Oil prices in New York are soaring in response to the death of General Qassem Soleimani, head of the Islamic Republic of Iran's foreign operations, which was killed earlier today in Baghdad in an operation conducted by the U.S. military in retaliation for last week’s attack on the U.S. embassy in Iraq by Tehran's allied militia. Ordered by Donald Trump, this attack could have dire consequences, as Iran wowed to avenge the death of Soleimani. Investors fear that this could start a new deadly conflict, with many financial repercussions.

This comes as Turkish armed forces will be deployed in Libya to support the government of Fayez el-Sarraj against the rival forces of Marshal Haftar, supported by Russian, Egyptian and Arab Emirates mercenaries. The mandate will be for one year and gives President Erdogan the power to decide on the size, composition and duration of the operation. Approval was almost guaranteed since Erdogan's party and that of his nationalist ally (MHP) hold the majority in parliament.

Meanwhile, China has decided to suspend the rapprochement between the Shanghai and London stock exchanges. This decision is said to have been motivated by political considerations, particularly in relation to the United Kingdom's position vis-à-vis Hong Kong. The London-Shanghai link would allow companies listed on one of the two places to issue shares on the other place. An agreement has been under discussion since September...2015 but it is since June 2019 that this connection with London has been under discussion. In any case, it is dragging on and for the moment few companies seem to be interested.    

Today, investors will be awaiting the release of the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting. At that meeting, the Fed acknowledged the good health of the U.S. economy and signaled that rates would remain steady in the coming months.