{"id":150349,"date":"2019-06-26T10:20:57","date_gmt":"2019-06-26T14:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.countingpips.com\/?p=150349"},"modified":"2019-06-26T09:46:40","modified_gmt":"2019-06-26T13:46:40","slug":"equities-down-oil-up-as-iran-tensions-flare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/2019\/06\/equities-down-oil-up-as-iran-tensions-flare\/","title":{"rendered":"Equities Down & Oil Up As Iran Tensions Flare"},"content":{"rendered":"
June 26, 2019<\/div>
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By <\/strong>Orbex<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Risk assets have traded lower across the week so far as traders respond to the increasing tensions between the US and Iran.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Monday, president Trump announced a fresh wave of\u00a0\u201c<\/strong>hard-hitting\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0sanctions. This time, their\u00a0exclusive aim is to negatively\u00a0impact Iran\u2019s supreme leader Ali Khamenei.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The sanctions are designed to restrict the supreme leader, his office, as well as his closest associates, from accessing key capital resources.<\/p>\n

Trump Announces Fresh Sanctions<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Commenting on the new sanctions,\u00a0President Trump said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThese measures represent a strong and proportionate response to Iran\u2019s increasingly provocative actions\u2026 We do not seek conflict with Iran or any other country\u2026 I can only tell you we cannot ever let Iran have a nuclear weapon.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Senior Iranian Figures Targeted<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A statement released by the US Treasury explained that\u00a0the new sanctions target eight senior naval commanders. They also target key aerospace and ground force personnel.<\/strong>\u00a0The statement said:<\/p>

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\u201cThese commanders sit atop a bureaucracy that supervises the IRGC\u2019s malicious regional activities, including its provocative ballistic missile program, harassment, and sabotage of commercial vessels in international waters, and its destabilizing presence in Syria.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The initial reaction from Iran has been one of outrage.\u00a0Majid Takht-Ravanchi, the Iranian ambassador to the UN\u00a0<\/strong>said:<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one in clear mind can have a dialogue with somebody who is threatening you with sanctions. As long as that is still there, there is no way we can have a dialogue.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Iranian President Insults Trump<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Yesterday, tensions increased further as\u00a0Iranian president Hassan Rouhani claimed that Trump suffered a \u201cmental disorder.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

He described the sanctions as \u201coutrageous and idiotic\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0given that the supreme leader, who is in his 80s, has no overseas assets nor intentions to travel to the US.<\/p>\n

However,\u00a0US secretary of state Mike Pompeo told reporters:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe supreme leader\u2019s office has enriched itself at the expense of the Iranian people\u2026 It sits atop a vast network of tyranny and corruption that deprives the Iranian people of the freedom and opportunity they deserve.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Military Action Still A Threat<\/strong><\/h2>\n

These sanctions come in the aftermath of\u00a0Trump calling back an airstrike that he had ordered last week.<\/strong>However,\u00a0the prospect of military action in the future is still very real<\/strong>\u00a0with Trump saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of restraint has been shown by us, and that doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re going to show it in the future,\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Market Reaction<\/strong><\/h2>\n

SPX500<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"SPX500\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Equities prices have started to come off a little this week. Following an earlier surge to fresh all-time highs in the SPX500 last week, fuelled by a dovish FOMC meeting, we\u2019ve seen price dipping back below the prior 2958.68 level high. With the US economy already under the strain of the ongoing trade war with China, the prospect of a military conflict is alarming for markets. And, for now, it has taken focus off the likelihood of further Fed easing which had been supporting price earlier.<\/p>\n

Below here, the next big support level is the broken 2018 high of 2877.30. If held, it should keep focus on a continued push higher. Below there, the next major structural support is back down at the 2816.15 level, which would represent a disappointing reversal for bulls.<\/p>\n

USOIL<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"USOIL\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Crude prices have been supported as a result of the increase in tensions. Conflict in the Middle East has typically kept oil well bid on expectations of supply disruptions and crude is now back above the 58.04 level. The next topside level to watch is the 60.12 zone where we have previous structure, offering resistance, as well as the bearish trend line from 2019 highs. A break back above this zone would put focus on a move back up to 63.83 next.<\/p>\n

By <\/strong>Orbex<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Orbex Risk assets have traded lower across the week so far as traders respond to the increasing tensions between the US and Iran. On Monday, president Trump announced a fresh wave of\u00a0\u201chard-hitting\u201d\u00a0sanctions. This time, their\u00a0exclusive aim is to negatively\u00a0impact Iran\u2019s supreme leader Ali Khamenei. The sanctions are designed to restrict the supreme leader, his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","no-post-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150349"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":150355,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150349\/revisions\/150355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}