Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 06 October 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 climb as investors await US jobs report (CNBC) Asia markets rose across the board on Friday, ahead of the crucial U.S. nonfarm payrolls data due later in the global day. The session in Asia followed another positive close in U.S. equities overnight. The U.S. dollar index advanced to trade as high as 94.112, rising from levels near 93.500 on Thursday afternoon Asia time. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was trading at $50.76 per barrel at 0333 GMT, down $0.03 from its last close. Brent crude was down $0.04 at $56.96 a barrel. Spot gold was little changed at $1,267.95 an ounce.
- Tropical Storm Nate Blamed for 22 Deaths; Threatens US Coast (Bloomberg) Newly formed Tropical Storm Nate was blamed Thursday for at least 22 deaths in Central America as it dumped rain across the region on a path that would carry it toward a potential landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast as a hurricane over the weekend. Louisiana officials declared a state of emergency and ordered some people to evacuate coastal areas and barrier islands, and evacuations began at some offshore oil platforms in the Gulf. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm could cause dangerous flooding by dumping as much as 15 to 20 inches (38 to 50 centimeters) of rain as it moved over Honduras, with higher accumulations in a few places. Sig Silber started reporting on this before it was a named tropical storm 24 hours ago. Here is his latest report just out: Another Hurricane? – 06Oct2017.
- If Catalonia goes independent, these places could be next (CNBC) Here is the list:
- Venice and Lombardy
- Flanders and Wallonia
- The Basque Country
- South Tyrol
- Scotland
- Oceans Build Heat to Record Level (Twitter)
U.S.
- Trump Says Military Gathering Might Be ‘Calm Before the Storm’ (Bloomberg) U.S. President Donald Trump offered cryptic remarks Thursday night while posing for photos with military leaders, saying the gathering might represent “the calm before the storm.” He made the comments among senior military leaders and their spouses in the White House State Dining Room ahead of a dinner expected to include the discussion of a range of national security issues.
- M.L.B. Spoiler Alert: Here’s What Will Happen in the Playoffs (The New York Times) With the wild-card games complete, the best-of-five division series are set: Boston at Houston; the Yankees at Cleveland; the Chicago Cubs at Washington; and Arizona at the Los Angeles Dodgers. The American League games start Thursday, the National League Friday. Here is a whimsical review of how it might all play out.
- Much more than washing machines at stake in a trade case that could test Trump’s agenda (Los Angeles Times) Whirlpool has accused two Korean firms of foul play. In two earlier cases, the company convinced trade officials in Washington that Samsung and LG were dumping washing machines into the United States at below fair-market prices. But the early victories proved short-lived: LG and Samsung avoided country-specific tariffs by moving production first from South Korea and Mexico to China, and then to Thailand and Vietnam. Enter Trump. Amid his fiery rhetoric to get tough on trade and make American industry great again, Whirlpool lawyers filed a new complaint under a rarely used, so-called global safeguard provision.
- At least some Republicans realize their party is on the road to ruin (The Washington Post) A new Pew Research Center poll (see next article) finds that “the share of Republicans who are very or somewhat pessimistic about the future of their party has nearly doubled, from 20% in December to 39% in the current survey.” As interesting as the plunging level of optimism is the profile of those who figure the GOP is in trouble. The poll found:
“College-educated Republicans have seen a particularly sharp drop in their party outlook. In December, 73% of Republicans with a college degree said they were very or somewhat optimistic about the future of the Republican Party. In the September survey, just 44% say this – a drop of 29 percentage points. Among Republicans without a college degree, the share expressing optimism has also declined, but by just 16 points.”
- Republicans’ optimism about future of GOP declines (Pew Research Center)
Spain
- Catalan crisis: Spanish court bars MPs’ independence move (BBC News) Spain’s Constitutional Court has suspended next Monday’s session of the Catalan parliament, in a bid to pre-empt a possible push for independence. The court said such a move would be “a breach of the constitution“. Earlier Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy warned Catalonia’s regional government against declaring independence after a disputed vote last Sunday. Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont had indicated that he could make such a declaration at next week’s session.
The court’s ruling on Thursday upheld a challenge not from the government in Madrid, but by the Socialists’ Party of Catalonia, which opposes secession from Spain.
Iran
- Trump might ‘abandon Iran nuclear deal’ (BBC News) US President Donald Trump may be planning to abandon the Iran nuclear deal, according to US media reports. If he fails to certify the accord, Congress will decide whether to re-impose economic sanctions on Iran. Mr Trump has until 15 October to decide. Opposition to the deal was a major part of his campaign last year.
- Iran may drop nuclear deal if US withdraws (CNBC, Reuters)
- Iran may abandon the nuclear deal it reached with six major powers if the United States decides to withdraw from it, the Iranian foreign minister told al Jazeera.
- Trump is considering whether the accord serves U.S. security interests. He faces a mid-October deadline for certifying that Iran is complying with the pact.
- The collapse of the deal could trigger a regional arms race and worsen tensions in the Middle East.
Japan
- Japan Rises as a Free-Trade Leader as the U.S. Sinks (Bloomberg) Back in the 1980s or 1990s, few would have predicted that Japan would become the standard-bearer of free trade. This is, after all, the country that once tried to ban foreign-made skis by claiming that Japanese snow was different from snow in other countries.
How times have changed. As the U.S. sinks into protectionism, the Land of the Rising Sun is one of the few countries still pushing for trade agreements. Japan recently made a free-trade dealt with the European Union, and is trying to keep the Trans-Pacific Partnership alive even after the U.S. exited the deal.
