Early Headlines: Asia Stocks Down, Dollar Down, Oil Down, Gold Mixed, Yields Down, Court Blocks Mueller, Impeachment Inquiry, Transcript Omissions, Vote For A Socialist, Kimmel Plays Historian, Plus More - 22 Articles, 7 Graphics

Early Bird Headlines 30 October 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.

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 slip ahead of Fed interest rate decision (CNBC) Stocks in Asia fell on Wednesday ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision, set to be announced later stateside. Oil prices were lower in the afternoon of Asian trading hours. The U.S. dollar index was last lower at 97.643 after scaling highs above 97.8 yesterday. The international benchmark Brent crude futures contract was 0.18% lower at $61.48 per barrel. U.S. crude futures slipped 0.36% to $55.34 per barrel. Spot gold rose 0.1% to $1,488.63 per ounce, as of 0417 GMT. U.S. gold futures were little changed at $1,490.80. U.S. treasury yields were lower (prices higher).

U.S.

Court temporarily blocks release of Mueller grand jury materials (The Hill) A federal circuit court on Tuesday evening temporarily blocked the release of grand jury materials from former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling in the 2016 election. A three-judge panel, all Obama appointees to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, suspended a lower court’s Wednesday deadline in order to give the judge in that case – Chief Judge Beryl Howell – extra time to consider the merits of a recent DOJ request.

The DOJ on Monday asked Howell, an Obama appointee to the U.S. District Court in Washington, to hold off enforcing her pivotal ruling last week which ordered the agency to provide the documents to the House Judiciary Committee by Wednesday. DOJ’s broader request to Howell is that she suspend her order indefinitely while the Trump administration formally asks the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reconsider whether it must disclose the grand jury materials to Congress at all.
The appeals court in their ruling today said the purpose of its stay was to give Howell “sufficient opportunity to consider the emergency motion” by DOJ. The judges noted that their temporary suspension of the lower court’s deadline “should not be construed” as a ruling on the merits of the agency’s request.
The appellate court order means the Mueller grand jury materials will continue to be shielded from House Democrats’ view for the time being.

5 takeaways from House Democrats’ resolution on the impeachment inquiry (Vox) You can read the full resolution, here. The resolution outlines five key aspects of these procedures:

The Intelligence Committee will release public transcripts of private depositions that it’s held with different witnesses, including potential redactions of sensitive information.
When the House moves to public hearings for the impeachment inquiry, both the chair and ranking members of the Intelligence committee will be able to ask witness questions. The staff counsel on both sides will also have up to 45 minutes each to ask questions.
House Republicans on the Intelligence Committee will have the ability to request subpoenas of witnesses and documents, though they will need the approval of the Democratic Chair or majority on the panel in order for their requests to go through. This is consistent with past impeachment inquiries.
The Judiciary Committee is in charge of advancing articles of impeachment, or charges, if those are brought.
The president and his legal representation will be able to participate in the Judiciary Committee impeachment proceedings. This includes the ability to make their case and offer evidence, request documents, cross-examine witnesses and object to testimony.

White House Ukraine Expert Sought to Correct Transcript of Trump Call (The New York Times) See also next article. Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, who heard President Trump’s July phone call with Ukraine’s president and was alarmed, testified that he tried and failed to add key details to the rough transcript.

The omissions, Colonel Vindman said, included Mr. Trump’s assertion that there were recordings of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. discussing Ukraine corruption, and an explicit mention by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, of Burisma Holdings, the energy company whose board employed Mr. Biden’s son Hunter.

Parties Spar Over White House Aide in Combative Hearing (The Wall Street Journal) Testimony of a White House national security official, Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, turned combative Tuesday as Democrats accused Republicans of trying to unmask the whistleblower who sparked the impeachment inquiry of President Trump, while the GOP lawmakers argued theirs was a legitimate line of questioning.
70% of millennials say they’d vote for a socialist (Axios) Young Americans continue to lose faith in capitalism and embrace socialism, according to a new YouGov/Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation survey of more than 2,000 Americans 16 years and older.

Other important articles

U.S.

Georgia plans to cancel over 300,000 voter registrations (NBC News)
Number of uninsured children rises for second year, tops 4 million (The Hill)
Re-election runway: What U.S. airports can tell us about Trump’s 2020 chances (NBC News) Roughly 41% of the country’s electorate resides in large metropolitan statistical areas served by airports with at least two regularly scheduled flights to destinations outside North America. This part of the country is reliably Democratic. Most the rest of the country went to Donald Trump in 2016 and could do so again in 2020, assuring his reelection..
Trump allies are now accusing an impeachment witness – and Purple Heart recipient – of disloyalty (Vox) Ahead of Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman’s testimony to House impeachment investigators about his concerns regarding Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, President Donald Trump’s media defenders wasted no time smearing the lieutenant colonel and Purple Heart recipient as some sort of Ukrainian double agent.
Trump attacks on Vindman trigger backlash (The Hill)
Working Americans Are Getting Less Sleep, Especially Those Who Save Our Lives (NPR)