U.S. and World News
- On Monday evening, Iran carried out its retaliatory response to last week’s assassination of their military leader in the form of a missile attack on a military base in Iraq housing U.S. troops. The White House said that Iran launched 16 ballistic missiles at the facility and that no U.S. troops were killed in the attack. President Trump stated that Iran appears to be standing down and that the United States “will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime” in response to Iranian aggression. This morning, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin announced new sanctions on Iran that include penalties on some senior leaders. The new sanctions will target Iran’s steel, construction, manufacturing, textiles, and mining industries and will aim to prevent other nations from trading with the country. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stated that the strikes concluded Iran’s response to the killing of Soleimani.
Australia is urging approximately 250,000 people to evacuate as a result of the bushfires that have already burned 25.5 million acres and killed 27 people. The bushfires in Australia have burnt more land than this years’ fires in Brazil, California, and Indonesia combined. Westpac estimated that the total losses related to the bushfires would total about $3.44 billion and would result in a 0.2%-0.5% negative impact on GDP. During the past 10 days, about 2,000 homes have been destroyed in New South Wales and firefighters from the United States and Canada have traveled to Australia to help battle the fires.
Markets
- Markets extended the rally this week. The S&P 500 gained 0.98% and closed at 3,265. The Dow Jones rose 0.67% and closed at 28,824. Year-to-date, the S&P 500 is up 1.13% and the Dow Jones is up 1.05%.
- Yields rose slightly this week. The 5 year and 10 year U.S. Treasury Notes are yielding 1.63% and 1.82%, respectively.
- The spot price of WTI Crude plummeted this week on easing fears of Iran conflict. Prices dropped 6.17% and closed at $59.16 per barrel. Year-to-date, oil prices are down 3.11%.
- The spot price of Gold rose by 0.56% and closed at $1,560.86 per ounce. Year-to-date, the price of gold is up 2.87%.
Economic Data
- Initial jobless claims fell by 9,000 to 214,000 and the four-week moving average fell by 10,000 to 224,000. Claims fell by 3,000 in Illinois and by 2,000 in Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, and Michigan.
- The ISM non-manufacturing index rose 1.1 points to 55.0 versus expectations for a reading of 54.5
- Factory orders fell 0.7% versus expectations for a decline of 0.8%
- Private sector employment in the ADP rose by 202,000 versus expectations for an increase of 160,000
- Nonfarm payrolls rose 145,000 in December versus expectations for an increase of 160,000
- The unemployment rate remained at 3.5%, in-line with expectations
- Average hourly earnings rose by 0.1% versus expectations for an increase of 0.3% and the year-over-year rate came in at 2.9%
Fact of the Week
- Between 7/01/18 and 7/01/19, the Census Bureau estimated that the US population grew from 326.688 million to 328.240 million, an increase of just +0.48%, i.e., less than 1/2 of 1% growth rate between 2018-2019. That’s the lowest year-over-year growth rate in the United States since 1918 or 101 years earlier (source: Census Bureau)
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The leader of Iran’s elite Quds military force, Qassem Soleimani was killed Thursday night near Baghdad International Airport in an airstrike ordered by President Trump. Soleimani was one of the most powerful Islamic Republic figures and has been blamed for the deaths of hundreds of Americans, including the attack on December 27th that killed an American defense contractor. The Pentagon stated that Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region. Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif stated that the attack was “extremely dangerous and a foolish escalation” and Iran’s Defense Minister Amir Hatami has vowed to take “crushing revenge” for Soleimani’s assassination. The attack has consequently angered Iraq as well, a United States ally, as they were not warned of the attack against Iran on their soil. The Quds Force was labeled a foreign terrorist organization in April of 2019 when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that “With this designation, we are sending a clear signal, a clear message to Iran’s leaders, including Qassem Soleimani and his band of thugs, that the United States is bringing all pressure to bear to stop the regime’s outlaw behavior.” Before the airstrike, Iranian protestors attacked the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to protest a retaliatory U.S. attack on Sunday that killed two-dozen members of an Iranian backed group.
Sporting a comfortable lead in the poll ahead of the opposition Labour Party, Boris Johnson laid out his Tory agenda ahead of the December 12th In it he pledges to bring back his Brexit Deal to parliament before Christmas and ruled out any further delays. Johnson has also promised no new taxes, contrary to his opponent Jeremy Corbyn who has proposed additional taxes to fund a major expansion of the U.K.
On Monday, a 22-year-old Hong Kong student died after falling from a ledge of a car park during a police mission to clear an area during protests, sparking a new round of outrage against Beijing police. Reports say that the 22-year-old was trying to escape tear gas, however the exact reason for his fall are unclear. Additionally, a pro-Beijing lawmaker was stabbed in the street this week by someone impersonating a supporter. As of right now, police say that they were using tear gas to clear an area of protesters and deny any wrongdoing, but the death is creating outrage and a call for investigation by students at the city’s University of Science and Technology. Protests have become increasingly violent as Hong Kong continues to fight for Democracy with Chinese police, even after the controversial extradition bill was withdrawn in September.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set for a big day tomorrow as parliament is set to vote on a Brexit deal that the Prime Minister agreed on with the European Union on Thursday. Boris Johnson stated that he is “very confident” that the House of Commons will support the deal, which is widely expected to be a historically close vote and will determine whether there will be a deal or not before the October 31st deadline. The Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) stated that they are unable to support the deal as it stands, casting doubts over the passage of the deal tomorrow. If the MP’s reject the deal tomorrow, it is still possible that a vote on a “no-deal Brexit” could pass, but that is unlikely given historical votes on the this motion. The likely outcome if the Brexit deal is voted down tomorrow is that the United Kingdom will ask the European Union for another extension.
Ahead of scheduled trade negotiations today with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, the Trump administration has added 28 Chinese entities to an export blacklist as a consequence of Beijing’s repression of Muslim minorities. The Trump administration stated that this move is completely unrelated to trade negotiations and it will prevent the blacklisted companies from buying American components without government approval. China quickly responded by saying it would take countermeasures, “urging the U.S. side to immediately correct its mistake.” and announced a plan to restrict visas for U.S. nationals with ties to anti-China groups. The Chinese delegation arrived in Washington yesterday where negotiations began and President Trump announced that talks went “very well”. After the meeting at the White House, President Trump told the press that the U.S. and China have “come to a substantial phase 1 deal”. In exchange for the cancelation of the United States planned increase in tariffs on Chinese goods on October 15th, China has agreed to increase purchases of U.S. agriculture goods from $8 billion to $40-$50 billion and has agreed to be more transparent with regard to their currency.
Weekend drone strikes on the heart of the Saudi oil industry forced the kingdom to shut down half its crude production, amounting to a loss of 5.7M barrels a day, or roughly 5% of the world’s daily production of crude oil. Yemen’s Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels claimed credit for the attack, saying they sent 10 drones to strike at important Aramco facilities, including the world’s largest oil processing plant and a major oil field. The disruption sent WTI futures as much as 15.5% higher overnight to $63.34, the biggest intraday percentage gain since June 22, 1998, while President Trump authorized a release of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as necessary. For the global oil market, the 5.7M bpd Saudi halt is the single worst sudden disruption ever, surpassing the loss following the Invasion of Kuwait and Iranian Revolution.
Early this morning, China announced its plan to impose retaliatory tariffs on $75 billion of American goods including soybeans, automobiles, and oil as a response to the Trump administrations planned additional tariffs on Chinese imports. The new retaliatory tariffs are scheduled to take effect on September 1st and December 15th, the same schedule as the United States 10% tariff on $300 billion of Chinese goods goes into effect. This new set of retaliatory tariffs targets U.S. farms and factories, bringing the total tariff on U.S. automobile exports to 50%. The announcement comes as the G7 summit takes place in France and the Federal Reserve meeting in Jackson Hole Wyoming, two critical meetings where the trade war with China will be discussed.
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