Early Headlines:

Written by Econintersect

Early Bird Headlines 17 November 2015

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, which has many more headlines and a number of article discussions to keep you abreast of what we have found interesting.

Global

Asia-Pacific CEOs’ confidence on growing business at its lowest since 2012: survey (The Business Times) Confidence levels on business growth among the Asia-Pacific chief executives are at their lowest levels since 2012, said PwC in its fifth annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO survey. Just 28 per cent of business leaders are now “very confident” their organisation will see revenue growth in the next 12 months. This is down from 46 per cent a year ago. Similar results were obtained by another survey in Europe. (See article under EU, below.)

DNA from teeth discovered in Siberia suggest that an extinct human species lived there for 60,000 years (Business Insider) We have discussed this at least twice in the past year but this reports on some additional research results that establish a longer segment of history where Denisovans existed )about 10,000 years. This variety of humans is distinct from Neanderthals and modern man. Interbreeding of the three groups has resulted in measureable amounts of DNA in modern humans today, with 2-3% Neanderthal DNA for European and up to 5% Denisovan DNA in east Asians and aboriginal Australians.

U.S.

EU

Finance chiefs feel less confident due to eurozone woes (The Telegraph) CFOs are reluctant to spend even as profits improve, according to a recent poll of almost 1,300 bosses carried out by Deloitte. Optimism is at its weakest in northern European countries, including the UK.

Euro-Area Core Inflation at Two-Year High May Offer ECB Relief (Bloomberg) Euro-area core inflation increased to the highest since August 2013, offering the European Central Bank an unexpected reprieve. The rate — which excludes volatile elements such as food and energy — climbed to 1.1% in October, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said on Monday. Economists predicted it would stay at an initial 1% reading.

UK

France

Germany

Greece

Syria

Russia

Singapore

October non-landed home sales up 60% from a month ago (The Business Times) Developers in Singapore sold 546 private non-landed homes in October, which represented a 60% rise from 341 in September, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). But despite the improvement last month, the overall private residential market remains subdued as the effects of the cooling measures are now compounded by an economic slowdown and a looming interest rate hike in the US, JLL national director of research and consultancy Ong Teck Hui observed. With 6,383 units sold in the first 10 months of 2015, the full year figure is likely to be below last year’s 7,316 units.

India

Greeted like a rock star in London, Modi must face up to rising religious tension in India (The Conversation) Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, touched down in the UK to an extraordinarily ecstatic welcome. Britain’s diaspora Indian community greeted him like a rock star, the highlight being a huge rally in Wembley arena with singing and dancing and tens of thousands of cheering fans. Even by the standard of the receptions he has received in other countries, this was a momentous visit and it proceeded in good spirit. But the situation at home in India for Modi is less jubilant. Under his leadership, religious tension is on the rise – and a serious backlash appears to be beginning. A major issue now in India is the mainstreaming of right-wing Hindu politics. At times it appears that Modi himself has little to no control over some of his supporters.

Japan

China