The star player in America’s biggest sporting event risks being benched: guacamole. Every year before the Super Bowl, demand soars for the avocado-based dip that has become a staple for viewing parties for the National Football League championship game, which has emerged as the second-largest day for food consumption in the US after Thanksgiving. This year’s supply was threatened by a spike in avocado prices late last […]
This love is precisely what is required of an American president in dealings affecting Israel. In such circumstances, and contrary to the adage that applies in most ordinary circumstances of life, that law says that demonstrations of love count for less, paradoxically, than love itself. It says, to be precise, that gestures of friendship, when they do not come from the bottom of the heart and are […]
The Freedom of Information process begins with a letter, right? Why does it become necessary to sue? We bring a lawsuit either when it takes too long for a government agency to respond to our request, or when they do respond but withhold records that we believe should be disclosed. Why has the Center pursued FOIA suits so vigorously? How does the Center differ from other organizations […]
China cut its holdings of US Treasuries by $66bn in November, reducing its position in the safe-haven debt to the lowest level since 2010 as the country battles to stabilise its currency. The acceleration in sales — the largest monthly decline since December 2011 — threatens a rise in US interest rates if it continues and follows an unwinding in October that saw China cede its position […]
Via ConvergEx’s Nicholas Colas, Want to know why US stocks feel so fragile? Perhaps we can blame Wall Street analysts. Even after two months of market buzz about lower taxes, infrastructure spending and less regulation juicing investor expectations for better earnings growth, they refuse to bump their revenue or earnings estimates for 2017. Our monthly look at revenue expectations for the companies of the Dow […]
The sole Republican commissioner at the main US derivatives regulator has thrown his hat in the ring to be appointed the next chairman, even as he embraced aspects of financial reforms that Donald Trump’s team wants dismantled. Christopher Giancarlo, of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is set to assume the job of acting chairman after Mr Trump’s presidential inauguration on Friday, replacing Tim Massad, the sitting Democratic […]
Janet Yellen, the Fed chair, has warned that the US risks a “nasty surprise” if it waits too long to continue raising interest rates, adding that she expects the US central bank to tighten monetary policy a few times a year until 2019. But on the cusp of Donald Trump’s inauguration as an economy-focused president, she also said slow productivity growth meant the US’s “usual” rate of […]
New stock trading allegations are set to cast a shadow over Tom Price’s confirmation hearing as health secretary on Wednesday, as Senate Democrats prepare to do battle over Donald Trump’s latest cabinet picks. On Wednesday Senate Democrats and Republicans will question Mr Price, a sitting Republican congressman, over his fitness for the health role and his plans for repealing and replacing Obamacare — a key policy agenda […]
Cambodia is to scrap an annual joint military exercise with the US in the latest shake-up in security co-operation between Washington and Southeast Asian capitals. The cancellation comes as Beijing and Washington battle for influence in Southeast Asia amid signs that president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration could take a tougher line over China’s maritime territory claims in the region. Countries including the Philippines and Malaysia have already […]
Submitted by David Battistella A Violent Inauguration? A Call For Peace On Inauguration Day Now that all attempts to delegitimize President Elect Trump to this point including failed recounts, the constant drum beating about popular vote victory, intimidation, bullying and desperate pleas to the Electoral college and the attempt at cold War 2.0 have failed, will inauguration day be the last stand? Now even millionaire Catholic socialist […]
Donald Trump has threatened to overturn two decades of US economic policy by questioning the strong value of the dollar, raising fears that his presidency could set off a new round of currency wars between the world’s major economies. On Monday the president-elect appeared to break from the longstanding “strong dollar” policy of successive administrations, declaring that the currency was too high and that this was preventing […]
Before she spoke on Tuesday, Theresa May was gaining a reputation for talking sterling lower by spooking investors that Britain was headed to a disorganised exit from both the EU and its common market. Her Lancaster House speech was the first occasion the pound rallied to her Brexit views since becoming prime minister; it had risen nearly 3 per cent by the end of the London trading […]
A senior member of Donald Trump’s team insisted that the president-elect was committed to globalisation, open trade and Nato despite recent comments that unsettled America’s allies. Anthony Scaramucci, Mr Trump’s newly appointed public liaison official, told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday that the European and American elite had misunderstood Mr Trump and would change their views when he took office. In particular, he argued […]
January 17, 2017 by: Henry Mance, Political correspondent Theresa May has promised a clean break with the EU, saying that Britain would not “seek to hold on to bits of membership as we leave”. In a much anticipated speech outlining her Brexit objectives, the prime minister said that Britain would seek “a new and equal partnership” with the other 27 countries in the EU — not “anything […]
Blume was working on a letter to a man who was angry about being profiled by the police in his community. She showed me some of Obama’s handwritten comments in the margins. He had underlined sentences and added exclamation points; the words he wrote were sparse, but Blume understood the code. “See?” she said. “You can break down the sections of his thoughts: I’m mad, too. My […]
The US dollar is weakening this morning after comments from president-elect Donald Trump that the greenback was “too strong” against the Chinese currency. “Our companies can’t compete with them [Chinese companies] now because our currency is too strong. And it’s killing us”, Mr Trump told the Wall Street Journal. His comments have helped soften the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of its major […]
Theresa May will test the nerves of currency markets on Tuesday when she declares that Britain is making a clean break from the EU and will not seek a deal that leaves the country “half in and half out”. Mrs May’s comments will be seen as confirmation that Britain is leaving the single market — sometimes referred to as “a hard Brexit” — although she will leave […]
By Steve Holland | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Monica Crowley, the foreign policy adviser tapped for a White House job under President-elect Donald Trump, will relinquish the post, a transition official told Reuters on Monday. Crowley had been chosen to serve as senior director of strategic communications at the National Security Council. Her appointment had been shadowed by reports of plagiarism in news outlets including CNN and Politico. “After […]
Ken Miller Crunch Network Contributor Ken Miller is an investor, writer, and advisor to several technology companies and Venture Capital firms. Previously he was an Executive at PayPal and Intuit, and early Advisor to Square. More posts by this contributor: How to join the network Pundits and Monday morning quarterbacks have spent much of the last two months lost in a fog of speculation and assertions as […]
He was the president who took out Osama bin Laden but was blindsided by Isis; who made Asia his priority but saw his trade deal for the region stymied; who built bridges with once sworn enemies in Cuba and Iran but who sparred with allies in Israel and Saudi Arabia. The mixed and sometimes messy foreign policy legacy of Barack Obama includes a climate change agreement and […]
France held the first session of the conference in June, after the United States and others effectively gave up. Talks had broken down, and Mr. Netanyahu’s government had drawn international anger with its continued settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, a red line for the process set out years before by Secretary of State John Kerry and other leaders. Continue reading the main story […]
Delta Air Lines CEO has again raised the prospect that President-elect Donald Trump’s administration would intervene in the US carriers’ dispute with Gulf airlines. Ed Bastian, speaking to investment analysts during the carrier’s recent quarterly earnings call, said that officials from the US ‘big three’ – American, United and Delta – have already met with officials from Trump’s transition team to discuss current industry issues, including the […]
The media was rife with ‘I told you so’ headlines yesterday, after reports from more unnamed sources said the first order of business for the Trump administration was to hold a summit with Vladimir Putin, in Iceland, just like Reagan did with Gorbachev, circa 1986. The headlines were smug and the Twitterati of newly born left wing militarist war mongers were resplendent with calls for martial law or […]
Before Donald Trump accused them of “getting away with murder”, the mood among pharmaceutical executives was buoyant as they gathered in San Francisco for the industry’s biggest annual gathering last week. Not even the torrential rain could damp their spirits as they darted between meetings with investors and presentations in the historic Westin St Francis hotel, the venue for the JPMorgan healthcare conference. The bull case was […]
