Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 02 February 2015
Econintersect: Here are some of the headlines we found to help you start your day. For more headlines see our afternoon feature for GEI members, What We Read Today, which has many more headlines and a number of article discussions to keep you abreast of what we have found interesting.
Global
Asian shares slip as crude resumes drop (Reuters) Asian shares fell on Tuesday as crude oil prices slid on oversupply fears and after downbeat manufacturing data raised concerns about sluggish global economic growth. Spreadbetters predicted European bourses would follow Asia lower, with IG predicting Britain’s FTSE 100 .FTSE would start trading down 0.6%. Germany’s DAX .GDAXI was seen falling 0.7%, and France’s CAC 40 .FCHI was expected to open down 0.6%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was down about 1%. Japan’s Nikkei .N225 ended down 0.6% as investors locked in profits after two straight days of big gains following the Bank of Japan’s decision to introduce negative interest rates late last week.
Google on course to become world’s most valuable company (City A.M.) Google jumped as much as 8.4% to $813 per share in after hours trading, putting it on course to oust Apple as the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization when regular trading resumes tomorrow. Google’s new parent company Alphabet reported annual revenue rose 18% to $21.33 billion (£14.8 billion) in the three months ended December 31. Econintersect: The most criticized article ever posted on Seeking Alpha by John Lounsbury: Can Google Swallow Apple? (2010) which discussed the forthcoming product battles between the two companies. Apple fans were outraged.
Morgan Stanley: This Is What a World Without Oil Looks Like (Bloomberg) There is a lot in this article. One is how the oil crash distorts broad economic measurements (see the two graphs below). Another is why shale oil has completely changed the global oil markets (see the video below).
U.S.
Cruz tops Trump in Iowa; Clinton, Sanders too close to call (Associated Press) Ted Cruz played his trump card and defeated Donald Trump in the Republican Iowa caucuses. Marco Rubio ran a very strong third. Convention delegates are expected to be divided 8, 7, 6 for the top three candidates with 9 delegates divided up across the rest of the field. In the Democratic caucus Hillary Clinton appeared to win 22 delegates and Bernie Sanders 21, with one undecided.
Inside the Fed’s `D-Day’ War Games for Breach of U.S. Debt Limit (Bloomberg) At the Federal Reserve, they called it “D-Day,” the day the U.S. hits its debt ceiling. According to documents obtained by Republican staffers of the House Financial Services Committee, the central bank and Treasury Department held detailed calls and exchanged e-mails to discuss what they would do if the government ran out of borrowing authority to pay its bills — a scenario referred to in one instance as “doomsday.” The issue of prioritizing government payments was a partisan bone of contention during debt-ceiling debates of 2013. The Obama administration publicly contended that choosing who gets paid first is tantamount to default. Republicans sought assurances that such a strategy could be done, and subpoenas were issued to learn the specifics. The more than 200 pages of internal Fed documents, released Monday by the committee on its website, give a detailed window into the contingency planning by the central bank and Treasury in case Congress failed to raise the debt limit.
Snowstorm to bury Denver, blast high winds across southwestern US on Monday (AccuWeather, MSN Weather) A storm that brought heavy rain and gusty thunderstorms to Southern California will push heavy snow across the Colorado Rockies and bring potentially damaging winds across New Mexico and western Texas. This system was responsible for numerous downed trees and power lines in many counties across Southern California as heavy thunderstorms rolled ashore on Sunday afternoon.
EU
The Lurking Crisis of Bank Deposits (George Friedman, This Week in Geopolitics) Hat tip to Rob Carter. There is a new potential crisis in the ,alformation known as the eurozone. There is a dispute within the eurozone over who should ultimately be responsible for guaranteeing deposits that, under European laws, are protected even in the case of a bail-in. This is a familiar scenario: the EU once again discovers its original dictum would lead to disaster, so it changes its course to find a solution that is acceptable to all members. In other words, we are now at the point of paralysis. But this time it is paralysis over an issue with catastrophic implications. For more on this see Ellen Brown’s article at the end of December: A Crisis Worse Than ISIS? Bail-Ins Begin.
Germany
Do they really want your money back? op-ed in Bild Zeitung (Yanis Varoufakis) YV has cointributed to GEI. Former Greek finance minister Varoufakis asks if the policy of shrinking the Greek economy is one that will have any chance of German money lent to Greece ever being repaid. He asks if there are other motivations that repayment.
Sweden
Swedish Strawscaper harvests energy from the wind with a kinetic hair-covered shell (inhabitat) Every once in a while an idea comes along that is so unlike anything before that it defies reference. Take Belatchew Lab Architecture’s Strawscraper, a skyscraper covered in hair that can harness the energy of the wind. The building looks as though it belongs at the bottom of the sea, with its long anemone-like hair, but its technology is planted firmly on the terra firma of the future. Electricity is generated using the piezoelectric effect. There are more photos with the article.
Pakistan
Islamicide: How the Mullah Mafia Is Destroying Pakistan (The Daily Beast) Examples of extreme religion: a boy cuts off his own right hand because it offended God; pedophilia is holy; and to question is to risk execution. Pakistan is a nation in thrall to suicidal fanaticism.
Canada
The Biggest Cash Hoard in Canada’s History (Ari Charney, Investing Daily) AC contributes to GEI. According to economists with CIBC, Canadians are sitting on an extra C$75 billion in cash above and beyond what they would be holding under normal circumstances. CIBC estimates that amount is equivalent to the total value of Canada’s overall personal liquid assets. And cash is piling up at the highest rate in four years, with idle money having risen 11% year over year. However, Canadian consumers aren’t alone in this trend. The country’s private non-financial corporations reportedly had nearly C$700 billion in cash collecting on their balance sheets as recently as the first quarter of last year. Econintersect: There was a discussion of whether excessive saving is good or bad in What We Read Today yesterday (01 February).
