Saudi Arabia Taking Steps To Slow Iran's Oil Exports; Tesla Recalling Its Model X SUVs -- Unsafe At Any Speed -- April 11, 2016

Financial Times is reporting:

Saudi Arabia has taken steps to slow Iran’s efforts at increasing oil exports, banning vessels that transport Iranian crude from entering their waters, according to traders and shipbrokers. 

Iran already faces insurance, financing and legal obstacles despite the lifting of sanctions linked to its oil industry in January.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting:

Tesla Motors Inc. is recalling 2,700 Model X sport-utility vehicles to repair the third-row seats, which could fold forward and become unlatched in an accident.

Tesla found the problem in its internal testing before the start of delivery of vehicles to Europe, and it has had no reports in the public or in accidents.

The recall comes at a crucial time for Tesla as it tries to ramp up production of the vehicle. Tesla has said production of the SUV had reached 750 vehicles a week at the end of March, after struggling with parts supply shortages earlier in the year. 

As a reminder, Tesla's other model, the Model S, was recognized as the best car of 2015, by Consumer Reports.

Meanwhile, Tesla is ramping up production to meet overwhelming demand for Model 3:

The enormous interest in a car that won’t ship for at least 18 months, however, presents a difficult challenge for the Palo Alto, CA, auto maker. Mr. Musk has just 20 months to ramp up production amid continuing quarterly losses and hefty cash outflows. 

Mr. Musk [recently] tweeted that deposits for 180,000 of the vehicles had been amassed in 24 hours since its release. He said the Model 3 generated a $7.5 billion backlog in a day, calculating the average selling price at $42,000.

Yahoo!Finance says Tesla will reports 1Q16 earnings on May 4, 2016; analysts' consensus is a 59 cent/share loss.

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The Politics Page

Reading the tea leaves after this week-end's political news suggests that the establishment has trumped Trump. Events this past weekend suggest that the establishment has pretty much endsed Trump's hope for the GOP nomination. 
According to Yahoo!Finance, Tesla has

• $1 billion in cash,
• trailing twelve months, has a negative cash flow of one-half billion dollars; and,
• a debt of $3 billion 

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