Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 09 April 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 advances as markets shrug off US declines amid trade tensions (CNBC) Stocks in Asia rose on Monday, as markets shrugged off declines seen on Wall Street after a week largely dominated by U.S.-China trade developments. The dollar index was up at 90.162. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures added 0.45% to trade at $62.34 per barrel. Brent crude futures advanced by 0.46% to trade at $67.42. Spot gold was almost unchanged at $1,332.46 an ounce as of 0330 GMT. U.S. gold futures were unchanged at $1,335.80 an ounce.
- A Third of Young Millennials Are Confused About This Incontrovertible Fact (Space.com) Econintersect: This reminds us of the famous words first uttered by Chico Marx in “Duck Soup“: “Who are you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?” See also next article. Only 66% of 18- to 24-year-olds in the U.S. are confident that the world is round, according to a new national survey. The findings don’t necessarily indicate an epidemic of flat-Earthism, as only 4% of the 18- to 24-year-old age group said they actually believe the world is flat. Rather, there seem to be a relatively large number in this age group who are willing to entertain doubts: 9% said they had always believed the world was round but were recently having doubts, 5% said they had always believed the world was flat but were becoming skeptical of that conclusion and 16% just weren’t sure.
Flat-Earth philosophy has been around since the 19th century, but it has recently blown up online, particularly on YouTube and Twitter. Believers post videos and memes arguing their case for a flat Earth and positing conspiracy theories to explain away everything that makes it clear that the planet is, in fact, a globe.
- ‘Luxury Space Hotel’ to Launch in 2021 (Space.com) Well-heeled space tourists will have a new orbital destination four years from now, if one company’s plans come to fruition. That startup, called Orion Span, aims to loft its “Aurora Station” in late 2021 and begin accommodating guests in 2022.
“Affordable” is a relative term: A 12-day stay aboard Aurora Station will start at $9.5 million. Still, that’s quite a bit less than orbital tourists have paid in the past. From 2001 through 2009, seven private citizens took a total of eight trips to the International Space Station (ISS), paying an estimated $20 million to $40 million each time.
U.S.
- Trump says trade war is ‘already lost,’ and he ‘probably won’t’ attend White House Correspondents Dinner (CBS News) President Trump said in a radio interview aired on Friday that the U.S. isn’t in a trade war because the trade war is “already lost,” and said he “probably won’t” attend the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington later this month because the press is “so fake.” Previously he has said trade wars are “good, and easy to win“.
- EPA insiders bemoan low point in agency’s history: ‘People are so done’ (The Guardian) The week at the Environmental Protection Agency has been a brutal low point in what many staff members refer to as the most difficult year in its near half-century history. An avalanche of allegations of ethical misconduct by the EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, has heaped embarrassment upon a watchdog struggling to adapt to the industry obeisance demanded by the Trump administration. A senior EPA official, who asked not to be named, said:
“This sucks. It sucks big. People are so done with these folks. We wanted and waited for some adults to show up. But the relentless tide of bull—- from Pruitt and his cronies is tough to deal with.”
- Republicans May Shoot Themselves In The Foot By Putting Citizenship In The Census (The Huffington Post) Democrats and voting rights advocates are alarmed by the Trump administration’s plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, fearing it will suppress votes and unfairly shift electoral power to rural states. But the move could also mean negative electoral consequences for populous states that voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election. A count that excludes non-citizens could cause states that were expected to gain House districts in 2020 to actually lose. California would lose three seats in 2020, Florida and Texas would each lose two, and Arizona would one seat, according to projections by demographer Dudley Poston of Texas A&M University and Amanda Baumle, a sociologist at the University of Houston.
- He Says He’s an Innocent Victim. Robert Mueller Says He’s a Spy. (The New York Times) Konstantin V. Kilimnik, has turned up in multiple court filings by the special prosecutor, Robert S. Mueller III, who identifies him as Person A. Just this week, for example, a Dutch lawyer was sentenced to a month in prison for lying to the F.B.I. about, among other things, his communications with Person A.
And last week, Mr. Mueller turned over a card in the investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russia by asserting in a court document that this person “has ties to a Russian intelligence service” and was in contact with a senior member of the campaign, Rick Gates, during the 2016 election.
- 10 Most Affordable Markets for Homebuyers (Zillow) The 10 most affordable cities are listed below. All have cost of mortgages for median priced homes 11.9% of median income or less. Below the most affordable list are the 10 least affordable cities. The 10 most affordable:
- Oklahoma City
- Pittsburgh
- Indianapolis
- Memphis
- St. Louis
- Detroit
- Birmingham
- Cincinnati
- Cleveland
- Kansas City
UK
- Fear not – a flurry of inbound mergers and acquisitions is good news for post-Brexit Britain (City A.M.) Dealmaking this year has jumped to levels close to a pre-credit-crunch peak reached more than a decade ago. That’s according to figures published today by accountancy giant EY. Mergers and acquisitions involving UK parties totalled a whopping $120 billion (£85 billion) in the first quarter of 2018, eclipsing the $51 billion recorded in the final three months of last year. Furthermore, the City’s pipeline for initial public offerings also looks strong. While plans for Saudi Aramco are up in the air, the long-term health of UK capital-raising depends on a constant stream of listings that may not be blockbuster but, combined, form the lifeblood of the London market.
However, such an outlook depends on a relatively benign political environment. The aforementioned data from EY shows an exceptional spike in inbound M&A; in other words, UK assets being snapped up by foreign buyers. The value of inbound transactions soared from $11bn in the final quarter of 2017 to $67bn at the start of the current year.
- Britons Back Holding a Vote on May’s Brexit Deal (Bloomberg) A majority of Britons support holding a vote on the final Brexit deal secured by Prime Minister Theresa May, according to a YouGov poll conducted for the pro-remain group Best for Britain.
Those saying the public should have the final say on whether to accept the Brexit deal or remain in the European Union exceeded opponents by 8 percentage points, according to the poll results released on Monday by the group, whose funders include billionaire investor George Soros. Respondents said they would opt to remain in the bloc if given a second referendum.
Germany​
- Christian Sewing confirmed as new Deutsche Bank head to replace chief executive John Cryan (City A.M.) Deutsche Bank has replaced chief executive John Cryan with one of his deputies, Christian Sewing, the German lender confirmed after a meeting of its supervisory board. Cryan has come under intense pressure after presiding over the Frankfurt-based lender’s third consecutive year of losses in 2017 since taking over in 2015.
Syria
- Syria says U.S. suspected of attacking air base but Pentagon denies it (Reuters) Syrian state TV said on Monday the United States was suspected of striking an air base hours after U.S. President Donald Trump warned of a “big price to pay” as aid groups said dozens of people were killed by poison gas in a rebel-held town.
Russia
- Deripaska’s Rusal And Aluminum Market Roiled by U.S. Sanctions (Bloomberg) Russian aluminum maker United Co. Rusal’s stock plunged about 40%, while prices of the metal surged, after U.S. sanctions on the company and its billionaire owner Oleg Deripaska prompted the producer to warn of potential debt defaults and “materially adverse” consequences.
Japan
- Japan’s Finance Ministry had proposed a cover story for a land sale scandal involving the sale of state-owned land to school operator Moritomo Gakuen, which had ties to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s wife, an official said on Monday.
- The admission is likely to increase pressure on Abe to resign.
- A survey on Monday showed voters who disapproved of Abe’s cabinet outnumbered those who support his cabinet for the first time in six months.
North Korea
- North Korea tells U.S. it is prepared to discuss denuclearization: source (Reuters) North Korea has told the United States for the first time that it is prepared to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets President Donald Trump, a U.S. official said on Sunday.
China
- Trump Predicts China Will Be First to Buckle in Trade Dispute (Bloomberg) President Donald Trump predicted China will be first to buckle as the world’s largest economies teeter on the brink of a trade war that’s sent financial markets reeling, without indicating where his assessment sprang from.
- China unlikely to sell off U.S. debt in trade dispute: China government think tank researcher (Reuters) China is unlikely to sell off its holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds at a large scale as a tactic in its trade dispute with the United States, a government researcher said Sunday. Zhang Yuyan, a researcher at the government-run China Academy of Social Sciences, made the comments at the Boao Forum for Asia.
- Hopes are high for China to announce market access reforms on Tuesday (CNBC)
- If Chinese President Xi Jinping announces market reforms at a scheduled speech on Tuesday, that could help heal U.S.-China trade frictions, said Myron Brilliant from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
- The question on the table is how big the reform package will be and how specific it will be, he told CNBC on the sidelines of the Boao Forum.
