Finance Brief: Oil crashes, gold jumps, and SOCAR goes shopping in America
Finance Brief: Oil crashes, gold jumps, and SOCAR goes shopping in America
The US election result has shaken the world's money markets overnight. Oil prices have fallen hard, gold has jumped, and Azerbaijan's state oil company has just spent big in America, all in the same morning.
Brent crude traded near $94 a barrel this morning, after sliding more than 8% in the previous session. Traders are betting the Democrats' midterm win raises the odds of a deal to end the US-Iran standoff, which would take the war premium out of oil. Gold moved the other way, around $4,135 an ounce this morning, up more than 1.5% on the day, as a weaker dollar and lower bond yields pushed buyers toward safety. In Istanbul, the BIST 100 starts the day at 11,478, unchanged from its last close.
The deal of the morning is SOCAR's. Azerbaijan's state oil company signed a definitive $1.65 billion agreement with Comstock Resources ($CRK) to buy non-operated stakes in the Haynesville shale gas fields in Louisiana and East Texas. SOCAR takes 20% of the Legacy Haynesville assets and 15% of the Western Haynesville assets, with Comstock staying as operator. The prize is the Gulf Coast: Haynesville gas sits close to America's LNG export terminals, and the partnership opens a path to selling that gas overseas as LNG.
What to watch: whether Brent holds near $94 or slides further if Iran talks gain traction, whether gold keeps its gains above $4,100, and the US jobs report due on November 6, which will shape what the Federal Reserve does next. For SOCAR, the test is the closing, targeted by December 31, and whether US regulators clear a foreign state-owned buyer without a fight.
Information only, not financial advice.
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