Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 19 November 2016
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
Global corporate defaults year to date reach highest level since 2009 (Financial Times) The number of companies that have defaulted on their bonds has notched up to 146 for the year so far, the highest level seen at this point in the calendar since the financial crisis, according to rating agency Standard & Poor’s.The US oil and gas sector accounts for the largest number of defaults by industry, as they continue to struggle in a climate of weak oil prices (Brent crude is continuing to trade well below $50 a barrel today at $46.44). American oil and gas companies account for 48 out of this year’s total global corporate defaults so far.
Global Bonds Post Biggest Two-Week Loss in Quarter Century (Bloomberg) Bonds around the world had their steepest two-week loss in at least 26 years as President-elect Donald Trump sends inflation expectations surging. The Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index has fallen 4% since Nov. 4. It’s the biggest two-week rout in data going back to 1990. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen contributed to the decline by saying Thursday an interest-rate hike could come “relatively soon“.
U.S.
Conservatives have concerns about Sessions as Trump’s attorney general (Reuters) President-elect Donald Trump on Friday named his earliest and staunchest supporter in the Senate, conservative Republican Jeff Sessions, to become the next U.S. attorney general, triggering an outcry from civil rights groups as well as some conservatives outside Congress who are uneasy about Sessions’ positions. But see also Pro-business Sessions will not go easy on corporate crime: lawyers.
Trump’s Coming Surprise: 40 Republicans Could Stop Him Cold (The Fiscal Times) The unruly Freedom Caucus of nearly 40 arch conservatives who have repeatedly clashed with House Speaker Paul Ryan on policy are unlikely to line up behind Trump spending plans.
Trump to meet with Huckabee, Romney, donors and others this weekend (Reuters) Here’s the list:
FRIDAY
MIKE HUCKABEE
*Former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate
*Under consideration for U.S. homeland security secretary
SATURDAY
BETSY DEVOS
*Republican donor and former chair of the Michigan Republican Party
LEW EISENBERG
*Republican National Committee finance chairman
RETIRED GENERAL JAMES MATTIS
*Retired four-star general and head of U.S. Central Command
*Visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, a conservative-leaning think tank at Stanford University
ANDREW PUZDER
*CKE Restaurants chief executive officer and director
*Under consideration for U.S. labor secretary, according to Politico
MITT ROMNEY
*2012 Republican presidential nominee
*Former governor of Massachusetts and CEO of 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City
*Under possible consideration for U.S. secretary of state
MICHELLE RHEE
*Former chancellor of Washington, D.C., public school system
*Founder of StudentsFirst, an education advocacy group
*Under consideration for education secretary, according to media reports
TODD RICKETTS
*Chicago Cubs board member
*Director and CEO of Ending Spending, a political group that has said it wants to reduce “wasteful and excessive government spending”
BOB WOODSON
*Founder and president of Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, a community development advocacy group (Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
Wells Fargo faces tighter controls as U.S. regulator reverses course (Reuters) A leading U.S. bank regulator on Friday reversed course and positioned the agency to claw back pay of former executives at Wells Fargo & Co after a phony-accounts scandal. The lender must also now seek prior approval before naming new bank leadership, said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the main regulator for federal banks. Friday’s move may target executive pay at Wells Fargo at a time when some lawmakers complain bank bosses have not paid a fair price for their part in financial scandals.
EU
Libya
Far from Mosul, Islamic State close to defeat in Libya’s Sirte (Reuters) After six months of heavy fighting, Libyan forces have advanced so deep into the strategic city of Sirte that they can pick out the Tunisian and Egyptian accents of their Islamic State enemies as they trade insults over the frontline. Victory is imminent on this remote front of the war against Islamic State, with the last few militants staging a last stand in a small area of just one square kilometer (0.4 square mile), U.S. and Libyan officials say.
China
China: Choosing More Debt, More Unemployment, Or Transfers (Michael Pettis, Credit Writedowns) MP has contributed to GEI. Well laid out review of China’s difficult sector rebalancing, away from manufacturing, exports, and investment more toward domestic consumption. The key, according to Pettis, is transfer of property away from local government ownership and into private hands.
China Property Cooling Fast (Twitter)
