Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 21 February 2017
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 markets trade higher as some investors expect the ‘Trump trade’ to continue (CNBC) Asia markets traded mostly higher on Tuesday, with some market watchers expecting the optimism around President Donald Trump’s economic policies, which have sent global stocks higher in recent weeks, to persist. Jonathan Pain, author of the Pain Report, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Trump’s pro-growth messages were still seen as a positive for markets, which he said were being driven by ‘animal spirits‘. In the currency market, the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, rose moderately to 101.20 at 1:10 p.m. HK/SIN, up from an earlier low of 100.91. Oil prices were mixed Tuesday afternoon, with global benchmark Brent down 0.11% to $56.12, while U.S. crude futures added 0.51% to $53.67. Spot gold fell 0.5% to $1,232.31 per ounce by 0338 GMT, while U.S. gold futures also fell 0.4% to $1,233.60 an ounce.
Microsoft’s Satya Nadella is counting on culture shock to drive growth (USA Today) Hat tip to Sanjeev Kulkarni. A seismic cultural shift is rocking Microsoft under Nadella, part of a broad transformation that is moving the company away from an atrophying, software license-based past and towards a thriving, cloud-based future.
Big Batteries Coming of Age Prompt Bankers to Place Their Bets (Bloomberg) The idea that giant batteries may someday revolutionize electrical grids has long enthralled clean-power advocates and environmentalists. Now it’s attracting bankers with the money to make it happen. Lenders including Investec Plc, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and Prudential Financial Inc. are looking to finance large-scale energy-storage projects from California to Germany, marking a coming-of-age moment for the fledgling industry. The systems help utilities solve a longstanding clean-power conundrum: managing the unpredictable output from wind and solar farms, and retaining electricity until it’s needed. Battery costs have declined 40% since 2014 and regulators are mandating storage technology be added to the grid. That’s encouraging utilities to offer longer contracts and developers are expected build $2.5 billion in systems globally this year. These trends are changing the risk profile, giving lenders confidence in batteries in much the same way that power-purchase agreements opened banks’ doors years ago for wind and solar power.
U.S.
Angst in GOP over Trump’s trade agenda (The Hill) Republican lawmakers are concerned about where President Trump is headed on trade and are asking who in the administration is in charge of policies that could affect their home-state economies. Their biggest worries are what will replace the Trans-Pacific Partnership – the largest trade deal in U.S. history until it was scrapped by President Trump – and the future of NAFTA, which the president has called “the single worst trade deal in history“. Trump talked tough on trade during the campaign, pledging to renegotiate deals that he said have ripped off American workers. But many lawmakers on Capitol Hill are confused about what comes next amid crosstalk from different voices in the administration.
Trump’s immigration orders could drive crime up, say experts (CNBC) Trump ordered his administration to broker deals with local authorities that empower and deputize local police in immigration matters in January; if widely enacted, former police they say this will make communities across the nation less safe, as individuals and whole neighborhoods stop reporting crime and cooperating with police for fear of deportations.
Jewish community centers receive new wave of bomb threats (The Hill) Jewish community centers in cities across the country on Monday received phoned-in bomb threats. The JCC Association of North America reported that 11 Jewish community centers received bomb threats Monday, including centers in Chicago, Buffalo, Houston and Tampa. The threats “were determined to be hoaxes“.
Homicide Rates Rose in 2016. (Twitter) Rates spiked significantly in 4 cities: Baltimore, Memphic, Chicago, and Milwaukee.
EU
Europe Needs a Higher Price on Carbon (Bloomberg) Europe’s promise to lower greenhouse-gas emissions looked bright a dozen years ago, when its leaders created the first big market for trading carbon permits. Sadly, though, its system has failed to encourage investment in clean technology and appreciably lower carbon dioxide emissions. Until the European Union trims the number of permits traded enough to drastically raise the cost of emitting carbon dioxide, its market will remain dysfunctional.
Sweden
From an Anchor’s Lips to Trump’s Ears to Sweden’s Disbelief (The New York Times) Statistics in Sweden found no appreciable increase in crimes from 2015, when the country processed a record 163,000 asylum applications, to 2016.
Russia
Russia Overtakes Saudi Arabia as World’s Top Crude Oil Producer (Bloomberg) Russia overtook Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest crude producer in December, when both countries started restricting supplies ahead of agreed cuts with other global producers to curb the worst glut in decades.
Japan
Yen to Hit Bottom at 120 Before Rallying, Economist Jen Says (Bloomberg) The yen will slump to 120 per dollar in six months as the Federal Reserve raises U.S. interest rates but that’s about as weak as it will get, former International Monetary Fund Economist Stephen Jen says.
The currency will rebound to 100 by early 2018 as the Bank of Japan’s policies of controlling yields and adding stimulus through bond purchases reach a limit, said Jen, chief executive officer at hedge fund Eurizon SLJ Capital Ltd. in London. The central bank already holds more than 40 percent of local government bonds on issue, up from 14 percent before it started an expanded debt-purchase program in April 2013.
China
Wanda’s $1 Billion Bid for Dick Clark Faces Hurdles (Bloomberg) Billionaire Wang Jianlin’s Dalian Wanda Group Co. is facing obstacles in its $1 billion bid to buy Golden Globe Awards producer Dick Clark Productions Inc., according to people familiar with the matter. The Chinese conglomerate has had difficulties taking money out of China to pay for the deal, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. It would be premature to say that the deal has collapsed, the people said. Econintersect: Chinese officials have been insisting they have not installed capital controls. Shall we just say: Okay, no capital controls, merely controlling capital. See also What’s Causing Those Capital Outflows From China: QuickTake Q&A.
Dozens of Chinese firms apply to use ‘Ivanka’ as their trademark (CNBC) Dozens of Chinese businesses and individuals have submitted at least 65 applications to Beijing to use “Ivanka” as a trademark for their products, ranging from wallpaper to alcohol, according to the national trademark office. Among them, a Beijing-based company that provides weight loss services filed 10 applications to use “Ivanka”, the name of the eldest daughter of US President Donald Trump, on products ranging from cosmetics to nutritional supplements, according to information released on the website of the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry & Commerce. China’s laws and regulations permit businesses to use foreign names or the Chinese translations of such names as trademarks, leading to many transnational disputes and controversies.
Australia
Labor’s climate policy could remove the need for renewable energy targets (The Conversation) An EIS (emissions intensity scheme) effectively gives electricity generators a limit on how much carbon dioxide they can emit for each unit of electricity they produce. Power stations that exceed the baseline have to buy permits for the extra COâ‚‚ they emit. Power stations with emissions intensities below the baseline create permits that they can sell. An EIS increases the cost of producing electricity from emissions-intensive sources such as coal generation, while reducing the relative cost of less polluting energy sources such as renewables. The theory is that this cost differential will help to drive a switch from high-emission to low-emission sources of electricity.
