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US-Israeli strikes on Iran launched on 28 February sent Brent crude surging past US$119 a barrel, gold above US$5,200, and defence stocks to all-time highs.
Against that backdrop, investors are focusing on a small group of commodity-linked names that may remain sensitive to further moves in oil, LNG and gold. The key question is whether the shock proves sustained, or whether a ceasefire, shipping normalisation, or policy action removes part of the geopolitical risk premium.
1. ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM)
ExxonMobil has been one of the clearest beneficiaries of the price surge. Shares hit a record high of US$159.60 in early March and are up approximately 28% year-to-date.
The company produces 4.7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, has a Permian Basin breakeven of around US$35/barrel, and is committed to US$20 billion in buybacks for 2026.
Wells Fargo raised its price target to US$183 from US$156 following the escalation, while broader analyst consensus sits around US$140–$144. However, XOM is already trading above many consensus targets, and disruption to its LNG partner QatarEnergy poses a near-term operational headwind.
What to watch
- Whether Hormuz disruptions persist beyond 4–6 weeks.
- A G7 emergency stockpile release or a credible ceasefire could compress the war risk premium.
- Any adjustments to analyst consensus targets.
What rising oil prices mean for Exxon
2. Chevron (NYSE: CVX)
Chevron touched a new 52-week high of US$196.76 in early March and has risen approximately 24% year-to-date.
The company's Brent breakeven for dividends and capital expenditure sits around US$50/barrel. This means that at current Oil prices above US$90, it is generating significant free cash flow.
However, Chevron has temporarily halted operations at a gas field off Israel's coast following missile activity in the region, and the stock has since pulled back more than 1% as the conflict directly affects its operations.
What to watch
- Direct operational updates from Chevron's Middle East and Israeli assets.
- Any further halts that could weigh on near-term production.
- Crude holding above US$90, which keeps Chevron generating significant free cash flow.
3. Woodside Energy (ASX: WDS/NYSE: WDS)
With Qatar having halted output after Iranian drone strikes, buyers across Asia and Europe are scrambling for alternative supply. Woodside, as one of Australia's largest LNG producers and exporters, sits outside the conflict zone and is well-positioned to benefit from rerouted demand.
Analysts caution that actual substitution takes time due to shipping and contract constraints, meaning the price uplift may be more durable than a simple spot trade. European TTF benchmark gas prices surged over 50% in a week, amplifying the margin environment for non-Middle Eastern LNG producers.
What to watch
- The pace and timeline of any Qatar LNG production restart.
- If QatarEnergy remains offline for weeks, Woodside could begin re-contracting European buyers at elevated spot prices.
- An Australian dollar move higher could be a headwind worth tracking for USD-denominated earnings.
4. Cheniere Energy (NYSE: LNG)
Alongside Woodside, Cheniere is the most direct US beneficiary of the Qatar LNG disruption. As the largest LNG exporter in the United States, it saw intraday strength at the start of the conflict week.
US domestic energy production has buffered American consumers from the worst of the shock, but the export premium has widened as European and Asian buyers pay up for non-Gulf supply.
The trade is "geopolitically sensitive," and any resolution could reverse upside quickly. But for as long as Hormuz and Gulf gas infrastructure remain compromised, Cheniere is positioned to benefit structurally.
What to watch
- Any diplomatic breakthrough that reopens Gulf shipping lanes.
- Announcements of new long-term offtake contracts signed at current elevated prices.
5. Newmont Corporation (NYSE: NEM)
Gold surged 5.2% in a single session on 1 March, touching US$5,246/oz, as markets sought safe-haven assets. Newmont, the world's largest gold producer, has seen its reserves effectively revalued at these prices.
It is up alongside gold's 24% year-to-date gain, and its all-in sustaining costs remain largely fixed.
However, Gold miners sold off sharply on 4 March, and Newmont fell nearly 8% in a single session as broader risk-off deleveraging hit precious metals equities.
The stock has recovered since, but volatility remains high. For longer-duration investors, analysts note that "safe" mining jurisdictions such as Canada, Australia, and Nevada are commanding fresh premiums as Middle East instability raises the value of geopolitically secure supply.
What to watch
- Whether gold can hold above US$5,000/oz.
- A prolonged conflict could accelerate an M&A cycle in junior gold miners.
- A ceasefire or broad equity deleveraging event as the primary risk to monitor.
6. Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT)
Lockheed Martin reached a new all-time high of US$676.70 on 3 March, up over 4% for the day. Its F-35 fighters, precision-guided munitions, THAAD systems, and HIMARS rocket artillery are central to the ongoing air campaign.
The US Department of Defence is moving to replenish munitions stockpiles, and Trump's stated ambition to raise the US defence budget to US$1.5 trillion by 2027 adds a longer-term structural tailwind beyond the immediate conflict.
Defence stocks are rising amid classic geopolitical risk pricing, but investors should note that actual contract flow takes time to translate into earnings, and valuations already reflect considerable optimism.
What to watch
- The pace of US Department of Defence munitions replenishment orders.
- How quickly contract wins translate into backlog growth.
Top defence stocks to watch: Iran winners and losers
7. Barrick Gold (NYSE: GOLD)
Barrick is tracking gold's historic run alongside Newmont, with the stock up sharply year-to-date. It sits at a roughly US$78 billion market capitalisation and is reporting record free cash flow projections as its all-in sustaining costs remain well below current spot prices.
Like Newmont, it experienced a sharp single-session selloff of more than 8% during the broader 4 March deleveraging event, before partially recovering.
Royalty and streaming companies such as Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM) are being favoured by some investors as a more inflation-protected way to access gold upside, given their lower operational cost exposure. But Barrick remains one of the world’s largest listed gold miners, with earnings that are highly sensitive to changes in the gold price
What to watch
- Gold's ability to hold above US$5,000/oz.
- Any Barrick moves toward junior miner acquisitions.
- Energy cost inflation, as rising fuel prices could begin to squeeze miner operating margins.
It was a monumental year for two of the biggest electric car makers – Tesla and NIO in 2020. The stocks of both companies rose significantly over the last 12 months with NIO gaining over 1000% and Tesla by over 350% - reaching new record highs. With such gains, both companies have attracted significant public interest and a lot of investors have been keeping a close eye on both of the company’s progress.
But recently, we have seen a bump in the road for both companies with the share price of NIO, Tesla, and other electric car makers dropping, causing concern for the investors. But should this be a concern or an opportunity for investors? I think there would be two sides, but I guess most investors would look at it as an opportunity, seeing that the share price has dropped despite the future prospects for both companies.
There were a lot of doubters for Tesla in its early days when Elon Musk’s company was burning through cash each day, but that hasn’t stopped the company evolve into what it is today and at one point making Musk the richest person in the world. Also – the future of the world is green. A lot of countries around the world have already banned the sale of new diesel and petrol cars from 2030 onwards.
However, I think the world is still some way away from being ready for most people to own an electric car, especially from the infrastructure perspective. Most people would probably think that you will need to charge your electric car at a charging station (or at home) and wait hours for it to be done - which in some cases will probably be true. However, the infrastructure for electric cars must be more advanced than that.
We live in a world where we expect everything straight away and the same will happen with charging electric cars - that is why we are seeing companies working on battery swap stations which will make the process quick and easy. The battery in electric cars has long-range and will probably increase over time. For example, NIO’s model ET7 has a battery range of around 621 miles (around 1,000 km).
This means you could drive from London to Paris and back with the same battery charge (the quickest route from London to Paris is 292.3 miles according to Google Maps). But with all the positives, there are and will be challenges for the electric car manufacturers. This week NIO announced that the global chip shortage will have an impact on their car production in the second quarter of the year.
They highlighted that the shortage of semiconductors and batteries will mean that the company will have to cut its production capacity from 10,000 to 7,500 vehicles. The share price of NIO have fallen by over 25% in the last month, trading at around $42 per share. Tesla shares have also seen a drop in the last month, down by 20% - trading at $677 per share.
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Bitcoin has seen a resurgence in recent days on the back of the Ukraine/Russian conflict. The price has risen 15% as money has poured into the cryptocurrency. Western countries have placed economic sanctions as an attempt to reduce military conduct from Russia.
This includes excluding several Russian banks from the SWIFT network. Consequently, the Rouble collapsed and in order to protect the Russian economy the Central Bank raised interest rates to 20%. The central banks also restricted foreigners from selling securities.
In response, many Russian citizens have turned to crypto currency as an alternative Rouble. Russian denominated Bitcoin volumes touched 9-month highs in the past week to signify this shift. Technical Analysis The long-term trend of BTC/USD is showing an exhausted double top.
For this to be confirmed the price needs to continue to move down and break through the support level at $28,892. If the price can break through the neckline, then the next price target should be at around $50,000.
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This is only Part 2 of a 3-part series containing a full 21 page analysis, highlighting the global opportunities as a result of the introduction of negative interest rates in Japan. Click here to access the full analysis. After looking at the reasons why the Bank of Japan decided to opt for negative interest rates in the first part of this series, we will now see the factors that can help explain why the yen is not going south.
When there is nothing out there: As discussed earlier, part of BOJ’s decision to go into negative rates was to push financial institutions, companies and investors to move their money out of the banks and put those funds to work. However, this is easier said than done. Equity markets across the world are almost in a bear market.
Emerging economies (i.e. China, Brazil) are all weak or at least not inviting. The economic outlook for the developed countries (including U.S) has sharply declined in recent weeks.
The outlook for the commodities is still not clear (to say the least). World indices and commodities performance from 21/5/2015 to 17 Feb 2016 Measured from close to close Germany Shanghai US Australia Japan Commodities Return -21.0% -36.7% -9.6% -12.8% -21.6% -26.7% Max. Draw Down -25.2% -41.4% -14.2% -15.0% -26.0% -29.8% Therefore, not only do the cash rich Japanese companies have nowhere to go, but in the face of current global uncertainty, they became more conservative and started to roll back their foreign investments and wound up their carry trades.
What is a carry trade? A carry trade uses currencies with lower rates to buy those currencies with higher interest rates. For example, a hypothetical carry trader in Japan could borrow from a local bank, convert the proceeds to a foreign currency (shorting the yen) and invest the money in a foreign country (long the foreign currency) to collect a higher interest (in practice, it gets a little more complicated than this, but the idea is the same).
Since the interest that the carry trader receives from the foreign bank is more than the interest he/she has to pay to the Japanese banks, the carry trade makes money. The Risk off Scenario The biggest risk to the carry trades is the currency fluctuations. When risk-off events (such as the existing market turmoil or the commodity rout) forces the currency of the higher interest rate to rapidly depreciate, the Japanese investors would rush back to close those carry trades by selling the foreign currency and buying back the yen.
The unwinding of the carry trades will naturally bid the yen up. To us, this seems to be the biggest driver of JPY’s strength these days. Yen has had a prolonged history of low interest rates.
Therefore, it has been the world’s funding currency for various carry trades for many years. Given this, it is not surprising to see yen strengthening each time there is some sort of a crisis. The red line in the chart below is the S&P 500 index and the black line is the Japanese yen versus US dollar.
The squares on the chart highlight the four most recent market corrections. As you can see, each time that market posted a significant decline in the past 10 years, yen responded by a notable appreciation against the US dollar. To put this relationship into context, the chart below shows yen (the black line) vs the VIX index (the red line).
VIX or the Volatility index is a measure of market nervousness. It has an inverse relationship with the equity markets. Each time traders get worried about stocks, the VIX index increases in value.
The blue line on the lower section of this chart is the 50 day moving average of a 20-day correlation between net changes in yen and VIX. As you can see, there is a generally high correlation between yen and VIX. So whenever VIX rises (as a result of chaos in the stock market) yen rises too.
Impact on Japan Equities: Currency market is not the only market which has disappointed Kuroda. Japanese equities did not behave well either by showcasing higher volatility than the rest of major indices. The table below compares Japan’s stocks return and maximum drawdown from 29 of Jan (when the negative interest rates were announced) through to 17 of Feb 2016.
As you can see Nikkei has depreciated more than any other major indices. Major indices performance since 29 of Jan Japan US Australia Germany Return -9.60% -0.69% -1.33% -4.30% Max. Drawdown -14.65% -5.73% -5.45% -10.67% Additionally, since the beginning of February there has been three cases that Nikkei 225‘s daily returns stretched beyond their three or five times standard deviation band.
On Monday the 15 th of February, Japan’s equities rallied by almost 7.15% (measured from close to close on the cash index) after dropping by more than 5% just in the preceding trading day. A move like this represents five times the standard deviation of the average daily ranges. History has only seen 12 of these moves since 1965.
The number of times Nikkei 225 daily range has gone Beyond 3 and 5 standard deviation since 1965 Index Above 5 Sigma Below 5 Sigma Above 3 Sigma Below 3 Sigma $N225 12 19 107 81 To make the situation worse, we only need to remind ourselves that Japan’s stock market has an inverse relationship to its currency. This is because most of these companies are export driven and cannot naturally perform when yen is too expensive. The chart below clearly shows this relationship.
The black line is JPY against US dollar and the red line is the Nikkei 225 index. Notice how the pair has gone almost perfectly in the opposite direction since 2005. So based on the above, as long as Mr.
Kuroda is not capable of controlling its own currency and as long as the global market turmoil remains intact, the negative interest rates do not seem to be able to help him. But if for some reason, yen starts to depreciate again, except for the banking sector, other sectors may get back on their feet. The reason we are pessimistic on banks is that, as it turns out, Japanese banks (like other European banks) are not intending to pass the negative interest rates on to their customers.
Therefore, further advancement into negative rate territory will eat into banks’ profit margin. The table shows the performance and maximum draw down of Japan’s banking sector (Measured by TOPIX 1615 banks ETF) between 29 of January to 17 of February period. As you can see, banks have massively underperformed the Nikkei 225.
Banks vs the rest of the market in Japan Nikkei 225 Japanese Banks Return -9.6% -20.3% Max Drawdown -14.65% -26.3% Want Access to the Full 21 Page Report? If you want to take advantage of the trading opportunities around the introduction of negative interest rates in Japan, then click here to download the full 21-page analysis. Ramin Rouzabadi (CFA, CMT) | Trading Analyst Ramin is a broadly skilled investment analyst with over 13 years of domestic and international market experience in equities and derivatives.
With his financial analysis (CFA) and market technician (CMT) background, Ramin is adept at identifying market opportunities and is experienced in developing statistically sound investment strategies. Ramin is a co-founder of exantera.com which is a financial website dedicated to risk analysis and quantitative market updates. Connect with Ramin: Twitter | LinkedIn | Ramin's posts
Procter & Gamble Co. reported its second quarter fiscal year 2022 earnings before the opening bell on Wednesday. The US consumer goods company reported total revenue of $20.953 billion, above analyst forecast of $20.335 billion. Earnings per share at $1.66 per share vs. $1.65 a share expected by the analysts on Wall Street.
Jon Moeller, President and Chief Executive Officer commented on the latest results: ''We delivered very strong top-line growth and made sequential progress on earnings in the face of significant cost headwinds.'' ''These results keep us on track to deliver our earnings outlook and to raise estimates for sales growth, cash productivity and cash return to shareowners. Our focus remains on the strategies of superiority, productivity, constructive disruption and continually improving P&G’s organization structure and culture. These strategies have enabled us to build and sustain strong momentum.
They remain the right strategies to deliver balanced growth and value creation,'' Moeller added. Procter & Gamble Co. chart (1Y) Shares of Procter & Gamble trading higher after the latest results – up by around 4% during the trading day on Wednesday. The stock is up by 23% in the past year at $163.27 per share.
Procter & Gamble Co. is the 19 th largest company in the world and with a total market cap of $395.64 billion. You can trade Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) and many other stocks from the NYSE, NASDAQ and the ASX with GO Markets as a Share CFD. Sources: Procter & Gamble Co., TradingView, CompaniesMarketCap
Netflix released its Q4 2021 financial results after the US market close on Thursday. The online streaming service company reported total revenue of $7.709 billion in the quarter, slightly falling short of analyst forecast of $7.71 billion. Earnings per share at $1.33 a share, above analyst estimate of $0.88 a share. ''We achieved several milestones in 2021: we had the biggest TV show of the year (Squid Game), our two biggest film releases of all time (Red Notice and Don’t Look Up) and Netflix was the most Emmy-winning and most nominated TV network and the most Oscar-winning and nominated movie studio of 2021.
Full year revenue of $30 billion grew 19% year over year while operating income of $6.2 billion rose 35% year over year. We finished Q4 with 222m paid memberships (with 8.3m paid net adds in Q4). Even in a world of uncertainty and increasing competition, we’re optimistic about our long-term growth prospects as streaming supplants linear entertainment around the world.
We're continually improving Netflix so that we can please our members, grow our share of leisure time and lead in this transition,'' the company wrote in a letter to shareholders following the latest results. Netflix chart (1Y) Share price of Netlfix traded lower on Thursday, down by 1.48% at $508.25 per share. The stock is down by 12% in the past year.
Netlfix is the 46 th largest company in the world, with a total market cap of $225.13 billion. You can trade Netflix (NFLX) and many other stocks from the NYSE, NASDAQ, HKEX and the ASX with GO Markets as a Share CFD. Sources: Netlfix, TradingView, CompaniesMarketCap