Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 03 December 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.
This is an abbreviated report with limited discussion. The entire original post was lost in a system crash just before publishing and the editor cannot forgo any more sleep to recreate it.
Global
Global stocks hit, euro shines after ECB wrong-foots traders (Reuters) Asian shares joined a global markets slump on Friday after the European Central Bank’s stimulus package fell well short of markets’ high expectations, sending the euro rocketing to its biggest one-day surge in nearly seven years. European shares were poised for further declines, with financial spreadbetters expecting Britain’s FTSE 100 .FTSE to fall 0.6%, and France’s CAC40 .FCHI and Germany’s DAX .GDAXI to open down 0.8%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.8%, extending losses for the week to 0.3%.
The 11 countries that haven’t made pledges for climate deal (Associated Press) Some are at war, others recovering from natural disasters and some are simply ideologically opposed to the climate deal taking shape in U.N. talks outside Paris. Only 11 countries haven’t submitted pledges for the envisioned agreement, including conflict-ridden Syria, reclusive North Korea and socialist Latin American countries who say it’s up to the West to clean up the world’s carbon pollution.
Molten Salts Might Provide Half-Price Grid Energy Storage (MIT Technology Review) Hat tip to Rob Carter. We have listed this important article before but mention it again with Mr.Carter’s alert. What is important in this process is that lower efficiency of thermal energy storage with molten salts vs. photoelectric storage with batteries may be more than offset by lower cost.
U.S.
U.S. Health Spending Up Most Since ’07, Fueled by Obamacare (Bloomberg) U.S. health-care spending jumped 5.3% last year, the biggest increase since President Barack Obama took office, as millions of people gained insurance coverage under Obamacare. Econintersect: For the 6 years 2009 through 2014 healthcare expenditures have been between 17.3% and 17.5% of GDP, the first time that healthcare costs have not grown for a significant period of time since the years 1992-1999 when they held around 13.5% of GDP for 8 years.
Janet Yellen takes issue with Citi’s recession call (CNBC) It’s not every day that the chair of the Federal Reserve takes a public opinion on a specific piece of Wall Street research. But Thursday, Janet Yellen found herself compelled to do just that.
Senate GOP health law repeal delivers wins to party’s wings (Associated Press) Republicans ignored a White House promise of a veto Wednesday and pushed toward Senate passage of legislation demolishing President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul and blocking Planned Parenthood’s federal funds. After weeks of strategizing, GOP leaders began rolling out a measure they said would attract the votes needed for approval by week’s end.
Police find stockpile of ammunition, pipe bombs in Calif. shooters’ home (Al Jazeera) Attackers who killed 14 people in San Bernardino identified as Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik; authorities discovered enough bullets and bombs in the culprits’ home to have caused even greater devastation. See also U.S. authorities look for militant links to shooters in California mass slaying (Reuters).
Germany
Syria conflict: German MPs to vote on anti-IS military mission (BBC News) Germany’s parliament is due to vote on whether the country should provide military support in the fight against Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria. MPs are expected to back the controversial plan.
Greece
It’s Not Going to Get Any Better for Greece in 2016 (Bloomberg) As it enters 2016, the country remains as vulnerable to economic catastrophe as it is defenseless against the torrent of people fleeing Syria and other war zones.
