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Frontrunning: March 23

  • Futures little changed day after Brussels attacks (Reuters)
  • Trump, Clinton win big in Arizona, but Cruz, Sanders show fight (Reuters)
  • Belgium identifies Brussels bomb suspect, suicide bombers (Reuters)
  • After Brussels Terrorist Attacks, Security Ramped Up in U.S. Cities (WSJ)
  • Terror Impact Threatens Cameron EU Pitch, Merkel's Open Door (BBG)
  • Brussels Attacks Will Jolt 2016 U.S. Presidential Race (WSJ)
  • Mounting debts could derail China plans to cut steel, coal glut (Reuters)
  • Lloyd's of London Takes 'Massive Hit' From Low Investment Return (BBG)
  • Mitsui Sees First Loss Since 1947 Amid $2 Billion Writedown (Bloomberg)
  • Credit Suisse CEO Blindsided as Bank Added to Risky Positions (BBG)
  • Scramble for oil storage extends, suggesting excess has room to run (Reuters)
  • Helicopter Money Takes Flight as Latest Drastic Monetary Idea (BBG)
  • Frantic Phone Call Failed to Halt China-Indonesia Sea Spat (BBG)
  • The New Leucadia Is No Longer Lovable (WSJ)
  • Credit Suisse, the Jailed Banker and an Oligarch's Missing Money (BBG)
  • PetroChina Income Drops to '99 Low on $3.8 Billion Writedown (BBG)
  • Trump Says Brussels Attacks Show Lack of Assimilation in Europe (BBG)
  • Ford Says It Could Make Money If U.S. Auto Sales Fell 30% (BBG)
  • Google's cloud business nabs Home Depot as client (Reuters)

 

Overnight Media Digest

WSJ

 The Islamic State claimed responsibility for Tuesday's explosions at the Brussels airport and on a subway train in the city, which killed more than 30 people. Investigators are examining whether the militant network that carried out last year's Paris attacks was also behind the Brussels bombings, the deadliest attacks in Belgian history. (http://on.wsj.com/1U3UdHv)

- Oracle Corp is suing Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co over its partnership with Terix Computer Co, a third-party seller of support for the Solaris operating system.(http://on.wsj.com/1pHqtEa)

- Soccer legend Franz Beckenbauer was one of six current or former German federation officials placed under formal investigation by FIFA's Ethics Committee on Tuesday for alleged corruption in securing the hosting rights to the 2006 World Cup. (http://on.wsj.com/1WHe5y0)

- Amazon.com Inc filed suit against a longtime logistics and supply chain executive recently hired by rival Target Corp over what it said was a violation of a noncompete agreement. (http://on.wsj.com/1LDTzxN)

- Raymond Moore, the CEO and director of the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, has resigned after making disparaging comments about women's tennis that were widely condemned by current players and past champions. (http://on.wsj.com/1T5RiNj)

 

FT

Britain's telecoms regulator said BT Group Plc, the owner of the biggest fixed-line network, must install business lines more quickly and significantly reduce the wholesale prices it charges rivals for the lines.

Spain's Abengoa said on Tuesday it would receive 137 million euros in emergency loans from creditors, days ahead of a court hearing that it hopes will give the renewable energy company more time to persuade investors to agree to restructuring proposals.

British finance minister George Osborne said on Tuesday he had made "a mistake" in trying to cut disability benefit but defended his economic record insisting that "without sound public finances there is no social justice"

 

NYT

- The Food and Drug Administration said it required new warning labels for certain types of opioid painkillers, a step that it said would help ease an epidemic of abuse in the United States. (http://nyti.ms/1ZqQO5f)

- Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc said it had made a final payment of 1.19 billion pounds ($1.69 billion) to the British government, fulfilling a condition of its bailout package that gave the government priority for dividend payments. (http://nyti.ms/1ZqR2cq)

- Debt-laden Puerto Rico went toe to toe with its creditors at the Supreme Court, arguing that it has been wrongly locked out of the bankruptcy courts, the only place it can reasonably expect to restructure its crushing debt. (http://nyti.ms/1ZqResg)

- Rohit Bansal, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc banker who pleaded guilty to taking confidential documents from a source inside the Fede

 

Canada

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

** The Liberal government has frozen the small business tax rate, despite an election promise to reduce it over the next three years. In the budget Tuesday, Finance Minister Bill Morneau indicated the tax rate on businesses earning less than C$500,000 ($382,263) a year will remain at 10.5 percent. (http://bit.ly/1WHDVlH)

** The federal Liberals say they will inject more than C$2.3-billion into a series of affordable-housing measures, including a new program to offer low-cost loans to developers to build as many as 10,000 rental units. (http://bit.ly/1q1Jcdi)

** The Canadian Broadcasting Corp will get a C$150-million boost to its bottom line after enduring years of deep cuts, as Tuesday's federal budget earmarked cash to help drive the public broadcaster's continuing shift to digital platforms. (http://bit.ly/1RkhwHn)

NATIONAL POST

** The Liberal government claims its new two-phase infrastructure spending program will boost Canada's GDP by 0.2 percent this year and 0.4 percent next year. Phase one consists of C$11.9 billion for a mix of "green," social and transit projects over the next two years. Phase two will focus on the construction of projects over the next eight years that will go "hand in hand with the transition to a low-carbon economy," the government said. (http://bit.ly/1RySKso)

** Facebook, the world's most popular mobile app, is dropping its support of the BlackBerry and BBOS platforms. BlackBerry App Ecosystem lead Lou Gazzola announced the change in a blog post, saying Facebook would discontinue support of their essential APIs for BlackBerry. (http://bit.ly/1VDDg6h)

** The makers of French's ketchup is getting ready to announce plans to begin bottling some of it in Ontario. The announcement follows an uproar over the past two weeks that triggered a consumer movement to buy French's ketchup, which contains tomatoes grown and processed in Leamington. That forced one of the largest grocery chains in the country to backtrack on an announcement it would stop stocking the product, after claiming low sales. (http://bit.ly/1U7YauL)

Britain

The Times

- Police patrols have been increased at airports, railway stations, ports and at events and tourist attractions across Britain after the attacks in Brussels. (http://thetim.es/1pHpRy6)

- The economic slowdown will cost 300 jobs at Wolseley Plc as Britain's largest plumber's merchant responds to an unexpected winter downturn by closing 25 branches nationwide. (http://thetim.es/1o53Ibp)

The Guardian

- Darren Topp, British Home Stores chief executive, will address a meeting at Novotel London West in Hammersmith in a bid to persuade landlords, suppliers and others who have registered a claim to give the struggling retailer another chance to stay on the high street. (http://bit.ly/1o54tBl)

- The metals tycoon Sanjeev Gupta has vowed to take on the "herculean task" of reviving the British steel industry, as his Liberty House firm closes in on a deal to save two Scottish steel mills. (http://bit.ly/1o54PI9)

The Telegraph

- Vodafone Group Plc's consumer director Cindy Rose has quit after less than three years at the company, despite having been hired partly to launch a pay-TV service that has yet to materialise. (http://bit.ly/1o553im)

Sky News

- Polestar Corp, printer of some of UK's best-selling magazines including Radio Times and Private Eye, has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers to carry out a pre-pack administration following months of uncertainty about its future. (http://bit.ly/1o53j8L)

- French power firm Electricite de France SA is expected to announce its decision on the controversial British Hinkley Point nuclear power plant in early May, France's economy minister Emmanuel Macron said. (http://bit.ly/1o5571B)

The Independent

- The price of oil has fallen since the attacks in Brussels on Tuesday morning as investors look to put their money into so-called save-haven assets like gold and government bonds. (http://ind.pn/1o55Gsh)

- UK finance minister George Osborne is a whisker away from missing his target to cut the budget deficit in the current financial year, 2015/16. Public sector borrowing, excluding borrowing by publicly owned banks, fell 14 billion pounds ($19.91 billion) in the 11 months to February compared to the same period a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said. (http://ind.pn/1WGVkL7)