Zig’s Place Chatroom News Friday PM 7-2-21

Zig:  Welcome to zig's place, a chat room for dinar speculators and others....discuss any topic that you wish here

NORV (Kaperoni)   Some fun articles from April... Increasing economic difficulties as a result of Corona and the emergence of new strains opens the door to the option of floating the Iraqi dinar.

The recent devaluation of the Iraqi currency has fueled fears that the step will be a prelude to a full floatation of the dinar, but experts believe that the financial reality prevents the liberalization of the exchange rate due to the nature of the rentier economy and the lack of diversity of funding sources, as well as the presence of one player in the equation of supply and demand control, which is the central bank   

BAGHDAD - The decision to devalue the Iraqi dinar by the end of 2020 has raised some concerns that this decline in value is a prelude to a complete float of the local currency.

Last December, the Central Bank of Iraq reduced the exchange rate of the local currency (the dinar) against the dollar by 24 percent, with the aim of better managing payments and the economic crisis in the country.

The dollar exchange rate reached 1470 dinars for the public, and about 1460 dinars for banks operating in the country, compared to 1182 dinars before the reduction.  READ MORE LINK

NORV   4 Reasons Preventing Iraq From Floating The Entire Currency.. Get to know them

The decision to devalue the Iraqi dinar against the dollar raised fears that this paves the way for the entire local currency to float

The decision of the Central Bank of Iraq to reduce the value of the Iraqi dinar against the dollar by 24% by the end of 2020 in order to better manage payments and the economic crisis that the country is experiencing, has raised fears that this paves the way for the entire local currency to float.

The dollar exchange rate reached 1470 dinars to the public, and 1460 dinars to banks operating in the country, compared to 1182 dinars before the reduction   READ MORE LINK

NORV  Al-Obaidi points out that the policy of full flotation requires diversification of the economy to create a state of balance in supply and demand, but this is difficult in Iraq because there is only one player in this equation, which is the Central Bank of Iraq.

NORV   In turn, industrial development and investment consultant Amer Al-Jawahiri ruled out a full float until 2022, because of its political and social repercussions that the Iraqi economic and political reality is difficult to bear now.

NORV   :Float:   :Float:  :Float:

butterfly   Iraq Replaces Head of State Media,,,,,,,,,3rd July 2021 in Iraqi Communications News, Politics,,,,,,,,,,,Iraq replaces state media head

An Iraqi court has reinstated the former president of the Iraqi Media Network (IMN), annulling the appointment of Nabil Jasem.

Click here to read the full story. https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/06/iraq-replaces-state-media-head

butterfly   "Sabotage" to Blame for Major Power Cut in Iraq.........3rd July 2021 in Iraq Industry & Trade News, Politics...........Local news sources in Iraq claim the major power cut in Iraq on Friday was caused by sabotage of the power transmission lines.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhim ordered the dismissal of the Director General of the General Company for Electricity Transmission in the Middle Euphrates region for "neglecting to perform his duties", which he said was responsible for the failure of the 400kV line.

The move follows the resignation earlier the week of Iraq's Minister of Electricity, Majed Mahdi Hantoosh [Hantoush], following protests over repeated power cuts.  Iraq is currently suffering a heatwave, with temperatures reaching as high as 52C in places.    (Sources: Govt of Iraq, Shafaq, BBC)

butterfly   Textron awarded $7.6m Iraq Contract...........3rd July 2021 in Security...............US-based Textron Aviation Defense has been awarded a $7,605,208 firm-fixed price contract with cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-reimbursable contract line item numbers for support and sustainment of the Iraq Peace Dragon Program.

This contract provides support of the field service representatives, program management, core/field engineering and repair-and-return.

Work will be performed in Wichita, Kansas, and Martyr Mohammed Ali Air Base, Iraq, and is expected to be completed Sept. 30, 2021.

This contract involves Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to Iraq and is the result of a sole-source acquisition.

FMS funds are being obligated for this award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8620-17-C-3011).  (Source: US Dept of Defense)

butterfly   2021-07-02 01:09 Shafaq News / The U.S. dollar was perched at a 15-month high on the yen and at multi-month peaks against other majors on Friday, as traders wagered strong U.S. labour data could lift it even further.

The jobs report is due at 1230 GMT and is forecast to show a solid rise of 700,000. But there is chatter about the number being even higher and of that upsetting an assumption that U.S. interest rates can stay at rock-bottom levels for years.

"The dollar has started July strongly; a U.S. non-farm payrolls meet or beat today would maintain that momentum," DBS Bank strategist Philip Wee said in a note to clients.

The dollar has climbed 0.7% against the yen this week and hit its highest since March 2020 in the Asia session, as investors have re-assessed short positions following months of strong data and a shift in tone from the Federal Reserve.

The greenback edged up to 111.65 yen early in the Asia session, and at $1.1841 per euro was only a whisker short of Thursday's three-month high.

It crept to a fresh two-and-a-half month peak of $1.3752 per British pound and sat near its highest since December against the Australian dollar at $0.7461.

That puts the dollar index at 92.564 and some 3.4% above a four-month low it hit in May. The Aussie, the kiwi, the euro and the yen are also all below their 200-day moving averages against the dollar - with the yen miles below it after having lost nearly 7.5% this year.

"Many people are now arguing (over) whether the dollar has indeed bottomed, because at some point in 2023 the Fed is suggesting that it could be raising interest rates," said Paul Mackel, global head of FX research at HSBC in an outlook call.

butterfly  "Also there's some nervousness whether the dollar's going to start to behave in a more pro-cyclical manner, that is, if the data is stronger than expected in the U.S. that the dollar really gets more strength from that."

The path to the payrolls data has been paved with positive surprises with U.S. private payrolls beating expectations and jobless claims dropping harder than forecast.

But such preliminaries have proven unreliable guides in the past for a data set that is hard to predict. Reuters' poll of 63 economists produced an average forecast for 700,000 jobs but a range of estimates between 376,000 and over a million.

ING and Royal Bank of Canada Capital markets are among several houses with below-consensus forecasts.

"There has been a tendency in 2021 by the dollar to show an asymmetrical reaction to payrolls, so that a miss generated more dollar downside compared to the upside generated by a stronger-than-expected release," said Francesco Pesole at ING.

"Should our economist's projections for a positive but below-consensus read prove accurate, we expect the price action in FX to prove broadly negative for the dollar as some of the Fed's hawkish expectations are scaled back."

The Canadian dollar, for example, is down on the week but is the best performing G10 currency this year with a 2.5% rise against the dollar in 2021.  Analysts said that probably also contributes to the walloping the yen has received as Japan pays for imports.   Source: Reuters

butterfly  2021-07-02 00:50  Shafaq News / Oil prices rose roughly 2% on Thursday on indications that OPEC+ producers could increase output more slowly than expected in coming months, while rising global fuel demand causes supply to tighten.

Brent crude settled at $75.84 a barrel, up $1.22, or 1.6%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $75.23 a barrel, gaining $1.76, or 2.4%.

During the session, both benchmarks climbed by more than $2 a barrel, reaching their highest since October 2018.

Futures pared gains after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, delayed its ministerial meeting until Friday to hold more talks on oil output policy, sources said, after the United Arab Emirates blocked a plan for an immediate reduction in supply cuts.

"Such a delay in talks is unusual and would appear to indicate some significant discord within the organization between participants," said Jim Ritterbusch of Ritterbusch and Associates.

OPEC+ sources said earlier that the group was expected to increase output by 0.4 million barrels per day a month from August to December 2021.

"I firmly believe that in the near-term, OPEC+, led by Saudi Arabia, is looking to squeeze consuming countries and engender a higher price to make up for the damage done last year," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital in New York.

Some market participants remained skeptical of the demand projection.

"Everybody is drinking the OPEC Kool-Aid here and buying the story that demand is going to increase by 5 million barrels in the second half of the year," said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures, at Mizuho Securities.

Yawger said OPEC's demand forecast does not account for the possibility of increased supply from Iran, spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant and lackluster seasonal U.S. gasoline use.

There have been several outbreaks of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, raising concerns that the recovery will falter.   Source: Reuters

Zig   If you access this chat via https://my.cbox.ws/ZIGPLACE  

 You can make the box much bigger by clicking this link  ZIGPLACE - Cbox