Early Bird Headlines 25 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
- The World’s Richest People Lost Another $124 Billion on Monday (Bloomberg Business) A billion here, a billion there and pretty soon it adds up[ to real money. (Apologies to former Senator Everett Dirksen.)
- Carbon credits undercut climate change actions says report (BBC News) Issuing tradable/sellable carbon credits are supposed to make burning large amounts of fossil fuels expensive and encourage carbon footprint reduction. But in some projects, chemicals known to warm the climate were created and then destroyed to claim cash. Econintersect: Is there a system devised by man that cannot be gamed? See next article for more on carbon credits.
- Has Joint Implementation reduced GHG emissions? Lessons learned for the design of carbon market mechanisms (Stockholm Environment Institute) Studies of Ukraine and Russia found that these countries actually increased carbon emissions in order to qualify for credits that were then sold to Europe.
The analysis indicates that about three-quarters of JI offsets are unlikely to represent additional emissions reductions. This suggests that the use of JI offsets may have enabled global GHG emissions to be about 600 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent higher than they would have been if countries had met their emissions domestically.
- What is our Universe made of? (BBC News) We don’t know because we can’t see it. We only know about a small fraction of the matter in the Universe. The rest is a mysterious substance known only as dark matter, representing something that must be there if the laws of physics are operating on the little bit we can observe.
U.S.
- Navajo farmers reject use of water after mine spill (Al Jazeera) The Navajo Nation government is still hesitant to lift restrictions on San Juan River water following toxic spill. Navajo farmers along the San Juan River have voted to keep irrigation gates closed for a year and forego a year of crops in order to avoid the possibility of contaminating their soil. Off the reservation normal use of the river water have resumed.
- Was This a Flash Crash? And Other Questions About Monday’s Swoon (Bloomberg) Larry Summers tweeted Monday that “we could be in the early stage of a very serious situation.” See more about markets elsewhere in the world in other parts of this post.
Turkey
- US, Turkey to launch ‘comprehensive’ anti-ISIL operation (Al Jazeera) Allies agree to provide cover for what Washington judges to be moderate rebels. Turkey says it will also continue attacks against the militant Kurdish group, PKK, which has been waging a 30-year insurgency against Turkey.
Japan
- Japanese Nikkei Trying to Rebound from morning lows down 5.3%. (Investing.com) In afternoon trading the Nikkei 225 had recovered to down 1.8%. To get the latest streaming chart at Investing.com, click on chart below and then open Majors menu upper left hand corner.
China
- China’s economy: The key flaw that’s shaking markets (Prof. Timothy S. Fuerst, Univ. of Notre Dame, CNN) Prof. Fuerst says that the problem is a banking system that overly finances SOEs (state owned enterprises) resulting in an inefficient distribution of capital. Econintersect: This sounds similar to the Japanese keiretsu that produced the growth bubble in that country that burst 25 years ago.
- The Richest Guy in Asia Loses $3.6 Billion in the Market Rout (Bloomberg Business) Asia’s richest person,m Wang Jianlin, lost $3.6 billion on Monday, the most among all billionaires worldwide, as China’s stock markets had the biggest plunge since 2007 and a wave of selling spread across the globe. Wang lost $2 billion dropped from his large stake in Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties Co. Wang’s wealth was reduced to $31.2 billion as of market close Monday.
- China’s yuan weakens as stock market extends decline (Reuters) China’s yuan dipped against the dollar on Tuesday after closing at its weakest level since 2011 on Monday, hit by another slump in the mainland’s stock market and a weak central bank midpoint. But traders said they believed the yuan’s current range between 6.29 and 6.43 to the dollar was where it would stay for a while and that expectations expressed by some that it would slip to 6.50 were unfounded. The latest rate at Investing.com was at 6.4110 after an early spike to 6.42. Click for latest streaming chart.
- China Continues Crash (Investing.com) In afternoon trading the Shanghai Composite is down another 4.7%, up modestly from the low for the day of -6.2%
Click on chart for latest streaming data.
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