CNBC flew to Venezuela with the U.S. secretary of energy to watch oil deals get signed. A handful of other news organizations came along. Everyone took notes. Someone will turn this into a headline about energy security.
Venezuela has oil. The United States wants oil. These two facts have been true since before your grandfather bought his first worthless penny stock. The secretary of energy flew to Caracas to make new deals happen. CNBC got a seat on the plane. This is what passes for exclusive access in 2024.
The reporter went to Caracas. The reporter saw things. The reporter wrote about what stood out. Not what mattered. Not what changed. What stood out. Like a tourist writing a Yelp review of a dictatorship.
Here's what actually happened: the U.S. government decided Venezuela's oil is more important than Venezuela's everything else. So they sent the energy secretary to shake hands and sign papers. They brought reporters to make it look transparent. The reporters wrote stories about what stood out instead of what it means. And now you're supposed to trade on this information.
You won't. Because this changes nothing. Venezuela had oil yesterday. Venezuela has oil today. The United States needed oil yesterday. The United States needs oil today. The secretary of energy flew there to make it official. CNBC flew there to watch. You're reading about it three news cycles too late.
Retail traders will see this headline and think it's a signal. They'll buy oil futures or some dogsh*t energy ETF. They'll lose money. The secretary of energy will fly home. CNBC will file another exclusive. And Venezuela will still be Venezuela, except now with American signatures on the contracts.
Photo by Eduardo Juhyun Kim on Unsplash
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