Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 30 December 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: There will be no Early Bird post New Year’s day 01 January 2020. The next Eraly Bird will be published 03 January 2020 (Friday).
Key Articles
Global
- Chinese stocks rose in Asia; Hong Kong awaits trade data for November (CNBC) Major Asia Pacific stocks ended mixed on Monday – the last full trading day of the year for several major markets in the region. Mainland Chinese markets rose at the close of the trading day on Monday. The U.S. dollar was around 96.779, falling back from an earlier high of 97.002. International benchmark Brent crude was up 0.23% to trade at $68.32 per barrel, while U.S. crude inched up to $61.75 per barrel. Spot gold rose 0.3% to $1,514.94 per ounce by 0359 GMT. U.S. treasury yields declined (prices rose).
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U.S.
- A new government study shows how Trump’s tariffs have backfired (Vox) President Donald Trump has promised throughout his presidency to revive American manufacturing by slapping punishing tariffs on foreign competition. But a new study from the US Federal Reserve suggests that his efforts have backfired – and that the manufacturing sector is worse off than it was before the president began his protectionist trade policy. (See next article.)
The findings also directly contradict what Trump says the effects of the tariffs have been. Trump has argued that “the U.S. is taking in massive amounts of money” and has claimed “Billions of Dollars are pouring into the coffers of the U.S.A. because of the Tariffs.”
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- Disentangling the Effects of the 2018-2019 Tariffs on a Globally Connected U.S. Manufacturing Sector (Federal Reserve Board) Abstract:
Since the beginning of 2018, the United States has undertaken unprecedented tariff increases, with one goal of these actions being to boost the manufacturing sector. In this paper, we estimate the effect of the tariffs – including retaliatory tariffs by U.S. trading partners – on manufacturing employment, output, and producer prices. A key feature of our analysis is accounting for the multiple ways that tariffs might affect the manufacturing sector, including providing protection for domestic industries, raising costs for imported inputs, and harming competitiveness in overseas markets due to retaliatory tariffs. We find that U.S. manufacturing industries more exposed to tariff increases experience relative reductions in employment as a positive effect from import protection is offset by larger negative effects from rising input costs and retaliatory tariffs. Higher tariffs are also associated with relative increases in producer prices via rising input costs
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Other important articles
U.S.
- Trump is trying to out the alleged Ukraine whistleblower on Twitter (Vox)
- ‘No exoneration’ if impeachment trial ‘rigged’ by McConnell, senator says (ABC News)
- Democrats worry impeachment acquittal will embolden Trump (The Hill)
- GOP senator: Trump isn’t a role model for young people (The Hill)
Germany
Turkey
Ukraine
Israel
Iraq
Iran
India
- Is the economy in really bad shape? (The Hindu)
Japan
China
- Tesla delivers first cars made at China gigafactory (MarketWatch)
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Australia
- Up to 30% of koalas may have been killed in Australia’s New South Wales bushfires (CNN)
- Tourists, firefighters flee as new heatwave fans Australia blazes (AFP)
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Canada
- The people of this remote Canadian island village are taking government money to clear out. One couple is staying. (The Washington Post) A moratorium on commercial cod fishing has basically shut the village down.
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