News

Foresight News reported that Joe Burnett, Vice President of Bitcoin Strategy at Strive, tweeted that if bitcoin falls below $67,000 by the end of March, it will be the second time in bitcoin's history that it has declined for six consecutive months. "The last time this happened was in January 2019, which was the bottom of the bear market. One year later, the price of bitcoin had increased by 2.7 times; two years later, the price had increased by 9.7 times."

S&P Global Platts has announced the suspension of spot nominations for certain crude oil grades in the Gulf region. This decision is based on its current Platts Dubai price assessment mechanism framework. This adjustment will impact spot market trading and pricing references for the related crude oil grades.

1. CITIC CLSA pointed out in its report that although the current tensions between the US, Israel, and Iran have caused oil prices to surge by more than 12% at one point, it is not appropriate to directly compare this to the spike in oil prices to $138 per barrel during the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict. The biggest difference is that Iran's daily crude oil production is about 3 million barrels, only one-third of Russia's 11 million barrels.2. The bank believes that the possibility of oil prices soaring above $100 is very low, at least for now, as the tensions are mainly confined to Iran and have not spread to other oil-producing countries in the Middle East. In the short term, oil prices may break through $80 per barrel, but this will mainly reflect the geopolitical risk premium rather than a substantial supply disruption.3. CITIC CLSA pointed out that there have been no reports of attacks on Iran's oil and gas infrastructure or export terminals so far, so supply disruptions at this stage should be minimal. The tensions are unlikely to lead to interruptions in crude oil imports by major Asian countries, but will inevitably increase crude oil costs, thereby squeezing refining profits.