Yahoo Finance Champs and Chumps: Iran comes out on top, while Tesla bulls get fooled again
This week’s champ is Iran. Donald Trump says the Iran nuclear deal is dead. But Britain, China, France, Germany, and Russia got together at the United Nations this week to tell Trump: “Actually, we’re gonna go ahead and stick with this. Because it’s a good deal. And also we don’t like you.” (They didn’t actually say that, but they might as well have.)
The five remaining members of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — also known as the Iran nuclear deal — will continue with the agreement, circumventing the U.S. plans to put sanctions on Iran and make it so no one can buy their oil.
Basically, they’re going to keep buying Iran’s oil. And they even set up a brand new payment system to do it. This is happening as Brent crude oil (BZ=F) is popping over $80 dollars a barrel. So Iran gets the benefit of pricier oil and a long list of partners to whom they can sell that oil.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came out again this week and said Iran is still making nuclear weapons at a secret facility. Iran’s foreign minister called it an “arts and crafts show.” Iran is this week’s champ.
This week’s chump was going to be Italian president Sergio Mattarella for not keeping lawmakers in check and allowing a proposed budget that was above the European Union’s 2% of gross domestic product limit.
But when the news came out Thursday from the Securities and Exchange Commission, you know our chump had to be Tesla bulls.
Last month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said – on Twitter – that he was going to take the company private and that he had “funding secured.” However, he didn’t have funding secured. Now the SEC says Elon Musk may not even be allowed to run any public company, including Tesla. Did I mention he’s being sued by a cave diver who rescued a group of children for calling him a pedophile?
Tesla stock (TSLA) fell 15% on Friday today.
Musk is erratic, but without him Tesla is just a failing car company that burns through $700 million dollars a quarter and can’t hit production targets. Yeah, the cars are nice. Safe, too. But if we’re not betting on a once-in-a-generation genius who’s going to revolutionize the way we all get around, then things get even riskier.
The remaining Tesla bulls are this week’s chumps.
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See also:
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Why Trump’s trade war hasn’t tanked the market or the economy yet
Dion Rabouin is a global markets reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter: @DionRabouin.
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