Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 05 September 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.
Please share this article – Go to very top of page, right hand side for social media buttons.
Global
- Asia markets cautious despite positive Caixin services PMI as Korean Peninsula tensions weigh (CNBC) Indexes in Asia closed mixed after cautious trade on Tuesday after stocks stumbled and investors turned to safe haven assets on the back of North Korea’s recent nuclear test. The dollar index slipped 0.15% to 92.503. U.S. crude added 0.55% to trade at $47.55 a barrel as demand picked up and U.S. refineries started to resume operations. Brent crude slid 0.11% to trade at $52.28 a barrel. Gasoline futures fell 4.13 percent to $1.6757 a gallon, close to levels seen before Hurricane Harvey hit. Spot gold stood at $1,335.21 an ounce at 3:03 p.m. HK/SIN up for the day after touching as high as $1,337.98 earlier in the session.
- IMF tells governments how to subvert public resistance against elimination of cash (Money and more) Hat tip to Roger Erickson.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington has published a Working Paper on “de-cashing”. It gives advice to governments who want to abolish cash against the will of their citizenry. Move slowly, starting with seemingly harmless measures, is part of that advice.
- Bitcoin Tumbles as PBOC Declares Initial Coin Offerings Illegal (Bloomberg) Bitcoin tumbled the most since July after China’s central bank said initial coin offerings are illegal and asked all related fundraising activity to be halted immediately, issuing the strongest regulatory challenge so far to the burgeoning market for digital token sales. The People’s Bank of China said on its website Monday that it had completed investigations into ICOs, and will strictly punish offerings in the future while penalizing legal violations in ones already completed. The regulator said that those who have already raised money must provide refunds, though it didn’t specify how the money would be paid back to investors. Graphic below from Twitter:
U.S.
- Florida governor declares state of emergency over Hurricane Irma (The Hill) Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) has declared a state of emergency affecting every county in Florida in preparation for Hurricane Irma, which has been upgraded to a Category 4 storm. Scott’s order signed Monday notes that the National Hurricane Center predicts the storm will be a “major hurricane located somewhere north of Cuba and south of Andros Island in the Bahamas.” Follow progress at Tracking Irma while also Assessing Harvey Impacts by Sig Silber.
- 100,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged by Harvey – and for survivors the financial toll is just beginning (Business Insider)
- Officials estimate up to 100,000 homes were damaged or destroyed as a result of Harvey.
- The worst of the storm was over by Thursday, August 31, but recovery is expected to last months.
- 325,000 have already applied for assistance from FEMA, the only aid available for the more than 80% of people without flood insurance.
- Most Americans unaware that as U.S. manufacturing jobs have disappeared, output has grown (Pew Research Center) Manufacturing jobs in the United States have declined considerably over the past several decades, even as manufacturing output – the value of goods and products manufactured in the U.S. – has grown strongly. But while most Americans are aware of the decline in employment, relatively few know about the increase in output, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
UK
- DEBATE: Is it likely that the Bank of England will raise interest rates before 2019? (City A.M.) Derek Halpenny, European head of global markets research at MUFG, says YES. Andrew Goodwin, lead UK economist at Oxford Economics, says NO.
- British public open to compromise on Brexit deal, new research finds (The Conversation) A new survey suggests the British public are most in favour of a Norway-style deal with the EU. Overall, diagram below shows value placed by public opinion on various factors:
- London ranked the most prosperous spot in the UK, but its growth is slowing against other regions (City A.M.) London has held its position as the UK’s top spot for prosperity, but growth in the capital is lagging against a backdrop of fluctuating economic conditions and Brexit negotiations, new research suggests. Barclays Wealth & Investments’ annual UK prosperity map, which will be published today, found London’s growth was slowing across a range of indicators measured by the study compared with the rest of the UK.
Spain
- A Catalonian split from Spain could be even worse than Brexit (Business Insider) If the Spanish region of Catalonia breaks away from Spain in a so-called “Catalexit”, it would plunge the region into a long period of uncertainty and could end up having negative effects that “proportionally exceed” those of Brexit according to Dutch bank ING. Among these, Catalonia would automatically be excluded from the EU.
Catalonia aims to hold a referendum at the beginning of October to decide whether or not the region – which includes the city of Barcelona – should declare independence from Spain. The region has engaged in a long battle to preserve its cultural identity.
Japan
- Japan is reportedly working on plans for how it would evacuate its citizens in South Korea if a war were to break out on the Korean Peninsula
- There are about 57,000 Japanese citizens in South Korea at any one time, according to Nikkei Asian Review
South Korea
- South Korea wants to ‘punish’ North Korea with US aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines (Business Insider) As part of a plan to punish North Korea for its provocative intercontinental ballistic missile and nuclear tests, Moon Jae In, South Korea’s president, has looked to increase the country’s offensive missile capabilities and import additional missile defense batteries from the US – both of which signal a more militaristic approach to dealing with Pyongyang. Additionally, Song told South Korea’s parliament he asked Washington to regularly deploy “strategic assets” such as aircraft carriers and nuclear-powered submarines to help punish the North.
Brazil
- Lula’s conviction proves Brazil is strong enough to reform itself (The Conversation) A continuing series of corruption convictions shows that Brazil’s judicial system is working well.
