BlackMask Breaking News

Russia’s government has ordered oil companies to lower their output in the second quarter so that the country can meet its OPEC+ production target of 9 million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of June. Previously, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak announced that Russia would cut oil output and exports by an extra 471,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the second quarter, in tandem with production cuts by other OPEC+ members. The country will then gradually ease the export cuts and focus on only reducing output. Although Novak is yet to provide the targeted level for output, Reuters has calculated that production would drop to almost 9 million bpd in June if the country proceeds with the planned production cut.

Former President Donald Trump’s social media company will begin trading Tuesday under the ticker symbol DJT, the company itself announced in a new regulatory filing on Monday.

The newly merged company will be called Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (TMTG) and listed on the NASDAQ market. Trump retains a commanding 58% ownership of the merged entity, which, based on current share prices, is worth upwards of $3 billion. Eric Swider, the former CEO of DWAC, will join the board of directors. “As a public company, we will passionately pursue our vision to build a movement to reclaim the Internet from Big Tech censors,” said TMTG CEO Devin Nunes. “We will continue to fulfill our commitment to Americans to serve as a safe harbor for free expression and to stand up to the ever-growing army of speech suppressors. As we mark this milestone, I want to particularly thank Eric Swider for his unflagging dedication to our deal and our cause.” On the financial front, the news has appeared dire for former president Donald Trump this year. Within a span of just a month, two judges in two separate cases ordered him to pay about $540 million in total — a sum so great that pundits have speculated it could erode his campaign finances.

What’s gotten far less attention, though, is this: A frenetic rally in a stock tied to Trump Media & Technology Group — which operates the Truth Social platform he posts on daily — has minted a nearly $4 billion windfall for him.

There are any number of caveats to this figure, including how it’s only a paper profit for now that he’ll have to wait months to monetize, and yet the stock’s surge is a potentially huge financial boost for a billionaire candidate suddenly short on cash. The type of transaction — known as a de-SPAC or blank-check deal — that would hand Trump this new-found wealth is a complex one that briefly became popular on Wall Street during the stock mania unleashed by pandemic-era stimulus. In this particular deal, Truth Social’s owner would enter the stock market by merging with a publicly traded company called Digital World Acquisition Corp.

the come back kid

NN AUDIO

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to suspend the planned visit of a diplomatic delegation to Washington after the United States did not veto the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza without the release of the hostages held by Hamas, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement. “This withdrawal hurts both the war effort and the effort to release the hostages because it gives Hamas hope that international pressure will allow them to accept a ceasefire without the release of our abductees,” the statements read. Meanwhile, US National Security Council (NSC) Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said that he prefers letting “the Israelis speak to whether they’re coming or not.”

Hamas hails UNSC’s ceasefire vote results

Hamas welcomed on Monday the United Nations (UN) Security Council’s adoption of a resolution calling for a ceasefire between the group and Israel in the Gaza Strip.The organization’s statement indicated Hamas’s readiness to “engage in an immediate prisoner exchange process that leads to the release of prisoners on both sides.” “Hamas calls on the Security Council to pressure the occupation to adhere to the ceasefire and stop the war of genocide and ethnic cleansing against our people,” it concluded. Israel objected to the results of the vote and canceled a planned diplomatic visit to the United States after the latter did not veto the resolution.

Brent crude oil surged past $87 on Monday as Russia’s war on Ukraine increasingly focuses on attacks on energy installations, and as mediation in the Israel-Gaza conflict fails. On Monday at 10:14 a.m. ET, Brent crude was trading at $87.16, up 2.03%, for a 1.72-cent gain on the day. The U.S. crude oil benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), was trading at $82.45, up 2.26%, for a $1.82 gain on the day.  The latest rally also comes after OPEC+ said on Monday that it saw no need for any policy changes during next week’s planned Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) meeting. In combination with geopolitical developments in the Middle East and Russia, including continuing attacks by Iran-backed Houthis in the Red Sea, analysts are eyeing tighter supply as the global economies fight off recession and the Fed sticks to its tentative plans for rate cuts this summer. A Ukrainian drone attack over the weekend has reduced capacity at a Russian oil refinery to around half. Kyiv struck Russia’s Kuibyshev oil refinery in Samara, taking out one refining unit and reducing capacity by half, Reuters reports. According to Reuters calculations, in the first quarter of this year, Ukraine attacked seven Russian refineries, taking nearly 400,000 barrels per day of capacity offline.  Russia, in turn, attacked an underground natural gas storage site in Ukraine, though supplies have not been disrupted, according to Kyiv. DTEK, Ukraine’s largest energy producer, is running at 50% capacity, forcing it to suspend electricity exports, according to Ukraine’s energy ministry.

In the Middle East, hopes are now fading, again, for a ceasefire deal as Israel continues with its assault on Gaza.

Also on Monday, Goldman Sachs said commodity demand would increase this year, driven by interest rate cuts by central banks, with potential returns as high as 15%.

NN AUDIO

A refinery in southwestern Russia owned and operated by state oil giant Rosneft has halted roughly half of its crude processing capacity following a drone attack from Ukraine over the weekend, industry sources told Reuters on Monday.  On Saturday, Dmitry Azarov, governor of the Samara region where Rosneft’s Kuibyshev oil refinery is located, said that the facility was attacked by drones. One of the two primary crude refining units at the refinery caught fire, the governor said, as quoted by Russian news agency Interfax. There were no casualties, Azarov added.    Ukraine has stepped up attacks on oil refineries in Russia in recent weeks, which have reduced Russian refining capacity, and which, reportedly, have the White House concerned about rising international prices.

• Deputy premier says refineries fair target after FT article
• Strikes deep into Russian territory have damaged refining rate

Senior Ukrainian officials defended Kyiv’s attacks on oil infrastructure deep within Russian territory following a report that US officials had warned against the operation because of surging oil prices and the prospect of Kremlin retaliation. Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna said refineries in Russia are legitimate targets providing resources to President Vladimir Putin’s war machine. Even as the strikes appeared to stop this week, the official was queried on the report in the Financial Times at a conference in the Ukrainian capital Friday. “We understand the calls by American partners,” Stefanishyna responded during a panel discussion at the Kyiv Security Forum. “At the same time, we fight with the capabilities, resources and practices that we have today.” Ukrainian forces attacked more than a dozen refineries inside Russia with explosive-laden drones this month, prompting the country’s daily oil refining rate to fall to the lowest weekly level in ten months. The successful attacks contrast with fighting on the front line, where the balance is shifting in Russia’s favor — though the damage to oil facilities poses a risk to world markets. US officials, who have long warned Kyiv against widespread strikes on Russian territory, told counterparts in Ukraine’s State Security Service, or SBU, and military intelligence that the attacks risk driving up the global oil price and provoking a response by Moscow on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, the FT reported, citing unidentified officials familiar with the discussion. Another official, Mykhailo Podolyak, an aide to President VolodymyrZelenskiy, said the report on the US request was “fictional” — and that Ukraine has the right to destroy Russia’s “instruments of war.” “Nobody after two years of large-scale war can dictate conditions of waging this war to Ukraine,” Podolyak said on Dozhd TV. After the Ukrainian attacks last week, the strikes ceased after the weekend, with Russia reporting no new refinery hits after the last one took place on Sunday. The SBU declined to comment on whether the US requested a halt to the attacks. Russia meanwhile on Friday staged the largest missile and drone barrage against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since the start of the invasion. The attack damaged the nation’s biggest hydro power plant in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, a crucial nerve center for power generation, particularly in the winter months.

Israeli PM will call off visit of senior aides this week if US does not use veto to block UN security council ceasefire resolution.

NN: This is a developing story

UN vote is in progress 

The Lebanon-based Hezbollah group claimed that its fighters shelled a group of Israeli soldiers on Monday, the Times of Israel reported. The group said it targeted Israeli soldiers situated southwest of Kiryat Shmona, a city in the Northern District of Israel located near the Lebanese border. No detailed information was given regarding the outcome of the assault, nor was the claim confirmed by Israel.

Israel reportedly strikes Hezbollah sites deep in Lebanon

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched airstrikes targeting Hezbollah positions in the Lebanese city of Baalbek, the AFP, and Lebanese media outlets reported.  The Israeli military’s alleged strikes come following several Hezbollah missile, rocket, and drone attacks on northern Israel on Saturday. If confirmed, this would be the fourth time the IDF has launched attacks on Baalbek, which is located approximately 100 kilometers from the Israeli border and is considered a Hezbollah stronghold.

Russian air strikes targeted both Kyiv and the western Ukrainian region of Lviv on Sunday, news agency Reuters cited officials as saying. In response, Poland’s armed forces activated its aircraft to ensure airspace safety near the border.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko took to Telegram messaging app and stated that multiple explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital following engagement of air defence systems to repel the attack. Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on Telegram that Ukraine’s air defence forces successfully intercepted approximately a dozen Russian-launched missiles over Kyiv and its vicinity. Preliminary reports indicate no casualties or significant damage resulting from the attacks. Ukraine also said that it hit two Russian landing ships in an overnight strike in Sevastopol, on Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.”The Ukrainian Armed Forces successfully struck the amphibious landing ships Yamal and Azov, a communications centre, and a number of the Black Sea Fleet’s infrastructure sites,” Ukrainian armed forces’ strategic communications centre said in a statement, AFP reported. Notably, these “massive” airstrikes are part of Russia’s ongoing assault on Ukraine, which it portrays as retaliation for Ukrainian actions during its recent presidential election. U.S. Ambassador Bridget Brink raised concerns about the situation, emphasising that Ukraine remains under an air alert, with civilians advised to seek shelter due to Russia’s indiscriminate launching of drones and missiles, in violation of international law.”For the third pre-dawn morning this week, all of Ukraine is under an air alert and has been advised to seek shelter,” U.S. Ambassador Bridget Brink posted on X.At the same time, Ukraine’s news outlets reported a major attack on Lviv, with Russian missiles flying near the border with Poland. Polish armed forces responded by activating aircraft, leading to potential increased noise levels, particularly in the southeastern part of the country. Poland’s army reported that a Russian cruise missile aimed at towns in western Ukraine breached Polish airspace. Consequently, Poland’s foreign ministry announced plans to demand an explanation from Russia for this violation. Although Lviv itself was spared from direct attacks, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said on Telegram that approximately 20 missiles and seven attack drones targeted “critical infrastructure” in the broader Lviv region.

The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said the US forces intercepted six Houthi unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) over the Red Sea. “Five crashed into the Red Sea, and one flew inland into Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen,” CENTCOM revealed in a statement. Furthermore, the US military disclosed that Yemen’s Houthi launched several anti-ship ballistic missiles toward M/V Huang Pu, an oil tanker owned and operated by China. There were no casualties and the vessel continued on its route with minimal damage. Previously, it was reported that the Houthis pledged not to attack Chinese and Russian ships.   NN: One of these days they might get lucky. Then all hell will break loose.