homes fitted with swimming pools, shooting ranges and dog parks
- The rich and famous are preparing for the worst and vying to get their hands on doomsday-proof bunkers
- Larry Hall is the brainchild behind such luxury developments which he refers to as ‘Survival Condos’
- Survival condos are designed to hold up to 70 people and have enough resources to keep them alive for years
- Some units in the structure go for as much as $4.5million while other units sit at $1.5million and $3million
- Project is a luxury complex housed 15 stories below ground in a former missile silo near Concordia, Kansas
- Development has bunkers that give long-term protection for residents against nuclear war or other disasters
The idea of post-apocalyptic prepping has become more and more alluring, especially for the super-rich who are fighting to get their hands on a luxurious nuclear bunker. For years a number of countries have been attempting to meet a growing demand for survival bunkers that could protect the world’s elite from things like natural disasters, asteroids or a global pandemic all while offering lavish amenities. Larry Hall is the brainchild behind such luxury developments which he refers to as ‘Survival Condos’. The project is a luxury complex housed 15 stories below ground in a former missile silo near Concordia, Kansas. The missile silos were originally built by the US Army Corps of Engineers in the 1960s during the Cold War for the Atlas F missile, and there were 72 of them around the country. All of the apartments in Hall’s first complex sold out, but people have the option to buy a full-floor, half-floor or a penthouse unit in a second Survival Condo that is currently under construction. A full-floor apartment, spanning 1,800 square feet, will cost buyers $3million, while a 900-square-foot, half-floor unit is $1.5million. The ultra-wealthy can also make a penthouse selection starting at $4.5million. Nick Note: You can build a nuke prof bomb shelter for less then a built in swimming pool if you do it yourself and can pass on the pool table and all the yuppie toys!
‘You can’t do a damn thing!’ Iran’s supreme leader
Ayatollah Khamenei hits back at Donald Trump after the president threatened to make him pay a ‘big price’ for US embassy attack
- Khamenei strongly condemned US airstrikes on Iraq which killed 25 militants from Kataeb Hezbollah on Sunday night and refurted Trump’s claim that Iran ‘orchestrated’ yesterday’s embassy assault in Baghdad
- Thousands – many of them members of the Iran-backed militia – rushed the heavily fortified Green Zone
- Today photos emerged showing the scorched interior of the embassy’s secure entrance after it was set alight
- One militant had said: ‘God willing if this fire reaches inside the embassy, we will not spare a single employee’
- President Donald Trump’s reinforcements were engaged early Wednesday as tear gas was fired to disperse those who had spent the night outside the main gates. Several ambulances arrived to ferry the wounded.
Iran’s supreme leader today hit back at the US for deadly strikes on Iraq and warned his country would not hesitate to strike after Donald Trump said Tehran would pay a ‘big price’ for the assault on the American consulate in Baghdad. ‘I and the government and the nation of Iran strongly condemn this American crime,’ Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said of USAF strikes which killed 25 members of Kataeb Hezbollah in Iraq on Sunday night. Thousands mobbed the US embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday, breaching the heavily fortified Green Zone and torching the entrance, in protest to the deaths. President Trump, who deployed 100 Marines to protect the site last night, has accused Tehran of ‘orchestrating’ the assault. And on Wednesday the Iran-backing militia attacked the embassy for the second day in a row and the US Marines fired tear gas at the fighters who set part of the embassy on fire again. Some 50 tents, portable toilets and cooking pots were shipped in as hundreds of the furious mob prepared a sit-in at the embassy’s gates, demanding that the US withdraw from Iraq. Video has also emerged of one fighter telling cameras that he hopes to kill all Americans inside the embassy during the attack. He said: ‘God willing if this fire reaches inside the embassy, we will not spare a single employee.’ It comes after Trump last night tweeted: “Iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities. They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat.” In response, Khamenei retweeted the post and said: “That guy has tweeted that we (the United States) see Iran responsible for the events in Baghdad and we will respond to Iran.”First of all, you can’t do a damn thing! This has nothing to do with Iran,” the supreme leader in his televised address.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has hit out at the United States in his first public comments since deadly weekend US air strikes on pro-Iran fighters in western Iraq. Nick Note: Eventually people figure out a bullshitter is a bullshitter and will not do shit. The day Trump called of the air strike after Iran shot down the US dorne the US became a shadow of its former self. And the Coup de Grah was when America turn tail and rain leaving Syrian and Iraqi Kurd’s to the invading forces of Turkey and Russia. Iran is right Trump is a lot of blow and go he will do nothing more then bomb defenseless civilian targets. If had a real set of hairy balls Iran’s nuclear program would be up in smoke. AND THAT Will NOT HAPPEN. Americans should build nuclear bomb shelters in their backyards instead of condos on the islands.
ExxonMobil makes 15th oil discovery in offshore Guyana
Discovery adds to current resource estimate of more than six billion barrels of oil equivalent
American energy giant ExxonMobil made its 15th oil discovery offshore Guyana in South America, the company announced in a statement on Monday. The most recent discovery was made at the Mako-1 well, located approximately 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) southeast of the Liza field on the 26,800 square-kilometer Stabroek Block. The discovery adds to the current resource estimate of more than six billion barrels of oil equivalent, the statement said. Phase 1 of the Liza field began oil production on Dec. 20 and is expected to have an output of 120,000 barrels per day (bpd). With phase 2, oil output capacity is estimated to reach 220,000 bpd once additional production begins by mid-2022. A third oil development, from the Payara field north of the Liza discoveries, could start as early as 2023, and could see an additional output of 220,000 bpd. “New discoveries in this world-class basin have the potential to support additional developments,” Mike Cousins, senior vice president of exploration and new ventures at ExxonMobil, said in the statement. The company conducts drilling activities in Guyana with four drill ships, according to the statement. In the Stabroek Block, ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited is the operator and holds a 45% interest. While Hess Guyana Exploration Limited holds a 30% interest and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds the remaining 25% stake. Nick Note: The oil keeps coming and coming. And at $70 oil everyone is profitable. Shit you can make money shipping oil in 55 gallon barrels strapped to donkeys.