Many U.S. firms in China eyeing relocation as trade war bites: survey

More than 70 percent of U.S. firms operating in southern China are considering delaying further investment there and moving some or all of their manufacturing to other countries as the trade war bites into profits, a business survey showed on Monday. U.S. companies operating in China believe they are suffering more from the trade dispute than firms from other countries, according to the poll by the American Chamber of Commerce in South China, which surveyed 219 companies, one-third from the manufacturing sector. Sixty-four percent of the companies said they were considering relocating production lines to outside of China, but only 1 percent said they had any plans to establish manufacturing bases in North America. “While more than 70 pct of the U.S. companies are considering delaying or cancelling investment in China, and relocation of some or all manufacturing out of China, only half of their Chinese counterparts share the same consideration,” the AmCham report said. The trade war is shifting both supply chains and industrial clusters, mostly towards Southeast Asia, the survey found.

U.S. companies reported facing increased competition from rivals in Vietnam, Germany and Japan, while Chinese companies said they were facing growing competition from Vietnam, India, the United States and South Korea. Customers are slowing down orders or not placing them at all, Harley Seyedin, president of AmCham South China, told Reuters. “It could very well be that people are holding back on placing orders until times are more certain or it could very well be that they are shifting to other competitors who are willing to offer cheaper products, even sometimes at a loss, in order to get market share,” he said. “One of the most difficult things about market share is once you lose it, it is very hard to get back.”

Companies in the wholesale and retail sectors have suffered the most from U.S. tariffs, while agriculture-related businesses have been most hit by Chinese measures, the survey found.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-china-impact/many-u-s-firms-in-china-eyeing-relocation-as-trade-war-bites-survey-idUSKCN1N30ZE

U.S. urges EU to stop WTO steel spat, hopes for deal with Canada, Mexico

The United States urged European Union governments on Monday to reflect on whether it was really in their interest for the EU to go ahead with a trade dispute over U.S. metals tariffs, and said it was hopeful of settling the issue with Mexico and Canada.

U.S. Ambassador Dennis Shea told the WTO’s monthly dispute settlement meeting, which was considering 12 requests for adjudication over U.S. tariffs and related retaliation, that Washington was “deeply disappointed” with the EU’s stance. “We would encourage the European countries to consider carefully their broader economic, political, and security interests,” Shea said, according to a transcript of his remarks seen by Reuters. But another U.S. trade official later told the same meeting that the United States had held constructive discussions on the tariffs with Canada and Mexico, the transcript showed. “The United States is hopeful these discussions may be concluded satisfactorily,” the official said.

China, Norway, Russia and Turkey had also asked the WTO to judge the legality of the U.S. tariffs, despite Washington’s claim that they are based on national security and therefore outside WTO jurisdiction. “We will not allow China’s Party-State to fatally undermine the U.S. steel and aluminum industries, on which the U.S. military, and by extension global security, rely,” Shea said.

National security claims were taboo for most of the WTO’s 23-year history, because trade diplomats feared a domino effect as countries cited national security to get out of a wide range of obligations. But Shea suggested it would be even worse to try to challenge the U.S. national security claim. “The United States wishes to be clear: if the WTO were to undertake to review an invocation of (the national security exemption), this would undermine the legitimacy of the WTO’s dispute settlement system and even the viability of the WTO as a whole,” he said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-wto/u-s-urges-eu-to-stop-wto-steel-spat-hopes-for-deal-with-canada-mexico-idUSKCN1N31NN

U.S. consumer spending solid; income gain smallest in 15 months

U.S. consumer spending rose for a seventh straight month in September, but income recorded its smallest gain in more than a year on moderate wage growth, suggesting the current pace of spending was unlikely to be sustained.

The report from the Commerce Department on Monday also showed the increase in income at the disposal of households was the smallest in 15 months and savings dropped to their lowest level since December last year. There are signs the stimulus from the Trump administration’s $1.5 trillion tax cut package has peaked. Higher interest rates and falling household wealth after a sharp stock market selloff are also casting a shadow on spending. “It remains to be seen how long the spending spree can continue,” said Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at SS Economics in Los Angeles. “The stimulus from the tax cut has plateaued. Rising interest rates and volatile stock markets are having a psychological as well as a real effect.”

Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, increased 0.4 percent last month as households bought more motor vehicles and spent more on health care. Data for August was revised up to show spending advancing 0.5 percent instead of the previously reported 0.3 percent gain. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast consumer spending increasing 0.4 percent in September. When adjusted for inflation, consumer spending rose 0.3 percent. The so-called real consumer spending climbed 0.4 percent in August. The data was included in last Friday’s third-quarter gross domestic product report, which showed consumer spending accelerating at a 4.0 percent annualized rate, the fastest in nearly four years. The economy grew at a 3.5 percent rate in the third quarter, a slowdown from the April-June period’s robust 4.2 percent pace. The dollar .DXY was trading higher against a basket of currencies, while U.S. Treasury prices fell. Stocks on Wall Street rose, recouping some of last week’s sharp losses.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-spending/u-s-consumer-spending-solid-income-gain-smallest-in-15-months-idUSKCN1N31K9

Report Details Significant Problems With Shadowy Industry Used To Push Environmental Crusades

Investors are voting on expensive shareholder proposals designed to tackle global warming without understanding the negative effect such measures have on their investments, according to a report published Monday.

Four law firms surveyed 100 companies’ experiences with the proxy investor season and found respondents reported that almost 20 percent of votes are cast within three days of a recommendation. The survey was commissioned by the American Council for Capital Formation and determined that so-called robo-voting on proxy filings is a common theme. The paper, which is based on a review of filings from 94 companies from 2016 through 2018, identified 139 significant problems with the proxy investor industry, including 49 that were classified as “serious disputes.” Activists often use the industry to propose major environmental measures that can negatively affect a corporation’s financial bottom line.

“Our research shows that not only are proxy advisory firms regularly guilty of issuing shoddy and factually inaccurate guidance, but the business community rarely has sufficient time to correct the data when they do,” Placenti said. He also took issue with so-called robo-voting, a method wherein financial investors automatically follow proxy advisers’ recommendations on certain measures without researching their effects. Placenti added: “The result is a perfect storm for America’s public companies, as well as retail investors who are seeing the value of their holdings diminished by a proxy process that is clearly flawed.”

Two of the biggest players in the industry — Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis – control roughly 97 percent of the sector’s clientele, made up exclusively of so-called ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investors. ISS and Glass Lewis are privately held companies, thus not subject to regulation from the SEC and other agencies that regulate corporations. Proxy advisers used their influence with investors to force ExxonMobil into adopting proposals on climate issues.

https://www.dailycaller.com/2018/10/29/regulations-sec-climate-change/

>>3652834

And it's about time!!

Clinton Advisers Line Up Behind Avenatti 2020

Advisers to both Bill and Hillary Clinton have signaled support for celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti, should he decide to run for president in 2020. Avenatti has been seeking the counsel of several veteran Democrats in the run up to 2020, according to POLITICO Monday. In particular, Avenatti has spoken with Jack Quinn, a former member of Bill Clinton’s White House, about how to best position himself in the Democratic primary and build a relationship with the Washington, D.C., press. Avenatti has also brought on Roger Salazar, who advised both the Clinton White House and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, to oversee media relations.

The founder of the Ready for Hillary super PAC, Adam Parkhomenko, has been working as a middleman between Avenatti and several key members of the Democratic National Committee. An ally of Parkhomenko and former staffer at Ready for Hillary, Amy Wills Gray, is now the treasurer and compliance officer for Avenatti’s The Fight Pac. “He’s absolutely the person I’m supporting in the 2020 primary, should he decide to run,” Parkhomenko told POLITICO in an interview. “I think he is 90 [percent] to 95 percent leaning toward doing it.”

When asked for comment on multiple people from the Clintons’ orbit lining up behind him, Avenatti told The Daily Caller News Foundation that it must “be concerned” over the news. “You must really be worried seeing as you continue to try and discredit me and engage in dog whistling,” he said.

https://www.dailycaller.com/2018/10/29/clinton-advisers-michael-avenatti/

The Atlantic Publishes Piece Calling For Societal Exile Of Trump-Supporting Jews

The Atlantic published an article on Saturday that said Trump-supporting Jewish people should no longer be welcome at synagogues following the shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue. Franklin Foer, a Jewish staff writer for The Atlantic, suggested in the article that Jewish Americans who support Trump are complicit in anti-Semitic acts. The article was published the same day 11 people were killed by a shooter at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “I felt pride that so much of the organized Jewish community resisted the impulse to elevate its own problems above those of the more vulnerable,” Foer writes in the piece. “Of course, this was not every corner of the Jewish community. After the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, Gary Cohn couldn’t bring himself to resign from his job. After Squirrel Hill, Jared Kushner and Sheldon Adelson will likely stand their ground.”

Foer admitted in the penultimate paragraph that he believes Trump-supporting Jewish people should essentially be exiled from society, writing that people should refuse their money and make them unwelcome at synagogues. “Any strategy for enhancing the security of American Jewry should involve shunning Trump’s Jewish enablers. Their money should be refused, their presence in synagogues not welcome. They have placed their community in danger,” Foer asserted.

https://www.dailycaller.com/2018/10/29/atlantic-trump-supporting-jews-exile/

>>3652975

I think we have to look into the PAC.. perhaps all the money he was suppose to use to pay for employees, vendors, ect in his businesses were funneled in to that pack…he is on the dole, for quite a few millions…(speculation on my part)