- Trump Picks Exxon Chief for State Amid Concerns (Reuters)
- Buoyant Markets Pose New Challenge for the Fed (WSJ)
- Tweeter-in-Chief Trump Faces Test After Yellen’s Rate Decision (BBG)
- Trump Dissing Daily Intelligence Briefing Worsens Rift With CIA (BBG)
- SWIFT confirms new cyber thefts, hacking tactics (Reuters)
- UniCredit share issue lifts banks before Fed meeting (Reuters)
- Senate Republican leader backs investigation into Russian hacking (Reuters)
- U.S. intelligence officials say Russian hacks ‘prioritized’ Democrats (WaPo)
- Merkel, Hollande back extending sanctions on Russia over Ukraine (Reuters)
- Billionaire's Son Not Interested in Taking Over Father's $91 Billion Business (BBG)
- Japan’s Asahi Buys Eastern Europe Brewing Assets From AB InBev (WSJ)
- Coverup at French Nuclear Supplier Sparks Global Review (WSJ)
- Netanyahu says Israel 'mightier' as first F-35 fighter jets arrive (Reuters)
- China's Sinopec Weighs Takeover Of Gulf Keystone (Reuters)
- How the Wealthy Avoid Paying Hong Kong Property Tax to Save Millions (BBG)
- Iran to build nuclear marine propulsion after U.S. 'violation' of deal (Reuters)
- After China’s Hubris, It’s Trump’s Turn (WSJ)
- OPEC Pumped at Record High as Cartel Agreed Output Cut (WSJ)
- OPEC Deal to Create Oil-Supply Deficit Next Half, IEA Says (IEA)
- GOP Leaders Join Call for Probe of Russian Hacking (WSJ)
- Drinking, drug use largely down among U.S. teens in 2016 (Reuters)
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
- President-elect Donald Trump will name Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Rex Tillerson as his secretary of state, a transition official said. http://on.wsj.com/2hrXfG8
- Momentum to pursue investigations into alleged Russian hacking in the U.S. presidential election picked up steam Monday, with the Senate's top Republican joining Democrats, the White House and other GOP leaders in calls for a probe. http://on.wsj.com/2hrXh0I
- The Syrian regime has gained control of almost all of Aleppo, according to the government and an opposition monitoring group, as a proposal for the safe passage of all rebels from the city awaits approval from Russia, the regime's main military backer. http://on.wsj.com/2hrSHzE
- Donald Trump's attacks on F-35 fighter jet costs shed light on the ballooning expense and delays of big military programs, but experts say there are limits to what he will be able to do as president to fix them. http://on.wsj.com/2hrXuAZ
- Sumner Redstone's National Amusements is pulling its support for a merger of CBS and Viacom, which would have reunited the two media firms amid an increasingly challenging landscape. http://on.wsj.com/2hrUp3K
- Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates said he and other business leaders are launching a $1 billion clean-technology fund that will start investing next year in companies developing low-cost, low-carbon technologies. http://on.wsj.com/2hrWexS
- Aetna Inc executives on Monday jousted with Justice Department lawyers over the health insurer's reasons for sharply cutting its participation in Affordable Care Act exchanges, a potentially important issue in the antitrust trial over Aetna's proposed merger with Humana Inc. http://on.wsj.com/2hrXIIl
- Antony Jenkins, the former chief executive of Barclays, has joined the board of Blockchain, a London-based startup that provides services related to bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. http://on.wsj.com/2hrUjZV
- Blackstone is exploring a new infrastructure investing business at a time when more money than ever is being committed to funds that aim to invest in ports, pipelines and other public works. http://on.wsj.com/2hrVzMX
- Alphabet Inc's Google completed a deal with Cuba to place computer servers on the island to speed Google services there, a pact that officials hurried to complete before President Barack Obama leaves office next month. http://on.wsj.com/2hrTgct
FT
- Senior International Monetary Fund officials rejected claims that the organisation is seeking to impose more austerity on Greece. Director of the IMF's European department Poul Thomsen and the fund's Chief Economist Maurice Obstfeld said in a blog post that their main worries are that Greece is pursuing policies that are "unfriendly to growth" and that country's debt is "highly unsustainable."
- The European Union and the United States have imposed sanctions on senior Congolese security and intelligence officials following a violent suppression of anti-government protests in September in which dozens of people died. EU diplomats said the move is also meant to act as a deterrent ahead of big demonstrations planned for Monday next week against President Joseph Kabila's refusal to step down despite his second and final term ending that day.
- Sumner Redstone and daughter Shari scrapped Viacom-CBS merger plans amid disagreements about the valuation and management of both media companies. The companies were unable to agree on a valuation for Viacom, owner of Paramount Pictures and MTV.
- Prudential Financial said it would reimburse any customers concerned they were charged for policies they did not ask for as it reviews how Wells Fargo had sold the coverage. Prudential's move came after three of its former employees alleged in a lawsuit that low-income Wells customers, mainly with Hispanic surnames, had been signed up for policies without their consent.
NYT
- President-elect Donald Trump settled on Rex Tillerson, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, to be his secretary of state, transition officials said. In naming him, the president-elect is dismissing bipartisan concerns that Tillerson, the globe-trotting leader of an energy giant, has a too-cozy relationship with Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia. http://nyti.ms/2gBx7vh
- Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, went on trial in Paris on Monday, facing criminal charges that when she was France's finance minister, her negligence resulted in the misuse of hundreds of millions of euros in public money. http://nyti.ms/2gU8KFj
- A business tax overhaul championed by a Berkeley professor could advance President-elect Donald Trump's job-creation agenda without tariffs or presidential deal-making. http://nyti.ms/2guYJx5
- President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that the cost of building the military's next-generation fighter jet, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, had spiraled "out of control", and he vowed to save billions of dollars on military programs once he enters office next month. http://nyti.ms/2hyji0y
- In a sign of widening fallout from Wells Fargo's sales scandal, Prudential Financial Inc said it was suspending sales of its life insurance policies through Wells Fargo & Co until it completed an investigation into the bank's sales tactics. http://nyti.ms/2gG5jnP
- Donald Trump officially asked Goldman Sachs Group Inc President and Chief Operating Officer Gary Cohn to serve as director of his National Economic Council, removing a crucial impediment for Goldman's next generation of leaders. http://nyti.ms/2gBHXBf
- Boeing Co announced a $16.6 billion deal to sell planes to Iran, which for decades had been economically blacklisted by the United States. The company instead chose to emphasize how many jobs the sale would support. http://nyti.ms/2hodXWi
- Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft Corp, has started a fund to invest in energy research to reduce the causes of climate change, work that would build on efforts that may be threatened by a Trump administration. http://nyti.ms/2hyjjBN
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** The federal government has unveiled a series of measures aimed at curtailing Canada's booming underground market in fentanyl, just as the death toll climbs and more communities sound the alarm about illicit drugs. tgam.ca/2gGAsHI
** Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged Monday that people lobby him at Liberal Party cash-for-access fundraisers, but said he ultimately makes up his own mind on what is good for Canada. It is the first time he has admitted that government business is being discussed at partisan Liberal money-raising events. tgam.ca/2hr5S3B
** Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau has agreed to remove controversial changes to the Bank Act from his latest budget bill in response to strong objections from Quebec and some senators. tgam.ca/2hIjuGH
NATIONAL POST
** The New Democratic Party said they want the Liberals to turn their party's ethics guidelines into law, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau admitted on Monday that people attending Liberal Party fundraising events bend his ear about "things that are important to them." bit.ly/2hsHbEd
** The Bank of Montreal is the latest Canadian bank seeking a settlement with regulators after discovering some retail fund clients were charged "excess" fees over a period of years. bit.ly/2hhLUuf (Compiled by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru)
Britain
The Times
* A DNA analysis company Oxford Nanopore has raised £100 million ($126.77 million) in a private placing, giving it a valuation of £1.25 billion ($1.58 billion). The investment will cement the company's status in Europe as one of just a handful of biotech unicorns, private, fast-growing companies valued at more than a billion dollars or pounds. http://bit.ly/2hxw6V1
The Guardian
* Lloyds Banking Group Plc is failing to meet "fee-free" guidelines for millions of its basic bank accounts, which are typically held by people on low incomes, according to data published by the Treasury. http://bit.ly/2hxvsH5
* Households in Britain face further pressure from rising inflation as experts predicted a surge in petrol prices following an agreement by oil producers to cut global output. http://bit.ly/2hxz6R8
The Telegraph
* Barclays Plc has sold-off its retail banking operations in Europe with a deal to offload its French consumer businesses to private equity firm AnaCap. http://bit.ly/2hxEnYY
* Brexit minister David Davis met on Monday with representatives of Britain's leading automotive businesses including Jaguar Land Rover and Ford Motor Co on what the future holds for the sector which directly employs 170,000 in the United Kingdom in manufacturing and supports more than 800,000 jobs. http://bit.ly/2hxyICb
Sky News
* British Culture Minister Matt Hancock has said that the government will be "scrupulously fair and impartial" in its handling of 21st Century Fox Inc's takeover bid for Sky Plc, the owner of Sky News. http://bit.ly/2hxxSWr
* Post Office workers in Britain are to stage five days of strikes in the week leading up to Christmas. The strike next week follows a dispute with management over job losses, the closure of a final salary pension scheme and branches being shut. http://bit.ly/2hxzgIk
The Independent
* Sky shareholders have demanded a higher takeover price from Rupert Murdoch's Fox and reassurances over the independence of the media mogul's son. Fox tabled a £10.75 ($13.63) per share offer on Friday, valuing Sky at £18.5 billion ($23.45 billion). http://ind.pn/2hxtS88
* The online fashion retailer Asos Plc will hire an extra 1,500 people over the next three years as it plans to expand its London operation. http://ind.pn/2hxoHF8