Just three days into 2020, and two trading days in, the market reacts to big geopolitical news which shakes the markets.
It came out that President Trump ordered a hit on Iranian General of the QUDS force, and Iran’s top military commander, Qasem Soleimani. Markets fell on the news but recovered to end the week close to where they opened, making up for the down move.
We saw the safe haven assets go up : Swiss Franc and the Japanese Yen as well as Oil.
Let us begin with the obvious: Oil.
Readers of this blog and my work know that when Oil turned down in 2014, governments forced banks to provide loans to these oil companies to ensure they do not LAY OFF any workers. These oil companies are essentially zombie companies. Oil cannot be allowed to fall because it affects the banks. Oil will be propped up and will continue to be managed higher because it means energy and the financial sectors do well…which make up a large component in the US stock markets.
We expect markets to still go up. The sell off we saw is likely people wanting to close positions for this weekend due to the uncertainty, but this will likely be short lived. Do not forget that for a money manager, there is still nowhere to go for yield except the stock markets. This will still force money into stocks. Ironically, many funds have been going into energy because it looks attractive compared to everything else…even though oil fundamentals are not the greatest. This is a chase for yield.
Let us not forget about Saudi Aramco as well. The Saudi’s now have even more incentive for higher oil prices.
Now onto how we have predicted a future conflict.
That post linked below describes the situation in more detail, however I will summarize the major points pertaining to Iran here.
Simply this has to do with the US Dollar, and how Russia and China are attacking US Dollar Demand. As long as the Dollar remains the world reserve currency, the Americans can print as much money as they want and not worry about their debts and deficits…a situation the French called “exorbitant privilege”. Russia and China are attacking Dollar demand and are positioning themselves (even instigating) a situation where the Dollar gets stronger and nations choose to NOT use the Dollar for trade due to this strength.
My readers know my take on the US Dollar. As the Dollar goes higher, the worlds problems exacerbate. The Dollar is very well what is motivating the Fed to cut rates and other extreme measures to attempt to weaken the Dollar…but it will not work.
Iran is key to Russia and China because Iran does NOT take US Dollars for their oil. Nations which have seen their currencies decimated already by US Dollar strength, like the Indian Rupee and the Turkish Lira, cannot afford to use the Dollar for oil anymore and hence why India and Turkey have been buying oil from Iran. Japan, South Korea and European nations also do so, however the Asian nations mentioned and some European nations stopped due to US pressure.
Iran is key to Russia and China for their Dollar plan. Russia is also getting close with Saudi Arabia. Putin and future King, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, becoming quite the pals. I have speculated that when he becomes King, he could very well drop the US Dollar for oil and Russia will protect the Kingdom from American retaliation.
Why? Well as the Dollar gets stronger, Iranian oil looks more attractive. This means the Saudi’s are losing market share to the Iranians. It would be in their best interest to also drop the Dollar for oil. What is the big factor is the fact the Saudi’s know they are in a prime position right now. The Saudi’s can tell the Americans to deal with the Iranians otherwise they will have to drop the Dollar and accept the Russian and Chinese conditions.
For the US, this is a big part of their future decisions. The US has to maintain US Dollar demand, and the best way is by using the military. The US military is now technically the armed branch of the Federal Reserve.
We have seen in the past nations like Iraq and Libya threatening and implementing plans to drop the US Dollar for oil…look what happened to them.
Russia and China are in the way right now…they will not allow Iran to be destabilized or taken out.
The US really has two options: war and/or some sort of capital controls which would see the Eastern sphere literally break off and develop into their own block as many nations look to Moscow and Beijing given the actions of the west. I have written about the war card extensively. It really is a seriously discussed option and US generals are speaking about how they must act within two years.
Quite the start to 2020 but we have not seen anything yet in terms of geopolitics and monetary policy.
It came out that President Trump ordered a hit on Iranian General of the QUDS force, and Iran’s top military commander, Qasem Soleimani. Markets fell on the news but recovered to end the week close to where they opened, making up for the down move.
We saw the safe haven assets go up : Swiss Franc and the Japanese Yen as well as Oil.
Let us begin with the obvious: Oil.
Readers of this blog and my work know that when Oil turned down in 2014, governments forced banks to provide loans to these oil companies to ensure they do not LAY OFF any workers. These oil companies are essentially zombie companies. Oil cannot be allowed to fall because it affects the banks. Oil will be propped up and will continue to be managed higher because it means energy and the financial sectors do well…which make up a large component in the US stock markets.
We expect markets to still go up. The sell off we saw is likely people wanting to close positions for this weekend due to the uncertainty, but this will likely be short lived. Do not forget that for a money manager, there is still nowhere to go for yield except the stock markets. This will still force money into stocks. Ironically, many funds have been going into energy because it looks attractive compared to everything else…even though oil fundamentals are not the greatest. This is a chase for yield.
Let us not forget about Saudi Aramco as well. The Saudi’s now have even more incentive for higher oil prices.
Now onto how we have predicted a future conflict.
That post linked below describes the situation in more detail, however I will summarize the major points pertaining to Iran here.
Simply this has to do with the US Dollar, and how Russia and China are attacking US Dollar Demand. As long as the Dollar remains the world reserve currency, the Americans can print as much money as they want and not worry about their debts and deficits…a situation the French called “exorbitant privilege”. Russia and China are attacking Dollar demand and are positioning themselves (even instigating) a situation where the Dollar gets stronger and nations choose to NOT use the Dollar for trade due to this strength.
My readers know my take on the US Dollar. As the Dollar goes higher, the worlds problems exacerbate. The Dollar is very well what is motivating the Fed to cut rates and other extreme measures to attempt to weaken the Dollar…but it will not work.
Iran is key to Russia and China because Iran does NOT take US Dollars for their oil. Nations which have seen their currencies decimated already by US Dollar strength, like the Indian Rupee and the Turkish Lira, cannot afford to use the Dollar for oil anymore and hence why India and Turkey have been buying oil from Iran. Japan, South Korea and European nations also do so, however the Asian nations mentioned and some European nations stopped due to US pressure.
Iran is key to Russia and China for their Dollar plan. Russia is also getting close with Saudi Arabia. Putin and future King, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, becoming quite the pals. I have speculated that when he becomes King, he could very well drop the US Dollar for oil and Russia will protect the Kingdom from American retaliation.
Why? Well as the Dollar gets stronger, Iranian oil looks more attractive. This means the Saudi’s are losing market share to the Iranians. It would be in their best interest to also drop the Dollar for oil. What is the big factor is the fact the Saudi’s know they are in a prime position right now. The Saudi’s can tell the Americans to deal with the Iranians otherwise they will have to drop the Dollar and accept the Russian and Chinese conditions.
For the US, this is a big part of their future decisions. The US has to maintain US Dollar demand, and the best way is by using the military. The US military is now technically the armed branch of the Federal Reserve.
We have seen in the past nations like Iraq and Libya threatening and implementing plans to drop the US Dollar for oil…look what happened to them.
Russia and China are in the way right now…they will not allow Iran to be destabilized or taken out.
The US really has two options: war and/or some sort of capital controls which would see the Eastern sphere literally break off and develop into their own block as many nations look to Moscow and Beijing given the actions of the west. I have written about the war card extensively. It really is a seriously discussed option and US generals are speaking about how they must act within two years.
Quite the start to 2020 but we have not seen anything yet in terms of geopolitics and monetary policy.
