Frontrunning: October 19

  • China third quarter GDP grows 6.7 percent as expected as construction booms, debt rises (Reuters)
  • China Growing at 6.7% Opens Window to Deliver Debt-Curb Vow (BBG)
  • U.S. expects Islamic State to wield chemical weapons in Mosul fight (Reuters)
  • Iraq urges U.S.-led coalition to prevent Islamic State escape to Syria (Reuters)
  • Fox national poll shows Clinton leading by six points (Hill)
  • Trump’s appeal for poll monitors draws tepid response from some supporters (Reuters)
  • Clinton camp asks for change to handshake protocol at final debate(The Hill)
  • The Video Defense About Her Emails Hillary Clinton Never Gave (NPR)
  • EU believes free trade deal with U.S. won’t be completed this year (Reuters)
  • Hedge Fund Launches Dwindle to 16-Year Low as Returns Lag (BBG)
  • How Yuan-Lending Curves and Ice Hockey Are Related (WSJ)
  • ECB urges EU to curb virtual money on fear of losing control (Reuters)
  • Paul Volcker: Breaking Up Big Banks Wouldn’t Help (WSJ)
  • Philippine police van drives at protesters to break up anti-U.S. demo (Reuters)
  • Why 27 Million Are Still Uninsured Under Obamacare (BBG)
  • One of China’s Poorest Provinces Puts Nation on Track to Beat 6.5% Growth (BBG)
  • Morgan Stanley profit jumps 61.7 percent on trading comeback (Reuters)
  • Halliburton posts surprise profit as expenses fall (Reuters)
  • Saudi has little room to slow austerity drive, IMF says (Reuters)
  • A Florida Orthodontist’s FOIA-Fueled, Anti-Clinton Crusade (BBG)
  • Salesforce’s M&A Target List Excluded Twitter (WSJ)
  • Look Who’s Driving the U.S. Housing Market (BBG)
  • How One Goldman Sachs Trader Made More Than $100 Million (WSJ)
  • Broken Indicators Mean It’s Growing Harder to Spot Troubles in the Market (BBG)

 

Overnight Media Digest

WSJ

– Months before Salesforce.com Inc considered buying Twitter Inc, the company was looking at more than a dozen acquisition targets that didn’t include the social media giant, according to an internal presentation for its board members. http://on.wsj.com/2dpv7Qo

– Ecuador’s decision to pull the plug on Julian Assange’s internet connection has highlighted the isolation of WikiLeaks, the organization he founded to expose the inner workings of governments and other powerful institutions. http://on.wsj.com/2efOui6

– U.S. labor unions are plowing money into the 2016 elections at an unprecedented rate, largely in an effort to help elect Hillary Clinton and give Democrats a majority in the Senate. http://on.wsj.com/2ejis31

– Representatives of Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio contacted the Justice Department in July immediately after the government alleged some money embezzled from a Malaysian government fund financed his film “The Wolf of Wall Street,” his spokesman said Tuesday. http://on.wsj.com/2ejiPui

– Wells Fargo & Co. on Tuesday delayed selling a 10-year bond after S&P Global Ratings revised the outlook on its credit rating to negative from stable, a person familiar with the matter said. http://on.wsj.com/2ejiZlz

– The third and final presidential debate Wednesday presents Republican nominee Donald Trump with a last chance to address tens of millions of voters and recast a race in which polls show his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, is pulling away. http://on.wsj.com/2ejkS1N

– Private-equity firm Metropoulos & Co, which brought Hostess Brands out of liquidation three years ago, is the first outside investor in Utz Quality Foods Inc which makes several brands of potato chips, pretzels and cheese snacks. http://on.wsj.com/2ejhQue

 

FT

– BHP Billiton said its iron ore output dropped 6 percent in this quarter. Its Samarco mine in Brazil remains suspended after a spill that killed 19 people.

– Former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said that he would vote against the premier’s constitutional reforms in the December referendum.

– Australia’s biggest bookmakers Tabcorp and Tatts Group said they would merge giving a combined equity value of a$11.3 billion. Existing Tabcorp shareholders will own about 42 per cent of the combined company and Tatts shareholders will own the rest.

– John Stumpf resigned as a board director at both Chevron and Target in a latest setback for Stumpf after stepping down as CEO and Chairman of Wells Fargo last week.

 

NYT

– In a leadership transition at the top of the music industry, Sony Music announced on Tuesday that Rob Stringer would take over next year as chief executive, while Doug Morris, the company’s chief since 2011, would become chairman. http://nyti.ms/2e0c6q8

– Disruptive Technology Advisers plans to announce on Wednesday that it has hired two veteran financial executives – Greg Kennedy, most recently of UBS, and Robert Williams Jr., a onetime president of Washington Mutual – as senior executives. http://nyti.ms/2dN8y9e

– BlackRock Inc, the world’s largest publicly traded money manager, reported on Tuesday a slight increase in its earnings for the third quarter, thanks to strong flows into its exchange-traded funds business. The quarter also represented a milestone of sorts for BlackRock’s chief executive, Laurence D. Fink, as assets under management, the most important gauge of a money manager’s success, passed the $5 trillion mark. http://nyti.ms/2erdu3i

– Yahoo Inc said on Tuesday that it had gained a slight amount of traffic since its Sept. 22 disclosure that about 500 million accounts had been hacked. That appears to contradict Verizon’s assertion last week that the damage to Yahoo’s business from the breach could have been severe enough to set off a provision in the sale agreement that would allow Verizon to reopen the deal. http://nyti.ms/2egsMuh

– Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, is expected to select Lisa Zornberg as the new head of his criminal division, according to two people briefed on the plans. Zornberg, currently a white-collar criminal defense lawyer, previously spent more than a decade in the United States attorney’s office, where her effective handling of a mob-related case led The Village Voice to call her “a tiny tornado of a prosecutor.” http://nyti.ms/2eDEIJl

 

Canada

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

** The Liberal government plans to re-introduce incentives for home-energy retrofits and commit to phased-in changes to the national building code that will eventually require all homes to be virtually energy self-sufficient. (http://bit.ly/2dmRyKK)

** The head of Canada’s housing agency says Ottawa’s new standard for gauging whether borrowers can handle higher interest rates to buy homes is necessary to prevent damaging the broader economy. (http://bit.ly/2dmTVgy)

** Suncor Energy Inc is selling another stake in an oil-storage terminal to an Alberta First Nation as the company seeks stronger ties with aboriginal groups in the northern oil-sands region. (http://bit.ly/2dmTu64)

NATIONAL POST

** Ontario Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault on Tuesday defended the fact that most of nearly $12 million spent on a plan to offer discounts to low-income electricity customers went to consultants and advertising. (http://bit.ly/2dmZ34c)

** Michael Chong, a Conservative Member of Parliament, is calling for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp and its securitization business to be privatized – something former finance minister Jim Flaherty once mused about. (http://bit.ly/2dmU3wB)

 

Britain

The Times

– Tesco’s fightback has gained further ground, with industry figures showing that Britain’s biggest grocer has won market share for the first time in five years. http://bit.ly/2dlVcV3

– The Financial Conduct Authority has been told to say when it will publish its delayed report into the abuse of distressed companies by the Royal Bank of Scotland. http://bit.ly/2dlVuv7

The Guardian

– William Hill Plc and its Canadian suitor Amaya Inc have ended talks over a potential 4.6 billion pound (C$7.2 billion) merger following opposition from some of the UK bookmakers’ major shareholders. http://bit.ly/2dlVeww

– Ryanair Holdings Plc has said its full-year profits will be lower than expected because of the sharp drop in the value of the pound since the Brexit vote in June. http://bit.ly/2dlVTxP

The Telegraph

– Internet group Yahoo Inc’s profits increased at a healthy pace in the third quarter, defying worries over its enormous data leak scandal which hit the firm last month. http://bit.ly/2dlVpIc

– The private equity group SVG has succumbed to HarbourVest’s advances, after more than a month of rival bids and rows over the price and structure of a deal. http://bit.ly/2ejmRDO

Sky News

– The German-owned rail freight company DB Cargo said “unprecedented challenges” facing the industry, such as the declines in steel and coal, meant it was repositioning its business and proposing redundancies – around 30 percent of its UK workforce. http://bit.ly/2dlX0gS

– Burberry Group Plc had reported a 3 percent fall in group sales in the first three months, having previously warned of a “challenging” market for luxury goods. http://bit.ly/2dlYCYh

The Independent

– German airline Lufthansa has banned Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 mobile phones from all of its flights with immediate effect. http://ind.pn/2dlWsYA

– Burberry Group Plc returned to growth last quarter, helped by a 125 million pound boost from the falling pound, but its shares slumped as much as 9 percent as concerns about growth in key Asian markets spooked investors. http://ind.pn/2dlWDDe

 

via http://ift.tt/2ekPeRY Tyler Durden

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