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The Morning Ledger: Trade Worries Cloud Central Banks' Policy Plans |
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On Friday, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell defended the U.S. central bank’s gradual rate increases against criticisms that it is moving either too quickly or too slowly, jeopardizing the economy’s expansion. PHOTO: DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Good morning. Central bankers are prepared to unwind post-crisis easy money policies. But new risks, including widening trade disputes, are sowing doubts about the way ahead, writes the WSJ's Nick Timiraos.
Firing on all cylinders: Traditionally, a healthy expansion can lift the economy’s long-run growth rate if tighter labor markets lead to higher wages or productivity-boosting investments. But the disruption of the global trade system has come at just the point where that was about to occur.
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Trade friction: Since the beginning of this year, the Trump administration has imposed tariffs on tens of billions of dollars’ worth of imports from a host of countries, including close allies. Trade negotiations last week between the U.S. and China failed to produce any visible signs of progress, raising the odds Washington will impose tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.
Hope on the horizon: U.S. and Mexican trade negotiators are close to settling bilateral differences on the North American Free Trade Agreement and will resume talks on Monday morning, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said on Sunday, according to Reuters.
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The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas will report its manufacturing activity index for August at 10:30 a.m. EDT. Economists surveyed by the WSJ predict the index will decline to 29.0, from 32.3 in July.
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The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s composite manufacturing index is due out at 10 a.m. EDT on Tuesday. Economists surveyed by the WSJ predict the index will drop to 17 in August, from 20 the prior month.
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The U.S. Commerce Department will release its second estimate of second-quarter gross domestic product on Wednesday. Economists forecast GDP increased at a revised 4.0% annual rate.
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On Thursday, the Commerce Department will release July personal income and spending data, with consumer spending pegged to have climbed 0.4% last month, while incomes grew 0.3%.
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Brazil will release second-quarter gross domestic product data on Friday at 8 a.m. EDT amid worsening forecasts. It was the quarter when a truckers' strike brought the economy to a near-halt. While at 9:30 a.m., Brazil’s central bank will release budget data amid a persistent fiscal crisis.
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China will report its official gauge of factory activity for August on Friday. Economists predict the index will extend July’s three-month low, as heavy rainfall disrupted production in some parts of the country.
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Michael Falvey, the finance chief of Karyopharm Therapeutics, is preparing to expand the biotech company’s finance team as it nears potential approval for a cancer treatment, writes CFO Journal's Ezequiel Minaya.
As Karyopharm transitions from drug development to the commercial expansion phase, Mr. Falvey is looking to hire people who can contribute across various departments.
“We are going through a dramatic transformation,” Mr. Falvey said. “I’m trying to recruit people who have done this before. And if you have done it before you are in tremendous demand,” he added.
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Engineer and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. PHOTO: JOSHUA LOTT/GETTY IMAGES
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Tesla Inc.'s team hustled to put form to Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk's idea to take the company private, lining up investors willing to put up tens of billions of dollars, even as Mr. Musk was having second thoughts.
Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc. and other beverage giants have expanded into dairy, tea, coffee, juice, soy milk, bottled water and coconut water. But the proliferation of beverages that don’t fit within traditional drink categories is causing problems for retailers, confusion for shoppers and a challenge for manufacturers that are trying to keep pace with changing consumer tastes.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. leads a pack of investment banks that are elbowing into the crucial exchange business of end-of-day trading by handling such trades in-house.
Sales at Sprouts Farmers Market Inc., Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage Inc. and hundreds of other health-food retailers are up both in terms of dollar and unit sales a year after Amazon.com Inc.’s $13.7 billion takeover of Whole Foods.
Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing Technology Co. said it is temporarily halting one of its services for the second time in three months after police said a Didi driver raped and murdered a female passenger in eastern China.
From General Electric Co. to Siemens AG, industrial giants are racing to build turbines as big as skyscrapers and more powerful than any that exist today in a bid to dominate a multibillion-dollar offshore wind market that is set to boom in coming decades.
San Francisco-based PG&E Corp. was identified Friday as the large utility that authorities had fined in May for losing control of a database with confidential information about its systems and leaving it exposed to the internet for 70 days.
Papa John’s International Inc. is mandating diversity training for its staff as founder John Schnatter pushes to regain control of the pizza company that executives say was destabilized by his divisive behavior.
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Randal Quarles appears at a House Financial Services Committee hearing in April; Some Europeans are resisting Mr. Quarles’s candidacy to chair the global Financial Stability Board. PHOTO: ZACH GIBSON/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Randal Quarles, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s vice chairman for bank supervision, had emerged as a front-runner to chair the Financial Stability Board. But President Trump’s antagonistic posture toward international institutions at foreign summits this summer soured some European officials on the candidacy.
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Lawmakers in the U.K. are conducting a formal review of the Bribery Act of 2010, with plans to examine the impact of deferred prosecution agreements on corporate conduct.
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Volkswagen AG's external compliance monitor on Monday said he disagreed with some VW executives’ use of privacy and attorney client privilege rights to withhold information about a $27 billion global emissions cheating scandal, reports Reuters.
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Merchandise is stacked in an Amazon fulfillment center in Singapore. PHOTO: JOSEPH NAIR/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Retailers are moving faster to adjust prices due to increased online competition from Amazon.com Inc. They are also more likely to hold prices constant across geographic locations, according to new research presented at the Fed’s Jackson Hole conference.
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The rise of “intangible capital” such as software, patents, intellectual property and innovative business processes explains much of the weakness in private capital investment since 2000, according to new research presented at Jackson Hole.
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Chinese machinery maker Sany Group Co. is embracing technology to build a reputation for innovation and quality rather than for lower prices for copycat products, a move that comes amid Beijing’s effort to upgrade its corporate champions.
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Low levels of unemployment and high demand for H-2B visas mean there aren’t enough people working in landscaping this summer.
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As veterinary bills add up, more pet owners are opting for insurance, which for the first time last year grossed $1 billion in annual premiums.
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