Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 29 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
- Asian stocks trade mixed as the dollar pares some gains; Takeda falls 7% (CNBC) Asian stocks traded mixed on Thursday, as several regional markets shrugged off weakness seen overnight on Wall Street. The dollar index stood at 89.954 at 12:41 p.m. HK/SIN, slipping from a one-week high touched overnight. U.S. WTI crude futures were at $64.57 a barrel at 0242 GMT, up $0.19 (0.2%). Brent crude futures were at $69.72 per barrel, up $0.19, or 0.3%. Spot gold was up 0.2% at $1,327.72 per ounce at 0419 GMT.
- Global Portfolio Allocations (The Daily Shot) This chart shows average investor portfolio allocations by country. US investors seem to be the most aggressive.
U.S.
- Amazon shares fall after report Trump wants to curb its power (Reuters) Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares fell almost 5% on Wednesday, wiping more than $30 billion off its market value, after news website Axios reported that U.S. President Donald Trump is obsessed with the world’s largest online retailer and wants to rein in its growing power. Trump has talked about using antitrust law to “go after” the company because he is worried about mom-and-pop retailers being put out of business by Amazon, Axios reported, citing five sources it said had discussed the issue with him. Econintersect: The president hasn’t saiid anything about going after Wal-Mart to protect mom and pop stores. Could that be because Wal-Mart’s owners are not associated with The Washington Post, a widely read newspaper that has been very critical of Trump?
- The Real Reason Jeff Bezos Grinds Trump’s Gears (Bloomberg) “He’s the opposite of Trump in nearly every dimension.” That start is followed by an article which has nothing good to say about the president and everything good about Bezos.
- Judge rejects Trump push to dismiss emoluments lawsuit (The Hill) A federal judge has rejected President Trump’s push to dismiss a lawsuit against him for allegedly violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution. U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte in Maryland shut down the Justice Department’s arguments to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the attorney generals in D.C and Maryland, according to court documents.
Trump is accused of violating the clause, which prevents elected officials from receiving gifts or benefits from foreign governments without Congress’s approval.
- Centrist lawmakers eye growing power in 2019 (The Hill) Moderate lawmakers in both parties believe their influence will rise after the midterm elections no matter which party takes control of the House. The centrists are projecting that either Democrats or Republicans could have a narrow majority, which would give lawmakers in the middle more power to drive the agenda as leaders come begging for their votes. Coalitions of moderate lawmakers also suspect their ranks will swell next year given the political climate.
- Pensions: NJ Raises Assumed Return, Transfers Management To Beneficiaries (Credit Writedowns) New Jersy is punting on its pension obligations. On Monday, the New Jersey Legislature passed a bill that allows public pension beneficiaries to control “how their retirement funds are invested and their levels of contributions and benefits“. That’s according to NJ.com. The two plans are underfunded by 35%.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, New Jersey’s treasurer said she will increase the expected rate of return for the state’s public pension system from 7 to 7.5%. Later, she will lower the rate of return over time. The higher return rate assumption will mean $238 million less that the state has to cough up to make up for underfunding shortfalls. It also means a temporary reprieve of more than $400 million for local governments. That’s according to the office of the Acting State Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio.
EU
- Is The Eurozone Following Japan? (The Daily Shot) Is the Eurozone at risk of deflation as a result of a strong euro? Here is a comparison to Japan in the 1990s.
Syria
- Syrian army prepares ‘huge’ operation in last rebel bastion as pressure mounts (Reuters) The Syrian army is preparing to launch a “huge” operation against the last rebel-held town in eastern Ghouta unless the Jaish al-Islam insurgent group agrees to hand over the area, a pro-Syrian government newspaper reported on Wednesday. Map from SouthFront.org:
Saudi Arabia
- Saudi Arabia must face U.S. lawsuits over Sept. 11 attacks (Reuters) A U.S. judge on Wednesday rejected Saudi Arabia’s bid to dismiss lawsuits claiming that it helped plan the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and should pay billions of dollars in damages to victims.
Russia
- US and Russia: New Age of Nuclear Instability (Part 1/2) (The Real News Network) Richard Sakwa, Professor of Russian and European Politics at the University of Kent and an Associate Fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, discusses the growing nuclear risks arising from a new nuclear arms race between Russia and the U.S.
- US and Russia: New Age of Nuclear Instability (Part 2/2) (The Real News Network) With the New START treaty set to end in 2021 and no substantive nuclear arms talks underway, the United States and Russia have entered “a phase of enormous danger,” says author and scholar Richard Sakwa.
Pakistan
- Malala Yousafzai returns to Pakistan six years after she was shot by Taliban (Live Mint) Nobel laureate and education activist Malala Yousafzai returned to her native Pakistan on Thursday, six years after she was shot by Taliban gunmen over her advocacy for schooling for girls. At age 17, Yousafzai became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for her education advocacy. Now 20, she is making her first visit to Pakistan since 2012, when masked gunmen stopped and boarded a bus taking her home from school and shot her in the head. Last week on Twitter, Yousafzai expressed a longing for her homeland. She now lives in Great Britain.
India
- Forget job growth, employment in India fell between 2014 and 2016 (Live Mint) Employment in the total Indian economy shrank by 0.1% in financial year 2015-16 and by 0.2% in 2014-15. Far from more jobs being created, employment has actually contracted. That is the finding from the latest KLEMS India database, a research project supported by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to analyse the productivity of the Indian economy.
Japan
- Tokyo wants its own bilateral summit with Pyongyang to ensure that any potential peace deal will serve Japan’s security concerns, experts said.
- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is worried about being sidelined at a proposed meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
- Warming up to Tokyo could help Kim disrupt American efforts to maximize pressure on his administration.
North Korea
- China says North Korea’s Kim pledged commitment to denuclearization (Reuters) North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un pledged his commitment to denuclearization and to meet U.S. officials, China said on Wednesday after his meeting with President Xi Jinping, who promised China would uphold friendship with its isolated neighbour.
South Korea
- The Significance Of The US – South Korea Trade Agreement (Credit Writedowns) Ed Harrison (who has contributed to GEI) has reservations about the apparent success of the Trump administration in a new trade deal with South Korea:
Many consider the US and South Korea agreement the first success of President Trump’s trade strategy. We are less sanguine. We do expect other countries to make concessions to the US grudgingly. But we are concerned the US will be perceived like the emperors of old who demanded greater tribute from their ‘colonies’.
China
- China could target a broad range of U.S. businesses and even services if the trade conflict with the United States escalates, the China Daily newspaper said in an editorial.
- The China Daily on Thursday quoted Chinese Premier Li Keqiang as telling a U.S. Congressional delegation this week that China was open to dialogue but “fully prepared with countermeasures”.
