You are here

Frontrunning: May 12

  • Brazil's Rousseff undone by hubris, economic missteps (Reuters)
  • Trump’s Early Backers on Capitol Hill See Their Profile Raised (WSJ)
  • Oil prices rise toward six-month high, tightening supply (Reuters)
  • EIA says outlook for oil brightens as output disruptions erode surplus (Reuters)
  • Investors Fleeing $9 Trillion of Negative Yields Fuel Bond Binge (BBG)
  • Beaten-Up Hedge Fund Billionaires Reminisce About 'Golden Age' (BBG)
  • Hong Kong first-quarter economic growth likely weakest in 4 years (Reuters)
  • Gold Fund Buying Frenzy Spurs Demand to Second-Highest Ever (BBG)
  • Voters, lawmakers resist French government over labor reform (Reuters)
  • Blackstone Is Pulling the Plug on Online Consumer Loans (BBG)
  • Theranos Executive Sunny Balwani to Depart Amid Regulatory Probes (WSJ)
  • Glencore hires bulk of Noble’s London gasoline team (FT)
  • Noble Group Secures $3 Billion in Financing (WSJ)
  • Wall Street's Dealmaking Goes From Boom to Bust in a Few Months (BBG)
  • Fighting erupts north of Aleppo as ceasefire expires (Reuters)
  • Turkish artillery, U.S.-led coalition jets pound Islamic State in Syria (Reuters)
  • Nissan taking $2.2 billion controlling stake in scandal-hit Mitsubishi Motors (Reuters)

 

Overnight Media Digest

WSJ

- Three years after a fertilizer plant blew up in central Texas, killing 15 people, injuring hundreds and nearly wiping the tiny community of West off the map, federal officials said the fire that caused the blast had been set on purpose, in a criminal act. (http://on.wsj.com/1WraZlk)

- Relatives of an unarmed black man killed by a North Charleston police officer last year said they hope new federal civil-rights and obstruction charges against the cop would help bring an end to violent police misconduct. (http://on.wsj.com/1Wrb2O7)

- Defense Secretary Ash Carter said he has removed leaders of the innovation office, opened last August in Silicon Valley, replacing them with executives who have worked at top tech firms, including Apple Inc and the Google arm of Alphabet Inc (http://on.wsj.com/1Wrba0d)

- Prince's death last month from a possible opioid overdose highlights the challenge for health officials using the overdose-reversal medication naloxone: getting people saved from overdoses into addiction treatment. (http://on.wsj.com/1WrbJa5)

 

FT

* Switzerland-based Glencore has hired gasoline traders from Hong Kong-based commodity house Noble Group , making it second time in three months after it previously hired Noble's liquefied natural gas traders in February.

* The government is planning to protect British Steel pension fund and cut 2.5 billion pounds ($3.61 billion) off its long-term liabilities in a bid to make Tata Steel UK operations more attractive to bidders.

* UK PM David Cameron has announced a transparency proposal under which the foreign companies, with more than 100,000 UK properties, will have to reveal their true owners.

* The Treasury has started contingency planning for the impact on Britain's financial stability in the event of a vote to leave the EU, Chancellor George Osborne told MPs on Wednesday.

 

NYT

- Several hospitals say nothing has changed since Valeant vowed to offer hospitals breaks of as much as 30 percent on two of its expensive heart drugs - Nitropress and Isuprel.(http://nyti.ms/21YAASa)

- Companies either curbed production or shut down completely when the blaze struck Fort McMurray, Alberta, in an economic blow to the region with production dropping by a million barrels a day, roughly 40 percent of Alberta's output. (http://nyti.ms/1Nra0OS)

- Nissan is in talks to acquire a major stake in Mitsubishi Motors to shield Mitsubishi from the impact of a broadening fuel-economy cheating scandal. (http://nyti.ms/1VTXCK0)

- In the latest attempt to restore confidence in its business, embattled Silicon Valley blood-testing company Theranos is replacing its chief operating officer and expanding its board, including the addition of a former senior Amgen executive. (http://nyti.ms/1VTRykD)

 

Britain

The Times

* EU antitrust regulators blocked on Wednesday CK Hutchison Holdings' planned 10.3 billion-pound ($14.87-billion) acquisition of O2 from Spain's Telefonica, saying the deal would have led to higher mobile phone prices in Britain. (http://bit.ly/1TAocS4)

* Philip Green and the independent trustee chairman of the BHS pension fund have accused the head of the Pensions Regulator of getting her facts wrong. (http://bit.ly/1UU5LNt)

The Guardian

* The Serious Fraud Office said on Wednesday a court order restricting publicity of the guilty plea of Peter Johnson had been lifted five weeks into the London trial of five other former Barclays bankers on Libor rigging charges. (http://bit.ly/1TAoCb8)

* Leading British construction firms have formally apologised to hundreds of trade unionists for putting them on an illegal blacklist and denying them work. (http://bit.ly/1TAozMH)

The Telegraph

* Heathrow airport has claimed a compromise offer it has made to scrap night flights is "better" than a ban proposed by the Government-appointed Airports Commission, as it battles to secure backing for a controversial third runway. (http://bit.ly/1TAoFUz)

* Governments must step up their fight against corruption or face damaging economic and social consequences that risks tipping more countries into crisis, the head of the International Monetary Fund has warned. (http://bit.ly/1TAoLvf)

Sky News

* The chief executive of Tesco has been awarded an annual bonus of nearly 3 million pounds after Britain's biggest grocer moved back into profit after notching up the biggest loss in its history a year earlier. (http://bit.ly/1TAoJDC)

* Japanese carmaker Nissan told Sky News it would not comment on a claim by Japanese broadcaster NHK that Nissan may invest more than $1.8 billion in its rival Mitsubishi Motors . (http://bit.ly/1TAoKYp)

The Independent

* A Muppet-themed ad by mobile phone provider Three has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority after rival EE complained over its claim to be the "undisputed" most reliable network. (http://ind.pn/1TAoOHu)

* Uber users can now book wheelchair-friendly cars in London for the first time. (http://ind.pn/1TAoPuX)