Trade War, Las Vegas, Apertivo, Lyft, Milk Bar, Detroit, AmazonGo, Pot
Marc Ross Daily
September 20, 2018
Curation and commentary from Marc A. Ross
Reporting from Alexandria, Virginia
Marc Ross Daily = Business News at the Intersection of Globalization, Disruption, and Politics
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TOP FIVE
✔️ Trump’s trade war still doesn’t scare China
✔️ China is at risk of becoming a colonialist power
✔️ Today: Trump campaigns in Las Vegas
✔️ Starbucks in Chicago is launching the "Apertivo hour" deal
✔️ Lyft has hit 1 billion rides
GEOECONOMICS
Trump’s trade war still doesn’t scare China: WP reports, Premier Li Keqiang to a crowd in the port city of Tianjin seemed directed at President Trump — without invoking his name — as fresh tariff announcements bring the United States and China closer to an all-out trade war. “China’s development over the past decades has always been achieved by overcoming all sorts of different obstacles and challenges,” he said. “Each time, we managed to pull through.”
China won't devalue the yuan to make its exports more competitive, Premier Li Keqiang said, even as the trade war with the US escalates.
Nikkei: Over 70% of US companies in China feel pain of trade war
Axios: Alibaba bails on pledge to create one million US jobs
China’s Haier cancels plan to sell US-made GE goods: FT reports, trade dispute scuppers proposal to import household appliances for domestic sale.
NYT: Trump’s tariffs have put the US and China on the cusp of a new Cold War
The world’s two largest economies are in the opening stages of a new economic Cold War, one that could persist long after President Trump is out of office.
The diplomatic stalemate has many in the business and policy communities wondering what, if anything, America will gain.
Trump’s trade war spurs a boom for knockoff designer bags from China: WP reports, the authentic high-end handbags, also made in China, face President Trump’s proposed new duties of 10 percent beginning Monday. That’s good news for those who peddle the fake versions that reach the US market through clandestine channels.
Jamil Anderlini: China is at risk of becoming a colonialist power: Heavy lending to Pakistan as part of the Belt and Road Initiative could backfire.
@marcorubio: #China has now basically run out of new tariffs to impose in retaliation for U.S. actions. The price of these actions on Americans will be real & significant. But the price of allowing China to continue to gut our economy is infinitely greater.
ZTE and the US Senate: A bipartisan group of senators, led by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), introduced legislation that would reimpose sanctions on ZTE Corp. if it fails to fully comply with a deal reached with the Trump administration in July to end U.S. restrictions on the Chinese telecoms company.
China’s leaders are softening their stance on AI: A year after announcing an aggressive plan to dominate artificial intelligence, the country’s leaders are calling for international collaboration.
I have no idea what this means for you, your investments, and the planet.
Matthew A. Winkler: Commodity prices trump politics for investors in Brazil: Lots of people are excited about the presidential election next month. Money managers aren’t among them.
44: If current trends hold, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo will account for 44 percent of all people living in extreme poverty by 2050, according to a new Gates Foundation report.
Since 2000, more than a billion people have lifted themselves out of the extreme poverty.
Africa is young: ~60% of Africans are under the age of 25. Europeans? Just 27%.
European Union antitrust regulators are starting to ask questions about Amazon market power.
MR Prediction: Amazon selects HQ2 to be in Virginia to add two more Senators and buys Carrefour to expand Europeans operations.
Ferdinando Giugliano: Three more reasons to worry about Italy: It’s not all about Tria’s budget. There are still concerns about the coalition’s stability, the business environment and the independence of institutions.
The Times: Bubble bursts on prosecco sales in UK
An Italian farmers group put the blame on the weakened pound but also pointed to reports last year in the UK linking prosecco to tooth decay. “Nationalistic fake news designed to discredit the Italian drink seems to have had an impact on sales,” said Coldiretti.
AMERICAN POLITICS
GOP to push ahead on Kavanaugh pick: WSJ reports, Senate Republicans said they would push forward with their efforts to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh—who has been accused of sexual assault—and a White House spokesman said the administration was going “full steam ahead” to support him.
Today: Trump campaigns in Las Vegas.
Trump feels angry, unprotected amid mounting crises: WP reports, publicly, President Trump is going through the ordinary motions of being president, but behind the scenes, he is confronting broadsides from every direction — legal, political and personal.
Simon & Schuster announced that "Fear" sold more than 1.1 million copies through Week 1.
TX-SEN: Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz has a 54 - 45 percent likely voter lead over U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, his Democratic challenger, in the Texas Senate race, according to a Quinnipiac University Poll.
Election 2018: The current 538 model gives the Republicans a 7 in 10 chance of keeping control of the Senate and gives Democrats a 4 in 5 chance of flipping the House.
There are 21 House seats which were carried by Barack Obama in 2012 and districts carried by Donald Trump in 2016.
Trump's tariffs won't bite Apple, illustrating Tim Cook's political sway: WP reports, Apple chief executive Tim Cook has been one of President Trump's staunchest critics in Silicon Valley, opposing the White House on immigration, climate change and more. But the 57-year-old tech leader has also become one of the technology industry's savviest political operators - a behind-the-scenes Trump whisperer, able to shape some of the administration's economic policies in ways that benefit Apple and some of its tech peers.
Reuters: US Chamber chief says Trump can still avoid a damaging trade war
WBJ: DC Council to consider legal sports betting, ahead of Virginia and Maryland
ENTERPRISE
Amazon's HQ2 announcement likely to come after midterm elections: The 20 finalists for Amazon’s second headquarters should expect an announcement from the company after the midterm elections, a top global site selector said Monday. John Boyd, principal of The Boyd Co. Inc. location consultants, said it’s increasingly looking like the company’s announcement for the 50,000-job, $5 billion investment will come after the midterm elections if the news doesn’t break elsewhere before it’s officially announced. per the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
Amazon is considering a plan to open thousands of AmazonGo cashierless stores in the next few years.
Marc Ross Commentary: Cincinnati, we have a problem http://bit.ly/2NmlfgW
Amazon is on track to pass Microsoft to become the third largest digital ad platform this year.
Google Home Mini has vaulted to the top spot in the global market for connected speakers, edging out a rival device from Amazon, a survey showed Wednesday. The Strategy Analytics report for the second quarter of 2018 showed the smallest device from Google captured 20 percent of the market with sales of 2.3 million.
LAT: Jeff Bezos says he will invest $1 billion next year in Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket program
Danske Bank’s CEO quit over a massive money-laundering scandal: Thomas Borgen resigned over “major deficiencies” in the controls at Denmark’s largest bank, which allowed some €200 billion ($234 billion) to pass through its Estonian branch between 2007 and 2015. It said the majority of the 6,200 transactions appeared suspicious.
Lyft has hit 1 billion rides.
I haven't experienced Lyft yet - do they still do the pink mustache?
The end of grammar? Papa John's may soon go by the name of Papa Johns.
Instagram is launching a campaign to help encourage users to register to vote.
Starbucks in Chicago is launching the "Apertivo hour" deal - buy an alcoholic drink and get a complimentary pizza tasting plate.
No way am I having a Negroni in a Starbucks - not going to happen.
Alibaba announced it plans to set up a new chip subsidiary to make customized artificial intelligence chips and embedded processors for the cloud and Internet of Things businesses.
Bloomberg: Fortunes made and lost on weed in wildest single day of trading
Tilray ends whipsaw session higher after wiping out 94% gain - Pot stock trading halted five times for volatility triggers
The hype around pot stocks is catching up to the crypto craze.
Boeing is developing plans to raise its 737 production rate to a record 63 per month.
Telsa won't make it: Former General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz reckons Tesla is "headed for the graveyard," and says Elon Musk doesn't know how to run a car company.
Formula One inked a $100 million deal with Interregional Sports Group to enable live in-race betting.
CBC: 'A public relations nightmare': Ticketmaster recruits pros for secret scalper program
CBC goes undercover at industry convention in Las Vegas to expose ticket giant’s new scheme.
HBD: Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and chief executive, Goldman Sachs, 64
TRENDS + BUZZ
54: By 2022, 54 percent of all workers will have a “significant” need to boost their skills to deal with advancing technology, according to a new World Economic Forum survey, with over a third requiring additional training of up to six months.
Video game sales in the US increased year over year for the fifth straight month in August.
CULTURE
LAT: Christina Tosi is opening her LA Milk Bar dessert shop this Saturday, with crack pies — and an ice cream truck
AFP: LeBron teams with 'Black Panther' director for 'Space Jam 2'
Moon people: Only 24 people have ever flown to the moon and only eleven men have walked on the moon, Eugene Cernan is the last person to do so.
Chevy Chase is 74, sober and ready to work. The problem? Nobody wants to work with him. WP reports, the man who revolutionized television in the 1970s with SNL, who made some of the best comedies of the 1980s and who as recently as 2012 earned rave reviews for his turn on “Community” wonders why he can’t get a break. He has a few theories.
From ‘why I hate Detroit’ to ‘why I stayed’: Eric Thomas’s 2016 blog went viral. What does he think about his changing city now? https://on.ft.com/2DcvMH1
"Detroiters’ honesty means we have real conversations about the future without sidestepping unpleasant details"
Brigadoon Detroit | Salon Dinner = October 11, 2018
Dinner will be held at The Apparatus Room @ Detroit Foundation Hotel with a discussion on the creation of new urban mobility solutions as well as mobility trends seen globally.
More info here: http://bit.ly/2MEXICM
SPORT
Mavericks and Mark Cuban sanctioned by NBA over the handling of sexual harassment: NYT reports, an investigation determined Cuban could have done more to address misconduct among team officials. The owner agreed to donate $10 million to charities in lieu of a fine.
