Category: Investing

On Friday, earnings started to roll in and as I expected they beat market expectations. However, toward the end of the day the market began to slide. This indicated that the market has either priced in good earnings already OR their was going to be a Syria strike by the western world. When the “fear” trades began to rise, this indicated that a Syria attack was more likely. Big players who are ‘in the know’ began to position themselves for the weekend.
US and its allies launched an attack on the Assad regime in response to a suppose gas attack by Assad on Douma. All the articles that I have read have failed to answer the “why” question. This is part of journalism 101 to answer the following questions: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. It makes no sense that Assad would do this. First, Assad is winning the war. Second, he knows the international community would respond to such an attack. Of all the world leaders I follow, Putin is the most level headed. Here is his full statement:

On April 14, the United States, supported by its allies, launched an airstrike against military and civilian targets in the Syrian Arab Republic. An act of aggression against a sovereign state that is on the frontline in the fight against terrorism was committed without a mandate from the UN Security Council and in violation of the UN Charter and norms and principles of international law.
Just as one year ago, when the Shayrat Airbase in Syria came under attack, the US used as a pretext a staged chemical attack against civilians, this time in Douma, a Damascus suburb. Having visited the site of the would-be chemical attack, Russian military experts did not find any traces of chlorine or any other toxic agent. Not a single local resident was able to confirm that a chemical attack had actually taken place.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons dispatched its experts to Syria in order to investigate all the circumstances. However, in a sign of cynical disdain, a group of Western countries decided to take military action without waiting for the results of the investigation.
Russia condemns in the strongest possible terms the attack against Syria, where Russian military personnel are assisting the legitimate government in its counterterrorism efforts.
Through its actions, the US makes the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Syria even worse and brings suffering to civilians. In fact, the US panders to the terrorists who have been tormenting the Syrian people for seven years, leading to a wave of refugees fleeing this country and the region.
The current escalation around Syria is destructive for the entire system of international relations. History will set things right, and Washington already bears the heavy responsibility for the bloody outrage in Yugoslavia, Iraq and Libya.
Russia will convene an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the aggressive actions by the US and its allies.

Russia is a super power with nuclear capability. Russian leaders drew a line in the sand. The western powers, lead by the US, have crossed it. Syria is in Russia’s backyard. It has nothing to do with the US.
It was a limited strike against Assad. Have any of the leaders of the west thought about the next move? What was the point of doing such a limited attack?

We opened a position in oil on Friday. Although Syria is not a major oil producer, oil tends to push higher due to uncertainty in the region. I am tempted to open a gold position Sunday night. Although it has not broken resistance and this would violate my trading plan, I have a strong view that it will gap up and bust through the 1360-1380 resistance. I will watch gold closely Sunday night when the market resumes trading to see how it acts.