Early Headlines: Has China Ruined Its Brand?, US Year of the Outsiders, ISIS Hit List, Judge Hammers NFL, Rate Hike May be Delayed and More

Early Bird Headlines 13 August 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.

U.S.

• It’s not just Trump: Voter anger fuels outsider candidates (The Washington Post) This has become the summer of the political outsider, as a cast of interlopers upend and dominate the presidential nominating process in both parties. The surging candidacies of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are fueled by people’s anger with the status quo and desire for authenticity in political leaders. Across the ideological spectrum, candidates are gaining traction by separating themselves from the political and economic system that many everyday Americans view as rigged against them.
• New chapter unfolds in North Carolina’s Lost Colony of Roanoke (The Roanoke Times) Archaeologists have recovered artifacts believed to be from the lost colony 60 miles inland from where they were last seen. For additional background see GEI news.
• Judge hammers NFL about lack of direct evidence in DeflateGate case against Tom Brady (New York Daily News) U.S. District Judge Richard Berman Wednesday in Manhattan federal court presiding over the NFL requested hearing to affirm its suspension of Brady last month:
  

  “What is the evidence of a scheme or conspiracy that covers the Jan. 18 game? I’m having trouble finding it.”

• U.S. Retail Sales Could Deliver Blow to September Hike Expectations (Market Pulse) The retail sales report to be published at 8:30 EDT this morning could go a long way toward putting a nail in the coffin of the widely anticipated September rate hike by the Fed. With all the turmoil created by the Chinese devaluation and the related weakening of the dollar, not much more would be needed for the Fed to pass on September action. The U.S. Treasury market has reflected that opinion the last couple of days with a sharp drop in rates.
• Isis ‘hacking division’ releases details of 1,400 Americans and urges attacks (The Guardian) ISIS has released a spreadsheet listing names, email addresses, phone numbers and passwords of US military and government staff. ISIS is urging lone wolves to “act and kill“. Other nations have persons included on the list. The Marine Corp says the list is out of date.

EU

• CAPE: Relative Valuation US vs. Europe and Developed Markets (Star Capital)

Click for large image at Star Capital.

UK

• Labour faces ‘annihilation’ under Jeremy Corbyn, Tony Blair warns in dramatic late intervention (The Telegraph) With the party leadership election results announcement just one month away, former Labour PM Tony Blair speaks out to say the party faces ‘annihilation‘ under Jeremy Corbyn, should he win. With unprecedented rates of registration, supporters of Corbyn and all three of his rivals are making statements charging others are signing up “ringers” who are not true Labourites. For more about Corbyn see next article.

• Coups, splits – or surprising calm? What the Jeremy Corbyn era would look like for Labour (New Statesman) A review of a rather benign party leadership projected for the man that Tony Blair says would annihilate the party. What is his political “platform”? See next article.
• What are Jeremy Corbyn’s policies? 7 the public love … and 3 more they hate (Mirror) Here is an easy to read summary.

Italy

• Italian woman reunited with daughter she had with Nazi soldier 70 years ago (The Telegraph) An Italian woman, now 91, fell in love with a soldier during Second World War, but their baby girl was soon taken away from her. After years of questioning by the daughter they have finally been reunited in the northern Italian village of Novellara in the region of Emilia Romagna.

China

• China’s yuan move puts global image at stake (The Washington Post) China’s rapidly weakening currency is shattering the economic juggernaut’s carefully managed image of prosperity and threatening to set back the U.S. recovery just as it is gaining traction. On its face, China’s move to give greater consideration to market forces as it sets the value of its currency appeared to be a bid to burnish its reputation among the world’s economic elite by bolstering the case for the yuan’s acceptance as a global reserve currency. But many investors feared it also amounted to an acknowledgment that growth is sagging in the export-heavy country – and that officials are running out of ways to prop it back up. Econintersect: It might be said that if China catches a bad cold the world will come down with pneumonia.
• China weakens yuan for a third straight day on Thursday (CNBC) The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) weakened the yuan against the dollar for a third consecutive day on Thursday, following reports the central bank intervened to stem the currency’s sharp slide late on Wednesday. For full background and what happened on Friday (today), see GEI News: China Joins the Currency Wars: Updated

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