No joke: Kudlow confirms Trump is interested in buying Greenland

WASHINGTON — White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow is confirming that President Donald Trump “wants to take a look at” buying Greenland, although the semi-autonomous territory of Denmark has said it’s not for sale.

Kudlow told “Fox News Sunday” that he won’t predict what might happen, but he called Greenland — which is situated between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans — “a strategic place” with “a lot of valuable minerals.”

The U.S. military has operated for decades from Thule Air Base in Greenland. The northern-most U.S. base is part of the military’s global network of radars and other sensors to provide ballistic missile warning and space surveillance.

Trump is scheduled to visit Denmark in September as part of a previously announced Europe trip.

Tim Cook warns Trump that tariffs on China could hurt Apple

Apple Inc. AAPL, +2.36% Chief Executive Tim Cook warned President Donald Trump at dinner Friday that tariffs could hurt his company, Trump said Sunday. Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One in Morristown, N.J., Trump said Cook argued that U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods would give its rival, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. 005930, +0.46% , an advantage, since it would not be subject to the same restrictions as Apple. "I thought he made a very compelling argument, so I’m thinking about it," Trump told reporters. Trump has threatened to impose 10% tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese goods scheduled to begin in two stages, on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15. Apple shares are up 31% year to date, compared to the S&P 500’s 15% gain.

US STOCKS SNAPSHOT-Futures rise as Trump says he spoke with Apple CEO on tariffs

NEW YORK, Aug 18 (Reuters) – U.S. stock futures rose on Sunday after President Donald Trump said he had discussed the impact of U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods with Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook.

S&P 500 e-mini futures were last up 0.38% with volume at 13,786 contracts. (Reporting by April Joyner)

ST Now, News As It Happens – Aug 19, 2019

Welcome to ST Now, News As It Happens. Recap of what happened earlier. Reach us at [email protected] or on Facebook and Twitter @STcom.

Tesla reboots its solar-panel business by offering rentals

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Tesla is trying to spark its solar-panel business by letting consumers rent rooftop systems rather than buy them.

Tesla Inc. TSLA, +1.99%  CEO Elon Musk announced the offering in a series of tweets Sunday.

The company will allow residents of six states to rent solar-power systems starting at $50 a month — or $65 a month in California — for a small set-up.

Musk says consumers can cancel anytime, although Tesla’s website says there’s a $1,500 charge to remove panels and restore the roof to its previous condition.

Besides California, rentals will be offered in Arizona, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New Mexico.

Electric car maker Tesla bought residential solar installer SolarCity for $2.6 billion in 2016 but installations have plunged in recent quarters. Tesla stopped selling systems in Home Depot stores.

Trump affirms that Mike Pence will be 2020 running mate

WASHINGTON (REUTERS) – US President Donald Trump said on Sunday (Aug 18) he would keep Vice President Mike Pence as his running mate when he seeks re-election in November 2020.

“I’m very happy with Mike Pence,” Trump, who is expected to easily win the Republican nomination for a second term, told reporters before boarding Air Force One in New Jersey.

Japan July exports fall 1.6% year/year – MOF

TOKYO, Aug 19 (Reuters) – Japan’s exports fell 1.6% in July from a year earlier, slipping for an eighth straight month, Ministry of Finance data showed on Monday.

The result compared with a 2.2% decrease forecast by economists in a Reuters poll. It followed a 6.6% drop in June.

Imports slipped 1.2% in the year to July, versus the median estimate of a 2.7% decline.

The trade balance came to a deficit of 249.6 billion yen ($2.35 billion), against the median estimate of a 200.0 billion yen deficit.

To view the full tables, go to the MOF website at:

here ($1 = 106.4300 yen) (Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

SoftBank to lend its workers billions to invest in its giant VC fund

SoftBank Group is leaning on its employees, including Chief Executive Masayoshi Son, for cash as the firm rushes to raise an ambitious technology fund amid volatile markets.

The Japanese company plans to lend up to $20 billion to its employees to buy stakes in its second giant venture-capital fund, people familiar with the matter said. Son may account for as much as $15 billion of that amount, some of the people said.

It is an unusual setup that would doubly expose SoftBank 9984, +1.55%  to a startup economy that is starting to show cracks.

At $20 billion, the employee pool would represent nearly a fifth of the money that SoftBank said in July it had lined up for its second Vision Fund, a successor to a $100 billion fund that launched in 2017 and is nearly spent. Adding in its own contribution to the second fund of $38 billion, SoftBank could make up more than half of the money raised, far more than is typical for a fund sponsor.

An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.

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Iran tanker departs after Gibraltar rejects US demand: marine monitor

GIBRALTAR (AFP) – The Iranian oil tanker at the centre of a diplomatic dispute departed from Gibraltar late Sunday (Aug 18) after the British overseas territory rejected a US demand to seize the vessel.

According to the monitoring website Marine Traffic, the supertanker which had been detained since July 4 off the coast of Gibraltar lifted anchor Sunday evening and started sailing south.

Authorities in Gibraltar have not confirmed its departure.