The People's Bank of China released the monthly credit data for March earlier today, and it appears that policymakers are adding credit growth to all the other stimulative measures like tax cuts, infrastructure spending and preferential policies to keep the economy stable.
Why it matters: China's policymakers have spent the last several months working hard to mitigate the effects of the trade war with the U.S., and so far it looks like their efforts may be working, at least in the short term.
Greece joined China’s club of Central and Eastern European countries during the group’s meeting in Croatia Friday, in another symbolic victory for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) just weeks after China signed a memorandum of understanding with Italy.
The big picture: China has long insisted that this grouping, now the “17+1” format, will not undermine the European Union. But it has adopted very different investment strategies in EU and non–EU countries.
A Russian court today released private equity investor Mike Calvey from jail after a 2-month stay, instead ordering him to serve house arrest until his trial on fraud charges.
Why it matters: Calvey is a U.S. citizen who has argued that criminal charges are inappropriate in what he and his firm, Baring Vostok Capital Partners, believe is a commercial shareholder dispute that should be settled in arbitration. His arrest has become a financial flash-point for the few Western investors who still want to invest in Russia, particularly as some of his colleagues remain jailed.
President Obama's former White House counsel Gregory Craig was indicted on Thursday for concealing information and making false statements to federal authorities in an investigation stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into the 2016 election.
Details: Craig, who also served in the President Bill Clinton’s administration, is facing up to 5 years in prison for allegedly lying about his work with former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort for the Russia-aligned government of Ukraine. The investigation of Craig is part of a larger crack down on foreign lobbying by the Department of Justice's Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) unit.
President Trump's special envoy for Middle East peace said today that the forthcoming White House peace plan won't be "a sell out" for the Palestinians.
Between the lines: With the end of the Israeli elections, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's victory, the release of the White House peace plan could be imminent. Jason Greenblatt's public message was directed at the Palestinian leadership in an attempt to stress that the plan won't be as bad as they fear.
China's growth and size are setting the country up to be not just a power in global financial markets, but The Power in global financial markets.
What's happening: Right now China is adapting its economy and financial system to fit the U.S.-led capitalistic financial model. But given the way China has operated as a rising military and geopolitical power, its ascent likely means that things will change in global financial markets.
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper criticized Attorney General William Barr on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360° for raising concerns about federal surveillance during President Trump’s 2016 campaign with the Senate Appropriations subcommittee Wednesday.
Details: Clapper told host Anderson Cooper it was "stunning and scary" that Barr told a public hearing this. Barr should've sought a briefing from the Justice Department's inspector general on the investigation into whether the FBI mishandled warrant applications under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Clapper said.
America is holding on to a narrow lead in a number of new technologies that will shape the future, but China is rapidly catching up.
Driving the news: Per a new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, China is closing the gap — and even edging ahead — as an innovator.
