North Korea, Ireland, Estonia, Samsung, Netflix, Real Madrid v Liverpool

Marc Ross Daily
May 25, 2018
Curation and commentary from Marc A. Ross

Reporting from Alexandria, Virginia

Marc Ross Daily  = Business News at the Intersection of Global Politics + Policy + Profits

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TOP FIVE

✔️ Trump’s gamble hits reality check in North Korea

✔️ Is Kim Jong-un back in Beijing?

✔️ Relations between Australia and China are buckling

✔️ The death of retail is greatly exaggerated

✔️ People in their 20s and 30s are drinking less alcohol

GEOECONOMICS

NYT: Trump’s gamble hits reality check in North Korea negotiations

The North Korea summit crumbled after China lined up against it: NBC News reports, Xi became increasingly anxious about the potential reunification of the Korean Peninsula, with China on the sidelines.

Is Kim Jong-un back in Beijing? High-ranking North Korean official reportedly visiting Chinese capital: AP reports, the North Korean official arrived in Beijing by air before being picked up by a Chinese government vehicle, the source said.

After summit pullout, South Korea and China have little appetite for Trump’s ‘maximum pressure': WP reports, Trump credited his “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions and threats with bringing North Korea to the negotiating table to discuss its nuclear weapons program. Now, having abruptly decided to call off an unprecedented summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore next month, Trump looks poised to revert to a hard-line approach. There’s just one problem: “The multilateral pressure coalition has fallen apart,” says Mira Rapp-Hooper, an East Asia expert at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center.  

@TheEconomist: Donald Trump's decision to cancel the meeting had come to seem almost inevitable econ.st/2GOuNJt

WP: ‘A lot of dial tones’: The inside story of how Trump’s North Korea summit fell apart https://wapo.st/2s64eLd

The weird zigzags of a ship trying to navigate the US-China trade war: CBC reports, the travels of an 80,000-tonne shipment of an obscure American feed crop symbolize everything wrong with Trump's trade fight with China.

US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross will travel to China from June 2 to June 4.

Then there was eighteen: Taiwan lost its second diplomatic partner in less than a month as the West African state of Burkina Faso severed relations. Taiwan now only has diplomatic recognition with just 18 states.

Relations between Australia and China are buckling as suspicion grows over the latter’s political meddling.

Turbulent week for Trump's trade tactics puts the world on edge: Bloomberg reports, over five days, the U.S. called off a trade war with China, cast doubt over the framework of talks with Beijing, and threatened tariffs on car and truck imports to protect national security. In other words, it’s been just another week for the volatile trade policy of President Donald Trump. The coming days aren’t looking much calmer.

@sallyshin: who's ready for GDPR!!!

Today: St Petersburg Forum begins in Russia

Crude has slipped back under $70/bbl.

Bankers may have moved $13 billion through Baltic laundromat: Bloomberg reports, banks operating in the Baltic nation of Estonia may have laundered considerably larger sums than first thought. Estonian police now estimate that bankers in their country were involved in suspicious transfers of money and securities, mainly from Russia, totaling more than $13 billion from 2011 to 2016.

Europe is ready to move on from Brexit: Leavers hoped to start a continent-wide revolution. Turns out there are more pressing problems. https://bloom.bg/2kqySuw

As Brexit clock ticks, the UK tries to agree on a plan: WSJ reports, an idea being considered could avoid a disruptive exit from the EU, but London may not unite behind it before a critical June summit.

"Since Britain voted to leave the EU in June 2016, politicians on both sides have committed to preserve the status quo on the island of Ireland. But the British government has also said it plans to leave the EU customs union and its single market, which would necessitate customs checks along the Irish border with Britain."

Telegraph: Theresa May needs to quit as Prime Minister over 'Greek tragedy' Brexit talks - major Tory donor

Scotland's bid for another shot at independence is creeping back: Bloomberg reports, After championing the cause for staying in the European Union, Scotland’s nationalists are reigniting their effort to leave the U.K. with plans for a new currency, economic regime and an open door for immigrants. A report published on Friday by a Scottish National Party commission made the case that Scotland should look to emulate small, better-performing economies such as Denmark and New Zealand. 

You can read the report here: http://bit.ly/2IO0G6T

Ireland votes: Irish voters will decide today whether to remove a ban on abortion from the country's constitution.

Italy’s new coalition government presents Europe with a difficult choice: pacify populists or pull no punches.

Military looks at foreign recruits to boost ranks: CBC reports, Canada's military is considering lifting a longstanding citizenship requirement as a way to boost its numbers. Right now, Canadian citizenship is a key requirement for enlistment, with waivers offered in exceptional cases.

Escaping Venezuela: Migrants are pouring into Brazil by the thousands looking for work and a chance at a new life. 

AMERICAN POLITICS

Roger Stone sought information on Clinton from Assange, emails show: WSJ reports, ex-Trump adviser urged intermediary to ask WikiLeaks for specific dates of rival candidate’s communications.

"Please ask Assange for any State or [Hillary Clinton] e-mail from August 10 to August 30--particularly on August 20, 2011" 

Today: Trump delivers commencement remarks at the US Naval Academy

Trump 2020: Donald Trump's 2020 campaign and the Republican National Committee wrote to Facebook and Twitter to ask how they will "guarantee that conservative voices are no longer censored."

@parscale: We won’t tolerate bias toward conservatives or @realDonaldTrump supporters. We’re standing up for you and demanding answers. @GOPChairwoman and I have sent the following letter to @facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and @Twitter’s @jack Dorsey. #StopTheBias

US house prices: Home values have jumped 8.7% since last April, per Zillow. That's the fastest pace since 2006.

Senior Republicans blast Trump’s auto tariff threat: Bloomberg reports, Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah said Thursday the move would amount to a tax paid by American car buyers. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said Congress should take back some of the powers it has given the president to impose tariffs on national security grounds, while Bob Corker of Tennessee said the administration “is using trade policy maybe too transactionally.” The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a statement it "strongly opposes" the Trump administration’s threat of tariffs. If carried out, the proposal would “threaten to ignite a global trade war,” the group said.

Trump identifies his trade weapon of choice, to the dismay of Congress: WSJ reports, the president’s use of a national security law to threaten tariffs, most recently on imported cars, has lawmakers, the auto industry and foreign trade partners worried.

WSJ - Editorial: Trump’s trade confusion

"Auto tariffs, NAFTA bullying and China disarray, oh my."

The Trump trade - Why corporate America loves Donald Trump: The Economist reports, American executives are betting that the president is good for business. Not in the long run. https://econ.st/2kqUAPm

Where US manufacturing is thriving in 2018: The ‘80s futurist John Naisbitt once called manufacturing “a declining sport,” and to be sure the share of Americans working in factories has fallen far from the 1950 peak of 30% to roughly 8.5% last year. Yet, manufacturing’s contributions to the economy are far out of proportion to its shrinking share of employment. In 2013, the manufacturing sector employed 12 million workers, but generated an additional 17.1 million indirect jobs. http://bit.ly/2J5Ezfu

ENTERPRISE

Lego has partnered with Tencent to offer videos for the Chinese market.

Samsung has been ordered to pay Apple $539 million in a patent infringement case.

Netflix briefly surpassed Walt Disney Co. in market value Thursday to be the most valuable global media brand.

I am long DIS and short NFLX.

StumbleUpon will shut down June 30.

The great sneaker race: Gucci, Prada, and Balenciaga are increasingly looking to sneakers for growth, putting them in direct competition with sportswear giants like Nike and Adidas.

Uber announced today that it plans to invest €20M ($23.5M USD) in France over the next five years to develop aerial mobility.

Kellogg’s cereal brand Froot Loops is rolling out its first new flavor in 10 years: Wild Berry.

Publicis Groupe is no longer a holding company. As of today, it's a "platform." Meet Marcel: http://bit.ly/2IIzxpO

TRENDS

33 industries that could be transformed by driverless carshttp://bit.ly/2kpL7HN

Drinking: People in their 20s and 30s are drinking less alcohol. One in 5 millennials doesn’t drink, and 66% say that alcohol isn’t important to their social lives, according to a survey by Demos.

No phone vaca: According to a survey of 2,000 US travelers from Asurion, a mobile device insurance company, and OnePoll, a UK-based marketing research company. more than 20 percent of respondents said they checked their smartphones once per hour during their most recent vacations while about 14 percent said they checked it twice per hour.

The death of retail is greatly exaggerated http://bit.ly/2IL6tya

CULTURE

Harvey Weinstein facing arrest in New York following sex assault inquiry: NYT reports, Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced movie mogul, is expected to surrender to investigators on Friday after a monthslong inquiry into allegations that he sexually assaulted numerous women. Mr. Weinstein is to be charged by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, according to two law enforcement officials.

Scientists plan to scour loch ness in search for the mythical monster's DNA: NDTV reports, the project's leader, Neil Gemmell of New Zealand's Otago University, doubts that the Loch Ness monster actually exists.

Today: National Wine Day

Barry Ritholtz's 10 books for a summer reading listhttps://bloom.bg/2knXfcn

SOTD

Jamie T - Sheila http://bit.ly/2GP7z6b

SPORT

UEFA Champions League - Final

Real Madrid v Liverpool @ 2:45 ET on Saturday

All you need to know about the Champions League finalhttp://bit.ly/2konEqD

The French Open is already mired in controversy even before play starts on Sunday: Bloomberg reports, Serena Williams, resuming her comeback after maternity leave, is unseeded and will open against a tough opponent in 70th-ranked Kristyna Pliskova. Ivanka Trump blasted the Women's Tennis Association, saying the three-time champion is being penalized professionally for having a child.

2018 World Cup Jerseys (photos) http://bit.ly/2kqtxUo

BBC's World Cup promo ad: The BBC was inspired by the centuries-old Russian tradition of tapestry for its World Cup 2018 promo -- it has created an incredible, intricate animated tapestry of the tournament's history, as well as a real-life work of embroidery. The animated launch film "The Tapestry," created by BBC Creative with BBC Sport Marketing and directed by Nicos Livesey of Blinkink, takes the viewer on a journey through iconic moments from World Cup's past, from Diego Maradona's ball skills to Paul Gascoigne's tears and through to the current team lineup. You can see the ad here: http://bit.ly/2kqxGaw

The British bookmaker betting big on American sports gambling: William Hill’s early wager may soon pay off. https://bloom.bg/2IIVqFv