Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 25 November 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.
Note: From now to 03 December there may be occasions where Early Bird appears at irregular times and may have some shorter than usual content because 1/2 of our limited staff is on vacation.
Global
Asia stocks stumble on geopolitical tensions, oil retreats (Reuters) Asian stocks were on edge on Wednesday with most markets stumbling as geopolitical tensions flared after Turkey downed a Russian fighter jet, while crude oil prices eased from two-week highs. Australian shares dipped 0.5%. South Korea’s Kospi .KS11 lost 0.2%and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng .HSI dropped 0.5%. Japan’s Nikkei .N225 also shed 0.5%.
Introducing the New OPEC Member That Likes Lower Oil Prices (Bloomberg) After defending the interests of oil-exporting nations for five decades, OPEC has made a surprising choice with its newest member: a country that consumes about twice as much crude as it pumps.Indonesia will rejoin the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries as its 13th nation next month, almost seven years after suspending its membership. The country says that as OPEC’s only Asian constituent it will provide a vital link to the region where demand is growing fastest. Still, saddled with an oil-import bill of about $13 billion last year, Indonesia makes an unlikely addition to the exporters’ club.
U.S
Since ’01, Clintons collected $35M from financial businesses (Associated Press) Hillary Rodham Clinton wants voters to know she is no friend of Wall Street. But Wall Street has frequently been a friend to her. In the 18 months prior to announcing her second campaign for president, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination addressed private equity investors in California, delivered remarks to bankers in Hilton Head, South Carolina and spoke to brokers at the Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida. Her efforts capped a nearly 15-year period in which Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, made at least $35 million by giving 164 speeches to financial services, real estate and insurance companies after leaving the White House in 2001, according to an Associated Press analysis of public disclosure forms and records released by her campaign. The long an lucrative relationhp between th Clinton family has emerged as a key issue in her Democratic primary race. Her rivals, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, accuse her of being too cozy with Wall Street and the industry she once represented as a senator from New York.
Middle-class Americans forced to live in cars (Al Jazeera)
Germany
German Business Confidence Rises in Sign of Robust Economy (Bloomberg) German business confidence unexpectedly rose in a sign that Europe’s largest economy is robust enough to weather risks including a global slowdown and Volkswagen AG’s emissions scandal. The Ifo institute’s business climate index climbed to 109 in November, the highest level since June 2014, from 108.2 in October. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists was for the measure to stay unchanged. Ifo said the Paris terror attacks didn’t have a negative impact on the survey data.
Syria
Turkey Russia jet: Marine killed in pilot rescue bid (BBC News) A Russian marine has been killed on a helicopter mission to rescue the crew of a jet downed by Turkey near the Syrian border on Tuesday. He died when his helicopter came under fire from rebels in northern Syria, where the plane crashed. Rebel fire from the ground killed one of the jet’s two crew members after they ejected. The head of NATO said it stood in solidarity with Turkey as the Kremlin warned of “serious consequences“.
China
China seeks to deepen ties with global accounting rules (The Business Times) China will look at how its international companies could make greater use of cross-border accounting rules to better inform investors, the Chinese authorities and a global accounting body said on Tuesday. The London-based International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Chinese Ministry of Finance said they had created a working group to build on a decade-old cooperation agreement.
Brazil
Exclusive – Brazil’s Petrobras corruption investigators to probe Olympic contracts (Reuters) Brazilian police investigating corruption around state-run oil firm Petrobras also plan to probe more than $10 billion of construction contracts for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, a lead investigator said. Some of the big engineering firms caught up in the Petrobras probe “very probably” broke laws against price-fixing and bribery on contracts to build Olympic venues, said Igor Romario, a Federal Police chief and key figure in the investigation. Romario told Reuters in a telephone interview:
“In every situation where there has been an investigation into contracts with these companies, this model of corruption was repeated. It’s possible that it was repeated in the projects for the 2016 Olympics.”
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