Early Headlines: Tsipras Resigns, Twin Typhoons, China Manufacturing Weakest in 6 Years, North Korea in “Wartime State” and More

Early Bird Headlines 21 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.

Global

• 2 typhoons over Pacific: 1 could strike Japan, clip Philippines, Taiwan (CNN) Spectacular weather image.
  

Click for large image with wider view at CNN.

U.S.

• So Long September: Bond Traders Defer Their Date With the Fed (Bloomberg Business) Traders gearing up for the Federal Reserve to raise interest-rates next month reversed course Wednesday after minutes from the central bank’s July meeting showed policy makers were still waffling on whether the economy is strong enough to warrant higher borrowing costs. This report is for Wednesday – see next article for Thursday.
  
• Traders Sound Fed Policy-Error Alarm as Inflation Outlook Dives (Bloomberg Business) The bond market is sending a warning to the Federal Reserve: a false step could leave the U.S. bogged down in a disinflationary quagmire well into the next decade. The drop in inflation expectations has accelerated since the Fed’s July meeting, where policy makers appeared intent on raising interest rates before year-end. Two-year Treasury breakevens fell to within a quarter-percentage point of zero Thursday. What’s more, expectations for inflation in Germany have fallen to 0.37 percent over the next five years, while in the U.K. they’ve tumbled to 2.25 percent, down 0.44 percentage point from just three months earlier. Econintersect: In other words the global debt deflation cycle is still in full swing.
• Here’s Why the Close Collaboration Between the NSA and AT&T Matters (ProPublica) New disclosures about the National Security Agency’s partnership with AT&T could reignite constitutional challenges to the spy agency’s efforts to wiretap the Internet. See comprehensive article at GEI News for full background.
• Danny becomes hurricane with 80-mph winds (CNN) The first hurricane of a quiet-so-far Atlantic tropical storm season has formed far out in the Atlantic. It is not expected to make landfall until late Sunday in the Leeward Islands and Monday in Puerto Rico. Present conditions indicate it might weaken to tropical storm status by the time it gets to Puerto Rico.

EU

• France, Britain sign security pact to tackle Calais refugee crisis (Al Jazeera) France and Britain announced new security measures on Thursday to tackle human trafficking from the Calais refugee camps, beefing up the sites with new cameras and fences. But critics say the deal lacks a comprehensive humanitarian framework to help people resettle and improve living conditions at the camps.

Greece

• Tsipras resigns, paving way for snap Greek election (Reuters) Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras resigned on Thursday, hoping to strengthen his hold on power in snap elections after seven months in office in which he fought Greece’s creditors for a better bailout deal but had to cave in.

Israel

• Israel fires missiles into Syria after rocket attack (BBC News) An Israeli aircraft has fired missiles at a building in Syria’s Golan Heights in response to a rocket strike on an Israeli village, according to reports. Syrian state TV said “several missiles” had hit a transport center and public building in the Height’s Quneitra area. Earlier rockets landed near a village in northern Israel. There are no reports of injuries in either attack.

China

• China factory activity falls to weakest in over six years (BBC News) Factory activity in the world’s second largest economy, China, shrank at its fastest pace in more than six years in August. See GEI News report for more details.
• China continues cash injections into money market (China Daily) China’s central bank pumped another 120 billion yuan (nearly $19 billion) into major commercial banks and brokerages via reverse repurchase agreement (repo) on Thursday. It is the second reverse repo this week after the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) unexpectedly put the same amount of liquidity into the market on Tuesday. The first marked the largest single-day cash injection since Jan 2014.
• China’s breakdown reveals the problem with the engine (The Age) The ongoing “train wreck” on the Shanghai Stock Exchange shows how the country’s economic reform plans have been derailed by the domineering style of China’s president, says a leading expert. Barry Naughton, an authority on China’s long reform journey, says the “sheer incompetence” of recent policy moves has exposed how reform priorities have been overridden by the political imperatives of boosting Xi Jinping’s political program and personal image.

North Korea

• North Korea leader orders army to be ready for war (Al Jazeera) Kim Jong-un quoted as ordering army units to “enter wartime state” after exchange of artillery shells with South Korea. At least part of the impetus for the artillery exchange (there were no reported casualties) was North Korea objections to Soth Korea loud speakers projecting propaganda across the border.

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