Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 22 September 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.
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Global
- Asia markets fall after North Korea threat and as investors digest China credit downgrade (CNBC) Most Asian markets fell on Friday after North Korea threatened it could consider testing a nuclear weapon in the Pacific. Investors were also digesting the prospect of an additional rate hike from the Fed this year. The dollar index stood at 92.039, off the 92.5 handle seen at the end of Asian trade in the previous session. Brent crude edged down 0.04% to trade at $56.41 a barrel, while U.S. crude tacked on 0.12% to trade at $50.61. Gold traded nearly flat at $1,296.96 an ounce at 12:23 p.m. HK/SIN.
U.S.
- Home Prices Soar in Disaster-Prone Areas (Bloomberg) U.S. counties at the greatest risk of hurricanes, earthquakes, and other catastrophes have seen the fastest home-price appreciation, a new report says.
- Undocumented Parents Arrested at Children’s Hospital While Awaiting Their Infant Son’s Surgery (Splinter News) Oscar and Irma Sanchez, both of whom are undocumented immigrants living in Texas, were arrested while awaiting a serious surgery for their two-month-old son, highlighting the excruciating human cost of President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant crusade. The mother, who is breast-feeding the infant, and the father were aken into detention at the hospital.
- Nevada GOP gov rips ObamaCare repeal bill: Flexibility it promises ‘a false choice’ (The Hill) Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) on Thursday amped up his criticism of the new plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare, saying the GOP bill would “pit Nevadans against each other.” An analysis of the bill conducted by the state says Nevada would lose between $600 million and $2 billion in federal funding by 2026 if the bill passes, according to The Nevada Independent. Sandoval said in a statement to The Nevada Independent:
“Flexibility with reduced funding is a false choice. I will not pit seniors, children, families, the mentally ill, the critically ill, hospitals, care providers, or any other Nevadan against each other because of cuts to Nevada’s healthcare delivery system proposed by the Graham-Cassidy amendment.”
- Medicaid directors oppose Graham-Cassidy Obamacare overhaul (Washington Examiner) State Medicaid directors are opposing a Republican Obamacare overhaul bill that would greatly restructure the federal-state healthcare program for the poor in their jurisdictions. The National Association of Medicaid Directors said Thursday that the bill would impose significant challenges to states, chiefly that they would shoulder too much risk under the legislation. The group is the latest stakeholder to oppose the measure, joining doctors, insurer and hospital groups skeptical of what is considered by Republicans their last chance to overhaul Obamacare.
- Shale Billionaire Hamm Slams ‘Exaggerated’ U.S. Oil Projections (Bloomberg) Billionaire oilman Harold Hamm says the government was way too optimistic with its prediction of more than 1 million new barrels a day in U.S. production, and the snafu is “distorting” global crude prices. This year’s rise is likely to be closer to about 500,000 barrels, far off an initial forecast by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, according to Hamm, the chairman of Continental Resources Inc. and a pioneer in the shale industry. The EIA projection is “just flat wrong,” failing to take into account a new discipline among U.S. drillers, Hamm said in an interview Thursday on Bloomberg TV.
- The Effect of an Increase in Lead in the Water System on Fertility and Birth Outcomes: The Case of Flint, Michigan (http://www2.ku.edu)
UK
- May to Reboot Brexit Plan by Requesting Transition Period (Bloomberg) U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May will on Friday propose a period of transition after Brexit takes effect in March 2019, aiming to give certainty and clarity to companies worried about the looming split. In a much-anticipated speech in Florence, Italy, May will seek a time-limited implementation phase that the BBC reported will run for two years. The goal is to maintain trade ties to the U.K.’s biggest market so as to give businesses time to adjust to the new regime. A transition period would also protect companies from being hit with unwieldy tariffs and regulations overnight, if no long-term trade deal has been struck by Brexit day in 2019.
North Korea
- Trump Boosts North Korea Sanctions, Adding Economic Pressure (Bloomberg) U.S. President Donald Trump ordered new sanctions on individuals, companies and banks doing business with North Korea as he sought to further isolate the regime and increase economic pressure for it to curb its weapons programs.
Trump added that China is ordering banks to stop dealing with Kim Jong Un’s regime, but it was unclear if he was referring to a new development or the People’s Bank of China’s Sept. 11 statement it had instructed banks and other financial entities to suspend accounts subject to sanctions under a United Nations Security Council resolution. China is North Korea’s largest trading partner and its main ally.
- North Korea Says Actions May Include Pacific H-Bomb Test (Bloomberg) North Korea struck back at U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to destroy it, with Kim Jong Un warning of the “highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history” and his foreign minister suggesting that could include testing a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean. Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho spoke to reporters on Thursday in New York, where he is attending the United Nations General Assembly. He said in remarks broadcast on South Korean TV that the countermeasures flagged by Kim might refer to a “strongest-ever” ground-level test of a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific.
China
- S&P Cuts China’s Credit Rating, Citing Risk From Debt Growth (Bloomberg) S&P Global Ratings cut China’s sovereign credit rating for the first time since 1999, citing the risks from soaring debt, and revised its outlook to stable from negative. The sovereign rating was cut by one step, to A+ from AA-, the company said in a statement late Thursday. The analysts also lowered their rating on three foreign banks that primarily operate in China, saying HSBC China, Hang Seng China and DBS Bank China Ltd. would be unlikely to avoid default should the nation default on its sovereign debt.