- Oil rebound fizzles, sending global shares lower (Reuters)
- Saudi Arabia Won’t Change Oil Production (WSJ)
- China suspends forex business for some foreign banks (Reuters)
- Republicans come up short in search for diverse voters in 2016 election (Reuters)
- Oil Prices Become a Problem for U.S. Steelmakers (BBG)
- Oil-Producing States Battered as Tax-Gushing Wells Are Shut Down (BBG)
- In World With Too Much Crude Oil, 1,100-Foot Steel Monsters Rule (BBG)
- China Telecom Chairman Resigns Days After Being Detained in Anticorruption Probe (WSJ)
- Global growth will be disappointing in 2016: IMF's Lagarde (Reuters)
- Palantir and Investors Spar Over How to Cash In (WSJ)
- Few Computers Are Powerful Enough to Support Virtual Reality (BBG)
- Dollar Malaise Deepens as Economic Data Fall Short of Forecasts (BBG)
- Mark Zuckerberg’s Internet.org philanthropy finds itself cast as the villain in India’s fight over Internet rules (BBG)
- Widespread flooding hits Missouri, Illinois with rivers still rising (Reuters)
- States’ Pension Woes Split Democrats and Union Allies (WSJ)
- In Iowa, Trump seeks to regain his edge with economic populism (Reuters)
- China and Clinton Agree: Traders Should Pay for Canceled Orders (BBG)
- George Pataki Quits Presidential Race (BBG)
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
- DuPont Co plans to cut 1,700 jobs in its home state of Delaware as it pursues $700 million in cost savings ahead of its planned merger with Dow Chemical Co. (http://on.wsj.com/1RQ3HVv)
- Palantir Technologies Inc has no interest in going public. Some of its earliest investors, employees and even Palantir co-founders are trying to cash in anyway. Investment firms launched by Peter Thiel, a Palantir co-founder and chairman, are seeking to sell more than $100 million of their shares in the Palo Alto, California, data-mining company, say stockbrokers and venture capitalists. (http://on.wsj.com/1QWIzx3)
- Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf said Tuesday he would approve a stopgap budget to keep the state's public schools from closing next month, temporarily ending a six-month standoff with the Legislature but leaving key issues unresolved for future budget talks. (http://on.wsj.com/1OrP43W)
- Bridgestone Corp said Tuesday that it wouldn't counter the latest bid for the Pep Boys-Manny, Moe & Jack submitted by billionaire investor Carl Icahn earlier this week, apparently surrendering in what has been a continuing tug of war for the auto parts and repair chain. (http://on.wsj.com/1Jf4RHc)
- Sidecar Technologies Inc, a smaller rival to Uber whose investors include Alphabet Inc's Google Ventures and British billionaire Richard Branson, said it is shutting down its ride-sharing and delivery service and reassigning its staff to new projects. (http://on.wsj.com/1OYzZHC)
NYT
- At the end of a year in which it was regularly criticized for a lack of diversity in its work force, Twitter Inc , the social media service, has put a new executive in charge of dealing with the issue. Jeffrey Siminoff has succeeded Janet Van Huysse as the company's vice president of diversity and inclusion, according to Twitter posts by Siminoff and Van Huysse. (http://nyti.ms/1OYsTCX)
- Running out of both time and money, debt-ridden Puerto Rico appears headed for default on at least some of the roughly $1 billion in bond payments that are due on Jan 1. (http://nyti.ms/1R7fqNI)
- Activist investor Carl Icahn appears to have made the winning bid for Pep Boys - Manny, Moe & Jack, the auto parts retailer - after Bridgestone Corp said Tuesday evening that it would not increase its offer. Shares of Pep Boys shot up 8.8 percent on Tuesday after Icahn Enterprises LP said it had raised its bid to $18.50 a share in cash, valuing Pep Boys at about $1 billion. (http://nyti.ms/1mhsUeF)
- DuPont will cut 1,700 jobs in its home state, Delaware, and thousands more globally as it prepares for its merger with Dow Chemical. (http://nyti.ms/22xNLLe)
FT
The UK government risks damaging economic growth and causing job losses because of the strain it is putting on companies, the Confederation of British Industry warned, urging the Tories not to sacrifice prosperity for "short-term politics."
British peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle said it has lent more than 1 billion pounds ($1.48 billion) to small UK businesses since the company was launched in 2010.
Engineering turnaround specialist Melrose Industries Plc on Tuesday expressed optimism over securing its next acquisition after unveiling plans to return over 2 billion pounds ($2.96 billion) to shareholders following the sale of its utility meter business.
British Business
The Times
- Barclays Plc is to pay more than $13.75 million to settle charges from United States regulators that it left thousands of customers in America out of pocket after encouraging them to make unsuitable mutual fund investments over a five-year period. (http://thetim.es/1mPp90a)
- Britain's Competition and Markets Authority is to carry out an in-depth investigation of Celesio AG's proposed purchase of J Sainsbury Plc's pharmacy business in a move that could derail the deal. (http://thetim.es/1YMOwRo)
The Guardian
- Companies that plague householders with nuisance phone calls and texts face fines totalling more than 1 million pounds ($1.48 million) this year, the information commissioner's office has warned after tripling the financial punishment for rogue callers in 2015. (http://bit.ly/1Vox2W4)
- Northern England is bracing itself for the impact of Storm Frank as torrential rain and gale force winds threaten further misery for the flood-ravaged area. The Environment Agency said there was the potential for further significant flooding, particularly in Cumbria, already badly affected by storms. (http://bit.ly/1OwJhAn)
The Telegraph
- Britain's biggest grocery chain Tesco Plc is planning to open a "Pet Den" in its Culverhouse Cross store in Cardiff next month that will allow shoppers to have their cats and dogs preened while they shop. (http://bit.ly/1NPb1wC)
- New houses are being built in England's highest-risk flood areas at almost twice the rate of housing outside flood plains, according to figures which a Government adviser warned showed the country was "storing up problems for the future". (http://bit.ly/1VoxnIl)
Sky News
- The United Kingdom's beleaguered manufacturing sector has some reasons for optimism in 2016 despite the gloomy end to a year which is expected to have seen it shrink, according to an industry body. The EEF forecasts that car making, aerospace and the rejuvenation of the pharmaceutical sector will drive growth in 2016 and add jobs, bucking the trend of the wider sector. (http://bit.ly/1PuEL4m)
The Independent
- The average British property is now worth 290,827 pounds, up by more than 20,000 pounds on average in 2015, according to Zoopla. Britain's 28.6 million homes grew in value by a total of 1.4 billion pounds per day in 2015 with Brentford and West Drayton towns seeing the biggest increases in home values of 24 per cent and 17 percent, respectively. (http://ind.pn/1SlvFrj)