- Reignited ‘Trump trades’ help world stocks hit 19-month high (Reuters)
- Trump moving forward with border wall, weighs refugee cuts (AP)
- Trump’s ‘America First’ lets China play world leader (Reuters)
- High Tariffs on China, Mexico Wouldn’t Guarantee U.S. Jobs (WSJ)
- Trump warns he’s ready to ‘send in the Feds’ to Chicago (AP)
- How Russia sold its oil jewel: without saying who bought it (Reuters)
- UK PM May says she will publish ‘White Paper’ setting out Brexit plan (Reuters)
- UBS Says Dollar to ‘Roll Over’ Amid Trump Spending, Tax Cuts (BBG)
- Wall Street Is Hiring … in Florida (BBG)
- Beijing’s Anti-Pollution Effort Falls Hard on Villagers Used to Cheap Coal (WSJ)
- ‘1984’ sales soar after Trump claims, ‘alternative facts’ (AP)
- Cisco snaps up AppDynamics for $3.7B right before its IPO (TechCrunch)
- Greece’s Tsipras Insists on ‘Not One Euro More’ of Austerity (BBG)
- Americans Are Flipping Houses Like It’s 2006 (BBG)
- Turkey’s Erdogan plans to act rapidly on constitutional reform bill (Reuters)
- Has the World Reached Peak Productivity? (BBG)
- Novartis Considers Spinning Off Alcon Eye-Care Unit (WSJ)
- Lead levels fall below federal limits in Flint, Michigan: state (Reuters)
- Extremist gunmen storm hotel in Somali capital, 8 killed (AP)
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
– President Donald Trump is set to announce plans to expedite construction of his promised wall along the Mexican border, and was preparing orders banning entry to the U.S. of people from countries deemed risky and suspending the U.S. refugee program. http://on.wsj.com/2jokbZp
– President Donald Trump has culled the candidates to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court to a handful of federal appellate judges admired in conservative circles. http://on.wsj.com/2joaB8R
– Goldman Sachs Group Inc fully vested the holdings of Gary Cohn, sending its former president to the Trump White House with more than $100 million of stock and cash that would otherwise have been locked up for years. http://on.wsj.com/2joaAlz
– Verizon’s fourth-quarter earnings report Tuesday showed that wireless isn’t cutting it either as competition from T-Mobile US and Sprint continues to take its toll. http://on.wsj.com/2joehr7
– Fannie Mae is backing debt from Blackstone Group LP’s investment in single-family homes, offering an important endorsement to Wall Street’s expanding business of owning and renting houses. http://on.wsj.com/2jol97R
– PepsiCo plans to use this year’s Super Bowl to go on the offensive in the beverage industry’s intensifying water war. http://on.wsj.com/2jobqys
– California Governor Jerry Brown on Tuesday swore to protect the state’s liberal policies, underscoring the state’s position as a likely adversary to President Donald Trump’s administration. http://on.wsj.com/2jofleR
– Lockheed Martin Corp. said it expects the next batch of F-35 combat jets to be priced at less than $100 million each, a target that is in line with existing Pentagon plans. http://on.wsj.com/2jo8WjG
– Alphabet’s search giant is facing heightened scrutiny in Europe and the U.S. of a change in policy it made to build more-robust user profiles and target ads better. http://on.wsj.com/2jo9q9o
– Britain’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled Prime Minister Theresa May must seek approval from Parliament before formally triggering the country’ withdrawal from the European Union, potentially complicating her path out of the bloc. http://on.wsj.com/2jofzmd
FT
Italy’s state-owned train operator Trenitalia entered into a partnership with FirstGroup Plc on Tuesday to bid for two new UK rail franchises in its second move in two weeks into the sector.
Oil producer EnQuest Plc has agreed to buy a 25 percent stake in BP Plc’s Magnus oil field and surrounding assets in the North Sea, financed through future returns, as it pursues its strategy of trying to breathe new life into old fields.
HSBC Holdings Plc said on Tuesday it plans to close 62 branches and fire more than 180 employees marking the end of its branch restructuring program in Britain aimed at reducing costs.
Airbus Group SE may cut investment in the UK if it has to bear extra costs as a result of Britain’s exit from the European Union, the company’s Chief Operating Officer Tom Williams told a hearing of the Commons Treasury select committee on the UK’s future relationship with the EU. All the three British industries summoned for the hearing – aerospace, automotive and chemicals – suggested that abandoning the EU single market and customs union risked leaving their industries vulnerable to extra costs and delays that could damage Britain’s competitiveness.
NYT
– President Donald Trump on Wednesday will order the construction of a Mexican border wall to crack down on immigrants and bolster national security. http://nyti.ms/2jPSgAe
– After seven years of fitful declines, the federal budget deficit is projected to swell again, adding nearly $10 trillion to the federal debt over the next 10 years, according to projections from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. http://nyti.ms/2jPSreY
– The current rising star of tech start-ups, the parent company of messaging app Snapchat, is apparently planning to issue shares with no voting rights when it goes public this year. http://nyti.ms/2jPWuaX
– An appeals court in New York on Tuesday reinstated former Goldman Sachs Group Inc programmer Sergey Aleynikov’s conviction in 2015 on a single charge of stealing confidential computer code for Goldman’s high-speed trading business just before leaving to take a job with a hedge fund. http://nyti.ms/2jPNO4j
– In his latest moves to dismantle the legacy of his predecessor, President Donald Trump resurrected the Keystone XL pipeline that had stirred years of debate, and expedited another pipeline in the Dakotas that had become a major flash point for Native Americans. http://nyti.ms/2jPOkzh
– New Formula One Chief Chase Carey said in an interview on Tuesday that he plans an overhaul and to expand its U.S. presence. An American company, Liberty Media Corp, acquired the Formula One series recently. http://nyti.ms/2jPQfUE
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** U.S. President Donald Trump’s order to revive the Keystone XL pipeline was celebrated in Alberta on Tuesday as good news for a slowly healing provincial economy. However, important hurdles remain before TransCanada Corp can actually lay the pipe across two provinces and three states. https://tgam.ca/2kstsgJ
** Aviva Canada is being called out by the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario for its increasingly visible push to sell insurance directly to consumers, as well as through traditional brokers, under the same name brand – an approach its peers have avoided. https://tgam.ca/2ksnyMt
** Canada is talking with a wide range of Asian countries about options for new trade deals after the collapse of the Trans Pacific Partnership. Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said he’s taking stock of Canada’s options, but it is clear many Asian countries are eager to deepen their trade links with Canada. https://tgam.ca/2ksapmA
NATIONAL POST
** Northleaf Capital Partners has closed a C$950 million ($724 million) pooled infrastructure fund, the second to target direct long-term investments in OECD countries. http://bit.ly/2ksjAUk
** The chief executive of Canadian National Railway Co said the Canadian automotive sector could be in the “crosshairs” of any protectionist measures taken by U.S. President Donald Trump, but the railway isn’t overly worried about its own business. http://bit.ly/2kscvD8
** Postmedia Network, Canada’s largest newspaper company and the owner of the National Post, has begun issuing layoff notices as part of a previously announced plan to reduce staffing costs by twenty percent. http://bit.ly/2ksp55b
Britain
The Times
* The Italian state rail company has opened the bidding to operate the trains on the High Speed Two line in what is likely to be the most hotly contested competition in the history of the railways. Trenitalia has said that it will put in a bid to run both HS2 and the west coast main line currently operated by Virgin Trains. http://bit.ly/2juLY8g
* The British government is on track to beat its borrowing target this year. Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that public sector net borrowing, excluding taxpayer-backed banks, was 6.9 billion pounds ($8.65 billion) in December. http://bit.ly/2juNHua
The Guardian
* Citigroup has set out 25 criteria to weigh up which financial centre in the European Union will house the new operation it expects to set up as a result of Brexit. http://bit.ly/2juMB1m
* British Gas has been ordered to pay 9.5 mln pounds by Energy regulator Ofgem for IT failures that landed business customers with incorrect and late bills. http://bit.ly/2juHgag
The Telegraph
* Businesses across the EU are reeling from the “shockwaves” sent by Theresa May when she announced the UK will leave the single market, the CBI’s director general has warned. http://bit.ly/2juHoXz
* HSBC plans to slash almost 400 jobs after it announced more branch closures around the country as well as further cuts to its IT division to help bring down its costs. http://bit.ly/2juxhSI
Sky News
* British engineering group Doncasters will separate its defence operations ahead of a sale to a Chinese company, according to Sky News. http://bit.ly/2juwKjG
* The new boss of Formula One, Chase Carey, has insisted that Bernie Ecclestone was not “deposed” after 40 years running the sport. http://bit.ly/2juVurN
The Independent
* The Chief operating officer of aircraft giant Airbus , Tom Williams, has warned that his company would be “entering a dangerous phase” if the UK’s vote to leave the European Union disrupts the movement of people and products. http://ind.pn/2juIcLO
* The UK aviation industry could “fall off a cliff” in two years’ time because of the decision to leave the European Union, Ryanair CEO, Michael O’Leary has warned. http://ind.pn/2juMZgA
via http://ift.tt/2j4sGu6 Tyler Durden