Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 30 December 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
Asia stocks mixed; Hong Kong and Taiwan lead gains (CNBC) Asian shares were mixed on the last trading day of the year, tracking a weak lead from Wall Street, with Hong Kong and Taiwan in the lead. For the year, China’s Shenzhen composite was Asia’s worst-performing index, down nearly 15%, while Pakistan’s Karachi All-Share Indexwas the biggest winner with gains of 45%.
Trump’s new tariff proposal could put the economy on a path to ‘global recession’ (Business Insider) On Thursday, CNN reported that President-elect Donald Trump’s administration is considering imposing a 5% tariff on all imports into the United States. While the decision is not final, sources told CNN the tariff could be implemented through an executive order in the early days of the Trump presidency.
Goodbye negative bond yields (Reuters) The pool of government bonds with yields below zero, which stood at more than $13 trillion in the wake of Britain’s shock decision to leave the European Union, has steadily fallen in recent months. At the same time, financial markets reflect a growing perception that ultra-easy monetary policy will be scaled back, while inflation expectations are at multi-month highs — signs perhaps that an era of negative yields is nearing an end.
Market inflation expectations soar (Reuters) A reassessment of the growth outlook has prompted investors to ratchet up their expectations for where inflation is heading. A key market gauge of euro zone inflation, watched closely by the ECB, is near its highest level since January.
U.S.
Posen: Trump Can’t Do Anything With Labor Market (Bloomberg) Peterson Institute of International Economics President Adam Posen discusses the U.S. economy under a President Donald Trump. He maintains that President Trump can’t do any good with respect to jobs and can do harm. See next article.
Assessing Trade Agendas in the US Presidential Campaign (Peterson Institute for International Economics) publican candidate Donald J. Trump’s sweeping proposals on international trade, if implemented, could unleash a trade war that would plunge the US economy into recession and cost more than 4 million private sector American jobs, according to an empirical analysis of the two candidates’ trade agendas by the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Utah Attorney General Vows To Sue Obama Over New National Monument (The Huffington Post) Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes (R) pledged to sue the White House on Wednesday after President Barack Obama set aside 1.35 million acres, including sacred tribal lands, for one of two new national monuments. In a lengthy statement, Reyes accused Obama of “egregious overreach” and claimed the designation, named Bears Ears National Monument, would restrict local Navajo from using the land for traditional purposes. See next two articles. Mathew Gross, a spokesman for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, a 35-year-old nonpartisan nonprofit devoted to public lands issues, said Thursday:
“That is complete bull. It’s just not true. People like the attorney general are reaching back a century for an example to invoke fear among people about what will happen. If you read the proclamation, it’s clear that traditional uses will continue and be protected.”
How President Obama Has Protected Our Sacred Land for Future Generations (Medium) Russell Begaye, President of the Navjo Nation has written this letter thanking President Obama for creating the Bears EarsNational Monument.
Overturning Bears Ears Is a Long Shot, But That Doesn’t Mean Republicans Won’t Try (Outside) Environmentalists and Native American leaders heralded the protection of unique and sensitive areas – both monuments feature significant tribal artifacts – opposing politicians exploded, calling Bears Ears the “midnight monument.” Both sites have been highly contentious, with many conservatives in Utah and Nevada decrying the loss of access to resources like oil and gas. They claim that Obama’s safeguarding of the lands using the Antiquities Act – which he has done 25 times, more than any other president – is a vast overreach of presidential power. Now the question is: Can Donald Trump revoke these monuments when he takes office next month? With Republicans about to assume control of the presidency and both houses of Congress, the future of these monuments, and of President Obama’s conservation legacy, is far from assured.
The NYPD Finally Allows Sikh Officers To Wear Turbans And Grow Beards (The Huffington Post) NYPD officers may now wear turbans and grow beards for religious reasons, New York City Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill announced Wednesday during the Police Academy graduation at Madison Square Garden. Officers granted religious accommodations are now able to wear turbans so long as they are navy blue and affixed with the New York Police Department insignia. And Sikh and Muslim officers are set to benefit from the new rule permitting facial hair up to one half-inch in length. The regulations overhaul marks a significant departure from previous policies barring religious officers from donning turbans and wearing beards more than 1 millimeter long. Before these changes, Sikh officers were permitted only to wear a thin head covering, known as patka, underneath the NYPD uniform hat.
Members of the Sikh Officers Association with NYPD Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill.
Germany
German yields move out of negative territory (Reuters) The average yield of bonds in circulation in Germany, the euro zone’s biggest economy and its benchmark issuer, is back in positive territory. It turned negative for the first time in June.
Syria
Syria conflict: Russia-Turkey brokered truce holding despite clashes (BBC News) A new nationwide ceasefire between Syrian government forces and rebel groups appears to be largely holding. However isolated clashes have been reported since the truce, brokered by Russia and Turkey, went into effect at midnight (22:00 GMT) on Thursday. The deal includes many rebel groups but not jihadists such as so-called Islamic State, or the Kurdish YPG. If it holds, despite some isolated clashes, peace talks are due to be held in Kazakhstan within a month.
China
China Faces Stiff Battle to Sideline the Dollar in Valuing Yuan (Bloomberg) China took another step to degrade the dollar in defining the value of its currency, in an effort that cuts against its rival’s stubbornly strong hold on the global financial system. An arm of the People’s Bank of China, which last year started setting the yuan against a basket of currencies, on Thursday said it’s adding 11 units to that reference group. The move lowers the dollar’s weighting by 4 percentage points, to 22.4% — little more than twice the share for South Korea’s won, a new entrant. The yuan has been falling toward 7 to the dollar while the value against the baskte has been strengthening.
Easing China’s Housing Bubble Has Unintended Side Effects (Reuters) In China’s two-speed property market, prescriptions for deflating big-city bubbles are having unintended side-effects in smaller towns. Soaring prices in megacities Beijing and Shanghai both snapped 20 months of gains in November after authorities tightened restrictions to reduce excessive speculation. Meanwhile, real estate in the northwestern rust belt cities of Jilin and Harbin also declined, posting their first drops in four months. Signs that prices stopped rising is good news for major cities as it shows policies are having the desired effect, but they’re less welcome in smaller towns still battling to fill millions of empty homes that weigh on prices. That disparity poses a new challenge for policy makers just as they pledge to ensure stability and step up the fight against speculation.
