Bloomberg.com reporters Mark Shenk and Grant Smith are reporting today that oil fell below $35 a barrel in New York for the first time since 2009 as Iran reiterated its pledge to boost crude exports, bolstering speculation that rising OPEC production will deepen the global glut.
Futures fell as much as 3.1 percent to $34.53 a barrel in New York, the lowest since Feb. 18, 2009. Prices lost almost 11 percent last week, the biggest drop in a year. There’s “absolutely no chance” Iran will delay its plan to increase shipments even as prices decline, said Amir Hossein Zamaninia, the nation’s deputy oil minister for international and commerce affairs. Speculators in the U.S. have raised bearish bets to an all-time high. Diesel and gasoline futures led declines as warm U.S. weather curbed heating fuel demand.
Multiple media are reporting on an Islamic State (ISIS) fatwa ordering the elimination of children with Down syndrome and other congenital disabilities reminiscent of Hitler’s infamous “Aktion T4” program, which administered forced “euthanasia” on an estimated 300,000 disabled persons.
Never thought to be Conservative, Bloomberg Politics and the Des Moines Register released Saturday an Iowa survey documenting soaring public support for Ted Cruz in the early presidential primary state. They call the Trump campaign in Iowa “stalled.”
Known as an immigration “reformer” Larry Kudlow’s column in National Review Friday took many by surprise. Surprise was expected as the headline makes abruptly clear, “I’ve Changed. This Is War. Seal the Borders. Stop the visas.”