July, 2018

• 11 July

  China, US impose tariffs on trade flows that don’t exist

  Bloomberg Natural gas, the cleanest and fastest-growing fossil fuel, has found itself in perhaps the oddest corner of the multi-billion dollar trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. When the US added duties to $34 billion of Chinese goods last month, China retaliated with its own list that included piped natural gas from the US. And when President Donald ...

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• 11 July

  Trump, Merkel trade barbs over Russia’s pipeline issue

  

  Bloomberg Donald Trump and Angela Merkel got off to a prickly start at a NATO summit as the US president blasted Germany over its support for a gas pipeline from Russia, prompting a tart response from the chancellor. “It’s very sad when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia where we’re supposed to be guarding against Russia ...

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• 11 July

  Japan buys more US weapon in snub to domestic industry

  

  Bloomberg While there’s little prospect that Japanese consumers will ever buy enough American cars to please Donald Trump, the Abe government’s record spending on defense is shaping up as a bright spot in bilateral trade for the US president. Japan’s purchases through the US Foreign Military Sales programme represent 16 percent of all non-personnel costs for the nation’s self-defense forces ...

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• 11 July

  ‘Probe naming Zardari amounts to rigging’

  

  Bloomberg The Pakistan Peoples Party said a money-laundering probe by the government’s Federal Investigation Agency that has named its co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and his sister as beneficiaries amounts to “pre-poll rigging” and “political victimisation,” joining other politicians raising concern about the fairness of national elections. The former ruling party, which held the second-largest amount of national seats before parliament ...

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• 11 July

  Tory rebels mull veto of May Brexit deal

  

  Bloomberg Euroskeptic Tories have failed to stop UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan for a soft Brexit and are considering a radical last ditch move that could bring down her minority government later this year. May is pushing ahead with her blueprint for keeping the UK in a close trading partnership with the European Union for goods, despite the resignations ...

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• 11 July

  Africa terror fight to suffer as China, Russia take US focus

  

  Bloomberg The US is set to scale back aid to African military units fighting terrorism as it realigns its defense strategy to compete with more traditional threats from China and Russia. The shift comes despite a growing terror threat on the continent that has led to an increased American presence, resulting in attacks on US forces in Niger and Somalia ...

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• 11 July

  Stocks, commodities fall amid trade war escalation

  

  Bloomberg Stocks fell, the dollar gained and commodities slid as markets reeled from fresh salvos in the escalating trade war between the US and China. The S&P 500 Index ended the longest rally in a month after the Trump administration said it will slap tariffs on an additional $200 billion of Chinese products. The Asian nation vowed to retaliate, helping ...

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• 11 July

  Stocks quants reel from worst run in eight years

  

  Bloomberg The dog days of summer have arrived for quants. Systematic traders who tie their fortunes to the ebbs and flows of stock markets are experiencing some of their worst returns in eight years relative to a key benchmark, according to one Wall Street estimate. Factor investing — which slices and dices equities based on traits like profitability and price ...

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• 11 July

  Trump’s tariff barrage pushes China fight to point of no return

  

  Bloomberg US President Donald Trump is pushing his trade conflict with China towards a point where neither side can back down. By August 30, as the US nears mid-term elections vital for Trump’s legislative agenda, the White House will be ready to impose 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese-made products, ranging from clothing to television parts to refrigerators. ...

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• 11 July

  EU to join Trump in criticising China’s role in global trade

  Bloomberg US President Donald Trump’s assault on China’s trade policies will garner several high-profile advocates, as some of the world’s largest commercial regions will meet in Geneva to thresh out the ramifications of Beijing’s entrance into the World Trade Organization (WTO) 17 years ago. Chinese representatives will say things are going well and that the nation is taking steps to ...

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