Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 19 Sep 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 trades higher as investors shrug off escalating US-China trade tensions (CNBC) Asia markets mostly rose on Wednesday as investors took an escalation of trade tensions between the U.S. and China in their stride. The dollar index traded at 94.601 at 12:19 p.m. HK/SIN, falling from levels above 94.800 earlier in the week. U.S. crude was up 0.09% at $69.91 a barrel, and global benchmark Brent flat at $79.03. Overnight, oil futures gained more than 1%. Spot gold had climbed 0.1% to $1,199.18 an ounce by 0044 GMT.
U.S.
- EXCLUSIVE: Trump says exposing ‘corrupt’ FBI probe could be ‘crowning achievement’ of presidency (The Hill) President Trump in an exclusive interview with Hill.TV said Tuesday he ordered the release of classified documents in the Russia collusion case to show the public the FBI probe started as a “hoax,” and that exposing it could become one of the “crowning achievements” of his presidency. Trump also said he regretted not firing former FBI Director James Comey immediately instead of waiting until May 2017. He said:
“I hope to be able to call this, along with tax cuts and regulation and all the things I’ve done… in its own way this might be the most important thing because this was corrupt.”
- Florida governor booed out of restaurant over red tide algae issues (The Hill) Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) was reportedly booed out of a restaurant as protesters vented their frustration over the state’s red algae tide crisis. Scott was making a campaign stop in Venice, Fla., when he was met with angry protesters outside of Mojo’s Real Cuban restaurant on Monday, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported. The governor, who is term-limited under Florida’s Constitution, is currently in a tight race against incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson (D) for Nelson’s seat. He entered the restaurant but only stayed about 10 minutes before he left to a booing crowd.
- Ford wants her Kavanaugh claim investigated before hearing (Associated Press) Christine Blasey Ford wants the FBI to investigate her allegation that she was sexually assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh before she testifies at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing next week, her lawyers said in a letter to the panel. The lawyers wrote that Ford, who is now a college professor in California, wants to cooperate with the committee. But in the days since she publicly accused Kavanaugh of the assault when they were teens at a party 35 years ago, the lawyers said, she has been the target of “vicious harassment and even death threats.” Her family has relocated, they said.
- New York Fed Sells Remainder of Maiden Lane LLC Securities; Approximately $2.5 Billion Net Gain Generated for U.S. Public from the Portfolio (New York Fed) The Federal Reserve Bank of New York (New York Fed) today announced the completion of the sale of the remaining securities in the Maiden Lane LLC (ML LLC) portfolio. Sales of the remaining securities took place over the course of the past several months, with the final sale occurring within the last two weeks.
ML LLC was formed to facilitate JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s (JPMC) merger with Bear Stearns Companies Inc. Net proceeds from past sales, conducted by BlackRock Solutions, as well as cash flow the securities generated while held by ML LLC, enabled the full repayment of the New York Fed’s loan, plus interest, on June 14, 2012 and of the subordinate loan JPMC made to ML LLC, plus interest, on November 15, 2012.
The New York Fed’s management of the ML LLC portfolio resulted in a net gain of $2.5 billion, including interest paid to the New York Fed of $765 million, for the benefit of the public. ML LLC will retain minimal cash to meet any trailing expenses in order to facilitate an orderly wind-down.
- Tesla said to be under criminal investigation (Seeking Alpha) Chart below from Investing.com as of 1pm 18Sept.
- Shares of Tesla (TSLA -3.3%) are down on reports from CNBC and Bloomberg that the company is facing a criminal probe over the statements made by CEO Elon Musk on a go-private transaction. The investigation is said to be running “alongside” the previously disclosed SEC investigation.
- Sources say federal prosecutors opened a fraud investigation after Musk tweeted on taking Tesla private and that the deal had “funding secured” already.
- Tesla hasn’t issued a statement yet on the development.
- Trump Steel Tariffs Could Kill Up to 40,000 Auto Jobs, Equal to Nearly One-Third of Steel Workforce (Benn Steil and Benjamin Della Rocca, Council on Foreign Relations) BS has contributed to GEI. These authors have analysis showing significant auto industry job losses. But the White House doen’t agree. Tariff opponents in Congress and industry, however, have argued that what may be good for steel won’t be good for other industries. Asked why auto manufacturers are so opposed to tariffs if the impact on their costs is minimal, as the administration is arguing, newly elevated Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro was dismissive:
“Look, they don’t like this. Of course they don’t. What do they do? They spin. They put out fake news. They put all this hyperbole out.”
UK
- Weber tells paper Brexit deal must avoid hard border in Northern Ireland (Reuters) Any deal on Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union must ensure that a hard border in Northern Ireland is avoided, Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party in the European Parliament told a German newspaper on Wednesday.
Poland
- Poland suggests ‘Fort Trump’ as U.S. weighs military base (Reuters) President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the United States is considering a request from Poland for a permanent U.S. military presence in the fellow NATO country, acknowledging that he shares Poland’s concerns about possible Russian aggression.
Syria
- Putin sees chance circumstances behind downing of Russian plane in Syria (Thompson Reuters) Hat tip to Sig Silber. See also next article. Russia’s Defence Ministry said earlier that the aircraft was shot down by Syrian anti-aircraft systems, but accused Israel of indirectly causing the incident, saying Israeli jets nearby had put the Russian plane in the path of danger. The ministry threatened to retaliate over what it called a hostile act.
Putin’s comments, made after talks with Hungary’s prime minister in Moscow, appeared to somewhat defuse the situation though he said Russia needed to look further into what happened.
- The Song Remains the Same in Syria (Geopolitical Futures) Hat tip to Sig Silber. Less than 24 hours after Russia and Turkey agreed not to launch an offensive in Idlib, a Russian reconnaissance plane was shot down in Syria. Though it has a recent history of shooting down Russian military aircraft, Turkey was not the culprit. No, the plane was shot down by Russianmade S-200 missiles operated by Syria. That didn’t stop the Russian Defense Ministry from placing the blame squarely on Israel. According to the ministry, Israel was bombing positions in Latakia, a city in northwest Syria, without giving Russia enough advance warning. In an ominous statement, Moscow said it reserved “the right to take appropriate action in response.”
Not so long ago, Russia-Israel relations had never seemed better. Earlier this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Moscow listening to a Russian military band playing Israel’s national anthem before holding deliberations with President Vladimir Putin. Almost a year ago to the date, Russia, Iran and Turkey announced they had reached an agreement to create a deescalation zone in Idlib province – the same territory over which so many were afraid Russia and Turkey might soon fight but which will soon become another demilitarized zone. (Syria and Iran will have more to say about whether anything besides short-term disaster has been averted in Idlib.)
So how did we get here? The answer is partly explained by the fact that alliances in the Middle East no longer exist. In their place are short-term partnerships governed by temporary benefit.
- Syria’s Idlib spared attack, Turkey to send in more troops (Reuters) Turkey will send more troops into Syria’s Idlib province after striking a deal with Russia that has averted a government offensive and delighted rebels who said it kept the area out of President Bashar al-Assad’s hands.
Russia
- Facing jail for online ‘jokes’, Russian feminist vows to fight on (Thompson Reuters) After posting a few feminist jokes and rants online, Russian blogger Lyubov Kalugina hardly expected to face five years in jail for inciting hatred towards men. Kalugina, 31, was charged on Sept. 4 after an unidentified man complained about 12 posts she published on Russia’s most popular social media network between 2013 and 2016, including her hope that a noisy neighbour would “die of prostate cancer“.
Rights groups say the charges are discriminatory as men often denigrate women, and even advocate rape – along with potential victims’ phone numbers and addresses – on Russian social networks, but they are rarely prosecuted.
Japan
- The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady on Wednesday and maintained its optimistic view on the economy despite escalating global trade frictions.
- “Japan’s economy is expanding moderately,” the BOJ said in a statement announcing the policy decision.
North Korea
- North Korea’s Kim says to scrap missile sites, visit Seoul (Reuters) North Korea agreed on Wednesday to “permanently” abolish its key missile facilities in the presence of foreign experts, and said it is willing to close its main nuclear complex if the United States takes unspecified “reciprocal action“.
- North and South Korea plan to bid for 2032 Summer Olympics (Associated Press) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in a statement Wednesday that the countries planned to jointly bid for the 2032 Summer Olympics. At a major summit, the two leaders gave no details of which cities might host certain events at the games, or how advanced the plans were. The International Olympic Committee traditionally does not announce host cities until seven years ahead of the games. That would give the Koreas until 2025 to put together a joint bid.
China
- Washington and Beijing can’t resolve their trade differences anytime soon, according to Timothy Stratford, a former assistant U.S. trade representative for China affairs.
- “What the U.S. is asking the Chinese side to do is something the Chinese side clearly doesn’t want to do, they don’t think it’s in their best interest,” he said at the World Economic Forum in Tianjin.
- Neither side may be ready to reach a compromise, he warned.
- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was speaking Wednesday morning Beijing time at the opening plenary of a World Economic Forum conference in Tianjin, China.
- “China is confronted with a host of challenges,” Li said. “[We’re facing] greater difficulties in keeping stable performance of the Chinese economy.”
- He added claims that the recent slide of the yuan against the U.S. dollar was an intentional policy decision from Beijing were “simply not true.”
