You are here

Frontrunning: March 27

  • Markets Slide on Doubts that Trump Can Deliver (BBG)
  • Dollar hits four-month low as Trump trade deflates (Reuters)
  • These Charts Show Alarm Bells Ringing on Trump Trade (BBG)
  • White House may court Democrats on tax reform (Reuters)
  • Republicans Could Have Another Fight Over Tax Overhaul (WSJ)
  • 'Religious left' emerging as U.S. political force in Trump era (Reuters)
  • Democrats Weigh Next Steps on Gorsuch Nomination (WSJ)
  • Iraq Military Rejects Claim U.S. Airstrike Killed Civilians (WSJ)
  • Deutsche Bank in Bind Over How to Modify $300 Million Trump Debt (BBG)
  • ‘Project Scalpel’: Behind Big Banks’ Plan to Save $2 Billion (WSJ)
  • Trump to sign order on Tuesday easing energy regulations: officials (Reuters)
  • United Airlines bars teenage girls in leggings from flight (Reuters)
  • Rich Chinese Race to Apply for a U.S. Golden Visa (BBG)
  • Huishan Had Emergency Creditor Meeting Before Rout, Lender Says (BBG)
  • France's Le Pen says the EU 'will die', globalists to be defeated (Reuters)
  • Shell and Anadarko mull clean break from Permian venture (Reuters)
  • How a Battle Over Fish Could Batter Brexit Talks (BBG)
  • U.S. tourist killed in London would not have borne ill feelings toward attacker (Reuters)
  • High-Speed Trading Behind Your Amazon Purchase (WSJ)
  • Tesla Model 3 Ramp Up Aims to Crush BMW and Mercedes (BBG)
  • Toshiba shares rise after report Westinghouse may file bankruptcy Tuesday (Reuters)
  • Kremlin rejects U.S., EU calls to free detained opposition protesters (Reuters)
  • Hedge Funds Are Training Their Computers to Think Like You (BBG)
  • China state firms eye land around Panama Canal: waterway authority (Reuters)
  • EU antitrust regulators clear $130 billion Dow, DuPont merger (Reuters)
  • China Southern in talks over American Airlines tie-up (Reuters)

 

Overnight Media Digest

WSJ

- South Korean prosecutors said they would seek an arrest warrant for former President Park Geun-hye, just 17 days after she was removed from office as part of a wide-ranging political scandal that caused her to be impeached. http://on.wsj.com/2olCJJw

- Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of cities across Russia on Sunday to protest official corruption in the most significant challenge to President Vladimir Putin in years. Sunday's marches were called by leading opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who was detained during the protest in Moscow. http://on.wsj.com/2nXYUsS

- The Iraqi military said Sunday a blast that killed scores of civilians in western Mosul was triggered by an Islamic State booby trap, contradicting local officials and residents who claimed a U.S.-led coalition airstrike caused the deaths. http://on.wsj.com/2nUJeGp

- The White House sent a warning shot to congressional Republicans that it may increase its outreach to Democrats if it can't get the support of hard-line conservatives, a potential shift in legislative strategy that could affect drug prices, the future of a tax overhaul and budgetary priorities. http://on.wsj.com/2nD0GPv

- Hollywood studios are preparing to upend decades of tradition by releasing movies at home less than 45 days after they debut on the big screen, according to people with knowledge of their plans, a goal they have pursued unsuccessfully for years. http://on.wsj.com/2mEg2Ur

- Barclaycard is shedding a chunk of its subprime card balances, in a deal that reflects diverging views in the card industry about the future of the U.S. economy and the wisdom of wagering on risky borrowers. The credit-card issuer sold $1.6 billion of credit-card balances owed by mostly near-prime and subprime borrowers to privately held personal-loan firm Credit Shop Inc. http://on.wsj.com/2nDIaGo

 

FT

- Advertisers are demanding prime space from Google at discounted prices rates after it was came to light that many brands had appeared next to extremist content on YouTube. Group M's, a part of WPP, Chief Digital Officer Rob Norman said he has been in “constant dialogue with Google” suggesting “a range of actions they may take to give greater comfort and security” to advertisers.

- Britain’s leading banks Standard Chartered and Barclays have drawn ire from some big shareholders over decisions to lower hurdles for long-term bonuses for their bosses, in the latest conflict with investors over executive pay. Some leading investors in Standard Chartered and Barclays object to plans to cut the profit triggers for long-term incentive plans to levels below the banks' own stated targets.

- Hurricane Energy has made oil discovery west of the Shetland Islands barely days after Royal Dutch Shell and BP won exploration licences in an area the UK is counting on to breathe new life into its struggling oil and gas industry. The company is expected to announce that initial data from its Halifax well indicates the presence of a 1km-deep oil column and it appears to be part of “a single large hydrocarbon accumulation” connected to the its Lancaster field.

- Brussels is considering publishing its main negotiating positions in Brexit talks, adopting a policy of full transparency. UK is preparing to trigger the Article 50 divorce clause Wednesday and Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, is advocating an “open” style similar to the bloc’s conduct in US-EU trade negotiations. This move could increase pressure on May to reveal more of UK strategy in further talks.

 

NYT

- Illinois legislators are considering a "right to know" bill that would let consumers find out what information about them is collected by companies like Google and Facebook, and what kinds of businesses they share it with. Such a right, which European consumers already have, has been a longtime goal of privacy advocates. http://nyti.ms/2nYcYTo

- Even after hundreds of companies decided to block their advertisements from running on Breitbart News, the alt-right website closely tied to U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, their advertisements have appeared on the site anyway, another example of how little control companies often have over where their ads are seen online. http://nyti.ms/2mGeV6x

- Uber said it was suspending the testing of its self-driving vehicles, a day after one of the vehicles was involved in a collision in Tempe, Arizona. http://nyti.ms/2n5keJa

 

Canada

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

** Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has convened a meeting of senior auto sector executives to make sure the government and the industry are on the same page amid the looming renegotiation of the North American free-trade agreement. https://tgam.ca/2myNz2v

** China's new envoy says Beijing is seeking unfettered access for Chinese state-owned firms to all key sectors of the Canadian economy during free-trade talks now under way with Ottawa - including an end to restrictions barring these enterprises from investing in the oil sands. https://tgam.ca/2myOU9h

** Ottawa's plan to end tax allowances for oil firms seeking to drill new wells is riling the energy sector - especially small and medium-sized producers who have already been hit hard by the oil-price drop and increasing competition from the United States. https://tgam.ca/2mys81b

NATIONAL POST

** The U.S. State Department is expected to approve TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline as early as Friday, eliminating a crucial hurdle for the project after years of political wrangling. http://bit.ly/2myFBGC

** Investors at two of Canada's biggest banks, Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank, will vote soon on whether shareholders with smaller holdings should have a bigger voice when choosing directors for the board — a move that investor advocates say would, if successful, be a big step towards "shareholder democracy". http://bit.ly/2myA9Ud

** The government of Canada will play the role of venture capitalist and booster to clean technology companies with billions of dollars in funding and outright share purchases budgeted over the next several years. http://bit.ly/2myBudk

 

Britain

The Times

- Hurricane Energy has made another oil discovery near the Shetland Islands, bolstering hopes that it may have the biggest find in British waters this century. The Surrey-based oil company is expected to announce today that surveys of its Halifax well in an area off the west of the Shetland Islands have identified a “kilometre-deep oil column” linked to its existing Lancaster find. http://bit.ly/2n89A4h

- OPEC ministers are to consider extending their agreement to curb supplies for a further six months, it said yesterday as it reported high levels of compliance with the deal to date. A committee of OPEC and non-OPEC ministers met in Kuwait to monitor compliance with the November accord, under which the cartel and other countries, including Russia, agreed to cut output by a combined 1.8 million barrels per day for the first six months of 2017. http://bit.ly/2n7ZyzX

The Guardian

- British Prime Minister Theresa May will meet Nicola Sturgeon in Scotland on Monday at the start of the week in which she will trigger Britain’s departure from the EU, and argue that the four nations of the UK represent an “unstoppable force”. May is visiting Scotland as part of a tour of all four UK nations before she formally triggers Brexit, starting the two-year EU withdrawal process. http://bit.ly/2n80MeF

- Talks aimed at restoring Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government have broken down after Sinn Féin said that the party would not be nominating Michelle O’Neill, its leader in Northern Ireland, for the post of deputy first minister. An option for the British and Irish governments who are overseeing the talks would be to hold fresh elections just weeks after the previous electoral contest in March. Another option would be to impose direct rule on the region from Westminster. http://bit.ly/2n84BR6

The Telegraph

- US shared offices company WeWork will almost double its space in London this year, as it launches a 1.2 million pound ($1.50 million) award scheme to back UK start-ups. It is launching an award scheme for companies at three stages: those in “incubation” stage with a specific project needing research and development funding; those wanting to launch an existing business; and companies who want to scale up their activities. http://bit.ly/2n89fyx

- Investments giant Old Mutual is selling a $446 million stake in its asset management arm in the latest stage of its plan to split itself up into four independent companies. The finance firm is cutting its stake in OM Asset Management in half, losing its majority position by selling down from a 50.8 percent shareholding to 25.9 percent. http://bit.ly/2n8dQAC

Sky News

- Supermarkets are cutting fuel prices just days after official figures showed sharp increases at the pumps had helped pushed inflation to a three-and-a-half year high. Tesco , Britain's biggest supermarket, said it was cutting the cost of petrol and diesel by 2 pence per litre at all of its petrol stations. The cuts come after a barrel of Brent crude slipped below $50 this week for the first time since November. Sainsbury's and Asda also said they were cutting prices by 2 pence a litre. http://bit.ly/2n866yP

- EasyJet will announce within weeks the location of a new European base as Britain's airline industry grapples with the potential consequences of a 'hard Brexit'. The low-cost carrier's board has pencilled in an April decision on the location of a new air operator's certificate (AOC), which will allow it to continue flying between EU member states. The decision will effectively entail the establishment of a new legal headquarters for easyJet. http://bit.ly/2n7VXSv

The Independent

- Theresa May’s suggestion that no Brexit deal was better than a bad deal risked condemning UK manufacturing to a “painful and costly” exit from the EU, an employers’ body EEF has warned. It said that losing access to the single market and the customs union would be “simply unacceptable”. Without a favourable trade deal, average tariffs for manufacturing exports to the EU could be expected to increase by approximately 5.3 per cent, the body said. http://ind.pn/2n8eq1g

- Cadbury will consider shrinking the size of its products or raising its prices after Brexit, the company has said. Cadbury would follow other food manufacturers in using an industry tactic known as “shrinkflation” to offset the cost of Brexit. http://ind.pn/2n8ajSX