New Year attacks in the US and Russian gas stops flowing to Europe

Andrew Sheves Good morning. It’s an abbreviated SITREP today, but there are two stories worth tracking.

There were two apparent terrorist attacks in the US. In New Orleans, a driver deliberately drove into a crowd celebrating New Year, killing 15. While in Las Vegas the driver of a vehicle detonated his Cybertruck outside the Trump Tower killing himself but no others. [More - Bloomberg]

Note the attack in New Orleans was very similar to the Christmas market attack in Germany on December 20 [More - Al Jazeera] and there are growing concerns over future domestic terror attacks in the US [More - BBC]

Russia stopped transporting gas to Europe via Ukraine as the current transport arrangement lapsed. This was long-anticipated, so there will be little effect on Europe, which has sought alternate supplies of gas, but Moldova, which is outside the EU, is now facing enormous gas shortages. [More - BBC]

Key Metrics

WTI is $70.38 (Down)

Low |— < —————-| High

Wheat is $185.735 (Down)

Low |—— < ————-| High

EuroDollar is $1.04 (Down)

Low | < ——————-| High

YuanDollar is $0.14 (Unchanged)

Low |———- < > ———| High

Graphs are illustrative to show comparative price over last 180 days

Metrics via AlphaVantage updated Jan 02 2025 08:05 UTC

Asia Stability Ratings and News Summary

More Unstable

🇦🇫 Afghanistan, 🇦🇲 Armenia, 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan, 🇧🇩 Bangladesh, 🇧🇹 Bhutan, 🇰🇭 Cambodia, 🇨🇳 China, 🇹🇱 East Timor, 🇬🇪 Georgia, 🇮🇳 India, 🇮🇩 Indonesia, 🇮🇷 Iran, 🇯🇵 Japan, 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan, 🇰🇼 Kuwait, 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan, 🇱🇦 Laos, 🇲🇾 Malaysia, 🇲🇻 Maldives, 🇲🇲 Myanmar, 🇳🇵 Nepal, 🇰🇵 North Korea, 🇴🇲 Oman, 🇵🇰 Pakistan, 🇵🇭 Philippines, 🇰🇷 South Korea, 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka, 🇹🇼 Taiwan, 🇹🇯 Tajikistan, 🇹🇭 Thailand, 🇹🇲 Turkmenistan, 🇻🇳 Vietnam

More Stable

No countries were more stable over this period

Unchanged

🇧🇭 Bahrain, 🇧🇳 Brunei, 🇲🇳 Mongolia, 🇶🇦 Qatar, 🇸🇬 Singapore, 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates, 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan

Regional News Summary

In Singapore, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced that the Budget 2025 will be tabled on February 18, marking the start of the budget preparation process for the nation. This comes on the heels of a robust economic performance, with Singapore’s economy growing by 4% in 2024, surpassing expectations and showcasing the country’s resilience in a challenging global environment [SOURCE - CHANNEL NEWSASIA].

However, environmental concerns have emerged following a suspected oil leak at Shell’s Pulau Bukom refinery, which led to a temporary shutdown of operations. Fortunately, the l

Carpe tomorrow!