April 22, 2019 -- The Big Story Today -- Trump Finally Says "No"

The big oil story today: Trump has finally said, "no." No more Iran sanction waivers. Countries seeking those waivers a year ago said they needed more time to find alternate sources to their Iran oil. I would assume Trump, as I do, feels a year is long enough for India, et al, to get their alternate sources in play.

The big oil story tomorrow: Iranian Navy closes Hormuz Strait. If Iran can't use it, no one will use it. (For newbies: an opinion only; and "tomorrow" is being used in the broader sense.)

California: largest provider of oil for California? Saudi Arabia. WTI sells for $65. OPEC basket (Saudi Arabia?) is trading for $70.81 this morning, up 1% overnight; up about 70 cents/bbl. By the end of the week, one should expect another 25 cent increase on price of gasoline in California. And, then, of course, down the road, an increase in the federal excise tax on gasoline at the pump, a most regressive tax.

India: it says it has "enough" alternatives to replace Iranian oil. Obviously India was "playing" Trump these past three months when it said it "needed" Iranian oil.

Iraq: needs Iranian natural gas for electricity. No decision has been yet made regarding Iranian natural gas to Iraq.

Japan: still needs Iranian oil; will talk to "Washington" about the waivers.

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Early market / pre-market trading:

• Dow: down about 60 points
• majors should be doing well 
• CVX: up 0.5%; not as much as one might expect;
• COP: a bit better than CVX, up 1.2%;
• XOM: up 0.83%;
• RDS-B: up 0.4%;
• OXY:  up almost 1%
• the minors?
• Anadarko: up 1.2%
• Apache: up over 2%
• NOG: up slightly; up 0.4%
• JAG: n/d

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Early Morning News

China, Saudi Arabia have same problem: India struggles to employ an exploding population. India's challenge: how to find well-paying jobs for hundreds of millions of young people.

Finally: the adult in the room is willing to talk about socialism.

Singing the blues? Samsung suddenly cancels two Galaxy Fold prelaunch events. Cancellations come as the company looks into why tech reviewers experienced malfunctions with the $2,000 phones. And folks complained about anomalies in $1,000 iPhones.

Big story mid-week? Tesla to report a quarterly loss. Musk Melon? He will change the narrative.

TSLA: down 1.6%, down over $4 in pre-market trading.

Mexico: US energy exports/imports.

She made it by herself: