The United States cannot prevent Iran’s export of oil, the country said. According to Reuters:

The United States will not be able to stop Iran exporting its oil and any move to prevent Iranian crude shipments passing through the Gulf would lead to all oil exports through the waterway being blocked, Iran’s president said on Tuesday.

The United States has imposed sanctions on Iran and U.S. officials say they aim to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero in a bid to curb the Islamic Republic’s missile program and regional influence.

A prominent member of Congress said a government shutdown can be prevented. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell predicted lawmakers would avert a government shutdown when a proposed stopgap measure expires later this month, saying neither party wants the political blame for a lapse in funding.

“I don’t think we’ll get to that point,” Mr. McConnell said Monday, addressing the annual meeting of The Wall Street Journal CEO Council. The Kentucky Republican suggested that President Trump negotiate with Democrats, whom he said were “not irrelevant” in Washington after last month’s midterm elections gave the party control of the House.

SpaceX posted a record with the number of rockets it launched this year. According to The Wall Street Journal:

A successful rocket launch Monday by Elon Musk’s SpaceX marked twin milestones for the company’s drive to ease access for commercial satellites into orbit.

It was the 19th launch this year for the closely held company, formally called Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Its previous record was 18 missions last year, and the company projects several more launches by the end of the year.

OPEC and Russia are closer to oil output cuts. According to Bloomberg:

OPEC and its allies gather in Vienna this week to discuss production cuts after the biggest monthly drop in oil prices in a decade.

They have the broad outlines of a deal after Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed over the weekend to extend their cooperation into 2019, but details are lacking. Whether the group brings about the end of the oil rout will depend on the size of any cut, how clearly it’s communicated and whether members follow through on what they’ve promised

JPMorgan Asset Management favors cash over stocks. According to Bloomberg:

Cash isn’t only a safe place to invest, it now offers a better risk-adjusted return than equities, according to JPMorgan Asset Management.

That was highlighted by the firm’s multi-asset strategy team, with $260 billion under management, which upgraded its recommendation on U.S. cash to overweight for 2019. For the first time in a decade, investors can get a lot more from safe, liquid securities than from the S&P 500 Index, adjusted for volatility, they argued.

A hack of Quora exposed 100 million records. According to CNBC:

Quora, the popular question-and-answer website, said Monday evening that hackers broke into one of its systems and compromised information from approximately 100 million users.

CEO Adam D’Angelo said in a blog post the company discovered last week that a malicious third party had gained unauthorized access to one of its systems.

Account information, including names, email addresses and encrypted passwords, may have been illegally accessed, according to the post. User-imported data from other social networks could also have been taken.

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