- European stocks plunge as Lunar New Year offers no cheer (Reuters)
- European Stocks Fall, Credit Weakens as Signs of Distress Abound (BBG)
- Management trouble at world's biggest hedge fund: Bridgewater succession plan in flux as heir Greg Jensen steps back (FT)
- U.S. athletes should consider not attending Olympics if fear Zika - officials (Reuters)
- Geithner Gets JPMorgan Credit Line to Invest With Warburg Pincus (BBG)
- Top Clinton Donor Wants a Law Against $1 Million Gifts Like His (BBG)
- Private equity groups under pressure to buy own stock (FT)
- Before New Hampshire primary, Trump campaign shows mellower side (Reuters)
- Big Companies Pull Back After Rough Quarter (WSJ)
- A Dying Breed: Currency Traders Are Left Out of New Wall Street (BBG)
- Bill Clinton Launches Attack on Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire (NBC)
- Consumption Seen Dropping as Japan's Workers Eke Out 0.1% Rise (BBG)
- Peyton Manning handed Budweiser $3.2 million in free ads after the Super Bowl (MarketWatch)
- Guggenheim's $240 Billion Man Says Nasdaq to Tumble Below 3,800 (BBG)
- Some Australian asylum seekers to be deported have cancer, terminal illnesses (Reuters)
- High-Value Banknotes Should Be Binned to Fight Crime, Sands Says (BBG)
- Job Site Hired Raises $40 Million and Forecasts Profit by 2017 (BBG)
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
- Turkey's growing hostility towards Syrian Kurdish fighters on charges of professed smuggling of weapons to members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party in Syria, has strained U.S.-Turkish relations.(http://on.wsj.com/1mmyjAm)
- North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket triggered condemnation and prompted Washington and Seoul to formalize talks over deploying an advanced missile shield to South Korea, a move China strongly opposes.(http://on.wsj.com/1nQ4aKG)
- National Bank of Canada warned that its regulatory-capital level would take a hit after Germany's financial watchdog BaFin effectively shuttered one of its foreign investments, the German unit of Maple Financial Group.(http://on.wsj.com/1ojfxeV)
- After a tough end to 2015, big companies like Johnson & Johnson and Yahoo Inc are starting the new year with a tight rein on capital spending including layoffs, as they seek to cope with sluggish industrial demand and uncertainties about the continued resilience of the American consumer. (http://on.wsj.com/1SXLYL8)
- China's foreign-exchange reserves fell to the lowest level in more than three years in January, raising questions about how long Beijing can keep burning through the rainy-day funds to defend the yuan without triggering a huge flight of capital.(http://on.wsj.com/1L7fdEG)
- Hedge funds are betting the next bond sector to crack will be the $4.5 trillion market for the safest U.S. corporate debt and it won't be confined only to energy and junk bonds. (http://on.wsj.com/1Q2paVg)
FT
* French banks are now under increased investor pressure reduce branches and push customers to digital platforms to cut costs. "Shareholders are asking for a commitment to slim down branches and cut costs," David Benamou, head of investment at France's Axiom Alternative Investments said.
* Network Rail is urging ministers not to privatise the company and sell off large sections of Britain's rail infrastructure. Network Rail, which is publicly owned, says that breaking it up would make train travel more expensive, because it would undermine its ability to buy material in bulk at a lower price.
* UK government and regulators have initiated a push to change key aspects of the new Solvency II regime for insurers, citing concerns it is making some companies less competitive. The Treasury and the Bank of England highlighted areas that they would want to be altered as the government calls for wide and earlier review of the rules.
* PSA Peugeot Citroen is to give over 400 million euros ($445.60 million) worth of compensation to Iran's biggest carmaker for losses it incurred when the French carmaker left the country. Iran Khodro said that Peugeot had agreed to the arrangement to make up for problems caused in 2012, when it withdrew from Iran to comply with international sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear programme
NYT
- European officials knew that Volkswagen diesels fell short of pollution limits years before the company became engulfed in an emissions cheating scandal, records show. (http://nyti.ms/1Q4pqcI)
- Tidjane Thiam, chief executive of Credit Suisse, has asked the company's board to reduce his bonus, days after the Swiss bank reported a multi billion dollar loss in the fourth quarter. (http://nyti.ms/1Q4puZV)
- German banking regulator, known as Bafin, said on Sunday that it ordered a halt to financial transactions by Maple Bank, the German subsidiary of Maple Financial Group of Canada, that played a prominent role in attempts by the Porsche family to take over Volkswagen several years ago. (http://nyti.ms/1KAif9E)
- The infighting among lawyers for the plaintiffs suing General Motors over a flawed ignition switch intensified after one who helped uncover the defect, Lance Cooper, sharpened his attacks against another who is heading the case, Robert C Hilliard. (http://nyti.ms/1XcNysZ)
Britain
The Times
- The SFO accused Pinsent Masons yesterday of "deliberately" misinterpreting data showing that while the number of whistleblowing reports to the agency had risen last year by 324 to 2,832, only 16 new investigations had been opened. (http://thetim.es/1nRIT3q)
- A partial break-up and privatisation of Network Rail is back on the agenda under a plan being drawn up by Nicola Shaw, the boss of HS1. The chief executive of the high-speed route is considering proposals to spin off individual lines to investors and introduce an agency to oversee the industry at arm's length from government. (http://thetim.es/1nRIZrP)
The Guardian
- Next has been criticised by a group of heavyweight investors who say the company failed to act on a warning that could have prevented it from breaking company law, forcing the retail group to hold an expensive shareholder meeting this week. (http://bit.ly/1nRIJJr)
- Workers at Google Ireland, the search group's European sales hub, earn less than half the 160,000 pound average wage of colleagues in London despite the British sales team only providing a supporting role to their Irish counterparts. (http://bit.ly/1nRIQo4)
The Telegraph
- HSBC Holdings Plc's board is expected to come to a decision on the location of its headquarters in the coming days after an unexpectedly long-running review of the future of the British-based bank. A review was launched last year and initially was expected to reach a conclusion by the end of 2015. Investors are increasingly convinced that the bank will not quit the UK. (http://bit.ly/1nRIAph)
- Business Growth Fund, the nearly five year old equity fund, has reported a record month for investments, backing UK firms with 50 million pounds worth of capital in January alone. The fund, which has a 2.5 billion pound warchest of capital from Barclays Plc, HSBC Holdings, Lloyds Banking Group Plc , Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Standard Chartered Plc, has disclosed two of the investments made during that month. (http://bit.ly/1nRIFJI)
Sky News
- Ministers should sanction the construction of a new runway at Gatwick Airport and end dithering over the crucial issue of aviation capacity, billionaire hedge fund manager Crispin Odey and chief executive of Legal & General Nigel Wilson said. (http://bit.ly/1nRIduS)
- The long-serving finance director of BT Groupm Plc, Tony Chanmugam, is preparing to step down within months of the telecommunications regulator delivering its verdict on the company's structure. (http://bit.ly/1nRIePk)