Carnage, Freemasons, Dalai Lama, Super Bowl, SoHo House, Bell Pottinger

Caracal Insider Daily
February 6, 2018
Curation and commentary from Marc A. Ross

Reporting from Alexandria, Virginia

Caracal Insider = Global Business News at the Intersection of Politics + Policy + Profits

Subscribe here: https://goo.gl/bSQKwA

TOP FIVE

✔️ ‘There’s genuine carnage out there’

✔️ Two Freemasons’ lodges are operating in Westminster

✔️ Mercedes-Benz apologizes to Chinese for quoting Dalai Lama

✔️ Banks shutter 1,700 branches in fastest decline on record

✔️ Super Bowl drew 103.4 million TV viewers, a drop of 7%
 

GEOECONOMICS

‘There’s genuine carnage out there’: Global markets tumble, mirroring Dow decline: WP reports, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index plunges almost 5 percent, while markets in London, Frankfurt also fell in early trading. 

WSJ: Stock selloff spreads around the world

NYT: Global markets sink after US sell-off

BI - Linette Lopez: The stock market is getting pillaged because inflation is coming back and changing the gamehttps://goo.gl/n7CAQW

Correction or Bear Market?!?

Fortunately, I use Billy Ray Valentine for all my financial advice.

So, what's Number 10's Brexit policy? "It is not our policy to stay in the customs union, it is not our policy to stay in a customs union." - Number 10 spokesperson.

Freemasons going strong in Westminster: The Times reports, two Freemasons’ lodges are operating in Westminster and their members include political journalists, it was claimed last night. New Welcome Lodge, which recruits MPs, peers and parliamentary staff, and Gallery Lodge, established for members of the political press corps known as the lobby, remain active, The Guardian has reported.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, pinstriped populist: The Economist, an eccentric backbencher has become one of the most important politicians in the country. https://goo.gl/wheLBb

Suffragette 100: BBC reports, it's 100 years since the suffragette movement succeeded in securing the vote for many women in the U.K. Now, politicians and campaigners want the convictions of those in the movement to be belatedly overturned. More than 1,300 suffragettes were arrested between 1906 and 1914, with many women being jailed for violence.

China moves into Latin America: The Economist reports, the Asian giant is taking advantage of other powers’ lack of interest in the region. https://goo.gl/oyGkCm

Bloomberg: Beijing inches closer to becoming the world's busiest airport

NYT - Editorial: China, elbows out, charges ahead: Not long ago, America and its democratic allies hoped to integrate a rising China into the political and economic system they built after the Cold War. Instead, China is creating its own institutions, or reshaping existing institutions and norms, to suit its own needs. https://goo.gl/bFxGfM

Mercedes-Benz apologizes to Chinese for quoting Dalai Lama: Reuters reports, Mercedes-Benz apologized to Chinese consumers on Tuesday for an Instagram post showing one of its luxury cars along with a quote from exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, whom Beijing considers a dangerous separatist.

Pentagon mistakenly labels Taiwan as part of China in nuclearreport: CNN reports, the US Defense Department was forced to correct several mistakes in its Nuclear Posture Review after an initial version of the report released last week labeled Taiwan as part of China and included the disputed Kuril islands in a chart depicting Russia. A copy of the report was temporarily removed from the DOD website over the weekend after the Taiwan error was pointed out by the Japan Times.

AP: China says mid-course missile interceptor test successful

NYT: Hong Kong court throws out protest leaders’ prison sentences

Plan to relocate US air base in Okinawa gets boost: AFP reports, efforts to relocate a US air base on Japan's Okinawa appeared to move a step forward on Sunday (Feb 4), more than two decades after they began, with the electoral victory of a new mayor backed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling bloc. 

Straits Times - Peter Chang Oped: China's Confucian push: As the American Century makes way for a China-led Asian Century, the likely advent of a new global order is raising anticipation as well as apprehension. History suggests China is unlikely to Confucianise the world. But why? https://goo.gl/zP4TWN

Controversial China book may get parliamentary protection: SMH reports, key members of Federal Parliament’s national security committee are backing a move to use the committee’s powers to publish an explosive book on Chinese Communist Party influence in Australia. Committee chair and Liberal MP Andrew Hastie and deputy chair Anthony Byrne, a Labor MP, are among those supporting the move despite the potential for diplomatic fall-out, according to multiple sources.

"Canada is willing to walk away from NAFTA if the US proposes a bad deal. We will not be pushed around," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a town hall event in Nanaimo, British Columbia. 

AMERICAN POLITICS

Steve Bannon refuses to testify before House committee – source: Guardian reports, former White House senior strategist will defy subpoena, citing lack of agreement on scope of questioning, says individual familiar with matter.

Wired: Bob Mueller’s investigation is larger—and further along—than you think https://goo.gl/oMS1Ju

@dabeard: What Mueller is going after:

1. Preexisting Business Deals and Money Laundering
2. Russian Information Operations
3. Active Cyber Intrusions
4. Russian Campaign Contacts
5. Obstruction of Justice

VP Pence arrives in Tokyo today for a three-day visit.

WP: The US government is set to borrow nearly $1 trillion this year, an 84 percent jump from last year

LAT: California Democrats have raised nearly twice as much money as the Republicans they are trying to oust

ENTERPRISE

Spurned by US carriers, Huawei sets world’s lowest price for its unlocked flagship smartphone: SCMP reports, telecommunications equipment maker Huawei has signed up a group of major US electronics retailers to distribute and promote its Mate 10 Pro Android model in the world’s third-largest smartphone market.

WP: Tech titans, trade secrets, and alleged conspiracy: Inside the Waymo-Uber battle captivating Silicon Valleyhttps://goo.gl/6JPHiH

Soho House considers New York flotation: FT reports, Soho House is considering a stock market flotation in New York that would value the global network of private clubs at about $2 billion, as it seeks new funds to continue expansion plans even as its finances have come under strain.

How Bell Pottinger, PR firm for despots and rogues, met its end in South Africa: NYT reports, the British firm Bell Pottinger, hired by three brothers now caught up in a nationwide corruption scandal, helped drive racial tensions to levels not felt since apartheid. https://goo.gl/SRBL6s

Daimler and Bosch will begin testing the vehicles in the coming months. 

Gulfstream says China's billionaires are fueling demand for private jets

LAT: Bring on the fake snow: China aims to create a nation of skiers by the 2022 Olympics

These are the hottest Chinese consumer brands outside China: CNBC reports, the companies' "BrandZ Top 50 Chinese Global Brand Builders 2018" report combined Google search data with an online survey of 395,000 consumers to find the Chinese brands highest in awareness and consideration in the US, Japan, Australia, U.K, Spain, Germany, and France. You can read the report here: https://goo.gl/pR1Gsu

TRENDS

WSJ: Banks shutter 1,700 branches in fastest decline on record

CULTURE

LAT: Guillermo del Toro, Jordan Peele win top film honors at Directors Guild of America awards

25 of the funniest Martin Crane quotes from Frasierhttps://trib.al/NlIZIJk 

SPORT

Video: Midnight grooming - The story behind the corduroyhttps://goo.gl/92BnMb

The Super Bowl drew 103.4 million TV viewers, a drop of 7% from last year and the smallest audience since 2009 for television’s most-watched event.

Odds to win Super Bowl LIII:

The Patriots are favored to win Super Bowl LII, followed by the Eagles and Steelers.

Patriots 9-2    
Eagles 6-1    
Steelers 8-1    
Vikings 12-1    
Packers 12-1    
Saints 16-1
Falcons 16-1
Cowboys 20-1
Jaguars 20-1
Rams 20-1
Seahawks 20-1
49ers 20-1