Asian Stocks Down, Europe Berates Iran on Nuclear Deal
Chinese stocks (NYSEARCA:ASHR) are down this morning on news that President Trump didn’t actually promise Chinese President Xi Jinping a six-month hiatus on new tariffs, as widely reported in the media yesterday. So 25% tariffs on $300 billion Chinese goods coming into the US could come into effect at any time, possibly even right after the Trump/Xi talks end following the G20 meeting this weekend. Since signs are pointing to a global economic slowdown gathering momentum, this would be the first time since the 1930’s that significant tariffs would be instituted on the cusp of an economic recession.
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On the Iranian front, Europe wants Iran to keep to its part of the nuclear deal, even though Iran isn’t getting anything it wants out of the nuclear deal, which is a lack of sanctions. Europe is forced to comply with these sanctions or risk being kicked off of the SWIFT international banking system, so there isn’t much that Iran is getting out of sticking to the old accords. Nevertheless, European officials urged Iran to do just that. “We will repeat to the Iranians that nuclear issues are not negotiable. We want them to stay in the accord, but we won’t accept them messing us around,” a senior European diplomat said. As to what will be done if Iran is “messing us around”, no word on that.
Democrats Meet for Second Debate, Talk About Trump, Love
Democratic party candidates gathered for a second debate last night, where they discussed, among other things, how to beat Donald Trump. One original idea came from Marianne Williamson, a candidate who has never before held any public office, but decided to channel Jackie DeShannon’s 1965 hit, “What the World Needs Now Is Love” maybe in an appeal to Baby Boomers. Williamson promised to “meet [Trump] on that field [of politics]” and “harness love for political purposes” emphasizing that “love will win”. Cheers erupted in the crowd on the prospect of victorious political love. Other highlights included front runner and former Vice President Joe Biden being excoriated for preventing California Senator Kamala Harris from being bused to school as a kid, and promising that if elected president, he would focus on, of all things, defeating Donald Trump. If Biden picks Williamson as his running mate, there might just be enough love to accomplish that, as long as Biden offers Harris a seat on the bus on the way to dropping her off at the Senate.
New Age Beverages Gets Whipsawed In Short/Long Debate
New Age Beverages (NASDAQ:NBEV) is in the spotlight in the cannabis sector this week, as conflicting reports have been released regarding the company. Grizzly Research reports that New Age may have been duped into buying a dying firm called Morinda, which it paid $75 million for in cash back in December, plus $10M in stock. Morinda is a multi-level marketing company in China, and Grizzly accuses it of inflating its financials with Morinda reporting higher figures that those it logged with Chinese regulators.
However, New Age maintains that the report is inaccurate, but has yet to release a detailed rebuttal. New Age logged a loss of $1.6 million last quarter, posting record revenues of $58 million, and its stock remains on the low end of a trading range established last September. Shares remain in a long term uptrend since 2016.
Putin Bashes Liberals While Russian Stocks Threaten to Break Out
“[Liberals] cannot simply dictate anything to anyone just like they have been attempting to do over the recent decades,” Russian President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying during a meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May. “The liberal idea has become obsolete. It has come into conflict with the interests of the overwhelming majority of the population.” Also, the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter on British soil with a nerve agent shouldn’t be considered a big deal.
On the financial front in Russia, Russian stocks (NYSEARCA:ERUS) are threatening to break out to the upside, now at the highest levels since 2014, with the Ruble appearing to have been stabilized in a trading range ever since the oil collapse of that year that brought Russian stocks down in the first place. In signs that its economy is stabilizing, private sector credit loans are at record highs despite interest rates at 7.5%, and a bout of inflation appears to be under control, topping out at about 17% annual in 2015.
Bitcoin Crash 3.0 Up Ahead As Volatility Explodes
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) continues its epic earthquake, again, for the third time since 2013. Prices were as high as $13,756 on June 26 and fell to as low as $10,701 today, but are now back up to $11,863 at time of writing, but could be literally anywhere by the time you read this. Total market cap for all cryptocurrencies is down $50 billion since June 26 and remains 60% below all time highs set in December 2017, so we are nowhere near resuming a bull market, at least in price, if not in time. What the current volatility shows, once again, is that cryptocurrency values in dollar terms are not dependent on any sort of current events. MarketWatch columnist Mark Hulbert believes that there is an 80% chance that Bitcoin prices will crash. He bases this prediction on the rate of its recent rise, which has been parabolic. He doesn’t give a bottom call to his predictions, which are basically taken from a different paper, though the most recent Bitcoin bottom came in at around $3,200 depending on the exchange you’re using to gauge price.