“Until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought him beautiful in Heaven.” Arthur Miller
By mid day in NY, the Israeli attacks on Iran gave way to daily life. Stocks rallied steadily and crested just below unchanged. Oil prices eased and precious metals settled into a stable range. Various narratives wove an unusual story. One said Trump had no idea the attacks were launched until after the fact.
Supporting this, so the story goes, Trump was unhappy Netanyahu had muddied his chances for a negotiated peace. However, his tweets on TRUTH at 6 AM belied a US greenlight. And… Iran made provacative remarks to the contrary yesterday, so the whole idea of US neutrality before and during the attack sounded pretty fabulous… to me.
What did ring true was Israel’s focus on destruction of Iran’s infrastructure necessary to enrich uranium than destruction of its inventory. According to reports they were successful. There were no reports of attacks on Iranian oil assets or reports Iran is going to close the Straits of Hormuz, which would take oil to $100 in a heartbeat. Therefore that leverage remains on the table.
As the afternoon drew to a close, weekend uncertainty put pressure on stocks and added late bid to oil.
In the markets
Oil ripped wildly higher but rbob front spreads made new contract low. Dow stocks were well defended for an index that dropped 800 points. Gold, silver and bitcoin voted present. And… this latest episode of “Israel At War” looks just like the last one … in the vibe. Here we go!
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