Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 20 March 2019
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.
Please share this article – Go to very top of page, right hand side for social media buttons.
​Global
- Stocks in Asia falter amid US-China trade uncertainty (CNBC) Shares in major Asian stock markets mostly slipped on Wednesday following a series of conflicting reports on U.S.-China trade that surfaced overnight. The U.S. dollar index was slightly higher at 96.458 on the day but was lower from the 96.5 handle reached yesterday. Brent crude futures contract rising 0.28% to $67.80 per barrel and U.S. crude futures advancing 0.1% to $59.09 per barrel. Spot gold was down about 0.1% at $1,304.85 per ounce, as of 0428 GMT, trading in a narrow $3 range.
- What FedEx Just Said About Europe and China (Wolf Street) When FedEx, a corporate barometer for the global goods-based economy, reported earnings this evening, it missed lowered earnings and revenue expectations, and it cut its guidance for the rest of the year, below already lowered expectations, and its shares tanked 5.7% in afterhours trading. The reason, slowing growth of shopping volumes around the world:
- Support for ‘Socialism’ is Widespread (Twitter)
U.S.
- Kellyanne Conway disagrees with husband on Trump’s mental state (Politico) See also next article. Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway once again defended President Donald Trump from a frequent detractor: her husband. While speaking to reporters on Monday morning, Conway dismissed tweets by her husband, George Conway, that cast doubt on Trump’s mental state.
George Conway, who frequently criticizes the president on Twitter, over the weekend began questioning Trump’s mental state.
He tweeted out a cover of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, as well the pages that describe narcissistic personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder.
- George Conway responds to Trump calling him a loser: ‘Perfect example of the point I was making’ (The Hill) George Conway, the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway and a top critic of President Trump, shot back at the president for calling him a “total loser”. George Conway told The Washington Post in an interview:
“I thought it was a perfect example of the point I was making. He can’t concern himself with affairs of state. He’s more concerned about what people say about him and waging little battles with everyone and everything.”
- Trump’s ever-expanding list of grievances (Politico) Trump’s scattershot comments in recent days paint a picture of a president who feels under-appreciated and under siege as he obsesses over reelection. See also Investigations penetrating deep into Trump’s business, personal and political life are likely to haunt the President for years, even after Mueller has left the stage (CNN).
.
- ‘Blatantly unconstitutional’: Florida Republicans have a plan to blow up the state’s voter-approved civil rights victory (AlterNet) Last year Amendment 4, a measure to restore the right to vote for rehabilitated ex-convicts in the state, passed with 64% of the vote, and won a majority in every single congressional, state House, and state Senate district in Florida – and disenfranchised citizens up and down the state rejoiced as they registered to vote for the first time in years. But now, Republicans in the Florida legislature want to blow up the whole thing. On Tuesday, along partisan lines, a state House committee advanced a bill that would dramatically scale back Amendment 4 reforms by requiring former offenders pay back all fees and court costs before registering to vote – even extra fees that were not handed down by a judge as part of the original sentence, like surcharges for late payment. Democrats are comparing the effort to the Jim Crow era. Democratic Rep. Adam Hattersley:
“It’s blatantly unconstitutional as a poll tax.”
- Mueller suspected Trump lawyer may have been acting as foreign agent (The Guardian) Robert Mueller persuaded a judge within weeks of being made special counsel in 2017 that Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s legal fixer, may have been secretly working for a foreign government. Legal filings unsealed on Tuesday said investigators working for Mueller were granted access to Cohen’s personal email account on 18 July 2017 on the basis that he may have broken several laws, including those on unregistered foreign agents.
Cohen’s suspected efforts were not detailed in the documents. Cohen, one of Trump’s closest advisers for a decade, was known to have been paid in 2017 for consulting work by a state-controlled South Korean aviation company and a bank in Kazakhstan.
- Nebraska Flooding (Twitter) Satellite images show the devastating floods in the Midwest https://wapo.st/2TUoD5o
.
EU
- Europeans Credit EU With Promoting Peace and Prosperity, but Say Brussels Is Out of Touch With Its Citizens (Pew Research Center) Across 10 European nations recently surveyed by Pew Research Center, a median of 74% say the EU promotes peace, and a majority also think it promotes democratic values and prosperity. However, Europeans also tend to describe Brussels as inefficient and intrusive, and in particular they believe the EU is out of touch – a median of 62% say it does not understand the needs of its citizens.
UK
- May asks EU for delay with cabinet in deadlock over ‘crisis’ (The Guardian) Theresa May will be forced to write to EU leaders on Wednesday and beg them to delay Brexit, with her cabinet deadlocked over the best way out of what Downing Street now concedes is a “crisis”. The government had maintained until the last possible moment that Brexitcould go ahead as planned on 29 March or after a brief “technical extension”.
Netherlands
- Dutch government likely to lose Senate amid populist surge (Reuters) Voting in provincial elections began in the Netherlands on Wednesday, just two days after a Turkish-born man was arrested over a shooting attack in the city of Utrecht, boosting Dutch populist parties.
Turkey
- Turkey: Putin’s Ally In NATO? (Zero Hedge) Turkey has NATO’s second biggest army, and its military love affair with Russia may be in its infancy now, but it undermines NATO’s military deterrence against Russia. Pictured: Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, on March 10, 2017. (Image source: kremlin.ru)
Zimbabwe
- Cyclone Idai sweeps across Zimbabwe, killing dozens (CNN) At least 31 people have been killed and dozens are reported missing in parts of eastern Zimbabwe after a tropical cyclone ripped through the country.
.
South Korea
- In wake of Hanoi summit, South Korea’s Moon left with less room to maneuver (Reuters) The breakdown at last month’s U.S.-North Korea summit has left South Korean President Moon Jae-in with little room to maneuver and exacerbated divisions within his government over how to break the impasse, three sources familiar with the issue said.
China
- Exclusive: China to invite European diplomats to Xinjiang in new diplomatic push (Reuters) China will invite Beijing-based European diplomats to visit its far western region of Xinjiang, the foreign ministry told Reuters, furthering its outreach to fend off criticism about a de-radicalization program.
- Chinese companies are defaulting on their debts at an ‘unprecedented’ level (CNBC)
- Defaults for Chinese corporate bonds – issued in both U.S. dollars and the Chinese yuan – soared last year, according to numbers from two banks.
- Analysts blamed the difficulties on tighter monetary conditions, aggravated by high borrowing costs, as well as a crackdown on shadow lending.
- Defaults look set to continue this year although at a more manageable pace, said experts. But that doesn’t bode well for already-high debt levels in China.
.Mexico
- Trump administration to stop detaining some migrant families at border: report (The Hill) The Trump administration will reportedly stop detaining some migrant families who illegally cross the border in Texas as it copes with overcrowding in detention facilities.The Wall Street Journal, citing government officials, said authorities will begin releasing hundreds of families caught each day in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, rather than referring the families to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for detention.
Canada
- Canada’s top civil servant resigns over role in growing Trudeau scandal (The Guardian) Canada’s top civil servant – a central figure in the political crisis (see next article) that continues to damage the prime minister, Justin Trudeau – has resigned from his post, following allegations of political bias from parliamentarians. In a letter to the prime minister, Michael Wernick announced his plans to retire as clerk of the privy council, the most powerful non-elected position in the federal government. Wernick had previously held numerous senior government positions and had served under multiple prime ministers over nearly four decades.
.
- Explained: the case that could bring down Canada’s Justin Trudeau (The Guardian) Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, is facing the biggest political scandal of his administration. The affair centres around allegations that his former attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould, was improperly pressured by some of his closest advisers to prevent the prosecution of a large Canadian engineering firm over accusations of fraud and bribery.
.