The Guardian (June 12)
“The problem with earthquakes is that they undermine the very things you do to prevent them. And with Tokyo now seeing millions of tourists a year, and expecting millions more for the Rugby World Cup this year and the Olympics in 2020, the city is ripe for panic in the event of a disaster.”
Tags: Disaster, Earthquakes, Olympics, Panic, Prevent, Problem, Rugby World Cup, Tokyo, Tourists, Undermine
Wall Street Journal (June 11)
“Japan is fumbling what looks like its last chance to avoid an unnecessary and economically damaging sales-tax hike.” The LDP came out with “a fresh commitment to increase the tax to 10% from 8% in October.” Since Prime Minister Abe returned “to office in 2012, Japan has recorded its longest period of nominal growth since the country’s asset bubble burst in the early 1990s. Gains in Japan’s Topix stock index beat all large developed markets outside the U.S. over the same period. There is no pressing need to junk that promising record now.”
Tags: Abe, Asset bubble, Damaging, Fumbling, Growth, Japan, LDP, Sales-tax hike, Topix, U.S., Unnecessary
Bloomberg (June 10)
“Pity Europe’s banks. For years, they have been in retreat, losing business in their own back yards to Wall Street rivals. Now the battlefront is shifting – but what looks like an opportunity to gain ground may be just the opposite…. Shackled by sluggish economic growth at home and record-low interest rates that are crushing margins, European firms have been unable to compete with U.S. rivals in trading and capital markets. Those same dynamics look set to play out again in transaction banking,” which is set to displace fixed income as the largest revenue driver by 2020.
Tags: Banks, Battlefront, Capital markets, Economic growth, Europe, Fixed income, Interest rates, Margins, Retreat, Rivals, Trading, Transaction banking, U.S., Wall Street
New York Times (June 9)
“Americans have been far too vulnerable for far too long when they venture online. Companies are free today to monitor Americans’ behavior and collect information about them from across the web and the real world.” U.S. lawmakers have fallen behind their European peers. In fact, widespread compliance with the EU’s GDPR means that “technocrats in Brussels are doing more for Americans’ digital privacy rights than their own Congress.” Finally, however, “there finally seems to be enough momentum to pass a federal law.”
Tags: Behavior, Brussels, Collect Web, Compliance, Congress, DPR, EU, GDPR, Lawmakers, Online, Technocrats, U.S., Vulnerable
Chicago Tribune (June 8)
“Because of historic rains, less than half the normal amount of corn has been planted in Illinois.” The state is “the nation’s second-largest producer of corn,” typically supplying about 15% of U.S. production. “A disruption in planting has the potential to shake marketplaces, both domestic and foreign,” and this has been the slowest ever start. “As of June 2, Illinois farmers have only been able to sow corn seed in 45% of the acreage dedicated to the crop, 53% below the five-year average.”
Tags: Corn, Disruption, Historic, Illinois, Marketplaces, Planting, Rain, U.S.
CNBC (June 8)
U.S. President Donald Trump “is playing a risky game by weaponizing US economic power with tariffs…. What’s clear already is that friends and rivals are more interested than ever before in exploring alternatives to the U.S.-dominated system.” This won’t take place overnight, but “consistent overuse of U.S. economic power has made the unthinkable more plausible.”
Tags: Economic power, Plausible, Risky, Tariffs, Trump, U.S.-dominated system, Unthinkable, Weaponizing
The Economist (June 8)
“The long-term decline in bond yields” has entered “a new phase.” Tumbling precipitously, “the yield on a ten-year Treasury bond has plunged from 2.5% to 2.1% in the past month. Ten-year Bund yields have turned negative again and have reached a new all-time low.” All of this begs a fundamental question, “What will happen when interest rates eventually start to rise again?” It may seem that “the whole edifice of asset prices is founded on a low-rate regime. But what if that regime were to come to an abrupt eventual end?”
Tags: Asset prices
The Guardian (June 6)
“South-east Asia is battling to contain the spread of highly contagious African swine fever, known as “pig Ebola”, which has already led to the culling of millions of pigs in China and Vietnam.” At this point, experts say the “region is losing the battle to stop the biggest animal disease outbreak the planet has ever faced.” The news has “sent the global price of pork soaring.”
Tags: African swine fever, China, Contagious, Disease, Ebola, Outbreak, Pigs, Pork, South-east Asia, Vietnam
The Telegraph (June 6)
“The Japanese government is wrong, high heels are never ‘necessary and appropriate.’”
Tags: Appropriate, Government, High heels, Ishikawa, Japan, KuToo movement, Necessary, Wrong
Financial Times (June 5)
“Just a month ago, multinationals and investors were looking forward to an agreement that would end the China-US trade war that has rocked global markets for the past year. Instead, talks broke down.” Donald Trump “further enraged Chinese officials by barring Huawei, the best-known Chinese telecoms company, from sourcing American components and technology.” China’s new list of unreliable entities appears to be in retaliation and it has panicked foreign investors. The “vague wording suggests Beijing could move against any person or organization.”
Tags: China, Enraged, Huawei, Investors, Markets, Multinationals, Panicked, Retaliation, Telecoms, Trade war, Trump, U.S., Unreliable entities
