The Shit to Know Thursdays

What’s up man, 

You know the drill, below is some shit you should know.

Market Indices & Commodities

Commodities
Iran’s Oil Exports Climb To Highest Level In 6 Years

Data has shown that Iran’s crude oil exports hit the highest level in 6 years, in Q1 of this year. The daily average of the period was 1.56m barrels exported, almost all of which was sent to China. This earned Tehran about $35b.

Did you think Biden had put sanctions in place on Iranian oil exports? Well, he did. So how the fuck are oil exports so high for Iran? Put simply, the Iranians have finessed the sanctions imposed by the US, and realistically, the Chinese government don’t give a fuck about the sanctions either.

More sanctions are on the way given Iran’s recent actions.

However, given that the current sanctions have done absolutely fuck all, imposing more sanctions on Iranian oil seems to make no sense. Don’t worry though, the Biden administration will probably find something equally retarded to sanction though.

Markets  
SAAB CEO Says Rising War Risk Drives Defense Spending

The CEO of Saab, Micael (yes, that’s how you spell it)Johansson spoke with Bloomberg TV about how uncertainty in Eastern Europe and the Middle East will drive defense spending higher.

This is especially true in Europe, where military spending is at all-time lows. Many European countries have already pledged to raise military spending. Johansson also stated that Europe must boost its military-industrial complex manufacturing capabilities in order to reduce its reliance on weapon imports from outside the EU.

An increase in military spending is definitely not a bad thing, as we seem to be creeping closer and closer to WW3 by the day. Last year the US spent a whopping $820.3b on the military though. Could all this money be better spent elsewhere?

Israel
Google Fires 28 Employees Who Protested Dealings With Israel

On Wednesday, Google fired 28 employees who, on Tuesday, took part in sit-in protests against the company’s provision of AI and cloud services to Israel.

The Israelis are using Google’s Project Nimbus, a $1.2b cloud and AI contract with Israel as well as Google Photos to identify suspected Hamas in Gaza.

No Tech for Apartheid, the group which called for the ‘day of action’ at Google claims Google’s tech is being used for ‘the arrest, imprisonment and torture of thousands of Palestinians’.

The sit-in occurred in the CEO of Google Cloud’s office. 9 of the employees were also arrested for trespassing (fucking betas). Whoever thought this would actually do something is clearly a bit thick.

Politics
Biden’s ‘Punishing’ Iran Sanctions Ineffective

I talked about how ineffective US oil sanctions have been on Iran. But don’t worry. Biden put more sanctions on Iran, I wonder how effect they are? (They’re not at all effective.)

Biden and his administration’s new sanctions on Iran target the country’s drone, steel and automotive industries. These are considered ‘punishments’ after the Iranian attack on Israel on Saturday night.

The real question here though is this: how will Israel respond? All this would mean nothing, if a state of war were to exist between the Iran and Israel.

These sanctions are an attempt by the US to destabilize Iran’s military programs. However, at the same time, US officials have reportedly been warning Israel that it should not pursue a military strike against Iran.

What does this all mean? Probably not much will change for Iran due to these sanctions. They (and quite frankly everyone else) is far more interested in how Israel will respond to the attack in the long term.

Crypto
Bitcoin Halving Is Coming Up

The bitcoin halving event is scheduled for tomorrow, April 19 2024. This event occurs every 4 years and will reduce the block subsidy for bitcoin miners from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. This means that, essentially overnight, the amount of bitcoin miners can mine, halves.

This of course would spread ideas of scarcity for bitcoin, and using simple supply and demand, increased scarcity should mean that the demand for bitcoin will also rise, thus increasing its price following the halving.

So, will the price rise after the halving? Hard to say. Although a new all-time high was hit earlier this year, bitcoin is down 8% this month, and has clearly lost a bit of confidence.

However, bitcoin halvings have historically led to the price of bitcoin fucking skyrocketing. I’d say it’s safe to say this will happen again after the upcoming halving. But remember, I’m just a gambler, not a financial adviser.

Legal
European Commission To Sue Germany

On Wednesday, unnamed Reuters sources stated that the European Commission is preparing to sue Germany over its gas tariffs.

In the next few days, the European Commission is expected to file its infringement procedure lawsuit against the German tariff. This tariff is supposedly creating higher gas prices in some EU countries.

Germany’s tariff on purchases of stored gas is quite a new thing which developed after Russia invaded Ukraine when the EU banned imports of piped Russian gas.

Germany is accused of using its neighbours for its own financial gain. They do this by implementing tariffs on stored gas purchases and through this potentially shifting the financial burden onto its neighbours.

Listen. I don’t really get it either, but I’m a bit confused as to how the biggest European economy is being sued, by a European organisation which Germany will hold a major part in.

Thank you 
That’s all Folks

Nearly FMC, let’s fucking go.