Iraq-India trade reaches $12.5 Billion in the first half of 2023
Shafaq News / The trade volume between Iraq and India has reached $12.5 billion during the first six months of the current year, 2023.
According to an analysis by the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), India's foreign trade (goods and services exports and imports) amounted to $800.9 billion US dollars from January to June 2023, representing a decrease of 2.5 percent compared to the same period last year (January - June 2022).
India's exports exceed a billion US dollars with 41 countries, accounting for 87 percent of the nation's exports. While India's exports grew positively in 12 of these countries, they declined in 29 others.
During the period of January to June 2023, India's top trading partners included China ($38.1 billion USD), Russia ($29.6 billion USD), Saudi Arabia ($12.9 billion USD), Iraq ($12.5 billion USD), and Switzerland ($7.5 billion USD).
Japan to enter the Iraqi market with Key Investments
Shafaq News/ Futoshi Matsumoto, the Japanese Ambassador to Iraq, on Monday announced that a cadre of leading Japanese corporations is gearing up to make inroads into the Iraqi labor market.
Sharing insights with Shafaq News agency, Ambassador Matsumoto said that meticulous consultations are underway between major Japanese stakeholders and representatives of the Iraqi government, including ministers, under the auspices of Tokyo's embassy in Baghdad.
These dialogues, he emphasized, are centered around forging innovative investment avenues and positioning Japanese business powerhouses as stalwarts in the Iraqi economic landscape, with a specific focus on spearheading an array of developmental projects aimed at bolstering Iraq's infrastructure.
With Japan's legacy of pioneering cutting-edge solutions, Matsumoto said that many Japanese companies are poised to take part in many sectors, including oil, energy, and pioneering water treatment facilities.
"Our present endeavors are strategically aligned with charting new investment territories," he explained, "this is a testament to the proactive engagements we've been nurturing with many ministers and high-ranking officials in the Iraqi government."
Over the past year, we have experienced a 40-year high in inflation, a foreign war, a severe bear market, increased market volatility, and an uncertain economy. The financial turmoil has made it very difficult for the average investor to realize a consistent return on investment.
Despite these problematic market conditions, one strategy has produced above-average returns with relatively low risk. Before we delve into the strategy itself, let’s review some option basics.
Option Basics – A Refresher
There is no need to worry about complex mathematical formulas or equations. My mantra when it comes to option investing is ‘keep it simple’. Over the years I’ve found that the more complicated a strategy is, the less likely it will work over the long-term. We want to employ a strategy that has a history of profitability and is easy to follow.
Options are standardized contracts that give the buyer the right to buy (calls) or sell (puts) the underlying stock at a fixed price which is known as the ‘strike price’. These contracts are valid for a specific period of time which ends on option expiration day.
Options consist of time value and intrinsic value. In-the-money options consist of both components. At-the-money and out-of-the-money options consist only of time value. At options expiration, options lose all time value. When we are short an option, the time value of that option becomes profit at expiration regardless of the price movement of the underlying stock or ETF.
Create Your Own Weekly Paycheck
Most investors are not familiar with the concept of selling option premium to generate cash income. Selling option premium is a very simple but lucrative income strategy. When you sell an option, cash equal to the premium is immediately credited to your brokerage account. Unlike a traditional stock dividend, you don’t have to own the stock on the dividend date to receive a quarterly dividend and you don’t have to wait a year to receive a 2% or 3% annual dividend yield.
The key to selling option premium to generate cash income is to make sure the option you sell is ‘covered’. In this example, we’ll be using what is known as a ‘buy-write’ or ‘covered call’ strategy. In this strategy we buy in increments of 100 shares of a stock or ETF and sell a related call option. As options cover 100 shares of the underlying security, we want to make sure that we sell 1 call option for every 100 shares purchased.
Weekly covered calls are initiated by buying 100 shares of a stock and selling 1 weekly call option. As noted previously, when you sell an option, cash equal to the option premium sold is immediately credited to your brokerage account. This cash credit reduces the cost basis of the stock and reduces the overall risk of the trade. The great advantage to selling weekly calls is that you get to sell 52 options a year.
This strategy incurs less risk than owning the stock outright, but has the potential to deliver returns far in excess of simply owning the stock. Because the short option is ‘covered’ by the purchase of the stock or ETF, this strategy incurs limited risk. The weekly paycheck strategy can profit if the market goes up, down, or remains flat and gives us an edge in producing consistent returns during any type of market condition.
Weekly options are the ideal investment for turning small amounts of money into large amounts. This strategy is the ultimate investing game changer and can help us realize a more consistent profit flow.
Ideal Strategy for Today’s Volatile Markets
Selling option premium is a great strategy for profiting during hostile market conditions. Weekly options amplify this strategy as we get 52 opportunities each year to generate income as opposed to just 12 with monthly options.
Let’s take a look at an actual trade example. Semiconductors have been leading the rally this year and a currently on a ‘buy’ signal. The Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X ETF (SOXL- Free Report) gives us levered exposure to this group and is a good candidate for our strategy.
With SOXL trading at 15.85, the April 14th 16-strike call is trading at 0.86 points and is an out-of-the-money option consisting of only time value. When you are short an option, the time value portion of an option becomes profit as the time decays to zero at expiration. At option expiration next week, the time value of this option becomes profit regardless of the price movement in the SOXL ETF.
Purchasing just 100 shares of the SOXL ETF and selling the 16-strike call equates to a cost of only $1,499. We can see a risk/return analysis of this trade below:
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Added Dimension of Profitability
Pay attention to the Stock Price % Change and % Return rows in the bottom section of the image. The first row (Stock Price % Change) shows underlying price movement in the SOXL ETF ranging from a -5% decline to a +5% gain over the next week. The bottom row (% Return) shows the corresponding return for our covered call trade.
If the SOXL ETF remains flat at 15.85 upon the weekly option expiration, the 0.86 points of time value in the 16-strike call becomes profit as the value of the option goes to zero.
If the SOXL ETF increases in price at option expiration, we still collect the 0.86 points in time premium profit. The short option may show a loss if SOXL increases above the 16-strike price, but this loss is more than offset by a gain in the ETF.
If the SOXL ETF decreases in price at expiration, we collect the 0.86 points in time value as the short option goes to zero. The 0.86 point profit could be offset by a loss in the ETF price depending on how far the ETF declines.
When you buy a stock or ETF at a discount via the sold option premium, you can profit if the underlying security increases in price, remains flat, or even declines from your entry point. This results in a much higher probability that the trade will be profitable. It’s a big reason why this option income strategy has a huge advantage over a stock purchase strategy.
Cash on Cash Return
As stated above, each call option covers 100 shares of the underlying stock or ETF. Purchasing 500 shares of SOXL at the current price of 15.85 and selling 5 of the 16-strike calls at 0.86 would cost $7,495 ($7,925-$430) to initiate this covered call trade. If you were to rollover the short options weekly and receive a similar premium, you’d have the potential to collect $22,360 over the next year ($430 x 52). Receiving $22,360 in cash over the next year would result in a in a 298% cash on cash return ($22,360 cash income / original $7,495 covered call cost = 298%).
If you receive a 298% cash on cash return, a lot can go wrong and you could still profit.
The underlying ETF can decline substantially and you could still profit from the trade
If you have bad timing on entering the trade or encounter volatile price swings, you can still profit
This gives the weekly paycheck strategy a huge advantage over simply owning stocks outright
Bottom Line
There aren’t many times when we can profit even if our investment goes down in price. The weekly paycheck strategy offers very attractive returns and very low risk making it one of the best overall strategies for investors.
This strategy can be profitable in positive, sideways, or even slightly downward-trending markets. This allows us to maintain our positions through volatile markets, when normally we would be stopped out of our position. The weekly paycheck strategy incurs less risk than owning stocks while also having the potential to produce above-average gains.
I think the above analysis demonstrates why the weekly paycheck strategy should be a part of every investor’s portfolio!
Deputy: The atmosphere is suitable for approving the oil and gas law
2023-08-27
Deputy - The atmosphere is suitable for approving the oil and gas lawMember of Parliament, Firas Al-Maslamawi, announced today, Sunday, the formation of a joint committee with the region regarding the approval of the oil and gas law, while he expected the date for the approval of the law.
Al-Maslamawi said, to the official agency, that “a committee was formed by the Minister of Oil, the Minister of Natural Resources in the region, the general manager of SOMO and the advanced cadre in the Ministry of Oil, as well as the oil-producing governorates such as Basra, Dhi Qar, Maysan and Kirkuk,” noting that “the task of the committee is to draft a draft oil law.” and gas, and presented it to the government and the House of Representatives.
He pointed out that “there is a real will of the House of Representatives in order to legislate the law,” noting that “the current year’s budget included the addition of two articles to the law, which is the regulation of the region’s oil export in terms of export and the deposit of imports in a bank accredited by the Central Bank.”
He explained, “Iraq’s oil is one and indivisible, and there is a movement towards achieving justice in the distribution of wealth for the people, whether in the Kurdistan region or the center and south.”
He added, “The atmosphere is suitable for approving the law, and it is hoped that the draft will be completed and reached parliament in the current legislative term,” expecting “the approval of the law in the next legislative term, after about 4 months.”
MarkZ Disclaimer: Please consider everything on this call as my opinion. People who take notes do not catch everything and its best to watch the video so that you get everything in context. Be sure to consult a professional for any financial decisions
Member: Welcome to another week of hoping, praying and wishing…
Member: I wonder what does it mean for us that the new county's to join Brics are excepted jan.1 2024?
Member: Hope the RV doesn’t take that long.
Member: Looking for a September to remember?
Member: Today is the anniiversary of the Martin Luther King Speech. I have a Dream on Aug/28th 1963
MZ: the chatter this morning is things are very much “ back on track” ….
Member: None of us knew things were “off track” so how were things off track and why are they now on track???
Member: Can you TELL us some of that chatter please. We need some encouragement bad.
MZ: Monday s are usually super slow, so to get news over the weekend from a number of group leaders that things are back on track with great expectations is good. We do have a number of folks on the bond side expecting final contracts tomorrow .
Member: What do final contracts mean???
MZ: Final contracts means they will be getting the final accounting, final documentation and final pricing and a “PERCENTAGE” of the transaction along with those.
Member: so they get a little pocket money…..hopefully they get the rest when we get to go.
MZ: I was hoping that would happen today but Europe and Asia didn’t get any out yet. But a lot of expectations for tomorrow from a number of bond sources.
MZ: From my DHS contact- CMKX is ready. But nothing specific on timing.
MZ: it was the group leaders that really lit me up over the weekend with all their preparations for this coming week and all the bond folks with expectations for their final contracts and to also receive a small percentage of their money this week.
MZ: So cross your fingers …I am hearing things are now off of “stuck”
MZ: for evening podcasts- the only day that will be normal is Wednesday. The rest of the week is very fluid. I have a lot of work to be accomplished this week. So no set schedule this week.
Member: I heard rumor that 10 days will start this week….it would be a good cover for the RV.
Member: There is this Big EBS test that's scheduled for Oct. 4th. Is it prepare us for something bigger?
Member: We’re Going to get the EBS Wednesday as Hurricane IDALIA blows through Florida
MZ: I am told it wont really be 10 days of darkness….just media silence to get out the truth.
Member: They need to start that now……so many people still fast asleep.
Member: Disclose TV Network-wide failure of UK air traffic control systems, airspace is reportedly completely shut.
Member: Trying to stay positive but it’s hard when nothing is really happening in the public eye..We sure need to see some truth happen….and something real.
Member: I pray this is our week . It's getting harder and harder to keep the faith.
Member: For those of you who have been riding this RV roller coaster for many years, God bless you. As of this week, I have been riding it for 1 year.
Member: I have been waiting for over 17 years……this has really gotten exhausting
Member: I think part of our responsibilities of being foreign current holders, is to rebuild America after all this devastation that is being caused by the evil ones.
Member: Hurricane season is on us. Everyone stay safe
Member: Prayers for those in need and happy birthday to those celebrating today!
Member: Praying that the mythical “ boy who cried wolf” finally meets that damn wolf.
Member: Everyone have a great day.
THE INFORMATION IN THIS PODCAST IS FOR GENERAL & EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. NOT INTENDED TO PROVIDE ANY PROFESSIONAL & LEGAL ADVICE. PLEASE CONSIDER EVERYTHING DISCUSSED IS MARKZ ’S OPINION ONLY.
Parliamentary Committee: The Industrial Investment Law Will See The Light Soon
Information / Baghdad.. On Sunday, the deputy head of the Parliamentary Investment Committee, Susan Mansour, confirmed her committee's intention to pass the industrial investment law during the next stage, noting that "there are 100,000 industrial licenses in Baghdad."
Mansour said in an interview with Al-Maalouma Agency, "One problem in the law is the ownership of lands located within the basic design in Baghdad." She added that "the industrial investment law will soon see the light," noting that
"her committee is one of the strongest supporters of investment of all kinds, provided that the state lands are not exploited."
Mansour pointed out, "The reason for the investment committee's refusal to legislate the law is that the lands are state assets, and we have demanded that they be owned outside the basic design of Baghdad."
The Parliamentary Industry, Economy and Trade Committee had confirmed, earlier, the importance of enacting the industrial investment law during the upcoming sessions. End / 25 h
Economical 2023/08/27 Muhammad Sharif Abu Maysam The decision to merge banks, "including government ones", that are unable to raise the value of their capital to no less than 400 billion dinars within a maximum period of 12/31/2024 was not surprising, as it was mentioned in the economic reform paper or the so-called white paper that approved In October 2020, in Seventh - the second axis - first - qualifying the financial sectors, a text stating "addressing the level of capital of all government banks, and organizing the process of increasing their capital if necessary."
As stated in it with regard to the financial and administrative restructuring of government banks in preparation for the merger, since some of these banks suffer from financial imbalances resulting from high rates of suspensions and uncollectible debts, in addition to being late in the axis of introducing technologies and automating banking operations.
Since then, all possibilities have become available regarding the future of government banks, and we are in the process of preparing for a new banking reality that is in line with the scene of the market economy, in addition to what was said about replacing the private banking sector with the government banking sector in the task of managing the development process under the conditions of economic reform.
This matter was not hidden from some observers and some workers in the banking sector, according to what was stated in the same paper regarding the privatization or liquidation of loss-making public companies, which makes government banks, as public companies, candidates for privatization if they are losing.
This means that the banking sector will witness a new transition, paving the way for the transition of government banks to the market under the economic reform program that the country was committed to, according to the conditions of indebtedness and integration with the economy led by the institutions of globalization.
However, what is important in this matter is to give an opportunity to government banks whose departments achieve success and growth before the merger, through the independence of their boards of directors and their exit from the routine routine performance and liberation from bureaucratic restrictions under the pretext of complying with instructions and orders, especially those instructions and orders that are not productive, and
thus maximizing the role of successful departments To be a building block for the foundation of partnership between the public and the private, and we are in the process of strengthening the state’s support in the scene of market liberalism, in which globalization capitalists are trying to replace their authority with the authority of the state, and it is also important to adopt a mechanism that does not overlook the small details in the stages of integration.
A legal system that regulates the transition process and prevents the “comrador” class from taking over the state banking sector, as in the experiences of developing countries that witnessed such a transformation. https://alsabaah.iq/83172-.html
