Are insider traders making millions from the Iran war?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. S-Market. Oma varallisuus on elämämme henkilökohtaisimpia asioita. Kun se luottaa toisen hoidettavaksi, pitää sen olla henkilökohtaista myös hänelle. Me OP Privatella ymmärrämme tämän hyvin. Myös jokaisella meistä on oma taloutemme, jota huolellisesti vaalimme. Samalla sitoutumisella suhtaudumme myös sinun varojesi hoitoon. OP Private. Otamme varojesi hoidon henkilökohtaisesti. Tutustu palveluun. op.fi kautta private. Varainhoidon tarjoaa Osuspankki tai OP Varainhoito O. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton, and at 1500 GMT on Monday, the 20th of April, these are our main stories. A BBC investigation has found that traders have repeatedly bet huge sums just before major announcements by President Trump, raising suspicions of insider trading.
We have the latest on the chances of peace talks between the United States and Iran to end the war. The Iranians like to take as long as possible before they make what are really difficult political concessions. President Trump likes to take as little time as possible. And we'll hear how the fighting in the Middle East is affecting businesses in Kenya. Also in this podcast, an earthquake in Japan leads to a tsunami warning and evacuations. And residents of burnt-out tower blocks in Hong Kong return to see inside their destroyed homes. We begin with a BBC investigative story. Throughout Donald Trump's second term and particularly during the US-Israel war with Iran, we've seen how his words can impact the global economy.
Now, the BBC's found evidence of trading on financial markets spiking in the hours and sometimes minutes before the president's statements are made. Some analysts say it looks like illegal insider trading, where bets are made based on information that is not available to the public. Others say the picture is more complicated. Our business reporter in Singapore, Nick Marsh, has been looking into this. I asked him for an example of when it's happened.
Nine days into the war, Donald Trump gives an interview to CBS News.
I just spoke with President Trump a short time ago, and he said that he thinks the war is very complete, pretty much.
So understandably, the price of oil plummets because there's the prospect of the Strait of Hormuz completely reopening and world oil flows getting back to what they were. That statement was first reported on X. at 16 minutes past three Eastern Time on the 9th of March, 47 minutes before, there's a very, very noticeable spike in oil contracts being traded worth millions and millions of dollars. That's unusual for that time of day on a Monday. These traders who put this money on oil, basically, will have made an awful lot of money from it through a strategy known as short selling. You know, when the price of oil goes down, probably don't have time to get into that. But rest assured, they will have made an awful lot of money through that.
So, Nick, how did you find this information? Was it easy to find? And is it the same traders placing these suspicious trades each time?
Well, look, this is publicly available information. And there are other market analysts who have been pointing this out all throughout Donald Trump's presidency that there are unusual trade activities that have occurred. In terms of who placed these trades, It's very difficult to know. The only people who know who placed these trades are the traders themselves, potentially anyone that supplied them with the information on which these trades were placed, and also, crucially, the US financial regulators. They do have the ability to investigate and find out who were placing these trades. I reached out to the CFTC, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, They didn't respond to me, but their chair has been speaking recently about the need to crack down on insider trading.
The same goes for the Securities and Exchange Commission, which look after the stock market. But when I specifically put these specific instances, which were analysed in my report, I didn't get any updates on to how those investigations were going or indeed whether they had even started.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–7:56
2
What evidence suggests insider trading related to the Iran war?
7:56–13:08
3
How do market analysts interpret trading spikes before Trump's announcements?
13:08–17:23
4
What are the implications of Trump's statements on oil prices?
17:23–22:35
5
What factors complicate the investigation into these trades?
22:35–27:51
Speakers
10 identifiedMore from Global News Podcast
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