Archive - Jan 18, 2016

Remember when oil was in the green (because Iran was "priced in") and stocks were in the green (because China was "fixed") this morning? Well, that's over. The dip-buying algo's reflex has run the stops, filled the gaps to unchanged and now stocks and crude are turning lower once again.

After years of U.S. sanctions, Iran is now free to export as much of its oil as it wants after the International Atomic Energy Agency said the country had curbed its ability to develop a nuclear weapon leads to lifting of international sanctions. And while the end of sanctions also opens the door to foreign investors into country’s oil sector, most importantly it allows the country to flood the world with its oil. As a result the first thing the Iran oil ministry did today was to issue a notification order to boost oil production by 500k b/d.Below, courtesy of Bloomberg, is a summary of the world's, and Wall Street's reactions, to the lifting of the Iran oil embargo.

With the US closed today for Martin Luther King Holiday, global risk tone has once again been set entirely by oil, which opened sharply lower at fresh 12 year lows on fears of an Iran oil glut, but has steadily rebounded on the latest OPEC comments, and at last check both WTI and Brent were unchanged trading in the low $29's on muted volume. With Asian markets mixed, European shares swung between gains and losses, while the yen weakened as China stepped up efforts to curb foreign speculation against its currency. Crude oil rose from a 12-year low after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries forecast a decline in supplies from rival producers.

With Hong Kong Dollar spot little changed (but pressing the weaker end of its peg band) and 12-month forwards suggesting notable weakness/depegging to come, it appears that the Hong Kong interbank lending debacle is far from over. While overnight money appears stable, 1-week Yuan HIBOR is up 370bps at 11.90%, and 1-month and 3-Month HKD HIBOR just snapped higher ( to Jan 2013 highs and July 2010 highs respectively). It appears comments from Hong Kong Monetray Authority's Norman Chan that it's just a matter of time before outflow of funds lead to the local currency hitting the low end of the peg sparked heavy medium-term demand for liquidity. Offshore Yuan is crepping back weaker (as is crude) after an early bounce but NKY ended below 17,000 - for the first time since September.