Russia left OPEC+ Saturday. The goal: to kill U.S. shale oil production.
Already rattled U.S. markets are falling faster than a lead balloon in pre-market trading. Added to an inept Trump administration response to COVID-19 coronavirus and a new oil war, millions of American’s 401k’s and pension plans will suffer.
Trump’s turned a blind eye to Russian election meddling and sucked up to Putin. What did he get for all that sucking up?
Alexander Novak told his Saudi Arabian counterpart Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman that Russia was unwilling to cut oil production further. The Kremlin had decided that propping up prices as the coronavirus ravaged energy demand would be a gift to the U.S. shale industry. The frackers had added millions of barrels of oil to the global market while Russian companies kept wells idle. Now it was time to squeeze the Americans.
www.worldoil.com/...
In retaliation for Russia’s move, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman slashed oil prices by a record amount and ordered an increase in production to further reduce oil prices to punish Russia, with oil being Russia’s primary source of revenue.
That sent oil prices plummeting in a dive never seen before.
Added to coronavirus/COVID-19 fears, Dow Futures plummeted overnight last night, so low it automatically triggered a halt to trading and indicates a 1300 point drop when trading opens this morning.
Stock futures tumbled early Monday morning as investors braced for the economic fallout from the spreading coronavirus, while a shocking all-out oil price war added to the anxiety.
As of 5:10 a.m. ET Monday, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average indicated an opening drop of more than 1,300 points. The S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq-100 futures also indicated significant losses at Monday’s open.
www.cnbc.com/...
While we consumers will enjoy lower gas prices for a time, an oil war will affect millions in the U.S. who work in the energy sector and exacerbate the hit the economy is already taking due to coronavirus pandemic fears.
So the Trump-Putin bromance may be ending like an affair between a starry eyed lover (Trump) being dumped by their partner (Putin), who leaves afterwards without even smoking a cigarette and give the finger as he walks out the door.