Producer Prices Soar In August As Goods Inflation Reignites
After yesterday’s hotter than expected rebound in CPI, all eyes are on PPI for signs that the pipeline for inflation may be more dove-friendly.
It wasn’t!
Producer Prices rose 0.7% MoM in August (up from +0.3% in July and hotter than the +0.4% exp). That is the hottest PPI since June 2022, and pushed YoY prices up 1.6%…
Source: Bloomberg
Goods prices are reaccelerating fast, now back into inflation YoY (as Services cost growth slowed only modestly)…
Source: Bloomberg
As a reminder, much of last month’s PPI rise was driven by a big jump in portfolio management costs – as stocks soared. August saw a further rise in those costs…
Source: Bloomberg
More problematically, the pipeline for PPI appears to have inflected as intermediate demand is re-accelerating…
ECB Preview: A Tough Call But “One Final Hike” Most Likely
ECB policy announcement and rate decision due at 1:15pm BST/ 08:15am EDT, press conference from 1:45pm BST/8:45am EDT
39/69 analysts surveyed by Reuters (before this week’s sources piece) expected the ECB to stand pat on the deposit rate at 3.75%
Post-sources, markets now assign a 68% chance to a 25bps hike in the Deposit Rate If the ECB opts to deliver a hike, it will likely signal the intention to pause thereafter
OVERVIEW: As Newsquawk writes, ahead of today’s “close call” ECB decision, 39/69 analysts surveyed by Reuters expected the ECB to stand pat on the deposit rate at 3.75%, with the remaining 30 looking for a 25bps hike to 4.0%. Since the survey was taken, a sources piece by Reuters News noted that the 2024 inflation forecast is expected to be revised higher from the 3% in June. As such, markets now assign a 68% chance to a 25bps hike. Data since the July meeting has put the ECB in a bind of needing to be cautious in the face of slowing growth, but not conveying a sense of complacency over inflation. Any decision to hike will likely be judged as the ECB having reached its terminal rate.
PRIOR MEETING: As expected, the ECB pulled the trigger on another 25bps hike, taking the deposit rate to 3.75%. Aside from the decision itself, focus for the statement was on the modest adjustment to the Bank’s language on future decisions whereby the key ECB interest rates will be “set at” sufficiently restrictive levels for as long as necessary vs. the previous wording of “brought to”. Elsewhere, the GC also opted to set the remuneration of minimum reserves at 0% (vs. prev. matching the deposit rate). In the follow-up press conference, Lagarde stated that policymakers were unanimous in their stance. When initially questioned over whether she thinks the Bank has more ground to cover, she said the decision will be based on the data and the GC is “open-minded”. When pressed on the matter later during the press conference, Lagarde stated that at this moment in time she “would not say so” with regards to there being more ground to cover. On the balance sheet, Lagarde remarked that a reduction had not been discussed and there would be no tradeoffs between rates and QT.
RECENT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS: August HICP held steady at 5.3% Y/Y, with the super-core reading still at an elevated level of 5.3% Y/Y, despite falling from 5.5%. The ECB Consumer Inflation Expectations survey for July saw the 12-month ahead metric remain at 3.4%, whilst the 3-year ahead rose to 2.4% from 2.3%. Elsewhere, the 5y5y inflation forward remains at a lofty 2.6%. Since July, Q2 Q/Q growth was revised lower to just 0.1% from 0.3%, whilst more timely survey data saw the Eurozone composite PMI in August fall to 46.7 from 48.6 with the accompanying release noting that “The disappointing numbers contributed to a downward revision of our GDP nowcast which stands now at -0.1% for the third quarter”. Furthermore, interest rate increases are clearly having an impact on lending in the Eurozone with bank lending to the private sector at just 1.6% Y/Y in July. In the labour market, the EZ-wide unemployment rate remains at the historic low of 6.4%, whilst Q2 unit labour costs rose 6.5% Y/Y in Q2 vs. the Q1 outturn of 6.0%.
RECENT COMMUNICATIONS: Since the prior meeting, President Lagarde has reiterated that decisions will be taken on a meeting by meeting approach, depending on the data. However, she did note that she is “pretty confident” that by the end of 2023 inflation numbers will look different”. Thought-leader Schnabel of Germany noted that activity has moderated visibly, and forward-looking indicators signal weakness ahead, however, she remains of the view that underlying price pressures remain stubbornly high. On rates, she opined that the ECB cannot commit to future actions, meaning it cannot trade off a need for a further tightening of monetary policy today against a promise to hold rates at a certain level for longer. Chief Economist Lane remarked “I would underline the fact that there has been some easing in goods inflation and services inflation, which is a welcome development.” He added that he expects to see core inflation come down throughout the autumn. At the hawkish end of the spectrum, Netherland’s Knot said that markets may be underestimating a September hike, whilst Slovakia’s Kazimir said one more (likely last) interest rate hike is still needed. At the more dovish end, Portugal’s Centeno is of the view that inflation is slowing much faster than it rose, and there is a risk of “doing too much” on rates
RATES/BALANCE SHEET: 39/69 analysts surveyed by Reuters expected the ECB to stand pat on the deposit rate at 3.75%, with the remaining 30 looking for a 25bps hike to 4.0%. Since the survey was taken, a sources piece by Reuters News noted that the 2024 inflation forecast is expected to be revised higher from the 3% in June. As such, markets now assign a 68% chance to a 25bps hike. As highlighted above, data since the July meeting has put the ECB in a bind of needing to be cautious in the face of slowing growth, but not conveying a sense of complacency over inflation. Even though inflation is set to fall throughout the remainder of the year, the ECB has been consistent in its messaging that it will be following the actual data rather than projections; such a stance, it could be argued, would suggest that the Bank still has one more hike in its locker. Hawkish bodies on the GC such as Kazimir and Knot appear to subscribe to this view (as noted above). It remains to be seen how close to a consensus view this is on the GC with President Lagarde continuing to stress the Bank’s meeting-by-meeting approach. If the ECB pauses on rates, it will likely signal that it will be willing to tighten policy further if required. However, given that the growth outlook is deteriorating, it is hard to see whether Lagarde would be able to get a consensus for such a move further down the line and the market may view a pause as the ECB having reached terminal. If rates are held steady, ING suggests “…an earlier end to PEPP reinvestments could eventually be the bargaining chip the doves would have to accept for the hawks to agree to a pause”. Note, such a move would be unlikely at this juncture with Hawk Knot seemingly not backing such a move at this stage after stating that “…reneging on earlier guidance has a cost. At this moment I don’t think we should incur this cost”.
PROJECTIONS: For the accompanying macro projections, consensus expects the 2023 inflation forecast of 5.4% to be upgraded to 5.5%, 2024 to be revised higher from 3.0% to “above 3%”, according to Reuters, whilst the 2025 projection of 2.2% will see “no fundamental change”, via Reuters. From a growth perspective, 2023 GDP is expected to be lowered to 0.6% from 0.9%, 2024 cut to 0.9% from 1.5% and 2025 trimmed to 1.5% from 1.6%.
* * *
Turning to the ING Economics team, they write that even though they have always thought that every central bank meeting in the world is data-dependent, Lagarde emphasised the ECB’s dependence on incoming data between July and September. Almost two months later, released macro data since the July meeting have pointed to a kind of stagflation scenario in the eurozone with confidence indicators plunging and inflation remaining high. They conclude that it is a “A very complicated mixed bag, making the ECB decision anything but easy” but in any case, ING expects a very heated debate with a close outcome; in the end, the bank is sticking to its view that the ECB will hike rates one final time.
Yuan’s Offshore Funding Squeeze May Have A Ways To Go
By George Lei, Bloomberg Markets Live reporter and strategist
Yuan liquidity in the offshore market tightened significantly this week, with the one-month interbank borrowing cost in Hong Kong surging over 120bps, the most since January 2021. Three-month Hibor for the offshore yuan jumped for a sixth straight week, exceeding 4.2% and reaching the highest since November 2018.
Chinese policymakers, taking advantage of favorable seasonality, appear determined to choke off yuan bears as much as they can. The cost of funding offshore is poised to climb further before month- and quarter-end.
The squeeze is making it much more expensive to borrow (and short-sell) the yuan offshore, adding teeth to warnings from Beijing against “one-way and pro-cyclical bets” on the Chinese currency by foreign speculators. August and September typically see the cost of yuan funding climb in Hong Kong ahead of China’s “Golden Week” national holiday in early October, according to data over the past decade compiled by Bloomberg.
Quarter-end, on top of a market hiatus that sometimes lasts as long as 10 calendar days (domestic trading will be halted from Sept. 29 to Oct. 8 this year), means funding pressure is unusually heavy in September, second only to December. The PBOC is well-aware and taking full advantage of such seasonality to shake up the offshore market. The central bank said on Wednesday it plans to issue more yuan-denominated bills than are maturing in Hong Kong next week, making the life of yuan bears even more difficult. State-owned banks, meanwhile, refrained from providing adequate CNH liquidity via the swap market, according to traders who asked not to be identified as they are not allowed to speak publicly.
September is also the month when a long stretch of yuan weakness typically nears an end. Greenback purchases tend to pick up in the summer, when Hong Kong-listed Chinese firms declare and pay out dividends. This year’s payment totaled $80.1 billion, of which $68 billion was due in June, July and August, according to Bloomberg calculations. The seasonal outflow, coinciding with a deterioration in Chinese economic data, led to a 2%-plus currency selloff from the end of May to the end of August.
The funding squeeze, taking place at an opportune time, appears designed to achieve the maximum FX market impact, now that dividend outflows taper off while the latest credit and inflation data show signs of economic stability in China. It provides the PBOC with an additional tool to anchor the currency after short-sellers grew more adamant in challenging the daily fixings.
“PBOC’s aggressive efforts are indeed paying off,” Brad Bechtel, global head of FX at Jefferies in New York, wrote on Wednesday, while acknowledging it might be too early to “call a trend change” in dollar-yuan. Policymakers want to stop the currency from weakening further “as much as they can” and the yuan will be “allowed to follow” if the dollar retreats another 3-5%, Bechtel noted.
The offshore funding squeeze has so far had little impact on the onshore cost of borrowing, with benchmark Shibor rates picking up slightly yet still below their summer peaks. Should the trend persist, the issuance of dim sum bonds — offshore debt denominated in yuan — could feel the heat. Data compiled by Bloomberg indicate that dim-sum bond supplies have grown to more than $54 billion year-to-date, almost triple the amount for 2021, supported by lower costs and regulatory curbs on certain types of onshore issuances.
The feat of rating the world’s countries from best to worst seems megalomaniac, but the U.S. News and World Report has been successfully publishing a ranking based on these sprawling criteria since 2016.
The global dislike for then-President Donald Trump has been cited as a reason why the U.S. fared poorly between 2017 and 2020.
Averaging out all scores countries have earned, the U.S. shares a 7th rank with Australia.
In 2022, the U.S. was back in rank 4 – its inaugural 2016 score – after gaining more points for indicators of quality of life and social purpose. Increases in the entrepreneurship as well as the cultural and natural heritage scores also saw the country improve its standing opposite other nations that year, leading to a much higher score when comparing to previous years.
Despite ranking first for entrepreneurship in 2023, overtaking both Germany and Japan since 2021, the U.S. saw a big drop in the “open for business” category and is now ranked 59th for the metric, down from 53rd.
As a result, its overall score dropped one rank this year. The U.S. is also ranked first for power and agility.
Germany, on the other hand, lost points for agility, meaning fewer respondents see it as modern, responsive and progressive, as well as in the category movers, which means fewer think of it as unique and dynamic.
The country dropped five ranks compared with 2022.
Japan meanwhile struggled in the categories entrepreneurship, openness for business, power and social purpose.
With 2021 being the first survey carried out after Brexit was finalized, the U.K. saw a drop in that year and has since lost even more ground.
The top 8 of the ranking has been mostly uniform over the years, with the exception of 2021 and 2023 when New Zealand was featured, first in rank 7 and then in rank 8, while first Sweden and then the United Kingdom ranked 9th those years.
These Are the 10 Lowest-Ranked Countries in the World, According to U.S. News & World Report:
78. Cameroon
79. Algeria
80. Myanmar
81. Honduras
82. Serbia
83. Uzbekistan
84. Kazakhstan
85. Lebanon
86. Belarus
87. Iran
For its part, Russia continued its drop in the rankings, slipping one spot to No. 37 after seeing one of the largest drops (-12) in the project’s history last year.
After Ukraine’s move up nine positions in 2022, it moved back down six positions in 2023, landing at No. 68.
The U.S. World & News Report ranking is mainly based on surveys that show how people all over the world view specific countries. Answers are then structured into 10 subrankings which are weighted for GDP per capita at purchasing power parity.
The Group of 20 leaders have agreed to a plan to eventually impose digital currencies and digital IDs on their respective populations, despite fears that governments will use them to monitor their peoples’ spending and crush dissent.
The G20, which is currently under India’s presidency, adopted a final declaration on the subject over the weekend in New Delhi.
The meeting, which included the world’s leading economies, announced last week that they had agreed to build the necessary infrastructure to implement digital currencies and IDs.
The group said that discussions were already underway to create international regulations for cryptocurrencies, but claimed that there was “no talk of banning cryptocurrency” at the summit.
Many critics are concerned that governments and central banks will eventually regulate cryptocurrencies and then immediately replace them with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), which lack similar privacy and security.
Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that discussions were underway to build a global framework to regulate crypto assets since they believe cryptocurrencies can not be regulated efficiently without total international cooperation.
“India’s [G20] presidency has put on the table key issues related to regulating or understanding that there should be a framework for handling issues related to crypto assets,” Ms. Sitharaman said before the G20 gathering.
The top items discussed at the New Delhi summit included “building Digital Public Infrastructure, Digital Economy, Cryptoassets, [Central Bank Digital Currencies].”
Gita Gopinath, the International Monetary Fund’s first deputy managing director, said in a video posted on X that the G20 “helped shape a global perspective on how policymakers should deal with crypto assets.”
She also assured Business Today that there was “no talk of banning cryptocurrencies, indicating a global consensus against such measures” in the discussions.
However, some of the suggestions call for additional policing of cryptocurrencies, which are decentralized and do not operate under central banks’ control.
Critics say that these proposals could allow government authorities to impose a social credit score system and decide how their citizens can spend their money.
European Commission Chief Reemphasizes Need for Digital IDs
At the summit, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for an international regulatory body for artificial intelligence (AI), digital ID systems similar to coronavirus vaccine passports and advocated for global cooperation to address the challenges presented by AI.
She called for the United Nations to have a role in AI regulation and called the European Union’s COVID-19 digital certificate a perfect model for digital public infrastructures (DPI), which would include digital IDs.
“Many of you are familiar with the COVID-19 digital certificate. The EU developed it for itself. The model was so functional and so trusted that 51 countries on four continents adopted it for free,” said President von der Leyen.
“Today, the WHO uses it as a global standard to facilitate mobility in times of health threats. I want to thank Dr. Tedros again for the excellent cooperation,” she said, referring to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The European Union is currently trying to introduce a bloc-wide “digital identity” app that would consolidate various personal information, including passports, driver’s licenses, and medical history.
“The future is digital. I passed two messages to the G20. We should establish a framework for safe, responsible AI, with a similar body as the IPCC for climate. Digital public infrastructures are an accelerator of growth. They must be trusted, interoperable & open to all,” said President von der Leyen in a post on social media. The IPCC is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Public Support Lacking
The Cato Institute 2023 CBDC National Survey from May found that only 16 percent of Americans support the adoption of a CBDC. At least 68 percent of respondents said they would oppose CBDCs if the government started to monitor their purchases.
Most Democrats and Republicans reported concern that the government could control what people spend their money on and potentially turn off access to their bank accounts.
Governments Prepare Way for CBDCs
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva praised her Indian counterparts via X (formerly Twitter) for leading the way in “setting up a road map for crypto regulations.”
She said the IMF was also “contributing to proposals for a comprehensive policy framework.”
In a separate press statement, Ms. Georgieva said, “more work lies ahead, including in the realm of digital money and crypto assets.”
“To this end, the G20 has tasked relevant institutions to improve regulation and supervision of crypto asset—the IMF is contributing to proposals for a comprehensive policy framework—and advance the debate on how central bank digital currencies could impact the global economy and financial system,” she added.
The IMF chief suggested that rather than recognize cryptocurrency assets as legal tender, governments should instead create licensing and registration processes for crypto asset issuers and focus on treating their activities similarly.
Several major economies, including Japan and Russia, will roll out their pilot CBDCs this year.
Nigeria launched eNaira, the world’s first issued CBDC, but it has proved unpopular.
Less than 0.5 percent of citizens have said they had used the digital currency, and government efforts to encourage its use have failed.
‘The India Stack’
Meanwhile, the World Bank also praised India’s use of digital public infrastructure to “enhance financial inclusion” and delivery of public goods and services in a report written for the G20 summit.
The nation’s India Stack DPI system, which comprises the Aadhaar digital ID and the interoperable UPI digital payments platform, has been cited as an example in the report.
The G20 believes that DPIs can serve people not just in the financial sector, but also in the domains of health, education, and social welfare.
“The India Stack exemplifies this approach, combining digital ID, interoperable payments, a digital credentials ledger, and account aggregation. In just six years, it has achieved a remarkable 80 percent financial inclusion rate-a feat that would have taken nearly five decades without a DPI approach,” said Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, who wrote the foreword to the report.
The queen is the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA) and was one of the speakers at the IMF’s World Bank annual meeting in Washington last year.
“If designed properly, CBDCs could hold great promise to support a digital financial system that works for everyone. But that is an important ‘if,’” Queen Maxima said, adding, “If designed and implemented with inclusion in mind, CBDCs could offer many options to expand access to the unbanked and to serve the vulnerable and the poor.”
However, her statements in support of the plan have come under criticism by some in the debate over digitalization in the Netherlands for violating the norm regarding the role of the Dutch monarchy in politics.
“Maxima openly advocates for programmable money; power in central banks, without parliamentary accountability,” said Dutch financial journalist Arno Wellens via X, calling the queen “an unelected official who is outside politics under [Dutch] constitutional law,” and said her statements were “a serious attack on democracy.”
‘Weaponized Govt Agencies’ “Don’t Wish Good Things For Me” – Musk Blames Biden Admin For Ukraine-Starlink Block
“I don’t know really what their issue is.”
That’s how the world’s richest man describes the apparent ‘beef’ that the Biden administration has with him (apart from him calling them on their bullshit and enabling a free-speech platform for others to discuss non-approved narratives).
Specifically, Elon Musk told the panel on the ‘All-In’ Podcast Summit yesterday:
“…there does seem to be some significant increase in the weaponization of government and really sort of misuse of prosecutorial discretion in many areas… I think this is really a dangerous thing for there to be partisan politics with government agencies.”
“Elon, does the Biden administration have it out for you, and why?” All-In host entrepreneur David Sacks asked Musk.
“Ha. What ever gave you that idea?” Musk joked.
“I don’t think the whole administration has it out for me,” he added.
“But I think there’s probably aspects of the administration… or aspects of interests aligned with President Biden who probably do not wish good things for me.”
As a reminder, DOJ and SEC are currently investigating Tesla for allegedly allocating funds to a secret project to build Musk a house – which Musk has denied (and Walter Isaacson’s biography also confirms has been dropped). Additionally SpaceX is being investigated by DOJ for not hiring illegal immigrants (no, seriously). Then there’s the FAA nitpicking over SpaceX approval:
“The only thing holding back the second planned Starship at this point is regulatory approval,” signifying that they are only waiting for FAA for their next launch.
Regarding Tesla, Musk focused on the company’s operations in China.
He expressed concerns about China’s military capabilities, noting, “there will come a point in the not too distant future where China’s military strength in that region far exceeds America’s.”
This point underlined the broader geopolitical considerations he takes into account in his business ventures, which brings us back to Starlink and the recent controversy over Ukraine demanding him enable the satellite web service for an attack on Crimea.
Musk made it clear that Walter Isaacson – his biographer – had misunderstood the situation and that the initial decision to not allow access to Starlink around the Crimean border was due to sanctions from the Biden administration.
“Starlink have provided connectivity to Ukraine since the beginning of the war and as the Ukrainian government has said, Starlink was instrumental in the defense of Ukraine – although the media forgets to mention that.“
Musk explains that “at the time [the attack] happened, the region around Crimea was turned off… and the reason it was turned off was because the United States has sanctions against Russia, which includes Crimea, and we are not allowed to turn on connectivity to a sanctioned country without explicit permission – which we did not have from the US government.”
Starlink was approached with immediate demands in the middle of the night to turn on Crimea, by the Ukrainian government, which Musk explains “was to enable a Pearl-Harbor-type attack on Sevastopol. So they were really asking us to take part proactively in a major act of war.”
The billionaire continued to note that while we have “huge empathy and support” for the Ukrainian people, Musk notes more seriously, “the Ukrainian government is not in charge of American people or companies.”
The audience applauded as he added “that’s not how it works.”
“While I am not President Biden’s biggest fan, if I had received a presidential directive to turn it on, I would have done so because I do regard the president as the chief executive officer of the country, and whether I like him or not, I still respect the office.”
But, he concludes, “no such request came through.”
Still, not of that matters for CNN’s narrative…
They’re desperate for ratings. Best to ignore them.
And Musk added that “to his credit, Secretary Blinken was quite supportive and did not take Jake Tapper’s bait” when the CNN anchor demanded retribution for Musk’s refusal to turn on Starlink.
Finally, despite the efforts of ADL and CCDH, Musk highlighted his platform X (formerly known as Twitter) has seen growing appeal to creators and adds that “we’ve recently seen a significant increase in advertising.”
Musk emphasized that the platform aims to become the best home for content creators, opening up another avenue for innovation.
Still, how much of this narrative-busting interview will ever make it to mainstream media is questionable when there’s a narrative to be spun and an election to be manipulated.
Watch the full interview below:
(0:00) Besties welcome Elon via Starlink
(05:31) Ukraine and Starlink
(19:10) green shoots of X
(22:24) the creator economy and optimizing the X experience
(26:43) the ADL, free speech, and advocating for peace
“This Is Distorting Our Markets”: EU Opening Investigation Into Chinese EV Subsidies
Apparently, things are going a little too well for the EV market in China, prompting the EU to launch an investigation into Chinese subsidies for electric vehicles, according to Bloomberg.
Because, you know, why let consumers benefit from competition when you can stoke the flames of a trade war that’ll probably backfire on European automakers? The news saw shares of European automakers rally first, before paring gains on the eventual thought of potential backlash.
Before paring gains, shares of Volvo Car were up 4.9%, followed by Renault at 4.7%, Forvia at 3.7%, Dowlais at 3.4%, and other notable names like VW, Valeo, and BMW following suit, Bloomberg reported. Shares of Chinese automakers slipped at first, with Li Auto down 0.5%, BYD declining by 2.8%, and XPeng down 3%.
At a time when tensions between China and the EU have been simmering for months, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is taking exception with the fact that “the global market is flooded with cheap Chinese cars”, according to Bloomberg.
Speaking to parliament, von der Leyen said: “Their price is kept artificially low by huge state subsidies. This is distorting our market. And as we do not accept this distortion from the inside in our market, we do not accept this from the outside.”
Sigrid de Vries, director general of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, commented to Bloomberg: “Von der Leyen’s announcement is a positive signal that the European Commission is recognizing the increasingly asymmetric situation our industry is faced with.”
The results of the investigation could wind up furthering the divide between China and the EU. Recall, the EU also complained when President Joe Biden’s administration passed the Inflation Reduction Act, claiming it “violated free trade rules”.
Von der Leyen has been working to “de-risk” the EU’s relationship with China without “decoupling” it, the report says.
As we noted back in July, Chinese domestic automakers have started to officially dethrone Western competition after the West’s decades of dominance.
Local auto brands produced in China made up 54% of the wholesale car market for the first half of 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year. This is up from 48% a year prior and marks the second 6 month period wherein local brands have surpassed foreign ones in a row.
It’s no secret that NEVs are leading the charge for China’s home grown vehicles. We noted back in July that NEV sales in China were up 25.2% YOY, totaling 665,000 units. Passenger vehicle output fell 0.5% YOY but was up 10.3% sequentially, coming in at 2.2 million units.
9 of China’s 10 best selling electric vehicles makers were local companies, led by BYD, the Journal reported. Tesla was the only foreign automaker on the EV Top 10. The country’s focus on EVs since 2009 has turned it from a global “follower” to a global “leader” in the industry.
Stephen Dyer, a Shanghai-based auto consultant at AlixPartners, told WSJ other other automakers would have to learn from China’s developing trend if they want to find success in the market.
It appears the EU is looking to “learn” in another way…by launching frivolous investigations.
Fighting between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Arab tribesman aligned with Deir Ezzor Military Council (DEMC) erupted again Monday night in eastern Syria, reportsThe New Arab. Both sides used to be united in the fight against the Islamic State (IS). However, now that the terrorist group is all but vanquished, ethnic tensions amongst the two groups exacerbated by the illegal US occupation have turned into clashes during recent weeks.
Per local sources speaking with the outlet, in the town of Abu Humam, SDF drone strikes killed an elderly man while he was working on his agricultural land. Further SDF drone attacks on the banks of the Euphrates River, close to Abu Humam, injured two men and three children. An unidentified drone, likely belonging to the SDF, targeting a vehicle in the area and wounded two civilians.
The sources added that the fighting resumed in the eastern Deir Ezzor province because the SDF attempted to breach the Al-Latwa neighborhood located in the town of Dhiban. After the SDF suffered casualties, the attack ceased.
Prior to fighting with resisting tribal militias in Al-Latwa, the SDF claimed it had seized full control over Dhiban.
Though Washington has backed some Sunni Arab groups such as the DEMC in the region, the US mostly relies on the SDF to control roughly a third of Syria along with the majority of the country’s oil and wheat resources. There are about 900 US troops and an undisclosed number of contractors embedded with the SDF.
In Deir Ezzor, Damascus controls the area west of the Euphrates River, while Washington and their SDF proxy occupy Deir Ezzor east of the river. As a result of the illegal occupation, the Kurds have dominated the area much to the disliking of the Arab population.
Syrian journalist Ibrahim Muhammad has explained most people living in the province “categorically refuse to be ruled by the Kurds.” The fighting started late last month when the SDF arrested the leader of the DEMC, Abu Khawla. Since then, over 100 people have reportedly been killed.
ISIS took over large swathes of eastern Syria and western Iraq as a result of a failed regime change operation which saw the CIA arming and funding rebel groups including al Qaeda affiliates. The proxy war killed hundreds of thousands of people but ultimately failed in its attempt to overthrow the Syrian government.
Oil-rich Deir Ezzor’s Arab tribes are fighting US-backed PKK/YPG-led SDF in eastern Syria, signalling their deep resentment toward Washingtonhttps://t.co/VuobDr89ip
The terrorist group was all but destroyed by Damascus with its Russian and Iranian allies. The American occupation is instead designedly depriving Syria of vital resources amid Washington’s economic war.
The 10th mens Rugby World Cup has kicked off in France and is running until October 28.
A total of 48 games will take place over seven weeks in nine venues across the country, with the final match in the Stade de France, north of Paris.
To mark the occasion,Statista’s Anna Fleck created the following chart taking a look at how the sport’s fanbase compares across six of the competing nations.
Both the newly announced impeachment of President Joe Biden and that of President Donald Trump center on the same incident in Ukraine, but from different sides.
The impeachment inquiry announced by House Republicans against President Joe Biden centers on his involvement with Ukraine, just as the Eastern European country figured prominently in the first impeachment of President Donald Trump. In fact, both impeachments touch upon the same incident, but from opposite sides.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced the impeachment inquiry on Sept. 12, summarizing the results of the investigations to date, including nearly $20 million in alleged payments from foreign sources to the Biden family and associates, the president’s past communications with his son Hunter Biden about his overseas business dealings, as well as whistleblower allegations that the Department of Justice extended special treatment to the Biden family.
“These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction, and corruption and they warrant further investigation by the House of Representatives,” Mr. McCarthy said.
The centerpiece of the allegations goes back to 2016, when then-Vice President Biden used a $1 billion loan guarantee as leverage to have Ukraine fire prosecutor Victor Shokin, who was investigating Ukrainian energy company Burisma. At the time, the vice president’s son Hunter Biden was collecting $1 million a year to sit on the company’s board and Burisma associates were pressuring him to ensure any investigations into the company’s owner were quashed.
It was President Trump’s requesting assistance from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in investigating this matter during a 2019 phone call that prompted House Democrats to launch an impeachment inquiry of him and later voting to impeach him. President Trump was acquitted by the GOP-led Senate at the time.
Ukraine has long been a crucible of geopolitical tensions, culminating in Russia’s invasion of the country in 2022. Hunter Biden was given the Burisma position in 2014, three months after Vice President Biden was designated by President Barack Obama as “point-man” for Ukraine.
Mr. Shokin was appointed Ukraine’s prosecutor general in February 2015 and later that year started preparing a money laundering case tied to Burisma.
On Nov. 2, 2015, Hunter Biden received an email from Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky’s adviser, Vadym Pozharskyi, demanding “deliverables” and saying that the “ultimate purpose” was to “close down any cases or pursuits” against Zlochevsky.
Several weeks later, Vice President Biden visited Ukraine and, among other things, demanded the removal of Mr. Shokin.
While there were some accusations that Mr. Shokin was corrupt, the U.S. government seemed satisfied with his performance.
Just weeks before the vice president’s visit, a joint task force of U.S. State, Treasury, and Justice Department officials deemed Ukraine’s progress on anti-corruption sufficient to earn it another $1 billion loan guarantee.
In addition, Victoria Nuland, then-assistant U.S. secretary of state, wrote to Mr. Shokin in June 2015 that “we have been impressed with the ambitious reform and anti-corruption agenda of your government.”
When Ukraine’s then-President Petro Poroshenko didn’t initially act on Vice President Biden’s demand, the latter threatened to withhold the $1 billion loan guarantee. He later boasted about the incident during a 2018 Council on Foreign Relations event.
On July 25, 2019, when President Trump called President Zelenskyy to congratulate him on winning a majority in the Ukrainian parliament, he mentioned that he would like Ukraine to examine the circumstances of Mr. Shokin’s firing and former Vice President Biden’s role in the matter. He said then-Attorney General Bill Barr would call to discuss the matter.
“There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great, Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it… It sounds horrible to me,” he said.
Democrats interpreted it as President Trump’s abusing his power to have his political opponent investigated.
President Trump has insisted the call was nothing wrong with the call and that Democrats were trying to cover up the Biden family’s corruption.
Republicans now say there indeed was corruption worth investigating. In addition to the money Hunter Biden received in Ukraine, they also point to payments from Elena Baturina, the wife of a former mayor of Moscow, as well as money from companies linked to the Chinese Communist Party.
They also capitalize on evidence that contradicts President Biden’s claims that he never discussed with his son his overseas business and that there was a “wall” between those business dealings and his official position.
“Not only did they discuss business, they discussed strategy, they discussed when they were going to meet with these people, they discussed what the narrative was going to be, how they were going to lie to the American people when word got out that they were being investigated for corruption in Ukraine and being investigated for tax crimes and things like that,” Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who chairs the House Oversight committee, recently told Newsmax.
“There was never a wall between Joe Biden and his family’s shady business dealings, and I think what we’re going to find is that Joe Biden not only knew about them, but Joe Biden was the ringleader in all of the crimes that his family’s committed.”
Mr. McCarthy put Mr. Comer in charge of the inquiry together with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), head of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), head of the House Ways and Means Committee.
“Regardless of your party or who you voted for, these facts should concern all Americans,” Mr. McCarthy said.
