Coming Up This Week

• The Big Five tech companies - Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft - all report quarterly earnings this week, starting tomorrow.
• Botswana votes for president on Wednesday. Incumbent Pres. Masisi is overwhelmingly favored over his three relatively unknown challengers.
• Wednesday is also the 50th anniversary of the Rumble in the Jungle. Mohammed Ali's epic upset of then-undisputed heavyweight champion George Foreman is commemorated brilliantly in the 1996 film When We Were Kings.
• Hindus celebrate Diwali - the festival of lights - Thursday and Friday.
• Moldova votes in a runoff election on Sunday. Pro-Western Pres. Sandu will probably win reelection, despite alleged Russian interference against her.
• Daylight savings time begins for the U.S. on Sunday, while Europe changed its clocks back yesterday.

• Aluminum: $2,678/ton
• Antimony (ingot min. 99.65% fob China): $25,100/ton
• Cobalt: $24,300/ton
• Copper: $9,603/ton
• Gold: $2,730/toz
• Lead: $2,046/ton
• Natural Gas (Nymex): $2.43/MMbtu
• WTI Crude Oil (Nymex): $67.47/barrel
• Zinc: $3,102/ton

• Israel finally carried out its long-telegraphed retaliatory assault against Iran with "precise and targeted strikes" on mostly-symbolic targets, including air defense systems near energy sites (but not the energy sites themselves).
• Israel acknowledged responsibility for the strikes, marking the first time it has officially claimed airstrikes on Iran.
• Iran seems content to let Israel have the last word: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei didn't explicitly call for retaliation, and the Iranian foreign ministry grumbled that Iran is "entitled and obligated to defend itself" but stopped short of vowing revenge. There are no indications Iran is preparing to fire back, and Israel hasn't raised its threat level in anticipation of return fire.
• Some hardliners in Israel are complaining that the strikes weren't aggressive enough and should have gone further.

• Brazil effectively vetoed Venezuela's admission to the BRICS group of emerging economies by leaving Venezuela off of the list of new members it approved.
• Pres. Lula's chief of staff explained that Brazil's veto "has nothing to do with democracy, but with a breach of trust...they promised us something and it was not done." [Pres. Maduro's government had promised to share election data proving he won reelection, but it never did.]
• Despite Brazil's explanation, Maduro fumed about the snub as "inexplicable and immoral" and "an action that constitutes an aggression against Venezuela and a hostile gesture."
• The veto was all the more embarrassing for Maduro because he'd traveled all the way to Kazan, Russia for the BRICS summit hoping to be welcomed as a future member - and Pres. Lula wasn't even there to reject him in person: Lula stayed home after a health scare and blocked Venezuela's accession in absentia.
• However, as a consolation prize, Maduro got a meeting with Pres. Putin on the sidelines. Maduro said they discussed energy and defense cooperation and proposed a "new international financial system" to circumvent sanctions.
• Separately, the U.S. Dept. of Justice charged Raul Gorrin Belisario - a Maduro crony who owns the pro-government Globovision news network - with laundering $1.2 billion in "corruptly obtained" oil revenues. Belisario's whereabouts are unknown.

• While a full Gaza ceasefire deal remains elusive, Egypt proposed a baby step towards one. The Egyptian proposal calls for a two-day ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of four Israeli hostages (and some Palestinian prisoners). Neither Israel nor Hamas has responded yet.
• Meanwhile, talks on a broader deal are expected to resume in Qatar this week.

• Libya's NOC has been cajoling foreign oil firms to fulfill their contractual obligations to drill on their oil licenses, and several license-holders are starting to comply - perhaps reluctantly, given weak oil prices.
• Italy's Eni and the UK's BP just began onshore drilling in the Ghadames Basin of Libya after a 10-year hiatus, while Spain's Repsol is preparing to resume drilling in the Murzuq Basin and Austria's OMV aims to restart operations in the Sirte Basin soon.

• The NYT reported that Chinese hackers tried to access cell phones belonging to Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and possibly Kamala Harris. It's not clear whether they were successful.

• Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost its majority in parliamentary elections yesterday. The LDP has ruled Japan for all but four years since 1955, so its defeat in this poll was seen as a resounding rebuke from frustrated voters. The LDP lost so many seats to the opposition that it may not be able to form a majority with its coalition partners and may have to cede power to a coalition of opposition parties.
• Georgia's ruling Russia-appeasing Georgian Dream party won parliamentary elections. The pro-Western opposition rejected the official results, calling them "tantamount to legitimizing Russia’s takeover of Georgia."
• Bolivia's ex-Pres. Evo Morales claimed he survived an assassination attempt yesterday and accused his bitter rival, incumbent Pres. Luis Arce, for orchestrating the attack. Meanwhile, Arce's Deputy Security Minister said police are investigating whether Morales had staged "a possible self-attack" to win voters' sympathy. Morales and Arce are locked in a vicious battle over their Movement Toward Socialism party's leadership, and their feud will likely worsen ahead of elections next year.