Early Bird Headlines 24 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
- Asian stocks swoon as China stock rout accelerates (CNBC) Asian stocks swooned further on Monday, touching multi-year lows, as the meltdown in China’s equity markets accelerated in the morning trading session. The latest on China markets under ‘China’ below.
- Dwindling Reserves Force Southeast Asia to Escalate Currency War (Bloomberg Business) Southeast Asia’s dwindling foreign-exchange holdings are exacerbating the risk of a currency war as policy makers have little choice but to allow exchange rates to weaken. Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore are all worried.
U.S.
- Chartist Who Got It Right on China Sees Dollar Gains Versus Euro (Bloomberg Business) Thomas Schroeder, the strategist who called the top of China’s stock market in April, expects the dollar to wobble before resuming its rally in 2016 when he sees it reaching a 14-year peak. See next article.
- U.S. Dollar Index Historical Chart (Macrotrends) A 14-year peak for the dollar index would be less than the peaks of 2000 and 1001. If higher then we would have a 30-year peak.
- The EPA Doesn’t Know How to Deal With 300 Million Tons of Animal Poop (Bloomberg) The EPA delays promised rules to control the waste from massive U.S. meat growing facilities. Former EPA officials say the agency faces a hostile Congress urging it to go easy on the animal farms. Budget cuts have also constrained its ability to act.
EU
- Thousands of refugees head closer to EU from Macedonia (Al Jazeera) Thousands of beleaguered Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans fleeing bloody conflicts crammed into trains and buses in Macedonia. Hungary is the next barricade – that country is building a razor wire fence on its frontier to keep them out. If they manage to enter Hungary, the refugees could travel freely across the borders of most of the 28 EU member states.
UK
- Foreign buyers undeterred by London sell-offs (Financial Times) A series of foreign investors who bought properties in central London after the financial crisis have sold up, flipping their properties and pocketing massive profits as rising flows of later-stage capital continue to push up the city’s property prices. But this does not deter others from abroad to come in and keep bidding up the prices of London commercial real estate. Econintersect: Is there a head on that stout yet?
Israel
- Israel turns to Kurds for three-quarters of its oil supplies (Financial Times) Israel has imported as much as three-quarters of its oil from Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish north in recent months, providing a vital source of funds to the cash-strapped region as it fights militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis). The sales are a sign of Iraqi Kurdistan’s growing assertiveness and the further fraying of ties between Erbil and Baghdad, which has long harbored fears that the Kurds’ ultimate objective is full-scale independence from Iraq. Iraqi Kurdistan is making into world markets, with Italy, France and Greece also emerging as big buyers.
Nepal
- Closed since Nepal earthquake, Everest opens to climbers (Al Jazeera) Nepal has opened Mount Everest to climbers for the first time since an earthquake-triggered avalanche in April.
China
- Chinese stocks crash as Shanghai drops over 8 per cent (South China Morning Post) Chinese stocks were engulfed by a wave of selling on Monday morning, with stocks in Shanghai wiping out all the gains they had posted for the year and the is now trading in negative territory for 2015. The Shanghai Composite index was trading at 3,221.67 at 10:15 am, down 8.16% for the day and down 0.02% for 2015.
- Shanghai Composite Streaming Chart (Investing.com) After hitting a low nearly -9.1%, the Shanghai Composite bounced in the afternoon session and was down 7.1% with a little over 90 minutes left for the day when the chart below was captured. Last minute update: The market faded into the close to end up down 8.49% for the day.
Click on chart for latest streaming data.
- Yuan May Weaken to 6.50 Per Dollar in Near Term (Bloomberg Business) Kelvin Tay, Singapore-based regional chief investment officer at UBS Wealth Management thinks that there will soon be further devaluation of the yuan. This is contrary to the opinion of GEI associate Yichao Wang. See Is It A One-Off Depreciation For China?
Australia
- UK tourist rescued after SOS message in sand in Australia (BBC News) A British tourist who was lost for two days in a remote area of northern Australia has described being rescued after writing an SOS in the sand. Geoff Keys, 63, lost his way in July after trying to find an isolated waterfall in the Jardine National Park in the state of Queensland. His disappearance led to a big search by helicopters and other rescuers. Police told the Brisbane Times newspaper that writing the message had probably saved his life.
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