- Post-Holiday Rush: Homeowners Line Up to Prepay Tax Bills (WSJ)
- World stocks rise as metals surge mitigates iPhone X woes (Reuters)
- White House Considers Former Bush-Era Economists for Fed No. 2 Job (WSJ)
- More lawsuits over slowing down of older iPhones (Reuters)
- Barclays Takes $1.3 Billion Hit From U.S. Tax Bill (BBG)
- Shell, Barclays Detail Billions in Tax-Linked Charges (WSJ)
- North Korean defectors may have been exposed to radiation, says South (Reuters)
- China Snares Innocent and Guilty Alike to Build World’s Biggest DNA Database (WSJ)
- Oil Slips From Highest Since Mid-2015 as Trading Volume Muted (BBG)
- World’s Wealthiest Became $1 Trillion Richer in 2017 (BBG)
- Russia accuses U.S. of training former Islamic State fighters in Syria (Reuters)
- Leon Black’s Tax-Overhaul Dilemma Could Alter Wall Street Model (BBG)
- What Makes Cities Safer (WSJ)
- Traders Bent on Bludgeoning Dollar Ignore Bond Market Signals (BBG)
- Many Comments Critical of ‘Fiduciary’ Rule Are Fake (WSJ)
- Copper Rallies to Three-Year High as China Plant Halts Output (BBG)
- Yield-Starved Investors Bow to Bond Sellers’ Demands (WSJ)
- Huawei’s China smartphone sales chief detained for suspected bribe-taking (Reuters)
- How One Mysterious Startup Is Riding the Bitcoin Wave (BBG)
- In Pakistan, questions raised over GE’s flagship power turbines (Reuters)
- Iron Ore Beholden to China’s Great Clean-Up as Quality Wins (BBG)
- Library of Congress stops full-Twitter archiving at 2017’s end (CNET)
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
– Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc said it planned to take a majority stake in a midsize Indonesian bank in a deal likely to top $4 billion. on.wsj.com/2l18g4f
– Elon Musk teased details for a pickup truck in comments posted Tuesday on Twitter saying the truck would come after the electric-car maker Tesla Inc releases a new compact sport-utility vehicle, which could hit the road as soon as 2019. on.wsj.com/2l194Gj
– Three U.S. cities filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday to force the Pentagon to properly report dishonorable discharges to a federal gun background-check system after a court-martialed Air Force veteran killed 26 people in a Texas church last month. on.wsj.com/2l4PgSg
FT
There were fewer Boxing Day shoppers on UK streets this year, according to retail intelligence provider Springboard, leaving retailers to pin their hopes for the Christmas season on higher online sales and overseas visitors.
Britain’s eavesdropping agency GCHQ is trying to speed-up the screening process for new recruits by increasing the number of officers responsible for vetting new talent, after it failed to hit personnel targets last year in the face of intense competition for talent from banks and tech companies.
Small and medium-sized companies are ending 2017 reasonably confident about performing strongly in 2018, in spite of concerns about the economic slowdown, but a survey by the Institute of Directors found significantly less optimism than this time last year.
NYT
– In the last months of his life, Steve Jobs authorized an Apple research team to develop a noninvasive glucose reader with technology that could potentially be incorporated into a wristwatch. nyti.ms/2l3lPQG
– After employees at online media company Vox Media announced plans to form a union last month, German Lopez, a senior reporter at the company’s general news website Vox.com, posted a thread on Twitter that inspired a heated debate more than 1,000 comments in length. nyti.ms/2l3m126
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** A deadly derailment on the west coast of the United States this month underlines the need to have voice and video recorders in trains to improve safety on Canada’s rail lines, the Canada’s Transport Minister Marc Garneau has said. tgam.ca/2DXNb2i
** Some Vancouver residents are contributing funds to help pay for legal action against the city over the approval of a temporary modular-housing development for the homeless on Vancouver’s south side. tgam.ca/2BXxECq
** Brookfield Infrastructure on Tuesday announced the sale of its 27.8-per-cent stake in Chile’s main electricity provider to China Southern Power Grid International for $1.6-billion. tgam.ca/2DkNbIR
NATIONAL POST
** U.S. trade policy and the timing of Donald Trump’s long-awaited tax reforms are helping to form a hazy outlook for Canada, but the domestic economy and, in turn, the loonie should be better equipped to deal with any negative developments in 2018 after putting a solid year of growth under their belt. bit.ly/2l4OViL
Britain
The Times
– A thousand high-value manufacturing jobs are set to be lost in UK’s Midlands because of the government’s continuing failure to decide whether to support tidal lagoon marine power. bit.ly/2zy0OlE
– The UK government has been told by the British Chambers of Commerce that it must strike a deal with Brussels that minimises barriers to trade because Europe will remain the main market for British companies for at least the next three years. bit.ly/2BEcqW3
The Guardian
– Tesco Plc, the UK’s largest retailer, has apologised after being hit with a series of complaints about the condition of its Christmas turkeys. bit.ly/2Dfl5i3
– Philip Hammond has come under pressure to publish another set of hidden documents relating to how a series of possible Brexit outcomes, including no deal, will impact on the economy. bit.ly/2ldkbeq
The Telegraph
– Ministers have been privately accused by Britain’s top retailers of helping fuel a sharp rise in shoplifting after it emerged that a 200-pound ($267.44) threshold for pursuing criminals has been quietly introduced. bit.ly/2C9gjDy
– Biotech start-up Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy is preparing itself for a pivotal year in 2018 after poaching an executive from FTSE 100 giant AstraZeneca. bit.ly/2CcwxOz
Sky News
– Four preserved foetuses were among human remains found when the FBI raided the warehouse of a man accused of running a fraudulent body-parts business. bit.ly/2l2MTzt
– Retailers saw a quieter than expected start to the post-Christmas sales as footfall declined, according to a snapshot of high street and shopping centre visits across the country. bit.ly/2ldsZ44
The Independent
– Sir Martin Sorrell, the chief executive of WPP Plc , suggests the xenophobic tone of the 2016 referendum campaign did serious harm that needs to be repaired and that Theresa May’s Brussels deal on 8 December over European Union citizens’ rights was merely the necessary first step. ind.pn/2lfzKlY
via http://ift.tt/2CbwFh5 Tyler Durden