- Oil ends 2015 in downbeat mood; hangover to be long, painful (Reuters)
- Recession, retrenchment, revolution? Impact of low crude prices on oil powers (Guardian)
- Midwest Flooding Might Make the Oil Glut Worse (BBG)
- From Oil Glut to Shortage? Some Say It Could Happen (WSJ)
- Ten Years After Blowup, Amaranth Investors Waiting to Get Money Back (WSJ)
- China Fires a Warning Shot at Yuan Speculators With Bank Bans (BBG)
- PBOC Doesn't Offer Reverse Repos for First Time in Six Months (BBG)
- Battered Yuan Posts Worst Year Since 1994 as HSBC Preaches Calm (BBG)
- Patients Struggle With High Drug Prices (WSJ)
- Belgian police detain six people over New Year's attack plot (Reuters)
- The Year the Hedge-Fund Model Stalled on Main Street (WSJ)
- Half a Million Bank Jobs Have Vanished Since 2008 Crisis: Chart (BBG)
- Biggest Investors Say Beware the Bond Market as Fed Raises Rates (BBG)
- Bond Bears Hope for Relief in 2016 (WSJ)
- Fox News Holds Its Lead in a Year of Growth for Cable News (NYT)
- West Grapples for a Response to Islamic State (WSJ)
- Microsoft to warn email users of suspected hacking by governments (Reuters)
- Merkel urges Germans to see refugee arrivals as 'an opportunity' in New Year address (AFP)
- Inside J.P. Morgan’s Deal With On Deck Capital (WSJ)
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
- The Obama administration is preparing to impose its first financial sanctions on Iran since it forged a landmark nuclear agreement in July, presenting a major test for whether Tehran will stay committed to the deal. (http://on.wsj.com/1P0qAPX)
- Microsoft Corp said it plans to begin informing users of its online email and file-storage services if it suspects attackers associated with government agencies have tried to break into their accounts. (http://on.wsj.com/1TqRvIo)
- Venezuela's Supreme Court on Wednesday approved the ruling Socialist Party's efforts to suspend some of the results of this month's landmark midterm elections, potentially stripping the opposition of its crucial parliamentary supermajority. (http://on.wsj.com/1P18RYF)
- ConocoPhillips and NuStar Energy LP on Thursday plan to finish loading what will be the first tanker of freely traded U.S. crude oil in 40 years. (http://on.wsj.com/1OlPj4N)
- Comedian Bill Cosby was charged on Wednesday with aggravated indecent assault, more than a decade after allegations surfaced that he drugged and molested a former Temple University employee in his home. The felony charge is the first against the 78-year-old entertainer, who has been embroiled in allegations of sexual misconduct over the past year. (http://on.wsj.com/1mT9InN)
- 1Malaysia Development Bhd has agreed to sell a majority stake in Bandar Malaysia, a real-estate project in Kuala Lumpur, to a consortium that includes a state-owned Chinese company for 7.41 billion ringgit ($1.72 billion), as the state investment firm seeks to cut debt. (http://on.wsj.com/1JKDWho)
- The U.S. Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into Blue Bell Creameries over listeria contamination of its ice cream earlier this year that was linked to three deaths and multiple other illnesses. (http://on.wsj.com/1mjZVHg)
- Italy's fiscal agency has reached an agreement with Apple Inc in a dispute in which the U.S. company was accused of underpaying tax, three people familiar with the matter said Wednesday, in one of the biggest tax settlements in the country. (http://on.wsj.com/1SmA0uy)
FT
The UK's Financial Conduct Authority has discarded its review of culture at retail and wholesale banks operating in the country, saying each company is unique and cannot be easily compared, according to people familiar with the situation.
Gulf airline Etihad said it will appeal a lost court decision in Germany over the right to jointly sell tickets for some routes operated by Air Berlin Plc this winter.
Investors have reacted with anger and threatened legal action after the Bank of Portugal said it plans to impose heavy losses on almost 2 billion euros ($2.19 billion) of senior bonds at Novo Banco, the 'good bank' carved out of the failed Banco Espirito Santo.
NYT
- Puerto Rico will default on nearly $174 million in principal and interest payments on bonds on Friday, the first day of 2016, its governor said on Wednesday, increasing the likelihood that the island will face lawsuits from an array of creditors. (http://nyti.ms/1mTd7Tu)
- Comedian Bill Cosby, who has for decades been pursued by allegations of sexual misconduct, was charged with sexual assault in Pennsylvania on Wednesday in a case that many people, including women who had come forward publicly, long thought prosecutors would never bring. (http://nyti.ms/1P1bEBd)
- Fox News once again dominated the competition in 2015, while CNN had significantly improved ratings and MSNBC had a slight bounce in viewers. (http://nyti.ms/1YPWqJy)
- After a tug of war between activist investor Carl Icahn and the Bridgestone Corp, the auto-parts retailer Pep Boys on Wednesday officially picked its suitor. Icahn Enterprises LP won the bidding for Pep Boys, announcing a definitive agreement to buy the chain in an all-cash deal for $18.50 a share, or roughly $1 billion. (http://nyti.ms/1NSky62)
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** A group of leading Canadian tech entrepreneurs has told the Liberal government they need help recruiting top foreign talent and finding customers - not handouts - if they were to replace BlackBerry and Nortel Networks as Canadian-based tech giants. They asked the government to back down on an election pledge to increase taxation of stock options. (http://bit.ly/1MIjzl3)
** The Conservative Party is vowing to use any means necessary, including a Senate blockade, to keep the Liberal government from forcing through electoral-reform legislation without first holding a referendum. (http://bit.ly/1MIjJJ7)
** Montreal-based daily La Presse is scrapping its Monday-to-Friday printed papers starting Jan. 1, ending a 131-year run of publishing hard-copy news throughout the week. (http://bit.ly/1MIjGNl)
NATIONAL POST
** After a string of bad investments, China Investment Corp(CIC) has shut down its Toronto office and is opening a new one in New York, part of a quiet retreat from Canadian natural resources by China's state-controlled entities. (http://bit.ly/1MIjPjZ)
** An earthquake hit southern British Columbia just before midnight Tuesday, rattling buildings, shaking beds and swaying light fixtures. The earthquake was moderate, between magnitude 4.3 and 4.8, with its epicentre near Sidney on Vancouver Island. (http://bit.ly/1MIkcem)
** Jaskaran Sidhu, a 47-year-old man from Alberta, is facing charges for "belligerent" behaviour and alleged assault on a flight attendant on board an Air Canada flight to India. He was arrested in Toronto after the plane bound for New Delhi turned around just off the east coast and returned to Toronto. (http://bit.ly/1MIkfXz)
Britain
The Times
- Axonn Media, of which Tory MP Adam Afriyie is a majority shareholder, is at risk of being struck off for failing to file its accounts on time. (http://thetim.es/1R00FO8)
- Natural gas has started to flow from the Corrib gasfield in Ireland, bringing an end to an 11-year development project led by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, which was plagued by local opposition. (http://thetim.es/1R9jwF3)
The Guardian
- Global economic growth will be disappointing next year and the outlook for the medium-term has also deteriorated, the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, has warned. (http://bit.ly/1mRq7Ja)
- Average pay growth for Britain's workers is likely to stall at about 2 percent in 2016, as the ready availability of migrants makes it easy for employers to fill vacancies, according to a forecast of the labour market by Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development. (http://bit.ly/1OwLKuz)
The Telegraph
- The Financial Conduct Authority has decided not to publish a key report into Britain's banking culture. The regulator had hailed its study of behaviour within the country's leading lenders as one of its most important aims next year, including in its Business Plan 2015-2016. (http://bit.ly/1IENRdG)
Sky News
- House prices rose at their fastest pace since April this month, according to latest figures from Nationwide. The lender said prices rose by a faster-than-expected 0.8 percent in December, after rising just 0.1 percent the month before. (http://bit.ly/1QZHJiS)
- Ben Verwaayen, a former boss of BT Group Plc, is in talks to join the board of the industry's regulator midway through a review that could see the former state-owned telecoms group forcibly broken up. (http://bit.ly/1Olwwqm)
The Independent
- Argos have recalled a model of hoverboard over fears that it could electrocute users. Argos said that Nevaboard hoverboards, supplied by Debut Sports, do not comply with technical standards and could pose a risk of electrocution. (http://ind.pn/1OxrtFt)
- Surging sales of green vehicles and solar panels have contributed to the growth of the United Kingdom ethical market in 2014, according to the Ethical Consumer markets report by Ethical Consumer and Triodos Bank. (http://ind.pn/22yvo8X)