Elizabeth Warren calls for higher taxes, NRA investigation as part of gun control plan - Fox News

Democratic 2020 hopeful Elizabeth Warren on Saturday unveiled a sweeping gun control proposal that would see higher taxes on gun manufacturers, waiting periods for guns and an investigation into the National Rifle Association (NRA).

The Massachusetts senator's proposal comes a week after the two mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio that left more than 30 people dead and dozens injured. Warren begins her plan with a goal of dramatically reducing gun deaths and then proposing policies that would help achieve that goal.

WARREN SURGES, SANDERS SLIPS, BIDEN STEADY IN NEW POST-DEBATE POLL IN IOWA

“In 2017, almost 40,000 people died from guns in the United States. My goal as President, and our goal as a society, will be to reduce that number by 80 percent,” Warren said in a Medium post announcing the plan. “We might not know how to get all the way there yet. But we’ll start by implementing solutions that we believe will work.”

Warren proposes executive action to “rein in an out-of-control” gun industry and hold manufacturers accountable for gun violence. Those actions include background checks, extending bulk sale reporting requirements and raising the minimum age for purchase on certain guns.

She also promises to investigate “the NRA and its cronies.”

“The NRA is accused of exploiting loopholes in federal laws governing non-profit spending to divert member dues into lavish payments for its board members and senior leadership,” she says. “I’ll appoint an attorney general committed to investigating these types of corrupt business practices, and the banks and third-party vendors — like Wells Fargo — that enabled the NRA to skirt the rules for so long.”

Warren goes on to propose a law that would impose criminal liability and jail time for gun company CEOS if their company “is found guilty of a crime or their negligence causes severe harm to American families.”

Her plan also says that a President Warren would push to end the Senate filibuster to make it easier for Congress to pass a package of gun reforms that she says she would sign within the first 100 days of her presidency.

Part of that package would include as assault weapons ban, a ban on “high-capacity ammunition magazines” and a ban on “deadly gun accessories.” Her legislation would also increase taxes on gun manufacturers, including raising taxes to 30 percent on guns and 50 percent on ammunition “to reduce new gun and ammunition sales overall and to bring in new federal revenue that we can use for gun violence prevention and enforcement of existing gun laws.”

Other proposals including prohibiting anyone convicted of a hate crime from owning a gun, and passing extreme risk protection laws to allow a temporary restriction of gun access for those in crisis or at higher risk of harming themselves or others.

The plan comes as Warren heads to Iowa with a number of other 2020 hopefuls, where they will be speaking at a gun safety forum in Des Moines.

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Typically gun control is an intensely partisan issue, but in the days since the shootings, President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have expressed their openness to passing enhanced background checks into law.

“Guns should not be placed in the hands of mentally ill or deranged people," Trump tweeted Friday. "I am the biggest Second Amendment person there is, but we all must work together for the good and safety of our Country. Common sense things can be done that are good for everyone!”

Fox News' Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

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2019-08-10 15:05:46Z
CBMiVWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZveG5ld3MuY29tL3BvbGl0aWNzL2VsaXphYmV0aC13YXJyZW4tdGF4ZXMtbnJhLWludmVzdGlnYXRpb24tZ3VuLWNvbnRyb2zSAVlodHRwczovL3d3dy5mb3huZXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpdGljcy9lbGl6YWJldGgtd2FycmVuLXRheGVzLW5yYS1pbnZlc3RpZ2F0aW9uLWd1bi1jb250cm9sLmFtcA

IMF contradicts Trump: China hasn't manipulated its currency - The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Monetary Fund sees little evidence that China’s central bank has deliberately reduced the value of the nation’s currency — a position at odds with the Trump administration’s decision this week to accuse Beijing of manipulating the yuan.

The IMF said Friday in its yearly review of China’s economy that the yuan has been “broadly stable” against other currencies, suggesting there’s been little intervention by the People’s Bank of China. A weaker yuan would give Chinese exporters a competitive price advantage over foreign rivals.

The Treasury Department on Monday named China a currency manipulator for the first time since 1994. The move, reversing its decision in May to keep China off the blacklist, came after Beijing’s central bank let the yuan drop to its lowest point in 11 years.

“Clearly, they are manipulating their currency,” White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told CNBC Friday.

China’s central bank sets the exchange rate each morning and allows the yuan to fluctuate by 2% against the dollar during the day. The central bank can buy or sell currency — or order commercial banks to do so — to keep the yuan’s price from swinging too widely.

In letting the yuan slide, the central bank was responding to economic reality. China’s economy is slowing — partly because President Donald Trump has slapped tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports — and market pressures are pulling the currency down.

The world’s two largest economies are locked in a tariff war over U.S. allegations that China is stealing trade secrets and forcing foreign companies to hand over sensitive technology. Twelve rounds of talks have failed to end the impasse, and a Chinese delegation is expected in Washington next month to continue the negotiations.

But Trump rattled financial markets Friday by saying it would be “fine” with him if talks got called off. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 90.75, or 0.3%, to 26,287.44, and the Nasdaq dropped 80.02, or 1%, to 7,959.14.

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2019-08-10 07:46:28Z
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El Paso shooting: Suspect claims distance from hometown helped him choose target, sources say - CNN

Patrick Crusius, the detained suspect in Saturday's shooting, told investigators this was one reason why he chose El Paso, the sources said. Crusius believed that if he committed the attack near his home in a suburb of Dallas, his family and acquaintances would have known that he did it, the sources said.

El Paso police officials would not comment about the sources' accounts.

Crusius, 21, drove about 11 hours from his home in Allen, Texas, to the Walmart in El Paso, in far western Texas abutting the Mexican border, police said.

He was arrested on the day of the attack, surrendering to a police officer at an intersection just north of the store.

Police have previously made other comments about his motivation: That the shooting appeared to be a hate crime, as investigators believe he wrote a document filled with hatred of immigrants and Latinos -- one that said he wanted to stop a "Hispanic invasion" of Texas.

About 83% of El Paso's residents are Hispanic or Latino, according to the US Census Bureau. In Allen, about 11% of residents are Hispanic or Latino, according to census data.

The document was published on the online messaging board 8chan about 20 minutes before the shooting, authorities said. The author says he opposes "race mixing" and encourages immigrants to return to their home countries.

Federal authorities have said they're treating the shooting as a case of domestic terrorism. Crusius has been charged with capital murder in the shooting and is being held without bond.

Police said Crusius, besides killing 22 people, injured 24 others in the shooting.

The shooting was one of the 10 deadliest in modern US history and one of at least three mass shootings in a week.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/09/us/el-paso-shooting-friday/index.html

2019-08-09 13:53:00Z
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Stock market news: August 9, 2019 - Yahoo Finance

Stocks were lower Friday, as U.S.-China trade tensions continued to keep investors on edge around the world.

Here were the main moves in the market, as of market open:

• S&P 500 (^GSPC): -0.28%, or -8.22 points

• Dow (^DJI): -0.25%, or -60.32 points

• Nasdaq (^IXIC): -0.45%, or -37.29 points

• 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX): +1.8 bps to 1.702%

• Crude oil (CL=F): +3.14% to $54.19 per barrel

It has been a tumultuous week for the markets, as the trade war, and now currency war, rages on between the U.S. and China. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) set the yuan’s daily fixing at 7.0136 per U.S. dollar on Friday. This move was the second time this week that the official reference rate was weaker than 7, and the rate was the weakest since April 3, 2008. Nevertheless, Friday’s yuan rate was still stronger than what analysts were expecting.

The yuan has been on market watchers’ radars after the yuan weakened past the key psychological level of 7-per-dollar on Monday. That send markets into a frenzy, and stocks posted their worst day of 2019. It has been a choppy trading week since, as more uncertainty gets pumped into the market.

Meanwhile, crude oil is also in focus after the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported on Friday that demand growth is at its lowest level in over a decade. The agency noted that global oil demand growth in the first half of this year was the slowest since the financial crisis. With China being the only major source of growth, the IEA lowered its global demand forecast to 1.1 million barrels per day for 2019 and 1.3 million barrels per day for 2020.

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Huawei is grabbing the attention of investors after announcing that it has launched its own operating system called HongmengOS, or HarmonyOS in English. CEO of Huawei’s consumer division, Richard Yu, made the announcement at the Huawei Developer Conference. This new operating system allows Huawei to be less reliant on Google’s (GOOGL) Android. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, stock was lower in early trade.

Investors are also keeping an eye on ride-sharing companies Uber (UBER) and Lyft (LYFT). Uber’s weaker-than-expected second quarter earnings sent the stock tumbling nearly 10% in early trade. Adjusted sales were worse than what analysts were expecting, and Uber reported a shocking $5.24 billion net loss in the second quarter. That was Uber’s largest quarterly net loss ever. Uber’s report comes on the heels of Lyft’s much better-than-expected results. Gross bookings in the second quarter also fell short of expectations at $15.76 billion. Analysts expected $15.83 billion in gross bookings. Uber posted an adjusted EBITDA loss of $656 million, which was a 25% decline from last quarter.

“Our platform strategy continues to deliver strong results, with Trips up 35% and Gross Bookings up 37% in constant currency, compared to the second quarter of last year,” CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement. “In July, the Uber platform reached over 100 million Monthly Active Platform Consumers for the first time, as we become a more and more integral part of everyday life in cities around the world.”

Uber expects between $65 billion to $67 billion in gross bookings this year and expects adjusted EBITDA losses between $3.2 billion to $3 billion. The company did not give an adjusted net revenue forecast. Khosrowshahi also noted that Uber would be upping its marketing spend despite having cut 400 market employees recently. The question among investors remains whether or not Uber can continue its growth while attempting to simultaneously achieve profitability.

—

Heidi Chung is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @heidi_chung.

More from Heidi:

• Kraft Heinz earnings plunge, CEO says results not acceptable

• America’s favorite Mexican fast-food restaurants: survey

• Subway to test Beyond Meat in its sandwiches

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance

Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, and reddit.

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2019-08-09 13:32:00Z
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Wholesale inflation dead in the water, PPI shows - MarketWatch

The numbers: The wholesale cost of U.S. goods and services rose modestly in July, but inflation more broadly appeared dead in the water and showed little sign it’s about to speed up.

The producer price index increased 0.2% last month, matching the forecast of economists polled by MarketWatch.

Yet the pace of wholesale inflation over the past year was flat 1.7%. And more closely followed measure that strips out volatile food, energy and trade-margin costs fell for the first time in almost four years. The so-called core PPI dipped 0.1%.

What’s more, the increase in core wholesale prices over the past year slipped to 1.7% from 2.1%, marking the lowest level since the end of 2016.

What happened: Wholesale prices rose 0.4% for goods, largely reflecting an increase in gasoline prices in July during the height of the summer driving season. Energy prices are still 4.4% lower now compared to a year ago, however.

Wholesale prices of food moved up 0.2%.

The cost of services, meanwhile, declined 0.1% in July to break a string of five straight increases. A big drop in the cost of guestroom rentals played a major role in the decline.

There doesn’t appear to be much inflation in the pipeline, either. The cost of partly finished goods are down 2% over the past 12 months and raw-material prices are 10% lower.

Big picture: Inflation has tapered off over the past year thanks in part to lower oil prices and doesn’t pose much threat to the economy. If anything, the Federal Reserve thinks inflation is too low.

That’s a marked change from a year ago, when the Fed was raising U.S. interest rates to make sure inflation didn’t get out of hand. Now the central bank is cutting rates as an insurance policy against recession as a major trade fight between the U.S. and China intensifies.

Read: China fight seen dragging on through 2020 in threat to economy, Trump reelection

Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.22% and the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.32% were set to open lower in Friday trades. Stocks have partly recovered after a steep drop early in the week after the U.S. trade spat with China took a turn for the worse.

The 10-year Treasury yield TMUBMUSD10Y, -0.34% slipped to 1.72%. The yield has sunk from a seven-year high of 3.23% 10 months ago on growing worries about the economy.

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https://www.marketwatch.com/story/wholesale-inflation-dead-in-the-water-ppi-shows-2019-08-09

2019-08-09 12:56:00Z
CAIiEFUBTp9ZzWs8UGPIZdriZ4YqGAgEKg8IACoHCAowjujJATDXzBUw2JS0AQ

US producer prices rise 0.2%; underlying inflation muted - CNBC

U.S. producer prices increased moderately in July, lifted by a rebound in the cost of energy products, while underlying producer inflation retreated, which could allow the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates again next month.

The Labor Department said on Friday its producer price index for final demand rose 0.2% last month after nudging up 0.1% in June. In the 12 months through July the PPI increased 1.7% after advancing by the same margin in June.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the PPI would rise 0.2% in July and increase 1.7% on a year-on-year basis.

Excluding the volatile food, energy and trade services components, producer prices edged down 0.1% last month. That was the first decline since October 2015 and followed an unchanged reading in June. The so-called core PPI increased 1.7% in the 12 months through July after rising 2.1% in June.

The Fed, which has a 2% inflation target, tracks the core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index for monetary policy. The core PCE price index increased 1.6% on a year-on-year basis in June and has undershot its target this year.

Financial markets have fully priced in a rate cut following a recent escalation in the bitter trade war between the United States and China, which led to an inversion of the U.S. Treasury yield curve and raised the risk of a recession.

Muted inflation could boost expectations for a half-percentage-point cut at the Fed's Sept. 17-18 policy meeting. Worries about the trade war's impact on the U.S. economic expansion, the longest on record, prompted the U.S. central bank to lower its short-term rate last week for the first time since 2008.

U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods so far have had a marginal impact on inflation as they have mostly been on capital goods.

That could change after President Donald Trump announced last week an additional 10% tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports starting Sept. 1. The new tariffs would affect mostly consumer goods.

In July, wholesale energy prices rebounded 2.3% after falling 3.1% in the prior month. They were boosted by a 5.2% percent jump in gasoline prices. Goods prices increased 0.4% last month, reversing June's 0.4% decline.

Energy prices accounted for more than 80% of the rebound in the cost of goods last month.

Wholesale food prices rose 0.2% in July after advancing 0.6% in June. Core goods prices edged up 0.1% after being unchanged for three straight months.

The cost of services fell 0.1% in July, the first decrease since January, after rising 0.4% in June. Services were pulled down by a 4.3% drop in the cost of hotel and motel rooms.

The cost of healthcare services edged up 0.1% last month after rising 0.2% in June. Those healthcare costs feed into the core PCE price index.

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2019-08-09 12:33:19Z
CBMiY2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNuYmMuY29tLzIwMTkvMDgvMDkvdXMtanVseS1wcGktdXMtcHJvZHVjZXItcHJpY2VzLXJpc2UtdW5kZXJseWluZy1pbmZsYXRpb24tbXV0ZWQuaHRtbNIBZ2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNuYmMuY29tL2FtcC8yMDE5LzA4LzA5L3VzLWp1bHktcHBpLXVzLXByb2R1Y2VyLXByaWNlcy1yaXNlLXVuZGVybHlpbmctaW5mbGF0aW9uLW11dGVkLmh0bWw

Stock market news: August 9, 2019 - Yahoo Finance

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

U.S. stock futures were lower Friday, as U.S.-China trade tensions continued to keep investors on edge around the world.

Here were the main moves in the market, as of 8 a.m. ET:

• S&P futures (ES=F): -0.63%, or -18.50 points

• Dow futures (YM=F): -0.55%, or -144 points

• Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): -0.83%, or -64.50 points

• 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX): +3.2 bps to 1.716%

• Crude oil (CL=F): +1.20% to $53.17 per barrel

It has been a tumultuous week for the markets, as the trade war, and now currency war, rages on between the U.S. and China. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) set the yuan’s daily fixing at 7.0136 per U.S. dollar on Friday. This move was the second time this week that the official reference rate was weaker than 7, and the rate was the weakest since April 3, 2008. Nevertheless, Friday’s yuan rate was still stronger than what analysts were expecting.

The yuan has been on market watchers’ radars after the yuan weakened past the key psychological level of 7-per-dollar on Monday. That send markets into a frenzy, and stocks posted their worst day of 2019. It has been a choppy trading week since, as more uncertainty gets pumped into the market.

Meanwhile, crude oil is also in focus after the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported on Friday that demand growth is at its lowest level in over a decade. The agency noted that global oil demand growth in the first half of this year was the slowest since the financial crisis. With China being the only major source of growth, the IEA lowered its global demand forecast to 1.1 million barrels per day for 2019 and 1.3 million barrels per day for 2020.

Huawei is grabbing the attention of investors after announcing that it has launched its own operating system called HongmengOS, or HarmonyOS in English. CEO of Huawei’s consumer division, Richard Yu, made the announcement at the Huawei Developer Conference. This new operating system allows Huawei to be less reliant on Google’s (GOOGL) Android. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, stock was lower by 1.3% in pre-market trade.

Investors are also keeping an eye on ride-sharing companies Uber (UBER) and Lyft (LYFT). Uber’s weaker-than-expected second quarter earnings sent the stock tumbling more than 7% in pre-market trade. Adjusted sales were worse than what analysts were expecting, and Uber reported a shocking $5.24 billion net loss in the second quarter. That was Uber’s largest quarterly net loss ever. Uber’s report comes on the heels of Lyft’s much better-than-expected results. Gross bookings in the second quarter also fell short of expectations at $15.76 billion. Analysts expected $15.83 billion in gross bookings. Uber posted an adjusted EBITDA loss of $656 million, which was a 25% decline from last quarter.

“Our platform strategy continues to deliver strong results, with Trips up 35% and Gross Bookings up 37% in constant currency, compared to the second quarter of last year,” CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement. “In July, the Uber platform reached over 100 million Monthly Active Platform Consumers for the first time, as we become a more and more integral part of everyday life in cities around the world.”

Uber expects between $65 billion to $67 billion in gross bookings this year and expects adjusted EBITDA losses between $3.2 billion to $3 billion. The company did not give an adjusted net revenue forecast. Khosrowshahi also noted that Uber would be upping its marketing spend despite having cut 400 market employees recently. The question among investors remains whether or not Uber can continue its growth while attempting to simultaneously achieve profitability.

—

Heidi Chung is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @heidi_chung.

More from Heidi:

• Kraft Heinz earnings plunge, CEO says results not acceptable

• America’s favorite Mexican fast-food restaurants: survey

• Subway to test Beyond Meat in its sandwiches

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance

Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, and reddit.

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2019-08-09 12:02:00Z
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