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☆ U.S. aims to hobble China’s chip industry with sweeping new export rules
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-07 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

The raft of measures could amount to the biggest shift in U.S. policy toward shipping technology to China since the 1990s. If effective, they could set China’s chip manufacturing industry back years by forcing American and foreign companies that use U.S. technology to cut off support for some of China’s leading factories and chip designers. On Friday, the Biden administration applied the expanded restrictions to China’s IFLYTEK, Dahua Technology, and Megvii Technology, companies added to the entity list in 2019 over allegations they aided Beijing in the suppression of its Uigher minority group. The “unverified list” is a potential stepping stone to tougher economic blacklists, but companies that comply with U.S. inspection rules can come off the list. On Friday, U.S. officials removed nine such firms, including China’s Wuxi Biologics, which makes ingredients for AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine.

Companies are added to the unverified list because the United States could not complete on-site visits to determine whether they can be trusted to receive sensitive technology exports from the United States. U.S. inspections of Chinese companies require the approval of China's commerce ministry. Under the Biden administration's new policy, if a government prevents U.S. officials from conducting site checks at companies placed the unverified list, Washington will start the process for adding them to the entity list after 60 days. The United States removed a unit of Wuxi Biologics, maker of ingredients for AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, from the unverified list. The company looks forward to scheduling an inspection of its Shanghai subsidiary, which also was placed on the unverified list in February, she added.

The raft of measures could amount to the biggest shift in U.S. policy toward shipping technology to China since the 1990s. If effective, they could hobble China's chip manufacturing industry by forcing American and foreign companies that use U.S. technology to cut off support for some of China's leading factories and chip designers. The rules published on Friday also block shipments of a broad array of chips for use in Chinese supercomputing systems. "The U.S. should stop the wrongdoings immediately and give fair treatment to companies from all over the world, including Chinese companies." On Saturday, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning called the move an abuse of trade measures designed to reinforce the United States' "technological hegemony".

☆ Russia's ramped-up gas squeeze means an even deeper recession for Europe — and a sharp winter will pile on the pain, Deutsche Bank warns
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-24 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia's indefinite shut-off of a key natural gas pipeline has intensified Europe's energy crisis. In July, Russia's Gazprom slashed its natural gas deliveries to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to 20% of capacity. Lower gas supply has sent European natural gas prices soaring, with benchmark Dutch TTF futures up 128% since the start of June. And there could be further pain ahead for Europe this winter if there's a severe cold snap, Deutsche Bank warned. While things might improve in the medium term, there will still be tight gas supply and high prices, they said.

Olivia Wilde’s “Don’t Worry, Darling” is — on its immaculately, obsessively polished surface — a film about the danger of dreams. Even if you have somehow avoided all publicity for the film, the pop culture reference points should already be clear. Pugh conveys blissful serenity and anguished confusion with equal conviction; her deftness justifies Wilde’s poetic anti-narrative, and vice versa. The real world feels like ghostly and desaturated reflection. “Don’t Worry, Darling” is a movie that airily warns you to watch out for illusions even as it revels in a film’s power to create a world deliberately untethered from reality.

☆ Take Five: Intervention watch is here
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Banknotes of Japanese yen and U.S. dollar are seen in this illustration picture taken September 23, 2022. Election results from Italy, euro area inflation numbers and U.S. and Chinese data also give investors plenty to chew over. Japan's authorities finally had enough of a weak yen and intervened to stem a sharp decline against the dollar. Investors have already ramped up expectations for another 75 bps, ECB rate hike in October, so the data shouldn't change the near-term rate outlook. How a new government navigates an energy crunch that is pushing highly-indebted Italy into recession will also be under scrutiny.

☆ Duke Energy is one of the top leakers of a gas that is 25,000 times more polluting than carbon dioxide, EPA records show
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Phil Mckenna | Inside Climate News | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +22 min

The emissions were equal to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of more than 59,000 automobiles, according to the EPA’s greenhouse gas equivalency calculator. Under such a scenario Duke Energy would likely have years of low emissions punctuated by a single year of high emissions. While other utilities have participated for decades in a voluntary program with the EPA to reduce SF6 emissions to next to nothing, Duke Energy has not. Brooks said Duke Energy is also targeting its most leaky equipment for faster replacement. The figure is roughly half of 1% of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, far smaller than yearly emissions of carbon dioxide, the primary driver of climate change.

☆ Fed expected to hike rates by three-quarters of a point again, but its forecast may matter most
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Patti Domm | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The Fed is expected to fire off another three-quarter point rate hike — its third in a row. We had theoretical road maps up until now, but from the Fed's point of view they're crossing into a world of tightening. Neutral is considered to be the interest rate level where Fed policy is no longer easy, but not yet restrictive. The Fed has considered 2.5% to be neutral, and if it raises by three-quarters of a point, fed funds will be in a range of 3% to 3.25%. In June, the Fed forecast the unemployment rate would be 3.7% this year, the same level it was at in August.

☆ US raises tariffs on European-built aircraft in ongoing dispute over subsidies
▼ + stars: | 2020-02-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The U.S. government on Friday said it would increase tariffs on aircraft imported from the European Union to 15% from 10%, ratcheting up pressure on Brussels in a nearly 16-year transatlantic dispute over aircraft subsidies. EU officials have said they want to negotiate with Washington but will not be bullied into submission. EU officials had no immediate comment on Friday's news. The WTO in October had awarded Washington the right to impose tariffs on $7.5 billion of annual EU imports in its case against Airbus. "The EU and Airbus could end these tariffs by finally complying with their legal obligations, ending these illegal subsidies, and addressing their ongoing harm.

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