Opening Belle

 European Opening Calls:#FTSE 6080 -0.42%#DAX 13224 +0.05%#CAC 5062 -0.12%#AEX 556 -0.06%#MIB 19919 -0.19%#IBEX 7036 0.00%#OMX 1819 +0.01%#STOXX 3332 -0.02%#IGOpeningCall— IGSquawk (@IGSquawk) September 16, 2020 

Exports fell for their 21st straight month, marking the longest run of declines since a 23-month run through July 1987. That followed a 19.2% drop in the previous month.

The decline in August was driven by fewer shipments of cars and mineral fuels, though the pace of contraction eased somewhat from July as economic activity showed signs of picking up.

“Strong demand for ICT technology linked to working from home resulted in exports of electric machinery only falling 5.5% year-on-year,” said Tom Learmouth, Japan economist at Capital Economics.

“However, export volumes may not reach pre-virus levels until early-2022,” he said in a note.

Shipments to the United States - Japan’s key market - fell 21.3% in the year to August, weighed heavily by declines in engine parts and construction machinery.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is standing firm on Democrats’ demands for broad COVID-19 relief, shrugging off mounting pressure from Senate Republicans and a small but vocal group of moderate lawmakers in her caucus to pass a slimmer bill.

Her strategy carries risks, just weeks before Election Day, if voters deem House Democrats to be the main obstacle to another round of coronavirus aid, particularly after Senate Republicans mustered 52 votes in favor of their pared-down measure last week.

With that in mind, a growing number of moderate Democrats — including leaders of the Blue Dogs and the New Democrat Coalition, as well as a number of front-line lawmakers facing tough reelections — have pressed Pelosi and Democratic leadership to stage a pre-election vote on some version of emergency assistance for states, households and small businesses struggling through the pandemic, even if the package doesn’t check every box on Pelosi’s wish list.

Rank-and file lawmakers in both parties have become increasingly disaffected about the failure by their leaders to reach agreement on another round of pandemic aid, and divisions have surfaced among Democrats about how to proceed. Shortly after Ms. Pelosi’s declarations on Tuesday, a group of 50 centrist Republicans and Democrats put forward a stimulus proposal worth as much as $2 trillion that they said they hoped could shake up the stalled talks, but the plan was swiftly rejected by senior Democrats who called it “a retreat” from the party’s priorities.

The case preparations come after the FTC has spent more than a year investigating concerns that Facebook has been using its powerful market position to stifle competition, part of a broader effort by U.S. antitrust authorities to examine the conduct of a handful of dominant tech companies.

No final decision has been made on whether to sue Facebook, people familiar with the matter said, and the commission doesn’t always bring cases even when it is making preparations to do so, such as when it decided against filing an antitrust complaint against Google Inc. in 2013 after a lengthy investigation.

 Perfect buy the dip opportunity.

Exogenous shock causing an outsized reaction to the key theme which is that tech are sovereign bonds.

This will not displace that main narrative. https://t.co/U4EdJKvyuY— David Belle (@macrodesiac_) September 15, 2020 

China’s Communist Party is looking to strengthen its leadership and control of the country’s growing private sector and its employees by extending the work of the United Front further into the business community.

The move aims to address emerging challenges and risks as the scale of private enterprises increases and private businesspeople have diverse values and interests.

 New: Beijing just released a policy document to make private companies adhere closer to the party ideology. Not sure if it’s related to the TikTok saga in any way, but one clause says they would cultivate more high-tech entrepreneurs loyal to the party. https://t.co/NH8pYn3GvE pic.twitter.com/A8yF0sfCQm— Zeyi Yang 杨泽毅 (@ZeyiYang) September 15, 2020 

Wholly or majority state-owned companies must “integrate party leadership into every part of company governance,” according to rules published Sunday on the central government’s website.

The regulation took effect at the end of last month on a trial basis.