Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 18 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 shares decline after escalation in US-China trade tensions as oil extends losses (CNBC) Most Asian markets closed lower on Monday as investors digested the escalation in trade tensions between the U.S. and China after both countries announced tariffs last week. The dollar index stood unchanged at 94.926. Brent crude futures slipped 0.46% to trade at $73.10 per barrel after settling more than 3% lower on Friday. U.S. crude futures declined 1.52% to $64.07. Spot gold edged up 0.1% to $1,279.70 per ounce by 0255 GMT.
- U.S. Oil Production Now Exceeds Former #2 Saudi Arabia and Equals #1 Russia (Reuters) The U.S. has become the world’s top crude oil producer.
- The Huge Ships for the Booming LNG Trade (Wolf Street) This is a very complete discussion of the development of new supertankers for the booming liquid natural gas (LNG) trade.
U.S.
- Bannon on migrant family separation: Zero tolerance doesn’t have to be justified (The Hill) Stephen Bannon, former chief strategist to President Trump, said Sunday that the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy on immigration doesn’t have to be justified. Bannon told ABC’s “This Week“:
“It’s zero tolerance. I don’t think you have to justify it. We have a crisis on the southern border but the elites in the city … want to manage situations to bad outcomes. And Donald Trump is not going to do that, he’s just not going to kick the can down the road.”
- Laura Bush blasts Trump migrant policy as ‘cruel’ and ‘immoral’ (The Hill) Former first lady Laura Bush tore into the Trump administration for separating migrant families at the border, calling the “zero tolerance” policy “cruel” and “immoral.” Bush penned an op-ed for the Washington Post, which was published Sunday night as public outcry over the hundreds of children in detention centers intensified. She wrote:
“I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart.”
- Supreme Court faces major decision on partisan gerrymandering (The Hill) The Supreme Court has a big decision left to make as it heads into its final weeks of the term: whether to strike down a voter map for the first time as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. Experts agree it would be a game changer if the court is able to find a workable test to assess when legislators have gone too far in drawing congressional maps that give their party an edge. The court has longed shied away from policing congressional maps without a clear way to measure how much political bias in redistricting is too much.
- No one is opening those emails about privacy updates, and it’s a nightmare for this $22B industry (CNBC)
- The GDPR requires companies to send emails to people on their mailing list who have never bought anything, asking permission to keep emailing them.
- Most Americans are not opening those emails, and some are using them to unsubscribe.
- As a result, some email marketers stand to lose 80 percent of their marketing lists — or face huge fines from the EU if they keep trying to email these people without permission.
- The Pentagon Can’t Account for $21 Trillion (That’s Not a Typo) (TruthDig) The records of the U.S. government show at least $21 tillion has been spent beyond what was appropriated and contained in official governemnt spending totals. Two (of many) interesting things from this article:
- The amount of spending not included in the nationsl “debt” is as large as the official national “debt’ itself.
- It also means that any time our government says it “doesn’t have money” for a project, it’s laughable. It can clearly “create” as much as it wants for bombing and death.
- Who the Heck Bought $1.2 trillion in New US Treasuries over the past 12 Months? (Wolf Street) Japan, Russia, and the Fed (plus other countries) have been selling U.S. treasuries at a time when federal dedficits are expanding. This article asks who bought about $1.3 to $1.4 trillion in treasuries over the past 12 months? The answer is primarily U.S. citizens and institutions.
Finland
- Finland’s Basic Income Test Wasn’t Ambitious Enough (Bloomberg) This experimental program was doomed to failure before it started. It didn’t covefr enough people, it didn’t provide a significant level of income, and it was designed with negative incentives to try to increase employment.
Greece
- Eurozone braces for row with Greece over bailout exit terms (The Guardian) Eurozone finance ministers are braced for a row this week with the Greek government over the terms of a “golden goodbye” as the country prepares to exit its third bailout programme.
Concerns that Greece will suffer a fourth financial collapse unless an agreement is signed with the EU to write off some of its debt mountain are likely to surface before a showdown in Brussels on Thursday.
Russia
- Spotlight falls on Russian threat to undersea cables (The Hill) The Trump administration’s new sanctions on Russia are casting light on the threat posed to the undersea cables that carry the world’s electronic communications between continents. The Treasury Department sanctioned five Russian firms and three Russian nationals this week for aiding the Kremlin’s domestic security service, the FSB. One of the companies is alleged to have provided support for Moscow’s “underwater capabilities” – including producing diving systems and a submersible craft for the FSB. The Treasury Department alleged that Russia has been “active” in tracking underwater fiber optic cables that transmit communications across continents.
Japan
- Magnitude 6.1 quake in Japan’s Osaka area kills three, stops factories (Reuters) A magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook Osaka, Japan’s second-biggest metropolis, early on Monday morning, killing three people, halting factory lines in a key industrial area and bursting water mains, government officials and broadcaster NHK said.
South Korea
- US and South Korea to announce suspension of ‘large-scale’ military drill (The Guardian) South Korea and the US are expected to announce the suspension of “large-scale” military drills next week, with the provision that they will restart if North Korea fails to keep its promise to denuclearise, a South Korean news agency said on Sunday.
China
- China’s tariffs on U.S. oil would disrupt $1 billion monthly business (Reuters) China’s threat to impose duties on U.S. oil imports will hit a business that has soared in the last two years, and which is now worth almost $1 billion per month.
- Chinese tech CEO: A trade war would hurt ‘a lot of American brands’ (CNBC)
- A long-term trade war between the United States and China would end up hurting a lot of American brands, Richard Liu, the founder and CEO of Chinese e-commerce company JD.com, told CNBC.
- Trade tensions mean that American companies could potentially lose out on selling to a huge Chinese consumer base that’s increasingly demanding imported goods.
- The tense climate between Washington and Beijing will affect JD.com’s expansion plans into the U.S., Liu said.
Colombia
- Colombia president-elect vows to unite nation, alter peace deal (Reuters) Colombia’s President-elect Ivan Duque, who swept aside leftist Gustavo Petro in Sunday’s election, pledged to unite his South American nation after a divisive campaign but insisted he would change a landmark peace accord with leftist rebels. Duque’s decisive victory in Sunday’s poll, with 54% of votes to Petro’s 42%, is likely to reassure investors in Latin America’s fourth-largest economy who were alarmed by the leftist candidate’s promise to overturn Colombia’s orthodox economic model.
Yet, in the first presidential election since the 2016 peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Duque worried Colombians with a promise to overhaul the accord that ended a five-decade conflict which killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions. He has promised to impose tougher punishments on rebels for war crimes.
Mexico
- Mexico vs. Germany final score: Hirving Lozano’s early goal stuns World Cup champs in massive upset (CBS News) The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia has its first absolute stunner. Mexico, behind a first-half goal from Hirving Lozano, upset reigning champs Germany in the group stage opener, 1-0.
