Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 10 September 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 Pacific stocks mixed as Chinese producer prices drop in August (CNBC) Stocks in Asia were mixed on Tuesday as a data release showed Chinese producer prices in August falling to their worst year-on-year contraction in three years. The U.S. dollar index was lower at 98.302 after weakening from levels above 98.4 yesterday. Brent crude futures gained 0.3% to $62.78 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 0.36% to $58.06 per barrel. Spot gold was down 0.2% to $1,495.00 per ounce as of 0816 GMT, after hitting its lowest since Aug. 13 at $1,486 earlier in the session. Bullion prices have shed nearly 5% since hitting a more than 6-year peak of $1,557 on Sept. 4, just 3 trading days ago. Treasury yields edged higher for the fifth up day in a row.
U.S.
- Ex-CIA operative Valerie Plame just launched a run for Congress, and her new video looks like a ‘Fast & Furious’ outtake (Business Insider) Valerie Plame, an ex-CIA officer, on Monday announced a congressional bid in a video that feels a lot like a clip from an action movie. The former covert CIA operative is vying to replace Democratic Rep. Ben Ray Lujfln in New Mexico’s 3rd congressional district, though Plame doesn’t specifically mention where she’s running in the video; it features Plame at the wheel of a Chevy Camaro.
Russia
- C.I.A. Informant Extracted From Russia Had Sent Secrets to U.S. for Decades (The New York Times) Decades ago, the C.I.A. recruited and carefully cultivated a midlevel Russian official who began rapidly advancing through the governmental ranks. Eventually, American spies struck gold: The longtime source landed an influential position that came with access to the highest level of the Kremlin. As American officials began to realize that Russia was trying to sabotage the 2016 presidential election, the informant became one of the C.I.A.’s most important – and highly protected – assets. But when intelligence officials revealed the severity of Russia’s election interference with unusual detail later that year, the news media picked up on details about the C.I.A.’s Kremlin sources.
C.I.A. officials worried about safety made the arduous decision in late 2016 to offer to extract the source from Russia. The situation grew more tense when the informant at first refused, citing family concerns – prompting consternation at C.I.A. headquarters and sowing doubts among some American counterintelligence officials about the informant’s trustworthiness. But the C.I.A. pressed again months later after more media inquiries. This time, the informant agreed.
The Moscow informant was instrumental to the C.I.A.’s most explosive conclusion about Russia’s interference campaign: that President Vladimir V. Putin ordered and orchestrated it himself. As the American government’s best insight into the thinking of and orders from Mr. Putin, the source was also key to the C.I.A.’s assessment that he affirmatively favored Donald J. Trump’s election and personally ordered the hacking of the Democratic National Committee.
China
- China’s August producer prices shrink the most in 3 years (CNBC) See also China Producer Prices (Trading Economics). August data has not been included yet in graphic below.
- The producer price index, a key barometer of corporate profitability, dropped 0.8% from year earlier in August, National Bureau of Statistics said.
- Analysts polled by Reuters had expected factory gate inflation to have shrunk 0.9% year-on-year last month, following a 0.3% decline in July.
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Other important articles
U.S.
- Commerce Chief Threatened Firings at NOAA After Trump’s Hurricane Tweets, Sources Say (The New York Times)
- Trump had deal with airport to send aircrews to his Scotland resort: report (The Hill)
- 4 Automakers Sided With California Over Air Pollution. Now Trump’s DOJ Is Investigating Them. Ford, BMW, Volkswagen and Honda just were smacked with an antitrust investigation (Mother Jones)
It’s nearly impossible to track all the scandals swirling around Trump (CNN)
Trump accidentally tweeted an insult at a pastor. Here’s how the pastor responded. (The Washington Post)
Liberals haunted by social media tactics they use against the right (The Hill)
- The Threat of a Post-Roe America Is Already Changing How Women Get Abortions (Mother Jones)
UK
- For Boris Johnson, Another Bad Day and Another Big Defeat in Parliament (The New York Times)
- Brexit: Protests as five-week Parliament suspension begins (BBC News)
- PM Johnson tells parliament – You can tie my hands, but I will not delay Brexit (Reuters)
Russia
India
Japan
North Korea
Bahamas
- Crews in the Bahamas keep finding bodies. The official Hurricane Dorian death toll is rising more slowly, now at 50. (The Washington Post)
- ‘We have to be very careful,’ Trump warns of gangs entering US from Bahamas (ABC News)
Mexico
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