Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 07 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
- Asian markets climb after Dow tops 25,000 and as investors digest ECB comments (CNBC) The Nikkei 225 advanced 0.87%, or 197.53 points, to close at 22,823.26 as banking and other financial sector stocks advanced. Automakers were also broadly higher as the yen continued to trade near the 110 handle to the dollar. U.S. West Texas Intermediate traded higher by 0.37% at $64.97 per barrel. Brent crude futures were 0.62% higher at $75.83. Spot gold was up 0.1% at $1,296.98 per ounce by 0359 GMT
U.S.
- GOP braces for intraparty fight (The Hill) After nine months of empty promises to help young undocumented immigrants, House Republicans are facing a make-or-break moment on Thursday. Retiring Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will pitch a long-awaited compromise immigration plan to rank-and-file Republicans in the Capitol basement. The meeting is one of the biggest of the Congress for House Republicans, and it could get heated.
- Republicans in tight U.S. House races feel heat from Mexican tariffs (Reuters) Mexican tariffs are roiling U.S. congressional campaigns in states where U.S. exporters could take a hit and President Donald Trump’s Republicans face tough races in November congressional elections.
Mexico announced the levies this week in retaliation to Trump’s decision to slap tariffs on metal imports from Mexico and other countries. They fall on only about $3 billion in U.S. exports, but were crafted to have a “very specific” focus on vulnerable Republicans, said one senior Mexican official who asked not to be named.
- Unending Pruitt controversies leave Republicans frustrated (The Hill) The unending controversies surrounding Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Scott Pruitt are exhausting Republican lawmakers, who are calling on the administrator to get a handle on the scandals. While many GOP lawmakers have maintained public support for President Trump’s embattled EPA chief, a number of Republicans in the House and Senate are letting their criticisms ring out.
- U.S. house prices to rise at twice the speed of inflation and pay: Reuters poll (Reuters) An acute shortage of affordable homes in the United States will continue over the coming year, according to a majority of property market analysts polled by Reuters, driving prices up faster than inflation and wage growth.
- Senate Intelligence Leaders Say House G.O.P. Leaked a Senator’s Texts (The New York Times) The Senate Intelligence Committee has concluded that Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee were behind the leak of private text messages between the Senate panel’s top Democrat and a Russian-connected lawyer, according to two congressional officials briefed on the matter. Senator Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, the committee’s Republican chairman, and Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat, were so perturbed by the leak that they demanded a rare meeting with Speaker Paul D. Ryan last month to inform him of their findings. They used the meeting with Mr. Ryan to raise broader concerns about the direction of the House Intelligence Committee under its chairman, Representative Devin Nunes of California, the officials said. The leak was so framed to make it appear that Sen Warner was acting sureptitiously when he was in fact carrying out committee directives.
- Trump Plans to be Confrontational (Twitter) Econintersect: Is something new?
- US growth is now probably ‘as good as it gets,’ Goldman’s chief economist says (CNBC) See also next article.
- Goldman’s chief economist says the US GDP growth rate has probably peaked.
- The Federal Reserve is widely tipped to raise its federal funds rate next week.
- Goldman Sachs tips a rate hike every three months for the next seven quarters.
- Goldman’s Economic Activity Indicator Remains High (The Daily Shot) Here is Goldman’s Current Activity Indicator (CAI) for the US.
EU
- Industrial Production Lags in EU (Twitter) The industrial secttor in Europe is in a long, deep depression.
- No EUR Bonds For Sale (The Daily Shot) There is still a deficit of new Eurozone bonds in the domestic private debt market.
UK
- Brexit: David Davis plans revolt over customs backstop plan (The Guardian) Theresa May is facing a dramatic cabinet showdown with David Davis, the Brexit secretary, over the government’s final backstop plan to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland. As the inner cabinet meets at Downing Street to thrash out the final details of the customs fall-back plan, Davis is expected to push for a firm end date to be included in the agreed text. Davis did not rule out resigning if the government’s proposals did not have his explicit approval.
France
- China’s love affair with oak a mixed blessing for France (Reuters) Exports of oak logs have soared and so have prices, largely because of demand from China. Beijing banned commercial timber harvests last year and Chinese millennials have developed a taste for high-quality wooden floors and furniture from Europe. But boom for France’s exporters could mean bust for some of the country’s 550 sawmills.
French oak producers have traditionally sold oak logs to the mills, which then cut them into lumber for making products ranging from floors and furniture to coffins and wine barrels.
But now, private forest owners have started selling logs directly to Chinese buyers because they are ready to pay higher prices and do the processing themselves.
India
- RBI hikes repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25% (The Hindu) The six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday increased the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25%. The MPC arrived at the unanimous decision as the outlook for inflation had become ‘uncertain’ following a surge in international crude oil prices. This is the first rate hike in four-and-a-half years; the last was in January 2014.
China
- In the last few months, Chinese exchanges have opened up some commodity futures for international traders.
- China, the world’s largest consumer of many commodities, is bidding to be the price-maker, not the price-taker for those products.
- Number of U.S. diplomats in China hit by mystery illness: State Dept (Reuters) The U.S. State Department has brought a group of diplomats home from Guangzhou, China, over concerns they were suffering from a mysterious malady that resembles a brain injury and has already affected U.S. personnel in Cuba, its spokeswoman said on Wednesday. After confirming one government employee had “suffered a medical incident” in the southern Chinese city, the department deployed a team to screen employees and family members at its consulate there, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. She said:
“As a result of the screening process so far, the department has sent a number of individuals for further evaluation and a comprehensive assessment of their symptoms and findings in the United States.”
Guatemala
- Rescuers search for missing near Guatemala volcano as death toll climbs (Reuters) Rescuers scoured a lava- and ash-ravaged landscape in Guatemala for a third straight day on Wednesday in search of survivors and victims of Fuego volcano’s calamitous eruption, which has killed at least 99 people. The 3,763-meter (12,346-feet) Volcan de Fuego is one of several active volcanoes among 34 in the Central American country. It lies near the colonial city of Antigua, a UNESCO world heritage site that has survived several major eruptions.
Canada
- ‘I deliver to your house’: pot dealers on why legalization is doomed (The Guardian) The success or failure of cannabis legalization comes down to one thing: beating the black market. So what do dealers think? They think their service will be greatly prefered to government outlets.
