Asia Pacific stocks rise; China's August manufacturing activity data ahead - CNBC

Stocks in Asia Pacific were higher in Monday morning trade as the number of reported Covid-19 cases globally crosses the 25 million mark.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 1.34% while the Topix index advanced 1.26%.

Developments in Japanese politics will be watched by investors on Monday, as the search for the country's new prime minister continues after longstanding incumbent Shinzo Abe announced a surprise resignation on Friday due to health reasons.

The Japanese yen traded at 105.35 per dollar, after strengthening sharply from levels above 106.5 against the greenback late last week.

Meanwhile, South Korea's Kospi rose 0.93%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia hovered above the flatline.

Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index traded 0.19% higher.

On the economic data front, China's official manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index for August is set to be released at around 9:00 a.m. HK/SIN on Monday.

Japanese trading firm stocks jump

In corporate developments, shares of Japanese trading firms Mitubishi Corp., Itochu Corp., Marubeni Corp., Mitsui & Co. and Sumitomo Corp. soared in Monday morning trade after Warren Buffett announced that his firm Berkshire Hathaway has acquired a slightly more than 5% stake in the companies.

Shares of Mitsubishi jumped 6.84% while Itochu gained 4.95%. Marubeni soared 9.29% and Mitsui gained 6.17%, Sumitomo rose 8.65%.

The situation surrounding the ongoing coronavirus pandemic will also likely be watched by investors, with data from Johns Hopkins University showing the number of reported Covid-19 cases worldwide surpassing 25 million. India, among the countries with the highest number of reported virus cases, recently registered the biggest single-day spike globally since the pandemic began, according to the Associated Press.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 92.217 after seeing levels above 93.2 last week.

The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7373 after rising from levels below $0.726 last week.

Oil prices were higher in the morning of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 0.39% to $45.99 per barrel. U.S. crude futures added 0.26% to $43.08 per barrel.

Here's a look at what's on tap:

• China: Official manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index for August at 9:00 a.m. HK/SIN

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Prep football ratings, 8/31 - Lincoln Journal Star

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Prep football ratings, 8/31  Lincoln Journal Star

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Zion shooting: Boy, 8, among 4 shot on Joppa - Chicago Sun-Times

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Four people were shot, including an 8-year-old boy, Sunday in north suburban Zion.

Two people in a dark-colored SUV fired shots at a group of adults just before 1 a.m. outside a home in the 2300 block of Joppa Avenue, Zion police said. One of the bullets flew into the boy’s bedroom and hit him in the hand.

The boy’s family brought him to Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan, police said. He has since been treated and released.

Two 28-year-old men were shot in their abdomens, police said. Paramedics brought them to Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, where they were in “critical but stable” condition.

A third man, 38, was brought to Vista Medical Center East by a friend, police said. He had gunshot wounds to his shoulder and leg, and he has also been released from the hospital.

Officers found 27 total shell casings and two loaded handguns at the scene, police said.

The shooting remains under investigation.

Earlier this summer, a 44-year-old man was found shot to death in the north suburb.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.

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Bold flavors abound at Sekali, the Malaysian and Southeast Asian pop-up restaurant - Boston.com

Nathan Tavares

August 30, 2020 | 10:05 AM

Derrick Teh. —Photo by Brenda Nguyen

You might say that Derrick Teh has cooking in his blood.

Growing up in Malaysia, Teh watched in amazement as his grandmother prepared for Chinese New Year, waking at 4 a.m. to start cooking on two charcoal stoves for the whole family. She spotted his fascination and let him help with prep — peeling garlic, chopping onions — slowly entrusting him with more.

“After my grandmother passed, I realized what she was trying to achieve,” Teh said. “And I really wanted to continue her legacy and carry on what she always did, which was bring people together with food.”

So it’s no surprise that once the chef de cuisine at Momi Nonmi was furloughed back in March, he decided to bring some comfort with his “Sekali family meals.”

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His pop-up, Sekali, has grown into something of a foodie phenomenon that includes catering, weekend meal deliveries, and takeout restaurant pop-ups, one of which sold out in under 10 minutes.

On Tuesdays from late March through early July, Teh cooked meals for his fellow furloughed restaurant workers and soon started donating leftovers to Central House in Cambridge. In late April, he began meal donations and deliveries to the Boston Medical Center surgery department staff, adding the Tufts internal medicine and pediatrics departments in early May, donating over 1,100 meals in the process.

“Malaysian cuisine is a mixture of cuisines from all the ethnic groups in the country, which includes Malay, Chinese, Indian, and Indigenous peoples, with additional flavors from neighboring countries and colonization,” Teh said. But he adds even more to that melting pot, flavored by his experience at eateries throughout his career. He loves making agnolotti and is no stranger to the sous vide. He breads a mean mozzarella stick in nestum cereal, an ingredient used often in Malaysian-Chinese cooking.

“I am a Chinese Malaysian, and I was born and raised in the beautiful island Borneo in Malaysia,” Teh said. He studied French culinary arts at Taylor’s University in Malaysia before moving to the U.S. and landing in the culinary arts program at Johnson & Wales in Providence, R.I.

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After graduating, he simmered in different cooking styles, including slinging pasta at Gracie’s in Providence and helping a friend open a farm-to-table restaurant in rural Pennsylvania, where he foraged for ramps and mushrooms. He moved to Cambridge in 2014 and worked as the opening sous chef at Café Artscience before chef/owner Tracy Chang tapped him as her opening executive sous chef at Pagu in 2016. In 2018, he moved to Momi Nonmi, chef/owner Chris Chung’s Inman izakaya, where he held his first-ever Sekali-brand pop-up that December.

Derrick Teh. —Photo by Brenda Nguyen

“I was getting more and more interested in Japanese cuisine, and Chris Chung’s food is this out-of-this-world kind of thing,” he said.

Events at other spots saw him fuse his flair with the host’s cuisine, like the pandan rugelach during a pop-up at Mamaleh’s in Cambridge. Teh admits, though: “I never really planned for this to turn into a business as it has.”

He also didn’t plan on a lot of other things, like finding himself furloughed amid a global pandemic. “I have a platform. So why don’t I use it to deliver directly to my customers?,” he soon decided.

Teh typically posts a menu on Instagram each Wednesday and then an hour later sends a Google order form to his e-mail list. He and his wife, Kate Hardy, spend about two-and-a-half hours each on Sunday making deliveries. He also pops up at restaurants about once a month — like Monday’s upcoming appearance at Little Dipper — letting diners outside of his delivery radius breeze in for take-out. Bartender and friend Koharu Usui often crafts cocktails to complement his cuisine.

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As for what to expect? Dishes like chicken and potato curry puffs; fire-roasted tiger shrimp with Singapore-style black pepper sauce; pork rib broths with tofu puffs and mushrooms. Meals sing with his favorite flavors of Thai chili and galangal. There’s plenty of kaffir lime, ponzu, and palm sugar, too.

Teh’s goal is to open Sekali as a restaurant and, while he hesitates to call his food strictly Malaysian since it’s “more about the story of his life and career,” he’s eager to bring Malaysian flavors and culture to Boston. His childhood memories blend cuisine and comfort: the family-style meals, the piping hot soups for breakfast, the dollops of chili sauce with nearly every dish.

“I love bringing that food culture so my friends can experience it with me,” he said. “And I’m also planning to start a family here someday. So it’s important for me with my kids to have that experience to remind me of home.”

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8 Things That Surprised Us at the NASCAR Cup Regular-Season Finale at Daytona - Autoweek

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Lightning flashed around Daytona International Speedway in all four directions, but in the end, the thunder happened on the track. The final race in the regular season, and thus becoming the deciding factor on who makes it into the 10-race playoff, made the Coke Zero Sugar 400 more important than the usual summer NASCAR Cup Series race.

A win at Daytona always makes for a valuable line on any driver’s resume, and first-time Daytona winner William Byron, driving the descendant of the No. 24 Chevrolet that Jeff Gordon made famous with his four championships, was a popular victory with the crowd. Here are 10 random takeaways from Saturday night’s race:

Media estimates placed the crowd count in excess of 20,000 at Daytona on Saturday.

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The crowd

1 When we say popular with the crowd, we mean it: The 100,000-seat track was nowhere near capacity, but we estimated that there were maybe 8,000 fans in attendance at the road-course Cup race two weeks ago, and last night, we’d suggest that there was three times that many, if not more. The track mentioned that more than 20,000 people were here, but we’d bet money there were more. Regardless, it made this by far the largest sporting event in Florida since the (barely) pre-COVID 19 Arnold Palmer Invitational PGA golf tournament in Orlando on March 8. At the end, it was as though the crowd had been waiting nearly six months for something to cheer about, and a first win by a nice kid and his crusty old crew chief sufficed.

Knaus Proved Something

2 Speaking of that crew chief, Chad Knaus said he “felt awful” that Byron winning, and thus making the playoffs, meant in part that his partner in seven championships, Jimmie Johnson, didn’t make the cut. It was going to be Johnson, Byron or Matt DiBenedetto, and Johnson ended up the odd man out. Johnson, said Knaus, is “one of my best friends. He means the world to me.” But Knaus admitted that his first win after he and Johnson divorced was important – “I wanted to prove I could win with a car that didn’t have ‘Jimmie Johnson’ above the door.”

Jimmie Johnson’s snake-bitten 2020 NASCAR Cup Series regular season ended in frustration on Saturday at Daytona.

Chris GraythenGetty Images

Goose Eggs Got Johnson

3 As for Johnson, who was in contention until circumstances beyond his control turned his Chevrolet into a demolition derby victim, was suitably crestfallen but, as always, the ultimate professional. “Things just got ugly. But that’s (restrictor-)plate racing.” The fact that Johnson missed a race when he was infected with Covid-19, and was disqualified when post-race inspection showed his car’s rear alignment was out of spec at the Charlotte race, meant that he was saddled, he said, “with two goose eggs” in points. “But I don’t know what we could have done different.” He has 10 races left to redeem himself and his plucky team, and don’t be surprised if and when that happens.

Matt DiBenedetto gives the Wood Brothers a shot at a championship.

Chris GraythenGetty Images

Best Feel-Good Story of the Race

4 Besides Byron’s win, the other feel-good story of the night was that Matt DiBenedetto, in the Wood Brothers No. 21 Ford, made the playoffs, when “This time last year,” he said, “I didn’t know if I would ever be able to drive a Cup car again.” Long – and we mean for decades – the Wood Brothers have been the Little Team That Could, and they did again Saturday night. For DiBenedetto, the Chase “couldn’t have been scripted any crazier. But we came out clean, and that’s all that matters.” Betting your paycheck on how far Byron and DiBenedetto will get against the other 14 drivers in the Chase, like Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano would probably be unwise, but it’ll be a nice moment as long as it lasts.

Best Line of the Night

5 The best lines of the night came from Ryan Newman, who again ended up with a car less damaged that his Daytona 500 car, but still undriveable, taken out when Tyler Reddick in the No. 8 Chevrolet made a move for the lead and caused a crash that became the first Big One of the night, after 151 wreck-less laps. What happened? “The No. 8 ran out of talent,” Newman said, then called Reddick a “goofball.” To his credit, Reddick manned up and took the blame for a move that would have made him mad if “somebody else had done it to me.”

Danger is His Business

6 If he ever gets a truly competitive Cup ride, Ross Chastain, currently in the mid-pack No. 77 Chevrolet, will be dangerous. And we mean that in every sense of the word.

Alex Bowman is one of five Chevrolets in the NASCAR Cup Playoff field.

Brian LawdermilkGetty Images

Take a Bow, Chevy

7 Speaking of Chevrolet, after a few tough years they are reasonably well-represented in the Chase, with five of the 16 finalists. Ford has a whopping eight, Toyota three, which doesn’t sound that bad if you note that there were only seven Toyotas in the 40-car field Saturday night, and two were Timmy Hill and Daniel Suarez.

And Drive Home Safely

8 Finally, we’ll leave you with this message from the Speedway that flashed on the big-screen TVs after the race: “Please exit in a sequential manner. And please continue to social distance as you exit the venue.”

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Camp Notes (8/30): Young pops Peterson while Allen gets dinged up - NBC Sports Washington

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ASHBURN, Va. — Ron Rivera began his pre-practice speech Sunday by informing his team, "Today's about competition." And while it may not have been the slobber-knocking, two-hour grind that some expected it to be, it was still a very revealing chapter of camp.

Rivera mixed up the matchups in 11-on-11s, giving his backups the opportunity to face starters on both sides of the ball. He also tried to simulate a real game at various points, preceding drives with kickoffs and punts and calling for "hot changes" where units had to hurriedly take the field like a change of possession had just occurred.

In all, he no doubt has a better feel for whose ride with the Burgundy and Gold will end soon and whose will continue into the regular season. Here's a recap of some of the more important and interesting moments:

• You can't say enough about this Chase Young stuff of Adrian Peterson that happened near the end of the starting offense's first drive. The 21-year-old rookie made the 35-year-old future Hall of Famer look like a camp body. Some on Twitter hopped on their high horse to point out that THAT'S WHAT YOUNG'S SUPPOSED TO DO, which was annoying. It was one hell of a highlight, and that's that. If you're the gambling type, put a pile of money on Young to be the Defensive Rookie of the Year, and then an additional bit of money on him being the Defensive Player of the Year. His impact will be tremendous.

• After telling the media he was still evaluating what he had at left guard, Rivera leaned heavily on Wes Martin on Sunday. Joshua Garnett and even Chase Roullier had been taking some of Martin's work the past few days, but he was the one protecting the interior for Dwayne Haskins in this session. Calling that battle over would be premature, but it was still a really good sign for the 2019 fourth-rounder that he was back in the top lineup.

• Reuben Foster's left knee didn't have its usual huge brace on it. Instead, he just had a few pieces of that black tape you see so often on pro athletes these days. Maybe shedding the brace will help him perform a little like his old self again, because this hasn't been a banner couple of weeks for the former Alabama star.

• Kendall Fuller was initially back in pads — he had missed the past few practices — but after warming up, he was spotted jogging back into the facility. Fabian Moreau was also dressed but very limited in what he actually did. Those absences allowed Jimmy Moreland to play on the outside and he took advantage, breaking up multiple passes from Haskins. While Moreland may not be big enough or gifted enough to become an elite corner, he's more than capable of contributing to this secondary in 2020 and beyond. He consistently finds a way to be around the ball, but of course, he also has to do that on fields besides this one. 

• Tress Way's ready for real football to start, guys. Don't worry about him: 

  Tress Way just dropped a sick punt that hit inside the 5 and, of course, did NOT go in the end zone, because Tress Way punts aren't allowed to end up as touchbacks

  — Pete Hailey (@PeteHaileyNBCS) August 30, 2020

• Just when Cam Sims begins to fade from the receiver conversation, he hauls in a deep ball down the sideline (which he did again on Sunday, from Kyle Allen this time) and reminds the staff of his top-end ability. Sims' hands are sketchier than a gas station hot dog at times, but his size lets him stand out in one-on-one coverage and create chunk plays in those situations. If it's him versus Trey Quinn to make the squad, Sims would appear to have the edge. 

• On a sequence where Greg Stroman picked off Dwayne Haskins (Stroman continues to rack up INTs, by the way) Jonathan Allen went down with a left leg injury. As the DBs celebrated Stroman's turnover, the rest of the team's attention was on Allen, who rolled around a bit before being helped off by two people. Allen was barely putting any pressure on the leg, and at first, the vibe was that something really serious happened. He eventually took a seat on a cooler, though, and then a few minutes later, stood up and rejoined his fellow linemen in their sideline cluster. That would mark the end of his activity, but the fact that he remained outside as opposed to being ushered indoors is somewhat encouraging. You never truly know, however. 

• Morgan Moses is very firmly in Haskins' corner. After Haskins stood tall in a shrinking pocket and dimed one to Quinn between two converging defenders, Moses yelled, "GOOD (bleeping) BALL, BOY. WAY TO THROW THAT (bleep)." A few snaps later, after Haskins darted around the left of the line for a scramble that probably would've gone for a TD, Moses chased after him howling, "YES SIR. YES SIR." The veteran right tackle very much believes in the second-year pro's potential. 

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ASHBURN, Va. -- Washington Football defensive tackle Jonathan Allen went down hard during Sunday's practice. He rolled on the ground in visible pain and was eventually helped to the sideline by medical staff. The trainers tended to Allen's left knee and he sat out the rest of practice. 

When head coach Ron Rivera addresses the media there could be an update. Allen was spotted walking on the sideline after trainers put a brace on the left knee.

RELATED: Want to see Chase Young stuff Adrian Peterson at the goal line? Of course you do

The Washington Football Team went through a highly competitive practice on Sunday afternoon with signigicant live contact. Rivera explained that the team needed to simulate real football and allow the coaches a better opportunity to determine what players will make the final 53-man roster. Cut down day looms in less than a week, and the coaches will need to trim 27 players from the current training camp roster.

Allen's place on the team was a lock, but still, all of the players need to get in real football shape before the Week 1 opener against the Eagles on September 13th. 

A first-round pick in 2017, Allen has 15 sacks in three seasons for Washington and is a key piece of their defensive line. He was a team captain last season. 

Thankfully for Washington Football Team fans, head coach Ron Rivera gave some relieving news with a post-practice update. 

Ron Rivera says Jonathan Alen: "It doesn't look serious."

— Matthew Paras (@Matthew_Paras) August 30, 2020

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ASHBURN, Va. — It looked like Adrian Peterson was about to cut through the offensive line and cross the goal line for six on Sunday.

And then Chase Young intervened. 

To open the 11-on-11 phase of their training camp practice that closed out the weekend, the Washington Football Team had the first-string offense start at the 25-yard line and work their way in. Thanks to a few decent runs and a couple of clutch passes, the group made it to down to the doorstep of the end zone. 

That's when Scott Turner called for a Peterson handoff up the middle.

And that's when Young made this textbook tackle:

Access Denied ❌❌❌ pic.twitter.com/207Uwnv8Zp

— Washington Football Team (@WashingtonNFL) August 30, 2020

RELATED: New Instagram pics show Chase Young leveling players at training camp

No. 99 completely engulfed No. 26 and drove him back, doing something countless defenders have tried and failed to do in the past. Normally, Peterson's the one doing the driving.

Clearly, Young's teammates were impressed, too, judging by the way the sideline reacted.

Chase Young is going to be so good. Like, SO good. He's a rookie, and he just made a Hall of Famer look very average. 

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Bubble Watch: California consumer confidence plunges to 8-year low - OCRegister

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“Bubble Watch” digs into trends that may indicate economic and/or housing market troubles ahead.

Buzz: Confidence of pandemic-weary California consumers hit an eight-year low in August.

Source: The Conference Board’s monthly polling.

The Trend

The California index of shopper optimism was at 58.3 for August — down from a revised 69.6 a month earlier and more than halved from 121.5 a year ago. This is the lowest level of optimism since June 2012.

The Dissection

Let’s remember that in mid-July the state did a U-turn on business reopenings as the coronavirus rebounded and cases spiked.

Two measures within the index show that a deadly pandemic and huge job losses are affecting shoppers’ views on the present and the future.

Californians’ view of current conditions plummeted to a 35.2 score, almost half of July’s 62.8 and far, far below 174.7 a year earlier. This is the lowest reading since November 2012.

There was a slightly less downcast outlook statewide where expectations scored 73.8 vs. 74.1 the previous month and down from 86 a year earlier. This was the worst reading of consumers’ future sentiments since March 2013.

Now the Conference Board also tracks seven other big states. For the month, overall confidence rose in four states but is down in all seven vs. year-ago levels. Current conditions were better in three states for the month and, again, down for the year in all. Expectations rose in five states for the month and improved in two for the year.

Nationally, the U.S. consumer confidence index was 84.8 in the month vs. 91.7 a month earlier and down from 134.2 a year ago. U.S. shoppers’ view of current conditions fell in August and was lower over 12 months. Meanwhile, consumers’ economic hopes nationwide were worse compared with July and less optimistic vs. a year earlier.

Another view

So, what are U.S. shoppers thinking when it comes to two key, big-ticket purchases?

Who’s planning to buy a home within six months? 5.9% this month vs. 7.7% a month earlier and 6% a year ago. Five-year average? 6.2%.

Buy a car? 9.7% this month vs. 12.5% a month earlier and 13% a year ago. Five-year average? 12.5%.

Economist says

Mark Schniepp of California Economic Forecast notes the state’s new pandemic reopening guidelines are “very restrictive” and will be no boost to optimism.

“To the extent counties can qualify, the economies will begin to grow and hiring would increase to meet rising demand for many of the goods and services that have been limited due to the summer’s reversals,” he says. “This would occur slowly, so I would not yet predict a major labor market revival.”

How bubbly?

On a scale of zero bubbles (no bubble here) to five bubbles (five-alarm warning) … FOUR BUBBLES!

This is the kind of downcast thinking you’d see in a recession. It may be the virus and its economic damage. It may be political uncertainty.

No part of the economy, including currently healthy housing, can ignore such despair.

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