- Tillerson: Russia Should Give Up ‘Unreliable Partner’ Assad (BBG)
- U.S. tries to line up West, Mideast against Assad (Reuters)
- United Airlines under fire after passenger dragged from plane; officer put on leave (Reuters)
- Tillerson carries Syria stance to Moscow as Trump assumes West’s leadership (Reuters)
- Investors Dump French Assets as Presidential Race Opens Up (WSJ)
- Why Bond Bears Look Poised to Come Out of Hibernation…Again (BBG)
- North Korean ships head home after China orders coal returned (Reuters)
- 142-Year-Old Japanese Giant Toshiba Warns It May Not Survive (BBG)
- Commercial-Property Lending Falls as Investors Pull Back (WSJ)
- Qualcomm hits back at Apple’s lawsuit, accuses iPhone maker of false statements (Reuters)
- U.K. Grocers Secretly Squeeze Customers as Brexit Bites (BBG)
- Chinese cities restrict home sales by buyers to fight speculation (Reuters)
- Pipeline Built to Survive Extremes Can’t Bear Slow Oil Flow (BBG)
- Secret Recordings Play Role in SEC Probe of Insurer AmTrust (WSJ)
- Yuan firms as dollar retreats; Macquarie forecasts no depreciation this year (Reuters)
- U.S. judge finds Texas voter ID law was intended to discriminate (Reuters)
- Sorry America, Your Taxes Aren’t That High (BBG)
- Banks scramble to fix old systems as IT ‘cowboys’ ride into sunset (Reuters)
- London Police Acted Illegally in Russia Cash Seizure, Court Says (BBG)
- Toshiba files earnings without auditor endorsement, delisting risk rises (Reuters)
- Grains piled on runways, parking lots, fields amid global glut (Reuters)
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
– The Trump administration held out the prospect Monday of wider retaliation against Syria and signaled a new push to remove the country’s divisive leader ahead of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s meetings with Damascus’s Russian allies. http://on.wsj.com/2otHpQN
– Activist investor Jana Partners has amassed a nearly 9 percent stake in Whole Foods Market and wants the upscale organic grocer to speed up its turnaround efforts while also exploring a possible sale. http://on.wsj.com/2otWSjJ
– A new report on the sales scandal at Wells Fargo places much of the blame on former CEO John Stumpf and his protégée, Carrie Tolstedt. The board clawed back an additional $75 million of pay from the two former executives. http://on.wsj.com/2otHDY9
– Barclays Chief Executive Jes Staley is under investigation by UK and U.S. regulators after he tried to unmask a whistleblower who criticized his hiring of a longtime associate for a top job. http://on.wsj.com/2otWW2Z
– United Airlines drew widespread criticism for having a passenger forcibly removed from a flight, an incident that threatens to further damage the reputation of an airline recovering from a proxy fight and leadership upheaval. http://on.wsj.com/2otME2N
– A surge in Tesla stock gave it the title of largest U.S. auto maker by market value – a feat that would have seemed highly improbable 13 years ago when the electric-car maker first began tinkering with the idea of making a sports car. http://on.wsj.com/2otI4BL
– A new cancer drug licensed by Eli Lilly was discovered by a six-year-old startup on the outskirts of Shanghai, and derived from the ovary cells of Chinese hamsters. Lilly now is planning to test it on Americans. http://on.wsj.com/2otJtZ6
– Foxconn Technology offered up to $27 billion for Toshiba Corp’s computer-chip business, another bold bid for a pillar of Japan’s high-tech industry. http://on.wsj.com/2otXLc5
FT
*Attempts to break political deadlock in Northern Ireland have failed again ahead of an Easter deadline to restore the province’s power-sharing arrangement between unionists and republicans.
*The National Health service is planning loans from hedge funds to pay for new buildings and equipment because of public spending cuts.
*Britain saw the biggest drop in retail sales, excluding food, in nearly six years in the first quarter of 2017. Retail sales dropped by 0.8 percent in value over the period compared to a year earlier, according to released figures from the British Retail Consortium on Tuesday.
NYT
– Jana Partners, the activist hedge fund founded by Barry Rosenstein, criticized Whole Foods Market’s brand development, customer service and distribution strategy, and nominated four candidates for the company’s board. http://nyti.ms/2otz67G
– The British authorities are investigating Barclays and its American chief executive, James Staley, after he admitted to trying to learn the identity of the author of an anonymous letter. http://nyti.ms/2otKdgW
– Wells Fargo said on Monday it would claw back an additional $75 million in compensation from the two executives on whom it pinned most of the blame for the company’s scandal over fraudulent accounts: the bank’s former chief executive, John Stumpf, and its former head of community banking, Carrie Tolstedt. http://nyti.ms/2otAHuf
– Adding to this year’s flurry of law firm combinations, Boies Schiller Flexner said on Monday it would take the West Coast litigation firm Caldwell Leslie & Proctor under its wing starting next week. http://nyti.ms/2otBzPt
– In the latest move by a major automaker to enhance its American manufacturing operations, Toyota said it would invest more than $1.3 billion to upgrade its assembly plant in Kentucky. http://nyti.ms/2otI0lD
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** Bombardier Inc confirmed that it will make two changes to its executive compensation package for 2016 in line with requests made over the past week by its senior leadership. https://tgam.ca/2p0v07z
** A fund founded by Adam Waterous, the former Bank of Nova Scotia investment banker, has acquired two-thirds of Northern Blizzard Resources Inc for C$244 million ($183 million), putting more Canadian oil assets back in domestic hands. https://tgam.ca/2p0uZQW
** The federal government will table a bill to legalize recreational marijuana on Thursday that is expected to tightly control the ability of producers to market their products to the public, federal sources said. https://tgam.ca/2p0w4Zc
NATIONAL POST
** Overseas media were abuzz Monday with reports that Scotland would be home to the first standalone Tim Hortons location in the UK. http://bit.ly/2p0HvA8
** Canadian miner Gran Colombia Gold Corp has filed a $700 million lawsuit against Colombia under the Colombian-Canadian free trade agreement after the government ordered the company to cease operations at the El Burro site in Marmato until it has further consulted with local residents. http://bit.ly/2p0vISm
** Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp announced Monday that housing starts reached their highest level since September 2007, a development the Crown corporation said was a response to market demands. http://bit.ly/2p0wMp8
Britain
The Times
Regulators in Britain and the United States are investigating Barclays Plc Chief Executive Jes Staley’s attempts to identify the whistleblower who raised concerns about Tim Main, a former colleague at JPMorgan Chase & Co. http://on.wsj.com/2okLpTf
Anglo-Australian mining group BHP Billiton Plc has rejected calls from activist investor Elliott Advisors to overhaul its dual-listed structure and spin off its U.S. oil business. http://bit.ly/2ol11pJ
The Guardian
Britain’s retailers suffered a third consecutive month of falling sales in March, according to industry figures that add to evidence that a post-referendum rise in living costs is denting consumer spending. http://bit.ly/2okTYNG
Fashion chain Jaeger has collapsed into administration, putting 680 jobs at risk. The brand, which dressed Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe in its heyday, had been trying to find a buyer to keep its 46 stores going, but its owner threw in the towel on Monday and appointed administrators. http://bit.ly/2ol6HzZ
The Telegraph
The 129 million pounds ($160.26 million) fine imposed by the Serious Fraud Office against Tesco Plc has been approved by Southwark Crown Court following an investigation into the retailer’s accounting scandal in 2014. http://bit.ly/2ol3Eb9
Tom Hayes, the first trader to be convicted for Libor rigging, has called for a public inquiry to be launched after a recording of a telephone call emerged suggesting the Bank of England was involved in manipulating the key financial benchmark. http://bit.ly/2okMMRY
Sky News
Travelodge has announced plans to open 60 hotels in UK over three years, as it looks to capitalise on potential opportunities in the wake of the Brexit vote. http://bit.ly/2okU9bU
Kadcyla, a breast cancer drug which could shortly be withdrawn in England, has been approved for use on the NHS in Scotland. Campaigners claim more than a hundred women a year could benefit from the drug in Scotland. http://bit.ly/2okUZWk
The Independent
Canadian fast food chain Tim Hortons is opening its first UK branch in Glasgow next month. The company has plans to expand its franchised outlets across UK over the coming year. http://ind.pn/2ol2YCI
via http://ift.tt/2omiNXW Tyler Durden