Early Headlines: Asia Stocks And Oil Down, Dollar Steady, Gold Mixed, WTI And Brent Diverge, Steel And Al Tariffs For Can, Mex, And EU, Trump Pressured Sessions, N. Ireland Joint EU-UK Status, China Pressures Taiwan, And More

Written by Econintersect

Early Bird Headlines 01 June 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

• Shares in Asia cautiously mixed as trade concerns return to the fore (CNBC) Asian markets were narrowly mixed early on Friday, with investors cautious over trade tensions after the U.S. announced tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from several of its allies would be reapplied. The dollar index was little changed at 94.001 at 9:53 a.m. HK/SIN. Brent crude futures slipped 0.04% to trade at $77.53 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures edged down by 0.15% to $66.94. Spot gold was up 0.1% at $1,299.51 per ounce by 0110 GMT. U.S. gold futures for June delivery were down 0.1% at $1,298.60 per ounce.

• U.S. and Brent crude part ways, leaving market flummoxed over oil prices (Reuters) Global oil markets have been roiled by a surprising divergence between the world’s major benchmarks, Brent crude and its U.S. counterpart, which in recent days have traded at odds with one another, wrongfooting investors betting on the exact opposite.

On Thursday, U.S. crude futures traded as much as $11 below Brent , the deepest discount since early 2015. Traders say the tide of light sweet crude from the United States is threatening to swamp the global market.

Click for large image.

U.S.

• Trump administration will put steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada, Mexico and the EU (CNBC) See also next article and US allies quickly fire back at Trump’s tariffs – escalating an already-tense trade battle.

• The Trump administration is putting steel and aluminum tariffs on U.S. allies Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
• Those entities had been exempt from the 25 percent tariffs on steel imports and 10 percent tariffs on aluminum imports.
• The European Union immediately said it would impose countermeasures in response to the U.S. actions.

• Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs may increase costs for home buyers and renters (MarketWatch) A can of soda and a six-pack of beer may become more expensive thanks to the Trump administration’s proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. And housing could cost more too.

The tariffs on steel and aluminum likely will have an impact on new home prices if the cost of those materials increases in the U.S. But that effect will likely be more muted because new homes typically have more wood than metal, said Aaron Terrazas, senior economist at real-estate website Zillow. Whereas buying lumber represents one-third of the cost of building a new home, steel and aluminum contribute to between 0.5% and 1% of a home’s cost.

There are exceptions to that rule, however. Unlike with single-family homes, however, apartment and condo buildings require a significantly more steel and aluminum in their construction than they do lumber. “You’ll see more price pressure in the multifamily space,” Terrazas said. And those costs may get passed onto both buyers and renters.

In November, the Department of Commerce imposed a 20.83% tariff on shipments of softwood lumber from Canada. While the move was forecast to spur new jobs and increase domestic lumber production, it caused the price of lumber to jump nearly 15%. “Those costs have largely been passed along to consumers, and you’ve seen new home prices touch new highs,” Terrazas said.

• Puerto Rico gov: ‘There will be hell to pay’ if data held back on hurricane deaths (The Hill) Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said on Thursday that there would be “hell to pay” if territory officials withheld key statistics about the death toll from Hurricane Maria.

Rosselló’s comments came two days after a Harvard University study published in the New England Journal of Medicine pegged the death toll from the hurricane and its immediate aftermath at 4,645 – far higher than the official estimate of 64.

• Scoop: Trump repeatedly pressured Sessions on Mueller investigation (Axios) President Trump pressured Attorney General Jeff Sessions to reclaim control of the Russia investigation on at least four separate occasions, three times in person and once over the phone, according to sources familiar with the conversations. Axios reports:

Why it matters: The fact that there were multiple conversations shows that Trump’s pressure on Sessions to stop recusing himself was heavier than previously known. The sustained pressure made several officials uncomfortable, because they viewed it as improper and worry that it could be politically and legally problematic.

What we’re hearing: The New York Times this week reported on one of these conversations – which occurred at Mar-a-Lago in March 2017 – and said Robert Mueller is investigating it. But Trump’s other direct conversations with Sessions about the subject have not been previously reported.

• This 1990 Trump quote in Playboy explains today perfectly (Time) Almost three decades ago now, Donald Trump explained his life and worldview in a 1990 interview with Playboy magazine this way:

“The show is Trump, and it is sold-out performances everywhere.”

• Republican Joins Elizabeth Warren To Force Finra To Pay For Deadbeat Brokers (Financial Advisor) Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana has signed on as a cosponsor of the legislation which would require the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. to create a fund that pays investors’ unpaid investor arbitration awards out of the regulatory fines Finra collects. Kennedy said:

“This bill aims to compensate Americans who have been cheated out of hundreds of millions of dollars. These investors have already been swindled out of their money once, and thousands of them still haven’t been given their unpaid arbitration. Our bill aims to fix that.”

• Equal Rights Amendment: Here are the 13 states that haven’t voted to ratify it (CNN) This week Illinois lawmakers approved the Equal Rights Amendment, a long-proposed addition to the United States Constitution that would ensure equal rights to all Americans regardless of sex. The ERA, which states that “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex,” has been languishing in Congress since 1923. Only one more state needs to ratify this 95-year old proposed amendment to have it added to the U.S. Constitution. Here are the states that have not voted to ratify the amendment:

• Alabama
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• Florida
• Georgia
• Louisiana
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• North Carolina
• Oklahoma
• South Carolina
• Utah
• Virginia

• Bodycam Video Released Of New Jersey Cop Punching Woman At The Beach (Yahoo! News) New Jersey police released bodycam video Wednesday that shows an officer pinning a beachgoer to the ground and punching her in the head, days after cellphone footage of her arrest went viral over the weekend. The 20-year old woman refused to give her name after passing a breathalizer test ordered when an open container of alcohol was found next to her beach blanket. Read what Wikipedia says about this sort of situation: Stop and identify statutes.

UK

• Brexit secretary plans to give Northern Ireland joint UK, EU status: The Sun (Reuters) Brexit Secretary David Davis is creating a Brexit plan that would give Northern Ireland joint UK and European Union status so it could trade freely with both, as well as a buffer zone to eliminate the need for border checkpoints with Ireland, The Sun newspaper reported on Thursday.

Italy

• Italy’s populist parties resurrect government coalition (Axios) The 5 Star Movement and the League agreed on a new cabinet Thursday, putting the two populist parties back on course to form a government. Political newcomer Giuseppe Conte is still slated to serve as prime minister, but the crucial finance minister position would go to little-known economics professor Giovanni Tria.

Japan

• Japan wants to work with the US to stop China’s ‘market-distorting’ practices (Reuters)

• Japan has asked the U.S. to join forces to prevent China from taking market-distorting investment practices, said a Japanese finance ministry official.
• Japan has also asked the U.S. to permanently exempt Japanese steel and aluminum goods from U.S. tariff imports, the official added.

Taiwan

• Beijing is upping the pressure on Taiwan: ‘Expectation of reunification is certainly increasing’ (CNBC)

• Chinese President Xi Jinping has upped the pressure on Taiwan in recent months.
• “Having eliminated presidential terms and with the 100-year anniversaries of the Communist Party as well as the establishment of the PRC coming up, expectation of reunification is certainty increasing,” one expert told CNBC.
• But China’s assertiveness could backfire for Xi.

China

• Chinese stocks make symbolic debut on widely followed index (CNBC)

• Close to 230 China A shares debuted on MSCI’s emerging market benchmark on Friday.
• Investors are expecting the move to attract billions to the mainland market.
• Still, concerns over market intervention and capital controls lingered.

Canada

• Canada to impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. (Axios) Canada will impose retaliatory tariffs against the United States in response to the Trump administration’s decision to extend steel and aluminum tariffs to Canada. During a press conference Thursday afternoon, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the American decision “totally unacceptable,” adding he finds it “inconceivable” that “Canada could be considered a national security threat to the United States.” The details:

Canada will impose its own tariffs against American steel, aluminum, and other products in the amount of $16.6 billion at rates of 25% and 10%, which represents the total value of Canada’s 2017 steel and aluminum exports to the U.S. They’ll go into effect on July 1, remaining until the U.S. ends its own tariffs.

• Canada to U.S.: Explain that $30 billion farm spending war chest (Reuters) Canada wants the United States to explain why its lawmakers have made an additional $30 billion available to support U.S. farmers hit by trade woes, and how Washington might distribute the money, according to a document published by the World Trade Organization on Thursday.