Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 23 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
- Asian stocks slip as investors digest US yields, Wall Street declines (CNBC) Asian stocks traded mostly lower on Monday, as investors kept an eye on rising U.S. Treasury yields and digested declines in technology stocks seen stateside. The dollar index was steady at 90.404. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was mostly flat at $68.39 per barrel and Brent crude futures edged higher by 0.08% to $74.12. Spot gold was down 0.1% at $1,333.71 per ounce at 0346 GMT.
- South America Stands to Benefit From a Trade War It Doesn’t Want (Bloomberg) Some South American commodity producers may see their fortunes rise from the trade spat between the U.S. and China. But none are rejoicing, at least not publicly. China, gobbling up a growing share of the region’s exports since the commodities boom, could further deepen its ties with South America to make up for the closure of the U.S. market. Take the example of soy. If Beijing restricts imports of the product from the U.S., it would likely need to buy more from the other three top exporters — Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil.
U.S.
- Pressure to Release Comey Memos May Have Backfired on G.O.P. (The New York Times) For days, top Republicans in Congress demanded the release of James B. Comey’s memos about President Trump, threatening Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, with a subpoena if he failed to share the highly-anticipated documents written by the former F.B.I. director. But if Mr. Trump and his allies believed that Mr. Rosenstein’s refusal would deliver a pretext to call for his firing, as Democrats asserted, his decision to quickly release all the memos late Thursday night foiled that plan. The memos leaked to reporters hours after being delivered to lawmakers in both parties.
And the seven memos, in which Mr. Comey methodically documented his interactions with the president in real time, did little to help Republicans undermine Mr. Comey’s credibility or expose contradictions with his best-selling, tell-all book. Taken together, the 15 pages of detailed notes largely back up the stories that Mr. Comey told in congressional testimony, in the pages of his memoir, “A Higher Loyalty,” and during numerous television and radio interviews.
- Sessions told White House that Rosenstein’s firing could prompt his departure, too (The Washington Post) Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently told the White House he might have to leave his job if President Trump fired his deputy, Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the exchange.
- Giuliani adds toughness, star power to legal team for Trump (Associated Press) President Donald Trump gains a former U.S. attorney, a past presidential candidate and a TV-savvy defender with the addition of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to his legal team. And this comes at a time when the White House is looking for ways to bring special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation to a close. Trump has touted Giuliani’s toughness and star power as his team weighs whether the president should sit for an interview with Mueller’s team.
- Stormy Daniels’s Former Lawyer Cooperating in Cohen Probe (Bloomberg)
Keith Davidson negotiated deals to silence claims of affairs
Lawyer says he didn’t collude with Cohen in negotiations
Davidson represented porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
- The Latest: Trump says DNC lawsuit could be ‘good news’ (Associated Press) President Donald Trump says the Democratic National Committee’s lawsuit against his 2016 campaign could be “very good news.” He says his campaign “will now counter for the DNC Server that they refused to give to the FBI” as well as Hillary Clinton’s emails.
- Trump in Earth Day message notes need for ‘market-driven economy’ to protect environment (The Hill) President Trump marked Earth Day on Sunday by renewing his vow to undo “unnecessary and harmful regulations,” and insisting that a “market-driven economy is essential to protecting” the environment.
- Economic Surprise Data is Declining (The Daily Shot) Both soft- and hard-data US economic surprise indices have declined in recent months.
EU
- Long Trade for Euro is Getting Crowded (Twitter) When this breaks there could be a panic rush for the exit.
UK
- May faces Brexit showdown (The Times) Theresa May will face calls from senior Brexit-supporting ministers to ditch her favoured option for a customs deal with the EU at a meeting this week. The ministers believe that the so-called customs partnership is unworkable and is encouraging Brussels to press for Britain to stay in a customs union after Brexit.
Saudi Arabia
- Saudi women’s fitness centre shut over ‘vulgar’ video (AFP) Saudi sports authorities shut down a female fitness centre in Riyadh Friday over a contentious promotional video that appeared to show a woman in figure-hugging workout attire.
India
- Modi in London: Act II May Not Go Quite as He Imagined (Wired) Hat tip to Sanjeev Kulkarni. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in London for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit. He insists that he is here on the personal invitation of Prince Charles and the Queen. But this time, compared to his last visit 3 years ago, the Indian diaspora is far more divided than before, perhaps reflecting the deep fractures that have emerged in India’s civil society itself.
The face of the eight-year-old girl who was raped and killed in Kathua and whose rapists were given protection by members of Modi’s party has been stamped indelibly on the conscience of innumerable diasporic Indians. Posters of her face, exemplifying pure innocence as against the barbarity of the communal use of rape, provided the single most dominant image of the response to Modi’s visit on April 18, 2018. Faces of other victims of Hindutva terror, of the journalist Gauri Lankesh, of Afrazul Khan, hacked and burnt to death in Rajasthan, and Junaid Khan, lynched in Haryana, provided a virtual gallery of the dead, darkening Modi’s supposed triumphant return to the UK.
See also the later article: Accused of Apathy, Modi Government Seeks Refuge in Death Penalty for Child Rape.
Japan
- Japan needs ‘strong accommodative’ monetary policy ‘for some time,’ says BOJ’s Kuroda (CNBC) Japanese monetary policy must remain loose until the world’s third-largest economy achieves a higher inflation rate, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said. Kuroda told CNBC‘s Sara Eisen this weekend.
“In order to reach 2 percent inflation target, I think the Bank of Japan must continue very strong accommodative monetary policy for some time. It’s necessary.”
North Korea
- North Korea says it will suspend nuclear and missile tests, shut down test site (The Washington Post) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has declared that he will suspend nuclear and missile tests starting Saturday and that he will shut down the site where the previous six nuclear tests were conducted. The surprising announcement comes just six days before Kim is set to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in, a precursor to a historic summit between Kim and President Trump. The U.S. president is set to meet Kim at the end of May or beginning of June, although a location has not yet been set.
- Korean peace talks pose new challenge for Trump (The Hill) Negotiations to officially end the 65-year-old Korean War could create unexpected challenges for the Trump administration, which has 28,000 U.S. troops stationed on the peninsula. South Korea confirmed this week that a peace treaty is on the table for next week’s summit between its president and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. President Trump said the negotiations have his “blessing“. But it’s unclear what concessions Pyongyang would expect from the United States in order to bring the decades-long conflict to a close.
- Kim Jong Un is ‘stealing pages from his daddy’s book’: Experts say North Korea won’t give up nukes (CNBC) See also Trump says North Korea agreed to denuclearize. It hasn’t.
- Halting missile launches and dismantling test sites do not reflect a commitment to roll back current nuclear capacities, experts warned.
- North Korea may stall future nuclear development but it’s still widely expected to hold onto its current nuclear arsenal, they said.
China
- U.S. Hints at a China Truce as World Warns of Trade-War Threat (Bloomberg) U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he’s considering a trip to China amid a trade dispute with Beijing that finance chiefs warn could derail the global economic upswing. Mnuchin said he’s “cautiously optimistic” of reaching an agreement with China that bridges their differences over trade. Mnuchin’s remarks came as finance ministers and central bankers at the IMF meetings gave their latest economic assessments, often citing trade as a threat looming over the strongest upswing in seven years.
- China’s Household Credit Growth is Slowing (The Daily Shot) Slowing credit expansion is one of the reasons economists are forecasting a weaker GDP growth.
Canada
- Engineers Are Leaving Trump’s America for the Canadian Dream (Bloomberg Businessweek) The U.S. is losing some of its much needed H1-B visa engineers to Canada, a reaction to newly strengthened anti-immigrant rhetoric in the states.
- Canadian Household Spending Shows Early Symptoms of Fatigue (Bloomberg)
Retail sales excluding cars missed forecasts, as did inflation
Loonie, odds of rate increase in May both decline on the data
