US Economic News

[¯|_(ツ)_/¯]

22 Apr 2020 US-China relations at a low as 'blame-shifting' sets back war against virus
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/22/coronavi...e-war.html
(click to read)

Key points:
1. U.S. President Donald Trump has blamed Beijing for a lack of transparency over the true extent of the outbreak in China — where cases were first reported. 
In response, Beijing has suggested that Washington might be the real source of the global pandemic.
2. “U.S.-China relations are at their worst point in living memory for a number of decades probably since the 1970s, at the moment there’s a grand exercise in blame shifting going on, on both sides,” said James Crabtree, an associate professor at Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.


Watch Kishore on America's on China:


Stay home and stay healthy, buddies.

[weijian]

Very common play book used by managers of EPL teams or Tun M across the Straits.

‘Don’t defend Trump – attack China’: coronavirus strategy revealed in Republican memo

Party sent out detailed 57-page document advising candidates on everything from dealing with accusations of racism to tying Democrat opponents to Beijing

Memo calls coronavirus a ‘Chinese hit-and-run’, telling Republicans to say they will push for sanctions over country’s role in ‘spreading pandemic’

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-s...s-strategy

[TerryT]

Looks like it will inflict serious damage if protests worsen....


https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/wor...k-12789384



"What goes around comes around"
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/china...e-n1220186

[weijian]

Move is probably more political than financial in nature. Since GFC2008, it is probably politically correct to "bail out" companies, after the painful Lehman Brother bankruptcy. Then it was politically impossible to bail Lehman Brothers out but the consequences was for all to see and pave the way for the current "bail out" expectations.

Fed puts restrictions on bank dividends after test finds some banks could be stressed in pandemic

The biggest U.S. banks already said in March that they would voluntarily suspend share repurchases, which make up roughly 70% of capital payouts for the industry.

What remained were the dividends, which bank analysts have mostly assumed would remain at their current levels – with the exception of Wells Fargo, which is struggling to restore profits after its fake accounts scandal. Still, options market traders have bet that banks would be forced to cut dividends, even at JPMorgan, the biggest and most profitable of the megabanks

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/25/fed-puts...demic.html

[edragon]

The yields on the 3-year and 5-year Treasury notes sank to record lows of 0.17 percent and 0.29 percent, respectively. Bond yields rise as their prices drop.

US 5-year bond yield touches record low of 0.29pc LINK

[weijian]

Granted WB has been giving away his money away on a regular basis. But the burgling wealth of the tech titans are a sign of the times.

Elon Musk just surged past Warren Buffett on the list of the world’s richest people

Shares of the electric car-maker have risen 269% this year. The firm’s booming valuation helped Musk land a $595 million pay-day earlier this year, making him the highest-paid CEO in the U.S.

Musk is the latest tech entrepreneur to rise above Buffett in the rank’s of the world’s richest. Steve Ballmer, the former Microsoft Corp. CEO, and Google co-founders Larry Page and Brin also have leapfrogged the Oracle of Omaha. Indian tycoon Mukesh Ambani also surpassed Buffett this week.

https://fortune.com/2020/07/10/elon-musk...t%20people

[weijian]

The Fed is expected to be acting in a "X way" now. The markets and politicians will punish them if they don't. The tail will be wagging the dog.

Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen Give Republicans in Congress a Lesson on Coronavirus Economics

The two former policymakers, who are both highly regarded academic economists, also pushed back against recent suggestions from the White House that the new spending should be limited to a trillion dollars. Yellen said it was hard to tell precisely how much financial support might be needed, so it would be unwise to impose a spending cap. Bernanke said, “Whatever it takes is probably what we need to be thinking now.”

https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-colum...-economics

[cyclone]

Biden to name Yellen to Treasury to lead U.S. from sharp economic downturn

By Trevor Hunnicutt, David Lawder
NOVEMBER 24, 20203:17 AM

WILMINGTON, Del./WASHINGTON - (Reuters) - President-elect Joe Biden is expected to nominate former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as U.S. Treasury secretary, breaking a 231-year gender barrier and putting a seasoned economist and labor market expert in charge of leading the country out of the steepest downturn since the Great Depression.

The move, confirmed by Democratic allies to the Biden campaign, will shift Treasury’s focus heavily toward progressive efforts to tackle growing economic inequality and fighting climate change and away from the Trump administration’s pre-pandemic emphasis on cutting taxes and easing financial regulations.

Yellen, 74, brings Biden decades of economic policy experience and is respected by Congress, international finance officials, progressives and business interests alike. She has called for opening fiscal spending taps to revive an economy wracked by the coronavirus pandemic and would be the first person to head the Treasury, the Fed and the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

The post will present a host of new challenges for Yellen, whose policymaking experience in the past 20 years has largely centered on monetary - rather than fiscal - policy. For one, it means a far more political role than that she played in her long career at the Fed, an institution that goes to great lengths to distance itself from partisan politics.

More details in https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-e...SKBN2832SN

[weijian]

YOLO, enough said. I guess temperament is ignoring "lucky" people around you getting rich and boasting about it. And simply focus on the job to be done and continue to get a "little bit better each day".

What is r/wallstreetbets? What is TikTok finance?

Imagine being a value investor and spending hundreds of hours reading thousands of pages of company filings and building financial models with over a dozen tabs only to underperform the market instead of just YOLOing Tesla Calls.

https://www.epsilontheory.com/off-wall-s...ll-street/

[weijian]

If 2008 was a bazooka (for all those who still remember), then the current one must be a Tomahawk missile

Biden's US$1.9t Covid-19 relief plan passes hurdle in US House

The US House of Representatives moved toward a late-night vote on President Joe Biden's US$1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bill on Friday as Democrats who control the chamber steered the sweeping measure toward approval.

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/governm...n-us-house