Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 01 May 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.
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​Global
- Australian stocks rise as most Asian markets stay shut for holidays (CNBC) Stocks in Australia advanced on Wednesday as most major Asian markets remained closed for holidays. The U.S. dollar index was lower at 97.491 following an earlier high of 97.528. Brent crude futures contract slipped 0.67% to $71.58 per barrel. U.S. crude futures also fell 0.97% to $63.29 per barrel. Spot gold was down 0.3% at $1,278.92 per ounce at 0630 GMT.
U.S.
- Mueller expressed ‘frustration’ to Barr over lack of context in letter (The Hill) A Justice Department spokeswoman said Tuesday that special counsel Robert Mueller expressed “frustration” to Attorney General William Barr in late March over the lack of context in the attorney general’s four-page memo describing his investigation’s findings. Mueller “expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage” of his obstruction inquiry in a phone call following the release of Barr’s four-page letter, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement to The Hill. Kupec said Barr called Mueller after receiving a letter in which, according to The Washington Post, the special counsel wrote that Barr’s March 24 memo did not “capture the context, nature, and substance” of his findings. [Econintersect: Barr testified to congress thast he did not know whether Mueller approvede of his summary of the report.]
- Mueller’s complaints show Barr has a whole lot of explaining to do (The Washington Post) Attorney General William P. Barr’s handling of the Mueller report was already controversial. On Tuesday night, it became a whole lot more controversial. Mueller’s letter makes clear he doesn’t believe Barr handled the “context” of his report accurately, which lends credence to analysis that Barr skipped over Mueller’s actual justification for not concluding Trump had obstructed justice. In fact, if you look at the Mueller report closely, you’ll see that there are multiple instances in which he indicated there was evidence that President Trump’s conduct satisfied the three key criteria for obstruction. This letter is considered shocking by legal experts in that it clearly implies that Barr was ‘in the tank’ for the president and did not represent a proper DOJ interpretation of the Mueller report. [See also ‘He needs to resign tomorrow’: Democrats tell Attorney General William Barr to resign after damning report (Business Insider).]
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- READ: Barr’s prepared remarks in testimony before Senate Judiciary panel (The Hill) Attorney General William Barr will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee today (Wednesday), the first of two back-to-back hearings he will take part in on Capitol Hill this week.
- Trump calls on Fed to cut rates by 1% and urges more quantitative easing (CNBC)
- President Trump intensifies pressure on the Federal Reserve, calling for a 1 point rate cut and more quantitative easing.
- The president compares the Fed unfavorably to China’s central bank, and says more stimulus would see the U.S. economy “go up like a rocket.”
- Opinion: Washington Post’s 10,000 Trump untruths is about 25% fake news (MarketWatch) Hat tip to Sig Silber. Sensing that the fact checkers are a bit too quick on the draw, the author decided to review a series of contentions made by Glenn Kessler and the fact-checking team at The Washington Post. Rather than review all 10,000, he focused on the most recent 50 claims in both “economy” and “jobs,” mostly because he was confident in the subject matter, and the data is well at hand. The author found 27 out of 100 Trump comments to be defensible if not unimpeachably accurate. Econintersect: We are so relieved to find that maybe the president has told only 7,000 to 7,500 lies. This has greatly increased our confidence that he can be believed.
- Trump pick Stephen Moore’s Fed nomination could be doomed as GOP senators criticize him (CNBC)
- President Donald Trump’s plan to name conservative pundit Stephen Moore to the Federal Reserve board could be doomed to failure, as a number of Republican senators were cool to his bid Tuesday.
- Sen. Joni Ernst, the Iowa Republican, said she likely will not vote for Moore and also said she does not believe he currently has the votes to win approval in the Senate.
- Trump’s other recent Fed pick, businessman and former presidential candidate Herman Cain, recently dropped out from contention after it became clear he lacked enough Republican support in the Senate to win approval.
- America’s capitalist democracy is ‘in jeopardy of imploding,’ warns union leader Richard Trumka (MarketWatch) AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka offered a dark take on the growing U.S. economy as he spoke Tuesday before the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. b He offered this warning about the “threat to the system of capitalism and democracy“. He said that when an economic system doesn’t provide a rising standard of living for the vast majority:
“History tells us that system gets changed, one way or the other. Donald Trump is the first sign of that happening. He said, ‘I’m going to change the rules,’ and people believed him.”
- Trump’s ‘imaginary’ Foxconn deal has destroyed this small Wisconsin town (Alternet) The small town of Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin has found itself torn apart by a deal to build a Foxconn manufacturing plant – and now it looks like the company might not even deliver the jobs that it promised. The Wall Street Journal reports that contractors working for Foxconn have “bulldozed about 75 homes in Mount Pleasant and cleared hundreds of farmland acres” in preparation for the construction of the factory in the town.
However, the town still hasn’t even seen Foxconn’s building plans for the factory and contractors have not been regularly visiting the site of the proposed plant in recent weeks. This lack of progress has left residents in the town angry and anxious – particularly those people who have had their land seized to build the plant.
- Democrats’ 2020 Senate hopes just took an early hit (CNN) Senate Democrats believe that they can recapture their majority in 2020, but those aspirations took a bit of a blow with two decisions over the past 24 hours. The big one was 2018 Georgia gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams’ decision to pass on a challenge to Republican Sen. David Perdue, perhaps in favor of a run for president in 2020. Also significant was the decision by Iowa Rep. Cindy Axne to pass on a race against Republican Sen. Joni Ernst. After former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack said “no” to the race, the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm actively recruited Axne, who was elected to a Des Moines-area seat in 2018, to run. With Axne out, it’s unclear who Democrats will turn to as they seek to upend Ernst.
- U.S. Economy Shows Improvement in April (The Daily Shot) At the national level, the World Economics SMI index shows robust business activity in April. Business confidence rebounded, and margins have stabilized.
UK
- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for ignoring a British court order and taking refuge in Ecuador’s London embassy.
- At the time, the 47-year old was attempting to avoid extradition to Sweden.
- Assange also faces an extradion request by the U.S. over charges relating to computer hacking and publishing classified documents.
Italy
- Italian wage growth is slowing. (The Daily Shot)
Israel
- As Trump team prepares Mideast plan, Palestinians face financial crisis (Reuters) Israel and the United States are putting the financial squeeze on the Palestinian Authority, where opposition to a long-awaited U.S. peace plan and anger over Israeli sanctions remain strong.
Iran
- The debate behind Trump’s move to tighten Iran oil sanctions (Reuters) U.S. President Donald Trump’s unexpected decision to ban all Iranian oil purchases after May 1 – ending exemptions for eight nations – came after hawkish economic and security advisors allayed the president’s fears of an oil price hike, according to three sources familiar with the internal debate.
Ukraine
- Exclusive: Wife of Ukraine president-elect got penthouse bargain from tycoon (Reuters) The wife of Ukrainian president-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy bought a luxury apartment for less than half the market rate from business tycoon Oleksandr Buryak, according to official income and property records.
Japan
- Japan’s new Emperor Naruhito ascends throne as Reiwa era begins (CNN) Japan’s new emperor, Naruhito, has formally ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne, replacing his father, Akihito, who had abdicated a day earlier. The sun came out for a morning ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Wednesday, as Naruhito became the 126th Emperor of Japan, the latest in an unbroken line that stretches back 14 centuries.
Venezuela
- Dozens Injured in Clashes as Venezuelan Opposition Leader Announces ‘Final Phase’ Against Maduro (Daily Beast) The Venezuela crisis is entering its “final phase,” according to opposition leader Juan Guaido, who says the push to remove President Nicolas Maduro from power has begun. Fifty-two people were injured during protests in the capital city of Caracas, where video footage showed an armored vehicle running over a group of Guaido supporters. National security adviser John Bolton declined to call the violent clashes a coup, because the U.S. recognizes Guaido as the country’s leader. But see also Maduro Declares Victory Over Coup Attempt in Venezuela.
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