Following China’s warning this week that the United States is poised to open “Pandora’s Box” in the Middle East should it escalate military action against Iran, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has weighed in, on Thursday saying any American military strike would have “catastrophic” consequences. Putin warned further that US attack “would trigger a surge in violence… Read More

WTI and Brent prices spiked overnight on the headlines about a US drone being shot down by Iran, and just legged higher once again following Trump’s tweet warning that “Iran made a very big mistake.” “Geopolitics is helping oil bulls to make a spectacular come-back after a few days’ of directionless trading,” said Tamas Varga, an… Read More

President Trump will be happy. Following Powell’s pivot earlier in the year and total capitulation yesterday, the S&P 500 has now surged to a new record intraday high at the cash open. <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–><!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–> Futures have just melted up in the last two days… <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–><!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–> With cash S&P… Read More

Almost as abruptly as they collapsed, talks between Washington and Beijing will take place for the first time since the dialogue collapsed last month, with Robert Lighthizer saying he’s planning on calling his counterpart, Vice Premier Liu He, the leader of China’s trade delegation, to restart talks, Reuters reports. <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–><!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–> China… Read More

Seemingly confirming the collapse in Empire Manufacturing ‘soft’ survey data, The Philly Fed Business Outlook plunged from 16.6 to just 0.3 in June (well below the 10.4 expectation). While not as big a drop as in February, the slump from the dead-cat-bounce hopes of the last few months is very telling… <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–><!–[if IE… Read More

Turkish president Erdogan has decided that the best way to respond to Trump’s threats is with threats of his own, and on Thursday, Erdogan said that Turkey will retaliate against any U.S. sanctions imposed when it takes delivery of the Russian S-400 missile-defense system from Russia, refusing to back down from a dispute that has… Read More

Goldman Sachs is the latest to cut its Tesla price target, with analyst David Tamberrino cutting his target to $158 from $200 due to a lower likelihood of the company hitting his upside volume scenarios and continued questions about demand heading into the second half of the year, according to a new note released Thursday… Read More

In a break from the global easing tsunami that has swept the world in the past 48 hours, moments ago the Bank of England did not cut rates – as expected – in a unanimous 9-0 decision. MPC voted unanimously to keep #BankRate at 0.75% pic.twitter.com/ViqS4Zwe3G — Bank of England (@bankofengland) June 20, 2019 The… Read More

President Xi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are meeting in Pyongyang Thursday after Xi became the first Chinese leader in 14 years to visit North Korea. And although nobody could say for sure what the two would be discussing, most believed that their mutual difficulties with Washington would likely be on the agenda.… Read More