- Global Stocks Slip Following Fed’s Cautious Tone (WSJ)
- Oil rallies towards $41, near 2016 high, on producer meeting (Reuters)
- Hamptons luxury home sales soften as Wall Street weakness takes a toll (Reuters)
- Obama picks centrist high court nominee; Republicans unmoved (Reuters)
- Allies See Challenges for Hillary Clinton in a General Election Campaign (WSJ)
- China’s Looming Currency Crisis (WSJ)
- China's biggest metals trader under pressure to cut staff amid reforms (BBG)
- Oil Investors See $7.4 Billion Vanish as Dividends Are Targeted (BBG)
- Bond Vigilantes So Yesterday as Budget Brigade Seeks More Debt (BBG)
- Austria’s highest court proclaims asylum cap illegal (New Europe)
- Wall Street's Awful Quarter Is Hitting Goldman Sachs, Too (BBG)
- SEC Signals It Could Curb Use of Adjusted Earnings Figures (WSJ)
- Boom Times for Fracking's Toxic Wastewater Come to a Shaky End (BBG)
- Shell, Saudi Aramco Plan to Break Up Motiva Partnership (WSJ)
- China Mobile 2015 Profit Misses Estimates, Shares Decline (BBG)
- China's Exporters Struggle as Yuan Swings Disrupt Business (BBG)
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
- William Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management LP is selling down his biggest investment as a disastrous bet on Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc tears a hole in its portfolio. The activist investor said his hedge fund sold 20 million shares in Mondelez International Inc after the market closed, which would yield $834 million at current prices. (http://on.wsj.com/1S5mN84)
- Republicans on Wednesday didn't budge in their refusal to consider Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama's choice for the Supreme Court, before this fall's elections. Following this, the GOP's strategy could shift dramatically. (http://on.wsj.com/1S5mQAC)
- It is just the start of the U.S. mosquito season, but companies that make bug repellent are already running factories near capacity as they anticipate surging demand in response to the spread of the Zika virus. (http://on.wsj.com/1S5nkGQ)
- Peabody Energy Corp warned Wednesday that it could go bankrupt, signaling the end of an era for listed U.S. corporate coal companies, even as their mines continue to fuel a big chunk of the country's power stations. (http://on.wsj.com/1S5mV7q)
- A sales consultant who said he paid bribes on behalf of aircraft maker Embraer SA told Brazilian prosecutors that he believes the company's top managers, including Chief Executive Frederico Curado, knew of the illicit payments, which were tied to the sale of military aircraft to the Dominican Republic. (http://on.wsj.com/1S5n2zY)
- Novartis AG has faced a problem in getting doctors to prescribe its heart-failure pill, Entresto, since winning regulatory approval for it in July. The drug had $21 million in sales in the six months following its launch, a fraction of the $126 million expected by industry analysts. (http://on.wsj.com/1S5na2r)
FT
* British Finance Minister George Osborne handed tax sweeteners to voters and small businesses but warned the economy would grow more slowly than previously forecast.
* The U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates unchanged and cut back its interest rate forecasts to two quarter-point rises this year.
* The European Union and Turkey are set to collide over a refugee deal after Donald Tusk, the European Council president, backed Cyprus' demands to weaken a promise to unfreeze parts of Turkey's EU membership negotiations.
NYT
- House lawmakers tangled on Wednesday with Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, accusing it of overstepping its bounds in overseeing areas as various as payday loans, mandatory arbitration clauses and discrimination in the auto market. (http://nyti.ms/1SUR2ke)
- Founders Fund, the venture capital firm co-founded by the billionaire Peter Thiel, has raised more than $1 billion for its latest investment fund, a person with knowledge of the matter said Wednesday. (http://nyti.ms/1SUR6k8)
- Pershing Square Capital Management, William Ackman's $12 billion hedge fund, sold 20 million shares in food and beverage company Mondelez International Inc. (http://nyti.ms/1SURb7b)
- In a budget meant to appeal to voters before a looming referendum, Britain's chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, on Wednesday mainly offered tax breaks, while warning the public against the risks of opting to quit the European Union. (http://nyti.ms/1SURgba)
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** The federal government has brought in advisers, including an American investment bank, to help analyze the feasibility of a $1 billion aid package to aerospace giant Bombardier Inc . (http://bit.ly/1ppah9J)
** After a lengthy regulatory process, a final decision on Pacific NorthWest LNG's proposed liquefied natural gas export terminal on British Columbia's coast looks set to be referred to the federal cabinet because of its impact on Canada's greenhouse gas emissions. (http://bit.ly/1R0aBoU)
NATIONAL POST
** The former CEO of a Canadian firm that specialized in the treatment of contaminated soil was convicted on Wednesday of conspiring to pay kickbacks and committing major fraud against the United States, the U.S. Department of Justice said. (http://bit.ly/1UBXIDH)
** As the dust settled from Tuesday's devastating 50 percent selloff in Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc's shares, analysts scrambled to reassess the prospects for the company's stock going forward. And if they were divided before, they are even more so now. (http://bit.ly/1Pdv0CD)
** Canada's exporters appear to be finally delivering the goods. Not only are the country's manufacturers revving up sales volume, but they are doing it in record numbers, according to the latest numbers for January - with food products, vehicles and auto parts driving much of the gain. (http://bit.ly/1pLhtxi)
Britain
The Times
The U.S. Federal Reserve surprised markets on Wednesday by scaling back expectations on the number of rate rises this year from four to two as it highlighted global risks to the U.S. economy. (http://thetim.es/22nvnE3)
Barclays is being sued by the former boss of Tullett Prebon, Terry Smith, over accusations that the bank failed to transfer hundreds of thousands pounds of the financier's money into his investment fund so that he missed out on a more than doubling in its value.(http://thetim.es/1VdJb1E)
The Guardian
British finance minister George Osborne's attempt to woo voters ahead of Britain's EU referendum has come under intense scrutiny after he used a range of accounting devices to disguise a looming 56 billion pound ($79.78 billion) "black hole" in the government's finances and deliver a promised surplus by the end of the decade.(http://bit.ly/1RloG3p)
Supermarket chain Asda has confirmed plans to cut up to 500 jobs in stores and 250 at its head office in Leeds. (http://bit.ly/1RlfIDq)
The Telegraph
U.S.-based Peabody Energy is on the verge of bankruptcy as the commodity crash claims its biggest victim, crippled by fierce competition from cheap gas and a radical policy shift by China. (http://bit.ly/1WrKSqX)
Drug maker Vectura is buying peer Skyepharma in a 441 million pound ($628.29 million) deal. (http://bit.ly/1QZ9sOk)
Sky News
British taxpayers could lose more than 20 billion pounds($28.49 billion) if George Osborne presses ahead with the sale of the government's remaining stake in Royal Bank of Scotland, according to an official forecast published on Wednesday. (http://bit.ly/1pp1Wmz)
NS Intressenter is in advanced discussions about acquiring PriceRunner from the American internet tycoon Barry Diller, and Wall Street sources say a deal worth close to $100 million could be announced within days, according to Sky News.(http://bit.ly/1RnwtaN)
The Independent
London Stock Exchange has agreed its 21.6 billion pounds ($30.77 billion) merger with Deutsche Boerse, saying the combination would create the largest financial exchange business in the world, able to counter U.S. rivals which could still try to break up their party. (http://ind.pn/1UAMC1M)