Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 05 March 2018
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, published Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 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 slip as China kicks off its National People’s Congress meeting (CNBC) Markets in Asia closed lower on Monday as Chinese leaders headed into an annual parliament meeting while in Italy, exit poll projections indicated that no party is emerging with a clear majority in Sunday’s election. The dollar index was steady at 90.063 at 2:48 p.m. HK/SIN. U.S. crude up 0.23% at $61.39 a barrel while global benchmark Brent rose 0.31% to $64.57. Spot gold was up 0.3% at $1,326.41 per ounce at 0414 GMT.
- IMF: Trump tariffs would damage US, global economies (enca.com) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned Friday that the steel and aluminium tariffs announced by President Donald Trump will harm the US and global economies. IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said in a statement:
“The import restrictions announced by the US President are likely to cause damage not only outside the US but also to the US economy itself.”
U.S. producers will ‘put their stamp’ on market for five years
OPEC will see little increase in demand for its crude to 2021
U.S.
- Mueller wants documents from Trump, campaign associates (NBC News) The grand jury investigating alleged collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has issued a subpoena seeking all documents involving the president and a host of his closest advisers, according to a copy of the subpoena reviewed by NBC News.
According to the subpoena, which was sent to a witness by special counsel Robert Mueller, investigators want emails, text messages, work papers, telephone logs and other documents going back to Nov. 1, 2015, 4½ months after Trump launched his campaign.
- Eight Dead, Including Two Children, in Fierce Nor’easter (The New York Times) At least eight people died after heavy snow, rain and high winds ripped through the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic on Friday, snarling travel and bringing major flooding to parts of Massachusetts.
More than two million people in 17 states and Washington, D.C., were without power as of Friday night, the United States Energy Department said on its website. By about 9:30 p.m. Saturday, at least one million people were still dealing with electricity failure.
Early #Saturday morning view of the powerful #noreaster in the Western Atlantic per a 13Z Geocolor #satellite image. pic.twitter.com/tHZwMktpNu
– NWS OPC (@NWSOPC) March 3, 2018
- Trump says American workers are hurt by immigration. But after ICE raided this Texas town, they never showed up. (The Washington Post) Twelve years ago ICE removed 10% of the town of Cactus, Texas – undocumented workers. The meatpacking plant in Cactus, along with others around the country subjected to similar immigration enforcement, continues to operate, but with difficulty – American workers supposedly benefiting from removal of the undocumented workers simply are not applying for the jobs.
- How Will Tax Cuts Be Distributed? (The Daily Shot) How much of the recent corporate tax reductions will go to the American worker? Estimates vary dramatically.
- Seymour Hersh Owes The World An Explanation For His Seth Rich Comments (Medium) Hat tip to Roger Erickson. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh has given two radically different accounts of how much he knows about the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich last year, and he owes the whole world a full clarification. See also Behind Fox News’ Baseless Seth Rich Story: The Untold Tale (NPR) and Seth Rich, Conspiracy Theorists, and Russiagate ‘Truthers’ (The Nation) – Hat tip to Roger Erickson.
EU
- Complacency About Italian Elections (The Daily Shot) There hasn’t been much concern in the market about the Italian elections. Here is the 1-week EUR/USD risk reversal as of last Thursday. Will that change today? See election results under Italy, below.
Italy
- Italy Populists Break Establishment Grip, Quest for Power Opens (Bloomberg) Italy’s anti-establishment groups surged in Sunday’s election as voters punished the mainstream parties for years of economic decline, rising taxes and a wave of immigration, casting doubt on the country’s future political direction. Projections based on ballot-counting on Monday morning suggested the two forces with the most gains, the euroskeptic Five Star Movement and the anti-migrant League, could reach a majority in at least one of the houses of the Rome-based parliament should they join forces. The two parties could have a majority of about 345 seats combined in the 630-strong lower house.
- Italian Banks Plunge (Twitter)
Lebanon
- It Could Be Crunch Time for World’s Third Most-Indebted Country (Bloomberg) Caught in conflict and with precarious finances, Lebanon is talking about a Greek-style rescue package.
Russia
- Putin: Russia will ‘never’ extradite citizens accused by US (Associated Press) Russia will “never” extradite any of the 13 Russians indicted by the United States for election-meddling, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, even as he insisted they didn’t act on behalf of his government.
Putin’s comments in an NBC News interview airing Sunday illustrated the long odds that the Russian operatives will ever appear in U.S. court to answer charges of running a massive, secret social media trolling and targeted messaging operation to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. The United States has no extradition treaty with Moscow and can’t compel it to hand over citizens, and a provision in Russia’s constitution prohibits extraditing its citizens to foreign countries.
India
- These are the top 10 tech companies to work for in India (CNBC) India, home of the world’s fastest-growing economy, is quickly becoming one of the globe’s greatest technology hubs. That is partially thanks to the country’s abundance of highly skilled technical graduates, whose numbers are growing at a rate of 7 percent per year, according to the latest study from India’s ministry of commerce and industry. It is also credit to India’s thriving start-up scene, which is ranked third in the world, accounting for 4,750 businesses.
China
Government lowers budget deficit target to 2.6% of GDP from 3%
Leaders reiterate prudent monetary policy will remain neutral
