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Frontrunning: April 19

  • Early Warning Signs of Recession Flash Faintly in U.S. Jobs Data (BBG)
  • Who Needs Buybacks? One S&P 500 Variant Just Rallied to a Record (BBG)
  • The unpredictable new voice of Saudi oil (FT)
  • Saudi's Other Warning Makes Oil Traders Sweat After Doha Failure (BBG)
  • U.S. oil investors rush for protection at $35 as Doha talks collapse (Reuters)
  • Trump candidacy: Where some fear to tread others see a path to victory (Reuters)
  • Iron Ore Powers Above $60 as Steel Rally in China Spurs Demand (BBG)
  • Syrian government says Assad's future not up for discussion (Reuters)
  • Low ECB Rates Leave Germans Worried About Dwindling Savings (BBG)
  • China Sovereign Fund to Seek Control of $8 Billion Yum Unit (BBG)
  • Reserve Bank's Glenn Stevens shoots down 'helicopter money' desperados (AFR)
  • German Raids Target Right-Wing Group Accused of Refugee Attacks (BBG)
  • Hillary Clinton’s Lead Narrows to Two Points Among Democratic Primary Voters, Poll Says (WSJ)
  • Malaysia's 1MDB Bonds Rally as Fund Row Stokes Volatility (BBG)
  • Talks With Creditors To Resume But Athens Rejects Fresh Austerity (Kathimerini)
  • Best Undergraduate Business Schools of 2016 (BBG)
  • Turkey's Erdogan says European Parliament report 'provocative' (Reuters)
  • EU will not water down criteria for Turkish visa waiver: Juncker (Reuters)
  • Here’s an FX Strategy That May Offer Refuge From Negative Rates (BBG)
  • Swedish Central Bank Gains Backing for Revised Inflation Target (BBG)

 

Bulletin Headline Summary

WSJ

- U.S. Federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into whether Theranos Inc misled investors about the state of its technology and operations, according to people familiar with the matter. (http://on.wsj.com/1S74n8n)

- Saudi Arabia's decision over the weekend to refuse to freeze oil output without Iran's participation indicates a heightened willingness in the kingdom to mix politics and oil policy amid tensions with Tehran and Washington. (http://on.wsj.com/1S74v81)

- Top U.S. regulators are set to focus on borrowing by the hedge-fund industry, particularly large funds, as they assess potential risks in the asset-management sector. (http://on.wsj.com/1S74CQZ)

- U.S. law enforcement sought information from Apple 4,000 times, covering 16,112 devices, in the second half of 2015, according to Apple's biannual transparency report, released late Monday. (http://on.wsj.com/1S7515T)

 

FT

- Greybull Capital, which is close to buying Tata Steel UK's Scunthorpe-based long products division, is also mulling a bid for Tata's speciality steels arm, which employs about 2,000 people. (bit.ly/1XFwETV)

- Deloitte's leasing, City investment, national investment and property management teams, will transfer to other companies, six years after it acquired Drivers Jonas to create one of the largest real estate consultancies in the UK. (bit.ly/1XFweg4)

- Europe's governments gave a green signal to expand the role of an EU naval mission in the Mediterranean, as it gets ready for a surge in asylum seekers trying to make the dangerous sea crossing from North Africa. (bit.ly/1XFwmfG)

- Rate cuts in European and Japanese banks are putting pressure on many central banks' returns, which are a source of income used to cover running costs, and to provide finance ministries with profits. (bit.ly/1XFvEPD)

 

NYT

- Theranos, the embattled blood-testing laboratory, said on Monday that federal officials were conducting a criminal investigation into the company, adding to a series of questions from officials about its inner workings. (http://nyti.ms/1XFJUI1)

- The Supreme Court on Monday refused to revive a challenge to Google Inc's digital library of millions of books, turning down an appeal from authors who said the project amounted to copyright infringement on a mass scale. (http://nyti.ms/1SPoBzu)

- Argentina returned to global bond markets on Monday after a 15-year hiatus, unveiling the biggest sovereign issuance by an emerging-market nation in two decades as the government ends a prolonged feud with hedge funds in New York. (http://nyti.ms/1S71xjU)

- The British government outlined the central argument on Monday it hopes will persuade voters to stay in the European Union, publishing a detailed economic analysis finding that Britons will be poorer if they quit. (http://nyti.ms/1MECSCZ)

 

Canada

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

** General Motors of Canada Ltd, a unit of General Motors Co , is establishing a separate Canadian head office for its Cadillac division as part of plans to return to the downtown Toronto core with a new complex that will also house a sales outlet for some of the company's brands. (http://bit.ly/1SWPzFS)

** Jean-Pierre Blais, the chairman of Canada's telecom regulator, delivered an unusual statement in the middle of a public hearing, calling on governments as well as the telecom industry to contribute to the development of a "coherent national broadband strategy." (http://bit.ly/1SWPL7U)

NATIONAL POST

** Several groups of indigenous activists have occupied the offices of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada in Toronto and staged a sit-in in Winnipeg, demanding that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visits a northern Ontario community struggling with a recent spate of suicide attempts. (http://bit.ly/1SWQd6i)

** Oilsands giant Suncor Energy Inc, by urging shareholders to reject a proposal to boost transparency of its lobbying activity and funding, is guaranteeing a spotlight on the usually secretive practice at its annual shareholder meeting next week. (http://bit.ly/1SWQrKo)

** The evidence that Sino-Forest Corp's former chief executive committed fraud and deceived investors is iron-clad, the Ontario Securities Commission argued on Monday as it began wrapping up its long-running case against Allen Chan and four other executives. (http://bit.ly/1SWQwOd)

 

Britain

The Times

* Tata Steel has appointed Standard Chartered PLC to help it to sound out possible buyers for its loss-making British division after formally kicking off a sales process for Port Talbot and other steelmaking sites. The Indian company, which has close ties to Standard Chartered in India, has asked the bank to work with KPMG, the auditor, to identify a potential acquirer, especially among Chinese steelmakers. (http://bit.ly/23UszyT)

* Profits at Morgan Stanley halved in the first quarter, in the latest sign of strife on Wall Street and the City for "bulge bracket" banks. The bank admitted that its trading and investment banking businesses had taken a hit from market volatility early in the year and a dearth of companies coming to the market. (http://bit.ly/1WC5ezY)

The Guardian

* George Osborne has said the British government would lose 36 billion pounds in net tax receipts, equivalent to 8 pence on the basic rate of income tax or 7 pence on VAT, if the UK leaves the EU and negotiates a bilateral trade agreement with the bloc. (http://bit.ly/1qTa4N1)

* Veolia Environnement SA, the rubbish collection and road sweeping company, has vowed to ensure that 10 percent of new recruits come from marginalised groups - including army veterans, ex-offenders, long-term unemployed and the homeless. (http://bit.ly/1qTX2yN)

The Telegraph

* Tata Steel has appointed a new chief executive for its British steel operations as it battles to sell the business, which is losing as much as £1m a day. Bimlendra Jha, an executive committee member of Tata Steel Europe, will take up the role reporting to Hans Fischer, who heads the company's steel operations across Europe. (http://bit.ly/1pcBAne)

* British Gas owner Centrica PLC has attempted to shrug off a sharp drop in customer numbers, setting out plans to fight back with a range of new tariffs. Britain's biggest energy supplier disclosed it had lost 224,000 customer accounts in the first three months of the year. (http://bit.ly/1WC5aAj)

Sky News

* Britain's biggest payday lender has shelved a plan to sell its German online payments business after securing funding to help accelerate the transformation of its core consumer lending operations. Sky News understands that Wonga held preliminary talks with a number of prospective buyers of BillPay, which it acquired in 2013, before a string of crises plunged its future into doubt. (http://bit.ly/1WBRoh0)

* Judges have overturned government plans to deny legal aid to people who have not lived in the UK continuously for at least 12 months. The Supreme Court announced it is to allow an appeal by campaigners against proposals for a so-called residence test, which they argued restricted access to justice for foreign-born individuals in civil cases. (http://bit.ly/1VeMPK2)

The Independent

* David Cameron and George Osborne will be accused by one of their closest political allies of treating the British public "like children" who need to be "frightened into obedience" as Conservative Party tensions escalate into open warfare. The Justice Secretary, Michael Gove, will launch an attack on tactics used by the prime minister and chancellor to persuade people to back a "remain" vote. (http://ind.pn/23UrVRZ)

* MPs are to investigate allegations of illegal weapons sales at British weapons fairs after a judge ruled there was "credible" evidence of wrongdoing at the biggest event in the arms trade's calendar. The House of Commons Committee on Arms Export Control, made up of MPs from all the main parties, will look into the allegations that a judge said had not been "appropriately investigated by the authorities". (http://ind.pn/1S6MTZX)