Early Headlines: Asia Stocks Mixed, Dollar Up, Oil Mixed, Gold Down, Yields Up, Trump Polls Mixed Swing States, Impeachment, Giuliani, US Storms, China Slows More, UK Sell NHS?, Iran Banks Burn, Plus More - 23 Articles, 9 Graphics

Early Bird Headlines 26 November 2019

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, published Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 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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Notice: There will be no Early Bird column Thursday 28 November and Friday 29 November. The next column will appear Monday 02 December.

Key Articles

Global

Asia stocks mixed as investors wait for concrete developments on US-China trade (CNBC) Shares in Asia were mixed on Wednesday as investors looked for concrete developments on U.S.-China trade as the threat of increased tariffs looms. Mainland Chinese stocks shed gains from an earlier recovery to end their trading day lower. The U.S. dollar index was higher at 98.355 after seeing an earlier low below 98.3. Oil prices were little changed in the afternoon of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures flat at $64.27 per barrel. U.S. crude futures were fractionally lower at $58.38 per barrel. Spot gold fell 0.2% to $1,458.85 per ounce by 0751 GMT. Prices touched a two-week low of $1,450.30 in the previous session. U.S. gold futures shed 0.1% to $1,458.70. U.S. treasury yields were higher.

U.S.

They Voted Democratic. Now They Support Trump. (The New York Times) Midterm victories in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin gave Democrats hope of retaking the Rust Belt battleground states that handed the presidency to Donald J. Trump in 2016. Yet success in the midterms might not mean as much for Democratic presidential candidates as the party might think. Nearly two-thirds of voters in six battleground states who voted for President Trump in 2016 – but for Democratic congressional candidates in 2018 – say they intend to back the president against each of his top rivals. See One Year From Election, Trump Trails Biden but Leads Warren in Battlegrounds. Differences are within measurement error.

Report: Review details effort to justify Ukraine decision (Associated Press) The White House undertook a confidential review of documents that revealed extensive efforts to generate an after-the-fact justification for President Donald Trump’s decision to hold up military aid to Ukraine.

the research was conducted by the White House Counsel’s Office. Among the hundreds of documents found were email exchanges between acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and White House budget officials seeking to provide an explanation for the withholding of nearly $400 million in security assistance.

a person briefed on the records examination said White House lawyers are expressing concern that the review turned up some unflattering and potentially embarrassing exchanges. But it was unclear if the records posed any legal problems for Trump.

Trump distances himself from Giuliani’s Ukraine efforts (CBS News) President Trump tried to distance himself from his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s efforts related to Ukraine on Tuesday in an interview with radio host Bill O’Reilly. In the interview for BillOReilly.com, O’Reilly asked the president what Giuliani was, “doing in Ukraine on your behalf.” Mr. Trump denied that he had ever directed Giuliani to go to Ukraine on his behalf. However, in May The New York Times reported that Giuliani had planned to go to Ukraine that month, to urge the government their to open several investigations that could aid the president. The president said:

“Well, you have to ask that to Rudy, but Rudy, I don’t, I don’t even know. I know he was going to go to Ukraine, and I think he canceled a trip. But, you know, Rudy has other clients, other than me. I’m one person.”

Storms cause travel nightmare for millions ahead of Thanksgiving (CBS News) Just hours before millions of Americans head home for Thanksgiving, back-to-back storms may be ruining their plans. Two out of three people will feel the impact from heavy snow and rain to hurricane force finds. Snow is flying and flights are finally getting off the ground in Denver. But more than 2,000 flights were canceled or delayed Tuesday in the U.S. The roads are a mess too. As that storm pushes east, another powerful storm is hitting the West Coast, where a rare late-November wildfire threatened thousands of homes. Those two storms could mess up travel plans until the Monday morning commute. Follow all the latest news at LIVE ALL WEEK: Weather 25 November Through 1 December 2019 where the following 60-hour animated weather forecast is continually updated (along with many other detailed graphics and weather summaries):

China

China’s October industrial profits post biggest fall since 2011 amid trade war and sliding producer prices (South China Morning Post)

Profits at China’s industrial enterprises shrank 9.9 per cent in October from a year earlier, the biggest fall since 2011
The contraction shows continued problems for the world’s second largest economy as it battles slow growth amid a trade war with the United States
Growth is at its slowest pace in nearly three decades.