Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 27 August 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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Notice: We have changed the form of content coverage for Early Bird. We will provide discussion only for Asia Markets news and a small number (often 1 or 2) other articles. The remainder of the content will be headlines (with links) only.
Key Articles
Global
- Asia stocks edge up as investors watch US-China trade developments (CNBC) Stocks in Asia edged up on Tuesday as investors watched closely for developments on the U.S.-China trade war following a recent escalation. Mainland Chinese stocks rose on the day as they led gains in the region. The Chinese yuan was closely watched on Tuesday, after offshore trading of the currency touched a record low on Monday amid the trade turmoil. It last traded at 7.1750 per dollar. The official midpoint reference for the onshore yuan by the People’s Bank of China was set at 7.0810 against the dollar, a fresh 11-and-a-half year low but still stronger than expected. The currency last traded at 7.1613. The U.S. dollar index was steady at 97.956 after seeing an earlier high of 98.054. Brent crude futures contract adding 0.26% to $58.85 per barrel and U.S. crude futures gaining 0.24% to $53.77 per barrel. Spot gold was up 0.2% to $1,528.90 per ounce, as of 0542 GMT. U.S. Treasuries continued to rally (lower yields).
U.S.
- Shares of pharma companies soar after Johnson & Johnson sees smaller-than-expected opioid fine (CNBC)
- Shares of major drugmakers Teva Pharmaceutical, Endo International and Mallinckrodt all surged in after-hours trading following a smaller-than-expected fine for Johnson & Johnson.
- Shares of J&J jumped more than 5% on the news, resulting in a $13.5 billion market cap gain after hours.
- An Oklahoma judge ordered J&J to pay the state $572 million – significantly less than the $17 billion in penalties sought in the trial. This was the first U.S. case attempting to hold a drug-maker accountable for fueling the opioid epidemic.
Spain
- Piles of hail, flash floods and a tornado hits Spain – video (The Guardian) Streets of Madrid have been turned into rivers as flash flooding and hail inundated Spain’s capital. One of the worst affected neighbourhoods was Arganda del Rey where cars were washed away in the torrents of water while huge piles of hail built up along some streets. The Spanish Subway Department declared several metro stations and highways closed due to the destructive impact of the weather. But Madrid wasn’t the only city to be affected by the intense weather – about 500km south of Madrid an ominous tornado hovered over the town of Campillos.
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Other important articles
Global
- America’s Allies Seem to Be Moving On Without Trump (The Atlantic)
- Immigration panic: how the west fell for manufactured rage (The Guardian)
U.S.
- Biden electability argument takes hit (The Hill)
- Wall Street sees elevated recession risk, market woes after US and China stoke trade fears (CNBC)
- Here’s why members of the House GOP keep abandoning ship (CNN)
- The lawsuits that could bankrupt the opioid industry (CBS News)
- Trump’s focus needs to be on exports (CNBC)
- The Next Recession Will Destroy Millennials (The Atlantic)
- A sell-off worse than December can arrive in a week, says analyst who is predicting ‘Lehman-like’ drop (CNBC)
UK
France
Greece
Iran
- Iran president steps back from possible Trump talks (The Guardian)
Russia
India
China
- China’s central bank could be trying to shore up the yuan (CNBC)
- China says U.S. ‘maliciously hyping up’ South China Sea issue (Reuters)
Brazil
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