BEIJING/ NEW YORK | By Zhang Yuanan, Chen Lixiong, and Chen Qin via Caixin | Major changes to the trade landscape are coming, meaning China must adapt or risk losing its growth momentum. Here’s why Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) stands out from many other trade talks.
MADRID | By The Corner Team | The Spanish economy is enjoying some hopeful news at last. After 38 months in the red, retail sales in September rose. Foreign direct investment reached 20 billion from January to August, a symptom of consumer’s confidence increasing. And yields dropped to the lowest since May before the government pays interest and bond maturities of about 21 billion euros.
NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | As the NSA spying scandal spreads, the White House is profusely working on damage control. Last night it reported that no final decision has been made, but many officials are already talking of cutting the NSA wings in some way. To reinforce this message, yesterday President Obama came off as special guest on Fusion, a new cable channel for millenials and a highly anticipated television release. Also, Senate intelligence committee chair Diane Feinstein, who used to be a loyal defender of NSA activities, called for a total review of its powers.
NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | According to the White House, during the almost 5 years that the NSA was eavesdropping EU leaders, Obama had no clue. How can the leader of the most powerful economy in the world, who commands drone attacks and missions to the outer space, not know that their intelligence services are monitoring its European partners?
NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | We’ll probably need to wait until November to see any obvious effects of the U.S. government shutdown in the employment data. The last jobs report released on Tuesday show 11.3 million workers who wanted a job and were looking couldn’t find one in September. Payroll employment increased (+148,000), but unemployment rate changed by very little (7.2%).
NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | U.S. Senate finally reached an agreement to avoid default and end the Government shutdown. Now it’s time for Congress to approve it before midnight although there is formal certainty that economic mayhem has been averted. The world’s largest economy has needed 16 days of partial closure of its Administration, warnings from Wall Street, China, Japan, the IMF… to curb its political fight between Republicans and Democrats. The deal will extend the credit authority of the United States until February 7, and let the Government continue funding its operations until January 15. For many it is just a patch and we will watch the same political ping-pong again after Christmas.
NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | The U.S. shutdown drama has set off alarm bells in Asia. Beijing and Tokyo, which together hold more than $2.4 trillion in American Treasuries, are putting pressure on its creditor to end its political rough house. If Washington is unable to honor its debt obligations it would damage the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency and bring chaos to global markets. America’s status in Asia seems also to be losing steam -and boosting China’s influence-.
[NOTE: This illustration from Liu Rui appeared on Oct 10 at the official Chinese newspaper Global Times English edition]
NEW YORK| By Ana Fuentes | Don’t fall asleep with your banking union, the IMF urged the EU on Wednesday, or you won’t be credible. The Washington-based institution also called for an agency that would close or help troubled banks from a national to European level. Everyone in Brussels seems willing to compromise… except for Germany. The elections are over, but Berlin is still sticking to its tough stance.
NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | If the Senate agrees and everything goes by the script, President Obama will pick Janet Yellen as the Federal Reserve’s next leader on Wednesday, the White House said. Ms. Yellen, 67, has been the Fed’s vice chairwoman since 2010 and would be the first woman to run the central bank. Among her first tasks is how quickly to wind down the U.S. expansionary monetary policy. Will she take even more aggressive measures to boost growth? If so, how will markets react?
PARIS | By Alain Salles at Le Monde via Presseurop | The success of Europhobic parties in member states will likely pave the way for a surge in support for Eurosceptics in next May’s European elections. Their favourite topics — immigration, austerity and the rejection of Brussels — already dominate the campaigns.