Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 10 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
- What trade war? China stocks jump after tariff hike (CNBC) Asian stocks were mostly higher Friday. Chinese stock markets were higher while trading lost ground in Japan. The U.S. dollar index was lower at 97.367 after slipping from levels above 97.5 yesterday. Brent crude futures contract added 0.37% to $70.65 per barrel and U.S. crude futures rose 0.57% to $62.05 per barrel. Spot gold was up 0.2% at $1,286.25 per ounce at 0450 GMT and is up about 0.6% for the week.
- International Developed Markets are Undervalued (The Daily Shot) International developed markets look increasingly undervalued vs. the US.
U.S.
- Trump: Barr should make call on Mueller testimony (The Hill) President Trump said Thursday he would allow Attorney General William Barr to decide whether Robert Mueller may testify to Congress, even as he unloaded on the special counsel over his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The comments marked an apparent reversal from Sunday, when the president tweeted that Mueller “should not” appear before Congress. But White House advisers said this week that the president was merely voicing an opinion and not directing Mueller not to testify.
- Americans’ support for impeaching Trump rises: Reuters/Ipsos poll (Reuters) The number of Americans who said President Donald Trump should be impeached rose 5 percentage points to 45% since mid-April, while more than half said multiple congressional probes of Trump interfered with important government business, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday.
The opinion poll, conducted on Monday, did not make clear whether investigation-fatigued Americans wanted House of Representatives Democrats to pull back on their probes or press forward aggressively and just get impeachment over with.
- The Pentagon Is Finally Getting a New Defense Secretary (Foreign Policy) After more than four months as acting U.S. defense secretary, the longest anyone has served in that position, Patrick Shanahan will be formally nominated to become President Donald Trump’s permanent Pentagon chief. Shanahan would replace James Mattis, who resigned in December over Trump’s decision – since reversed – to pull all U.S. troops out of Syria. The long-awaited appointment comes after the Pentagon’s inspector general conclusively cleared Shanahan of violating his ethics agreement after accusations that he inappropriately favored his former employer, Boeing.
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- Americans Want Government to Do More on Environment (Gallup) Only in times of economc distress do Americans consider economic growth as important as the environment.
- 62% say government doing too little on the environment, highest since 2006
- Majority prioritize the environment even if it limits economic growth
- Americans show strong support for alternative energy and curbing emissions
EU
- The European Identity (Twitter)
UK
- European elections: Tories could come sixth, officials fear (The Guardian) Conservative officials fear the party could come sixth in the European elections, with their support plummeting to single digits. Candidates running in the election said the party was “almost in denial” that the poll was happening and continued to insist they would not need to take up their seats in the European parliament, despite fading prospects for a cross-party deal with Labour that would enable Brexit to happen before 2 July.
The fears of a dismal performance have been stoked by the fact that the party plans to spend no money on candidate campaigning, will not publish a manifesto and is refusing to hold a launch.
- Britain and Ireland will work to end Northern Irish vacuum in weeks not months: Coveney (Reuters) Ireland and Britain will work with Northern Irish parties to try to restore a devolved government in the province within weeks rather than months, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said. The British-run province has been without a devolved executive for over two years since Irish nationalists Sinn Fein withdrew from the compulsory power-sharing government with the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
- Revealed: five men killed in past year after being deported from UK to Jamaica (The Guardian) At least five people have been killed in Jamaica since March last year after being deported from the UK by the Home Office, the Guardian has learned. The killings took place after the men were sent back to Jamaica – which has one of the highest per capita murder rates in the world – despite strict rules prohibiting deportations to countries in which an individual’s life may be in danger.
Iraq
- Iraq is Challenging Saudi Arabia (Bloomberg, Twitter)
Iran
- U.S., Iran tensions unyielding, Europeans reject Iran ‘ultimatums’ over nuclear deal (Reuters) European countries said on Thursday they wanted to preserve Iran’s nuclear deal and rejected “ultimatums” from Tehran, after Iran relaxed restrictions on its nuclear program and threatened moves that might breach the 2015 international pact.
North Korea
- ‘Missiles like these will start the war’: North Korea tests showcase growing capability (Reuters) North Korea’s second missile test on Thursday signals it is serious about developing new, short-range weapons that could be used early and effectively in any war with South Korea and the United States, analysts studying images of the latest launches say.
China
- Exclusive: China backtracked on almost all aspects of U.S. trade deal – sources (Reuters) The diplomatic cable from Beijing arrived in Washington late on Friday night, with systematic edits to a nearly 150-page draft trade agreement that would blow up months of negotiations between the world’s two largest economies, according to three U.S. government sources and three private sector sources briefed on the talks.
- New tariffs on China pose major risk for Trump (The Hill) Punishing tariffs ordered by President Trump are set to go into place Friday on Chinese goods, escalating a high-stakes battle with major risks for the economy and his reelection. GOP lawmakers have been pressuring Trump to get a deal with China that would lower tariffs hurting U.S. farmers and manufacturers, but their complaints have failed to move the president or yield progress in talks with Beijing.
After months of touting progress toward a final deal, Trump is set to take a different tack on Friday, when tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports will rise from 10 percent to 25 percent, a move Trump said is necessary to hold China to previous commitments.
- Lending is Increasing in China (The Daily Shot) Lending is on the rise again.
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