Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 08 July 2017
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.
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Global
- Correlations across global markets remain relatively low (The Daily Shot) This is encouraging. Major financial problems often happen when global asset correlations reach high levels.
U.S.
- Resigning ethics director says Trump businesses appear to profit from presidency (The Hill) Walter Shaub, the leader of the federal government’s ethics office who announced his resignation on Thursday, suggested that Trump-brand businesses are benefiting from Donald Trump’s presidency. When asked during a CBS News interview on Thursday whether Trump’s businesses were benefiting from his time in office, Shaub said he “can’t be sure“. He elaborated:
“I can’t know what their intention is. I know that the effect is that there is an appearance that the businesses are profiting from his occupying the presidency. And appearance matters as much as reality.”
- At G-20, world aligns against Trump policies ranging from free trade to climate change (The Washington Post) The pictures tell the story. The first below is the G-20 group photo from The WaPo; the second is from Twitter.
- DeVos’s Hard Line on New Education Law Surprises States (The New York Times) Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who made a career of promoting local control of education, has signaled a surprisingly hard-line approach to carrying out an expansive new federal education law, issuing critical feedback that has rattled state school chiefs and conservative education experts alike. The Dept. of Education is notifying some states that their compliance with the Obama era “Every Student Succeeds Act” is “not ambitious enough”. This has “incited … outrage from conservative observers“.
- There’s still one giant problem with the US jobs picture (CNBC) For additional in-depth analysis see June 2017 BLS Jobs Situation Mixed.
- The economy added 222,000 in June but wage growth remains muted at just 2.5 percent annually.
- Even with the low inflation, the Fed plans on raising interest rates later this year.
- Wall Street worries that the combination of low inflation and tighter monetary policy could lead to recession.
- CDC cuts likely as Georgia doctor with Republican party ties is named head (The Guardian) Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, former policy adviser to Newt Gingrich, to lead top federal public health agency that faces funding cut of $1.2 billion under Trump budget.
The Atlanta-based CDC, which has a budget of about $12bn, investigates disease outbreaks, researches the cause and frequency of health problems and promotes prevention efforts. It is the only federal agency based outside Washington DC and has nearly 12,000 employees and 10,000 contractors worldwide.
- Amazon only boasts a mere 5 percent share of total retail sales, excluding food, across the country, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
- But Amazon’s market share is going to rapidly accelerate, MKM Partners’ Rob Sanderson writes in a note to investors.
- This, as other big names in the retail space are seeing their margins shrink as these companies try to compete with Amazon.com.
EU
- ‘Battle mood’ EU threatens bourbon whiskey in US steel trade row (The Guardian) The European Union is prepared to impose countermeasures within days if Donald Trump takes action to protect the US steel industry, the European commission president has said. In one of the most serious warnings of a tit-for-tat response if the US resorts to protectionist measures, Jean-Claude Juncker said the EU was “in elevated battle mood“. Targets could include American whiskey exports.
- The ECB is Fixated on (Lack of) Inflation (The Daily Shot)
Saudi Arabia
- Bank lending in Saudi Arabia continues to contract (The Daily Shot) Money creation in Saudi Arabia is negative (money is contracting). See xxxxx for explanation. Recession is around the corner unless this reverses.
Russia
- Trump-Putin meeting dominates G20 as Russia denies interfering in US election (The Guardian) Putin reportedly denied any involvement in hacking interference with the U.S. election. Donald Trump began his highly anticipated first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin since his election with a direct warning to stop interfering in American elections, the US secretary of state said on Friday. See also Whatever was said, Putin will claim a win from his long talk with Trump.
Australia
- Tesla to build world’s biggest lithium ion battery in South Australia (The Guardian) Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla, will build the world’s largest lithium ion battery to store renewable energy in South Australia in partnership with French energy utility Neoen. The 129MWh battery, which is paired with a wind farm, is designed to improve the security of electricity supplies across South Australia. The state government said Musk had confirmed his pledge made on Twitter in March that he could deliver the battery within 100 days of signing the contract or it would be delivered free. But Tesla is not thr only huge battery/renewable system foe Australia this years. See also next article.
- South Australia to get $1bn solar farm and world’s biggest battery (The Guardian) A huge $1 billion solar farm and battery project will be built and ready to operate in South Australia’s Riverland region by the end of the year. The battery storage developer Lyon Group says the system will be the biggest of its kind in the world, boasting 3.4 million solar panels and 1.1 million batteries.
