24th April 2018

 We had an action-packed start to the week in various markets, with a breaking news story out on Bloomberg setting the tone early in the day. In this regard, the US Treasury announced on Monday that it would give sanctions relief to Russian aluminum giant Rusal if owner Oleg Deripaska cedes control of the company. The Treasury also extended the deadline for companies to wind down their transactions with Rusal by October 23rd, presumably giving time for a Deripaska divestiture to play out, while easing the pressure that many firms are currently under to sever ties with Rusal. In fact, we figured that something could be afoot with a possible US reconsideration of the sanctions on Friday which was when the Financial Times first reported that several European countries were pushing back against Washington, pointing out that their manufacturing supply chains were being strained by the sanctions. The US obviously listened and likely felt it had to in light of upcoming visits this week from both the French President and the German Chancellor.