They were amused by my optimism, but they didn't really buy it. They were not interested in how to avoid a calamity; they're convinced we are too far gone. For all their wealth and power, they don't believe they can affect the future. They are simply accepting the darkest of all scenarios and then bringing whatever money and technology they can employ to insulate themselves -- especially if they can't get a seat on the rocket to Mars.

...

Carter Page met with Rosneft in December to assist with the deal, and he's on the record admitting it but claims he didn't meet Igor Sechin," said Dworkin incredulously... mighty brokerage fee to one of the Trump campaign advisors, Moscow-based investment banker Carter Page, is highlighted in the former MI-6 operative's report.

Theoretically, the former Merrill Lynch investment banker, Page, may have only been the "bag man" or go-between and someone else is the recipient of the cash premium in the dossier. Five hundred million dollars is a lot of money, and conceivably, many members of the Trump Organization, or family, could be involved in a deal of that scope.

...

Nineteen and a half percent of Rosneft's stock was agreed to be transferred on December 7th, before the board was informed of the transaction's terms only after it took place.

The "matryoshka" (named after the famous nesting dolls) or complex deal structure is most likely designed to avoid American sanctions imposed over the Ukraine invasion against Rosneft, its CEO Igor Sechin, and its parent company Gazprom.

...

"There was a lot of complacency in the market recently, so this is a brutal wake-up call for investors who had forgotten about political risks in Europe and especially in Italy... The risk is that the populist parties gain ground in the next Italian election, which would be really bad news for the euro zone. Clearly, investors are moving to the sidelines for now."

That's if American energy policy follows the track predicted by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which expects 1 million natural gas wells will be producing gas in the U.S. in 2050, up from roughly 100,000 today.

...

"Whereas the worst-case scenario brought us to 1.5 degrees Centigrade in 2040," he adds, "we're almost there today." ... It's an alarming message -- even though the shale rush has stumbled somewhat as gas prices collapsed and many drillers went bankrupt, the cumulative impact of American fracking appears to have set the entire world on a collision course with climate change's most extreme effects.

...

The central bank data, which cover payments of sovereign debt only and exclude obligations by PDVSA and other state entities, show that just $83m was paid in October, compared with sovereign obligations amounting to $465m, according to data from Caracas Capital.Payments in November fell to $28m, compared with obligations of $183m, and in December declined to $23m, compared with obligations of $242m.

...

"They have been doing it [defaulting] strategically to sow confusion. They have said they have begun the process of paying things they clearly did not pay, and blamed it all on sanctions."The US has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Venezuelan individuals and institutions. Adding to pressures last August, it also banned any involvement in new bonds or shares issued by the government or PDVSA. Last month it prohibited involvement in the country's proposed digital currency, the petro, as well

The BBC pointed out that about 70 German cities exceeded nitrogen oxide limits set by the European Union last year. "The likelihood now is that the German government will rush to introduce some sort of national policy, to ensure at least some level of consistency across the country," the news organization opined.

The ruling affects diesels sold through 2009, though Car and Driver notes that restrictions on oil-burning vehicles sold up until 2014 could follow. If that happens, most of the more than 15 million diesel vehicles registered in Germany would be effected, the magazine reports. About one third of all vehicles in Western Europe's most populous nation are diesel.

But, if it sinks into farce, and MbS becomes regarded in the U.S. as a maverick, rather than a Machiavelli, the (slighted) "system" will exact its revenge: presidential judgments will stand devalued -- and ever more in need of justification and "minding."

MbS (and Kushner) may have hurt President Trump in a much wider way therefore: the failed bet on the untried MbS may leach into other spheres -- such as, in consequence, U.S. allies' openly questioning the soundness of Trump's North Korea judgments. In short, the U.S. President's credibility will bear the consequences for his falling for MbS' spin.

In some cases the government is seeking to appropriate as much as 70 per cent of suspects' wealth, two of the people said, in a bid to channel hundreds of billions of dollars into depleted state coffers.

The arrangements, which have already seen some assets and funds handed over to the state, provide an insight into the strategy behind Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's dramatic corruption purge.

...

Regular Saudis, who've seen their benefits cut and some of their jobs taken away, support MbS's decision. "Why should the poor take all the pain of austerity," said one Saudi academic. "The rich need to pay their way too."

In Saudi Arabia, they are about to do just that.

...

Very little was announced and nothing was resolved, according to attendees who said they left just as confused about the government's intentions as they were going in. Vice President Tareck El Aissami was the only official to speak, and devoted most of his prepared remarks to railing against Donald Trump and global financiers who he said have conspired to keep the country from making debt payments on time. He pledged the nation would continue to honor its obligations and work with bondholders to find new ways to get them their money, but offered no concrete proposals for restructuring.

President Nicolas Maduro had summoned holders of some $60 billion of bonds issued by the government and state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA to begin a renegotiation as the nation's cash crunch worsens, sanctions make it difficult to transfer money and delayed payments pile up.

...

The nation, home to the world's largest oil reserves, owed investors about $200 million and failed to make those payments by the end of a 30-day grace period, S&P said in the statement in which it lowered the country's rating to SD. Plagued with payment delays and running low on cash -- and with most of its debt trading near 30 cents on the dollar -- it's the first time in recent years the government has exceeded the buffer period on its bonds.

...

Investors in Venezuela's $5 billion of bonds maturing in 2019 and 2024 can organize to demand that the nation immediately pay back all they're owed, and down the line, holders of the nation's other debt, which have cross-default provisions, could choose to do the same... they risk setting off what could be the start of one of the messiest debt restructurings ever. S&P said there was a 50 percent chance Venezuela will default again within the next three months.

Many of the deals weren't broken out into separate valuations, while a large number were in the form of non-binding memoranda of understanding or involved agreements with existing Chinese partners.

Boeing Co.'s $37 billion aircraft order consists mostly of previously agreed deals, according to officials with knowledge of the matter. An agreement involving Cheniere Energy Inc. was presented at the signing ceremony as worth $11 billion, though neither company involved announced the value. Other pacts are stretched over lengthy periods, such as a 20-year shale gas and chemical project in West Virginia.

Still, the wave of deals signals the potential for an easing of tensions between the two countries, in addition to an increase in trade for products ranging from helicopters to beef...

Meanwhile, however, the 32-year-old MBS has been pursuing a dangerously impulsive and aggressive regional policy, which has included a heightening of tensions with Iran, a catastrophic war on Yemen, and a blockade of ostensible ally Qatar. Those regional policies have been disasters for the millions who have suffered the consequences, including the starving people of Yemen, as well as for Saudi Arabia, but MBS has dug in harder and harder. And his supporters in Washington have not blinked.

Given these orders have a lead time of 2 months, it is likely that Tesla will be, or already has been, saddled with at least a quarters worth of inventory. One-quarter inventory could mean $650M in cash (in part financed with ABL) that needs to be parked in parts inventory ($50M X 13 weeks).

Going forward, for every week of delay in Model 3 ramping, Tesla will be burning cash/ABL at a rate of $30M per week.

...

As the capital raise comes into focus, and with Model 3 story in disarray, we expect that the next capital raise will be a difficult one for Tesla. As funds and savvy investors realize this eventuality, we expect that there will be an exodus from the stock.

In our opinion, there is a steep fall ahead for Tesla stock.

The move toward creating a so-called "petro-yuan" will be a "huge story," Levinson, the founder and chief investment officer of Singapore-based Graticule, said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Tuesday.

Besides serving as a hedging tool for Chinese companies, the contract will aid a broader government agenda of increasing the use of the yuan in trade settlement, Levinson said. Chinese oil companies will probably be anchor investors in Saudi Arabia's initial public offering of its state oil company, Saudi Aramco, he said.