Sony

Obama Proposes Cyber Law Update In Wake Of Sony Hack

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Never mind that …

– It Wasn’t North Korea Or Russia: Sony Hack ‘Perpetrator’ Said To Be Laid-Off, Disgruntled Employee

… just use the momentum and attack your enemies …

– Obama Sanctions North Korea For Sony Hack Which Was Perpetrated By Disgruntled Former Employee

Flashback:

– Senator Jay Rockefeller: Internet Is The ‘No.1 National Hazard’ (Video):

‘It really almost makes you ask the question would it have been better if we had never invented the internet.’

obama-cyberwar

– Obama proposes cyber law update in wake of Sony hack (RT, Jan 13, 2015):

The White House has unveiled a proposal aimed at strengthening cybersecurity within the US by encouraging sharing between sectors and installing new penalties after a series of high-profile attacks targeted government and private sector networks.

The initiative, announced by US President Barack Obama during a planned visit on Tuesday to the US Department of Homeland Security in Virginia, calls for new legislation to be adopted by Congress in order to enhance the sharing of electronic threat information between the private sector and the government, while also revamping the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, or CFAA – the 1984 federal law that outlines when and what hacking charges can be brought against suspected cyber criminals.

Read moreObama Proposes Cyber Law Update In Wake Of Sony Hack

Obama Sanctions North Korea For Sony Hack Which Was Perpetrated By Disgruntled Former Employee

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– Obama Sanctions North Korea For Sony Hack Which Was Perpetrated By Disgruntled Former Employee (ZeroHedge, Jan 2, 2014):

US foreign policy just jumped the shark: a few days after both the FBI and the US State department were humiliated when it was revealed that it wasn’t North Korea but a disgruntled, laid off Sony employee that was responsible for the “hack”, and when the best possible course of action would have been to simply let this latest embarrassing incident fade from memory, moments ago Obama – currently not working out next to a rainbow or flashing his support of “Shaka” –  just signed his first executive order of 2015, imposing even more sanctions against North Korea.

From Bloomberg:

President Obama signs order imposing additional sanctions on North Korea in response to country’s “efforts to undermine U.S. cyber-security and intimidate U.S.businesses and artists exercising their right of freedom of speech,” according to Treasury Dept statement.

Read moreObama Sanctions North Korea For Sony Hack Which Was Perpetrated By Disgruntled Former Employee

Defiant North Korea Says Can Prove It Is Not Behind Hack “Without Resorting To Torture Like The CIA”

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– Defiant North Korea Says Can Prove It Is Not Behind Hack “Without Resorting To Torture Like The CIA” (ZeroHedge, Dec 20, 2014):

Just hours after the FBI announced that, with absolute certainty, it had determined that North Korea was behind the Sony hack, a “theory” that has become the butt of global jokes, we learned, in a far less prominent release, that according to an internal inquiry, FBI evidence if “often mishandled.” According to the NYT, “F.B.I. agents in every region of the country have mishandled, mislabeled and lost evidence, according to a highly critical internal investigation that discovered errors with nearly half the pieces of evidence it reviewed.

The evidence collection and retention system is the backbone of the F.B.I.’s investigative process, and the report said it is beset by problems.

It gets better: according to the report, the F.B.I. was storing more weapons, less money and valuables, and two tons more drugs than its records had indicated. Almost as if the FBI was siphoning off cash, while hoarding guns and blow.

Read moreDefiant North Korea Says Can Prove It Is Not Behind Hack “Without Resorting To Torture Like The CIA”

Obama Chides Sony’s Decision To Nix Film, Says US MUST RETALIATE And Pass CYBER ACT

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Related info:

– The Interview Is “Desperately Unfunny”, “Will Flop” If Not Cancelled According To Leaked Sony Emails

mlk-obama-dream-versus-nightmare

– Obama chides Sony’s decision to nix film, says US must retaliate and pass cyber act (RT, Dec 19, 2014):

Sony Pictures Entertainment should have touched base with the White House before deciding to cancel the release of a controversial movie, United States President Barack Obama said Friday.

Weighing in on the major Sony scandal only hours after federal investigators attributed the recent hack to North Korea, Pres. Obama said the Hollywood studio was wrong to pull “The Interview,” a satirical film containing a plot to kill North Korean Pres. Kim Jong Un that was scheduled to be released on Christmas Day.

At the same time, though, Obama said the attack should serve as a wake-up call to Congress and prompt lawmakers in Washington, DC to get serious about implementing cybersecurity legislation in the wake of what is only the latest hack to be endured by a major American company.

Read moreObama Chides Sony’s Decision To Nix Film, Says US MUST RETALIATE And Pass CYBER ACT

The Interview Is “Desperately Unfunny”, “Will Flop” If Not Cancelled According To Leaked Sony Emails

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–  The Interview Is “Desperately Unfunny”, “Will Flop” If Not Cancelled According To Leaked Sony Emails (ZeroHedge, Dec 19, 2014):

The conspiracy theories surrounding the story of The Interview’s cancellation in the aftermath of the North Korean “hacking” just keep getting stranger by the day, (and will, in 6-9, months lead to the blockbuster drama: “How ‘The Interview’ Got Cancelled“)

First, as we previously reported, at the same time as the NYT reported that according to the US the hack “undisputedly” originated in North Korea, Wired magazine released an article explaining why it is impossible to make such a determination (see Someone is Lying). That, however, did not stop the US on its inexplicable witch hunt, and moments ago Reuters reported that according to the US, it was indeed North Korea who was responsible for the hacks (although, the report adds, North Korea may have had a little help from China so nobody really know but whatever).

From Reuters:

Read moreThe Interview Is “Desperately Unfunny”, “Will Flop” If Not Cancelled According To Leaked Sony Emails

Sony suspends filming after hackers hit payments

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– Sony suspends filming after hackers hit payments (The Times, Dec 13, 2014):

The Hollywood studio that made the James Bond and Spider-Man films has abandoned shoots after hackers crippled its computer network, and leaked four films and thousands of documents.

Agencies filming for Sony Pictures have cancelled shoots because the problems have left it unable to process payments, a source told The Times.

The attack by Guardians of Peace, a hacking collective suspected of having links with North Korea, has taken most of Sony Pictures’ computers offline.

…

Abenomics Crushes Sony: Electronics Giant Forced To Cancel Dividend For First Time Ever

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– Abenomics Crushes Sony: Electronics Giant Forced To Cancel Dividend For First Time Ever (ZeroHedge, Sep 17, 2014):

It was over a year ago, when contrary to the propganda spewed on a daily basis by the Japanese government hell bent on destroying the domestic economy, now suffering its Keynesian death rattle, just to push stocks to highs which nobody except for a few thousand people will be able to monetize on, that the CEO of Sony explicitly warned that “the preconception is that a weaker Yen is good overall. Unfortunately for us, versus the USD, it goes the other way… we are actually at a disadvantage.” He wasn’t kidding and just under a year later, back in May, Sony shocked everyone when the electonics giant not only posted a massive net loss of $1.3 billion, far worse than previously expected, but also slashed its profit outlook by 70%.

Fast forward to today, when minutes ago the Yen hit another multi-year low against the dollar, which sure enough, is great for the nominal value of Japanese stocks, if horrible for the actual Japanese companies, the Japanese middle class, and pretty much everyone except for a few superrich people. Such as Sony. Because the (now former) electronic giant, which once upon a time was the target of an activist campaign by none other than Dan Loeb who mysteriouly saw value in the company, once again stunned everyone when it reported overnight that it expects its annual loss to swell to $2 billion, but, far worse, canceled the payment of its dividend for the first time ever after writing down the value of its troubled smartphone business.

 Needless to say, Sony’s stock which doubled in 2013 for the completely wrong reasons, is now crashing.

Read moreAbenomics Crushes Sony: Electronics Giant Forced To Cancel Dividend For First Time Ever

Foxconn CEO Terry Gou: “We Have Over 1 Million Workers. In The Future We Will Add 1 Million Robotic Workers. Our [Human] Workers Will Then Become Technicians And Engineers.”

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– Foxconn to speed up ‘robot army’ deployment; 20,000 robots already in its factories (ITworld, June 26, 2013):

Manufacturing giant Foxconn Technology Group is on track with its goal to a create a “million robot army”, and already has 20,000 robotic machines in its factories, said the company’s CEO Terry Gou on Wednesday.

Workers’ wages in China are rising, and so the company’s research in robots and automation has to catch up, Gou said, while speaking at the company’s annual shareholder’s meeting in Taipei. “We have over 1 million workers. In the future we will add 1 million robotic workers,” he said. “Our [human] workers will then become technicians and engineers.”

Foxconn is the world’s largest contract electronics maker and counts Apple, Microsoft and Sony as some of its clients. Many of its largest factories are in China, where the company employs 1.2 million people, but rising are threatening to reduce company profits.

Read moreFoxconn CEO Terry Gou: “We Have Over 1 Million Workers. In The Future We Will Add 1 Million Robotic Workers. Our [Human] Workers Will Then Become Technicians And Engineers.”

Whistleblower Warns Of Japan’s ‘Collective Economic Suicide’

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I told you even before Fukushima that Japan is finished.

And again, this is the ‘Greatest Depression’ & the greatest financial/economic collapse in world history is coming.

– Whistleblower Woodford warns of Japan’s ‘collective economic suicide’ (Independent, Nov 23, 2012):

In the case of Japan these days, no news is ever good. The third-biggest economy in the world will next week release another set of numbers that will, in all likelihood, paint more detail of an economy laid up on the terminal ward.

In the third quarter of the year, Japan’s GDP crashed 0.9 per cent. In the West, we talk about Japan’s “lost decade” of zero growth and deflation, but in reality, they’ve lost two decades and are about to lose the third.

Meanwhile, its politics lurch from one crisis to the next. New parties are now uniting to kick out an old guard of politicians who have brought such listless drift to the country for so long.

But the new parties are of the right, sending worrying signals about how the general population is starting to think about getting itself out of the mire.

Recent days have seen shocking numbers from Panasonic and Sony, whose debt has been downgraded to junk status.

Sharp is like a walking zombie, warning earlier this month that it may not be able to survive, and the country’s “megabanks” have declared $6.7bn (£4.2bn) in losses on the value of their equity investments.

Meanwhile, the population is ageing faster than Dorian Gray’s portrait. The birth rate is so low that the country’s population shrinks each year, while the pensioners live ever longer. National debt as a proportion of GDP is running at 235 per cent – that’s even worse than Greece.

This is the compelling narrative of the country told by Michael Woodford, the whistleblower who won The Independent’s businessman of the year award last year for his brave exposure of a multibillion-dollar fraud at the heart of the Olympus cameras empire.

As the former chief told The Independent yesterday: “Japan is on an inevitable decline to oblivion.”

Read moreWhistleblower Warns Of Japan’s ‘Collective Economic Suicide’

‘Welcome To The Recovery’: 15 Signs That Layoffs And Job Losses Are Skyrocketing

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Flashback:

– Welcome to the Recovery (New York Times, by Timothy Geithner, August 2, 2010)

‘Recovery’ is the ‘Greatest Depression’.

Don’t miss:

– COLLAPSE: 37 Facts About How Cruel This Economy Has Been To Millions Of Desperate American Families

– Will The Bottom Fall Out? 15 Signs That Layoffs And Job Losses Are Skyrocketing (Economic Collapse, Oct 25, 2012):

If you still have a good job, you might want to hold on to it very tightly because there are a whole bunch of signs that unemployment in the United States is about to start getting worse again.  Over the past several weeks, a substantial number of large corporations have announced disappointing earnings for the third quarter.  Many of those large corporations are also loaded up with huge amounts of debt.  So what is the solution?  Well, the favorite solution on Wall Street these days seems to be to lay off workers.  In fact, it is almost turning into a feeding frenzy.  Since September 1st, we have seen more job cuts announced than during any other two month period since the start of 2010.  These announcements represent future layoffs and job losses which are not even showing up in the unemployment numbers yet.  So needless to say, things don’t look very promising for the end of 2012 or for the beginning of 2013.  If this race to eliminate jobs becomes a stampede, will we see the bottom fall out of the employment market?If you are concerned about whether or not you will still have a job 12 months from now, you might find the numbers posted below to be quite alarming.  We have not seen layoff announcements come this fast and this furious since the gloomy days of the last recession.

According to Bloomberg, job cuts are well ahead of the pace set last year…

North American companies have announced plans to eliminate more than 62,600 positions at home and abroad since Sept. 1, the biggest two-month drop since the start of 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Firings total 158,100 so far this year, more than the 129,000 job cuts in the same period in 2011.

So what happens if the economy really starts sliding rapidly and this loss of jobs becomes an avalanche?

Can the U.S. economy and the American people handle another major economic downturn?

Some of the biggest names in the business world have announced job cuts in recent weeks. 

The following are 15 signs that layoffs and job losses are skyrocketing…

Read more‘Welcome To The Recovery’: 15 Signs That Layoffs And Job Losses Are Skyrocketing

Hackers Are Everywhere. Panic! (PCMag)

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Flashback:

– Congressman Ron Paul on  the Cyber Security Act: ‘They are doing everything in the world to control the internet.’

– Law Professor: Counter Terrorism Czar Told Me There Is Going To Be An i-9/11 And An i-Patriot Act:

Lawrence Lessig, a respected Law Professor from Stanford University told an audience at this years Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference in Half Moon Bay, California, that “There’s going to be an i-9/11 event” which will act as a catalyst for a radical reworking of the law pertaining to the internet.

Looks like the US government wants to further control the internet before the greatest financial collapse in world history happens, because this may not be good enough:

– Former governor Jesse Ventura Conspiracy Theory: Police State (And FEMA Concentration Camps)

And if this is true…

– 1 in 4 US Hackers ‘Is An FBI Informer’ (Guardian)

… then how come the FBI is not able to do anything about this?

– Hackers Are Everywhere. Panic! (PCMag, June 17, 2011):

When is the last time you can recall so many news items about hackers? It’s become a massive meme within society as a whole. Hardly a day goes by without some discussion or news about hackers.

And, I should mention this right off: If there was ever any attempt to soft-pedal the word hacker versus cracker (with hacker meaning a guy who likes to fool around with his computer to discover new things and the cracker meaning the evil, black-hat criminal), well that definition is done. The hacker today is now the cracker for all practical purposes of discussion.

Now that I have that definition out of the way, let me try and figure out what is going on here.

Read moreHackers Are Everywhere. Panic! (PCMag)

Facebook Hires Hacker Who Cracked iPhone, Play Station 3

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– You’re hired! Facebook employs hacker who cracked iPhone and PlayStation 3 security codes (Daily Mail, June 27, 2011):

Facebook has employed a hacker who published a way of running any software, including pirated games, on the PlayStation 3 and cracked into the iPhone.

George Hotz, 21, has been a software engineer at the social network since May 9.

Read moreFacebook Hires Hacker Who Cracked iPhone, Play Station 3

LulzSec Hackers Abruptly Disband: ‘We’re Not Quitting Because We’re Afraid Of Law Enforcement’ – ‘The Press Are Getting Bored Of Us, And We’re Getting Bored Of Us’

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Announcement: Lulzsec announced their disbandment last night

– We’re not quitting because we’re afraid of the FBI, we’re just bored, claim LulzSec hackers as they abruptly disband (Daily Mail, June 27, 2011):

Hacking ground LulzSec are not disbanding because they are afraid of the FBI, they are simply bored, one member has claimed today.

The group has attacked the CIA, FBI and Sony, boasting of wreaking havoc across the internet.

But yesterday they announced on Twitter they are to disband – with the authorities fast closing in on them.

‘We’re not quitting because we’re afraid of law enforcement,’ the LulzSec member said in a conversation with The Associated Press over the Internet voice program Skype yesterday.

‘The press are getting bored of us, and we’re getting bored of us.’

Read moreLulzSec Hackers Abruptly Disband: ‘We’re Not Quitting Because We’re Afraid Of Law Enforcement’ – ‘The Press Are Getting Bored Of Us, And We’re Getting Bored Of Us’

Sony Hacked Again, Personal Information Of More Than 1 Million Customers Compromised – Hacking Group: ‘From A Single Injection, We Accessed EVERYTHING’

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– Hackers attack another Sony network, post data (Reuters, Jun 2, 2011):

(Reuters) – A hacker group has engineered yet another attack on the computer networks of Sony Corp, a setback to the Japanese company’s efforts to move past a security crisis that erupted in April.

The group, which calls itself LulzSec, said on Thursday that it broke into servers that run Sony Pictures Entertainment websites, and then compromised the personal information of more than 1 million Sony customers.

Sony officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

It posted some of the data it accessed on the Web — including the names, home and email addresses, and passwords of some customers. But said it did not have the resources to extract and publish all of what it collected.

“From a single injection, we accessed EVERYTHING,” the hacking group said in the statement. “Why do you put such faith in a company that allows itself to become open to these simple attacks?”

Read moreSony Hacked Again, Personal Information Of More Than 1 Million Customers Compromised – Hacking Group: ‘From A Single Injection, We Accessed EVERYTHING’

Google TV: Google Aims to Offer Internet on Your TV

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google-tv-002

Google is set to move into the living room with a computer operating system that will bring the internet to home televisions.

The company is working with the chipmaker Intel and Sony, the electronics giant, to introduce Google TV this week at a conference for 3,000 Google software developers in San Francisco.

The aim is to get them to create new and innovative applications in the same way that outside developers have created new software programs for smartphones.The system will be based on its Android platform, which was developed 18 months ago for mobile phones. There are already more than 50,000 applications available for Android.

The aim now is to put the web on to televisions via a new generation of television sets and set-top boxes, further blurring the line between home entertainment and computing.

Read moreGoogle TV: Google Aims to Offer Internet on Your TV

Global Economic Crisis Accelerating

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– Obama administration considers launch of ‘bad bank’ (Telegraph)

– US Initial Jobless Claims Match Highest Since ’82 (Bloomberg)

– Barack Obama inauguration: this Emperor has no clothes, it will all end in tears (Telegraph)

– Despite billions, banks still teeter on the brink (MSNBC)

– Microsoft to shed 5,000 jobs (Financial Times)

– Intel to Cut at Least 5000 Jobs (New York Times)

– GM Gets $5.4 Billion Loan Installment From Federal Government (CNNMoney)

– US jobless claims surge, housing start tumble (Forbes)

– Housing Starts, Permits in US Slump to Record Low (Bloomberg)

– Banks Foreclose on Builders With Perfect Records (New York Times)

– Jim Rogers: Now it’s time to emigrate, says investment guru (Independent)

– Saudi prince’s firm loses $8.3B in 4Q (AP)

– Investors flee after brutal losses at global markets (Emirates Business)

– Indians Flee Dubai as Dreams Crash – Fall out of Economic Crisis (Daijiworld):
It’s the great escape by Indians who’ve hit the dead-end in Dubai.

– China growth slows, Bank of Japan sees deflation (Forbes):
(Reuters) – China’s economy slowed sharply in the fourth quarter and Japan’s central bank on Thursday predicted two years of deflation as Asia’s largest economies buckle under the strain of the financial crisis.

– Roubini Sees China Recession Despite ‘Massaged’ GDP (Bloomberg)

– Asian economic woe grows as China slows and Japanese exports plunge (Telegraph):
China’s economy may have ground to a halt entirely between the third and fourth quarters of last year and Japanese exports plunged 35pc in December, underlining the scale of the slowdown in Asia.

– ZIMBABWE: Inflation at 6.5 quindecillion novemdecillion percent (IRIN)

– Sony forecasts $2.9bn operating loss (Financial Times)

– Hedge funds’ $400bn withdrawals hit (Financial Times)

– Google income drops 68% on one-time charges (IHT)

– Is Britain facing bankruptcy? (Guardian)

– Manufacturing outlook plummets (Financial Times)

– Car production plummets as pressure for industry bail-out grows (Telegraph)

– London’s Evening Standard sold to ex-KGB agent (Reuters)

– AIG starts $20bn auction of Asian unit (Financial Times):
AIG, the stricken insurance giant, on Wednesday kicked off the sale of its Asian life assurance unit – one of its most prized assets – in the hope of raising up to $20bn to help repay the $60bn US government loan that is keeping the group alive.

– UBS to Cut Securities Jobs, Close More Debt Units (Bloomberg)

– Japanese Housewives Desperate After Currency Scheme Collapses (Bloomberg)

– New age of rebellion and riot stalks Europe (Times Online)

– Increase in burglaries shows effect of recession (Guardian)

– Chinese media issues stinging attack on Barack Obama and George W Bush (Telegraph)

– Barclays may lose control to Gulf investors (Telegraph)

– Cars to be crushed in insurance crackdown (Scotsman)

– Investors say jailed pilot swiped money for years (Washington Post)

– Capital One Reports $1.42 Billion Loss on Charges (Bloomberg)

– Nokia reports sharp fall in profits (Financial Times)

Sony to cut 8,000 jobs, 4 percent of work force

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Sony Corp.’s showroom Sony Building is seen in Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008. Sony is slashing 8,000 jobs, or 4 percent of its global work force, aiming to cut costs by $1.1 billion a year as a global downturn and stronger yen batters profits at the Japanese electronics maker. Sony Corp., which has 185,000 employees worldwide, said Tuesday it will complete the layoffs by the end of March, 2010. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

TOKYO (AP) – Sony Corp. is slashing 4 percent of its worldwide work force, reining in spending and shutting plants as it tries to ride out a looming worldwide recession that is battering Japan’s export-reliant manufacturers.

Tokyo-based Sony, which is cutting 8,000 of its 185,000 jobs, said Tuesday it will shut five or six plants – about 10 percent of its 57 factories. Sony also plans to reduce its electronics investments by about one-third by the end of March 2010, although it did not give specific numbers.

Read moreSony to cut 8,000 jobs, 4 percent of work force

$16.3 trillion in stock value lost since Sept. 1; some brokers fear more drops

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Signs of slowdown spiral around the world

Pessimism about the global economy deepened yesterday as fresh evidence of a worldwide slowdown showed up in feeble corporate profit reports from Asia, sinking commodities prices, and a scramble by emerging economies to prop up their sagging currencies and avert credit defaults.

The signs of trouble popped up around the globe. Japanese giants Sony and Toyota, as well as South Korea’s Samsung, the world’s largest maker of memory chips, flat-screen televisions and liquid crystal displays, posted weakened profits and sales outlooks. Toyota’s quarterly sales fell for the first time in seven years. Britain reported its first economic contraction since 1992.

Gloom about economic growth translated to low expectations for oil consumption. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries yesterday announced a cut of 1.5 million barrels a day in output – a move that still failed to arrest the slide in crude prices. Meanwhile, copper prices fell to a three-year low.

Investors around the world fled stocks and rushed to the relative safety of the U.S. dollar by pouring money into 30-year Treasury bonds, a refuge in times of uncertainty. That drove down the value of foreign currencies, from the ruble to the rupee and the zloty to the peso, forcing central banks to spend billions of dollars to prevent even further deterioration. The turmoil in currency markets threatened to reorder trade relations and complicate recovery efforts.

Read more$16.3 trillion in stock value lost since Sept. 1; some brokers fear more drops