NYT
(Saturday): Democratic presidential contender Elizabeth Warren unveiled a plan to pay for an expansive transformation of the nation’s health care system, proposing huge tax increases on businesses and wealthy Americans to help cover $20.5T in new federal spending; A New York Times/Siena College poll of likely found that Elizabeth Warren has the lead in the 2020 Iowa caucus, followed by Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, and Joe Biden, who has lost ground though he still leads in most national polls; Barney’s, the iconic New York department store, will be sold for parts—Authentic Brands Group will take control of the name and license it, while the five stores and two Warehouse locations will hold private sales before liquidating; Tens of thousands of Iraqis, with support from Shiite religious authorities and the country’s president, gathered in the center of the capital on Friday in the largest of a month’s worth of antigovernment protests; A Russian official said there would not be enough time to replace the New Start treaty—the last and most important nuclear arms-limitation treaty with the U.S.—before it expires early in 2021, leaving Washington and Moscow free to expand their arsenals without limits; A toxic, throat-burning cloud has settled over New Delhi, India’s capital, sending people to emergency rooms and prompting officials on Friday to declare a public health emergency and close schools; Trump will name Chad Wolf to be the next acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, the fifth person in the administration to lead the agency, and plans to nominate Dr. Stephen Hahn of the University of Texas to be the next FDA commissioner; The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States opened a national security review of Chinese company ByteDance’s acquisition of the American company that became TikTok, the hugely popular short-form video app;
(Sunday): Every year, the 28-country European Union pays out $65B in subsidies to support farmers and keep rural communities alive, but across Hungary and much of Central and Eastern Europe, the bulk goes to a connected and powerful few, enriching politicians and emboldening strongmen and their corruption; Nearly two decades after 9/11, polls show that a majority of veterans are disenchanted with the continuing wars even as the national security elite continues to wage them, and are increasingly supporting Trump because of his campaign pledge to end ongoing conflicts; British prime minister Boris Johnson, once a supporter of fracking, will now order a halt to it after government energy authorities couldn’t rule out the possibility of consequences such as pollution risks and earthquakes; Gary Jones, the president of the United Automobile Workers union, which is under investigation over allegations of financial wrongdoing, is taking a leave of absence; Sunday Business: Story reports on the negotiations between NFLX and major theater chains over the release of Martin Scorsese’s new film, “The Irishman,” noting the streaming giant refused to allow theaters more than 45 days of exclusivity, as opposed to the 72 days they usually require.
WSJ (Weekend):
Front page story reports that while XOM, Royal Dutch Shell, and BP have long used hefty and reliable dividends to keep investors on board in a sector with volatile profits, the payouts are starting to strain their balance sheets; In the U.S., job growth remains strong in areas of the economy such as healthcare and hospitality that serve U.S. consumers and are generally shielded from global trends and trade disputes; The Department of Health and Human Services will no longer require organizations that get billions of dollars in federal grants to comply with rules that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation; House lawmakers have called departing energy secretary Rick Perry to testify in the impeachment investigation, adding another key player in the Trump administration’s interactions with Ukraine to the witness roster; Former representative Beto O’Rourke announced he will drop out of the Democratic presidential race after failing to catch fire with voters in a crowded field; Syrian President Bashar al-Assad regained control over much of his country with the help of Russia and Iran, and is now set to take back much of the rest, in large part because of Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw troops; China will increase efforts to integrate Hong Kong with the mainland by strengthening patriotic education and retooling the city’s political and economic system, amid continuing protests against Beijing’s growing influence; Story profiles Jim Simons, a pioneer in the use of quantitative analysis who has outperformed the biggest names in the investment world over the past three decades—even after deducting investor fees that are much higher than those of rivals; The Trump administration is expected to announce next week that it will order the removal from the market all e-cigarettes except those that taste like tobacco and menthol; +/- PCG: California governor Gavin Newsom is threatening a state takeover of the troubled utility unless it exits bankruptcy and dramatically improves the safety of its electric grid before the next wildfire season; related story says insurers are likely to remain cautious about covering California homes and businesses in wildfire-prone areas, and more homeowners are likely to receive nonrenewal notices in the months ahead; H.O.T.S.: China is less corrupt than it once was, but it is also growing slower, which may not be a coincidence; Google’s acquisition of FIT could be risky given how big tech companies are under intense government scrutiny for their scale and influence; U.S. corporations may be hiring, but they are offsetting that by reining in costs on other fronts.
FT (Weekend):
Malaysia rejected an offer from GS of less than $2B as compensation for the 1MDB scandal, with prime minister Mahathir Mohamad holding firm in his demand for $7.5B; Japan is warning about the growing strength of China, and is seeking to maintain its security against China’s military might while avoiding becoming a proxy for a U.S. confrontation with Beijing; Big Read piece says UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s election strategy requires Conservatives to pick up Labour seats in depressed working class areas of the West Midlands and the North, but voter volatility is higher than it has been in decades; Lex Column: In the UK, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is unlikely to win power, and even if he does, he would struggle to reshape business as widely as promised; PINS, like other U.S. peers that have pioneered in China, wants to turn to e-commerce and other features to boost revenue; Nintendo investors’ hopes that moving into China will offset the company’s structural problems are overdone; Comment: The impeachment of Donald Trump “will probably electrify an electorate that is already on edge and leave it feeling even more divided,” says Lloyd Green, who says the move will be “a repeat of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings on steroids.”
NY POST
(Saturday): +/- NKE: A debate has emerged about whether the company’s new high-tech Vaporfly shoes gave runners in the Vienna and Chicago marathons an unfair advantage; Hedge fund mogul Ken Fisher is launching an advertising campaign that showcases female employees to clear up his firm’s image after a scandal about lewd remarks he made about women he made at a conference;
(Sunday): The record debt U.S. consumers are ratcheting up—the current level is more than $14T—is propelling a rise in mental illness and widespread emotional distress, according to experts; Increasing numbers of American workers expect to be career freelancers, driven by a strong economy, low unemployment rates and the younger generation’s embrace of technology. - Source TradeTheNews.com