- Punxsutawney Phil Does Not see shadow, signifying an early spring (CBS)
- Front-Runners Give Ground as Rivals Make Mark in Iowa (WSJ)
- Republican Cruz bests Trump in Iowa race, Clinton edges out Sanders (Reuters)
- Iowa Narrows the Field (BBG)
- Global stocks snap winning streak as oil pressure returns (Reuters)
- ‘Dark Pool’ Settlements Bring Tangled Relationships to Light (WSJ)
- BP Shares Plunge on Steep Loss Amid Oil Price Slide (WSJ)
- UBS Shares Tank on Wealth-Management Performance (WSJ)
- Oil slips toward $33 as hopes for production cut fade (Reuters)
- Oil-Price Poker: Why the Saudis Won’t Fold ‘Em (WSJ)
- Collapse in crude brings North Sea fields near end of production (FT)
- Who could have seen this coming: For Once, Low Oil Prices May Be a Problem for World’s Economy (BBG)
- EU Publishes Proposals to Address U.K. Demands (WSJ)
- Flood of Oil Asset Writedowns Seen Across Asia on Crude Rout (BBG)
- Spin-off or sale? Yahoo turnaround plan in focus as earnings awaited (Reuters)
- Euro-Area Labor Market Slowly Improves as Jobless Rate Falls (BBG)
- Chinese football clubs go on global shopping spree (FT)
- House Republicans to push Puerto Rico bill by end of March (Reuters)
- BP CEO Says Debt Can Rise to Sustain Dividend During Oil Slump (BBG)
- U.S. budget plan includes over $13 billion for new submarine (Reuters)
Overnight Media Digest
FT
* EasyJet Plc plans to test a hydrogen fuel cell system that could save about 50,000 tonnes of fuel per year and cut carbon emissions. This would mean the airline would no longer need to use its jet engines during lengthy taxi operations, like moving the plane from the runaway to the gate.
* Tony Durrant, chief executive of Premier Oil Plc, said the UK oil regulator should have the power to step in and protect big equipment, such as pipelines or oil refineries. Durrant said such powers were needed to ensure that cash-strapped companies didn’t allow old equipment to decline to the point where entire oilfields must close early.
* Alphabet Inc, Google’s holding company, is set to become the world’s most valuable company when stock market trading begins trading on Tuesday, following results that beat Wall Street estimates.
* Ryanair Holdings Plc plans to return 800 million euros ($871.52 million) to investors through its largest-ever share buyback, highlighting how Europe’s leading budget airline has made significant progress to overhaul its aggressive image and poor customer service
NYT
– Wall Street got its first glimpse of the financial details of a new conglomerate called Alphabet Inc on Monday. Revenue increased 24 percent in the most recent quarter, positioning the outfit formerly known as Google to become the world’s most valuable company. (http://nyti.ms/1KT4MVb)
– A former Yahoo! Inc manager, who lost his job, filed a suit in California on Monday saying the system, which has been used to fire hundreds of employees, is discriminatory and violates the law. (http://nyti.ms/1PRp3lI)
– American International Group Inc is sticking with a strategic plan that aims to streamline the company but falls far short of calls from activist shareholders like Carl Icahn to break into three. (http://nyti.ms/1Q9pvWz)
– SFX Entertainment Inc, the company created four years ago to capitalize on the popularity of dance music festivals, declared bankruptcy on Monday, after a troubled year in which the company’s founder abandoned a takeover bid and its stock plunged by more than 95 percent. (http://nyti.ms/1Pc7Ld6)
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** Canada is losing medium skilled jobs at an alarming rate and the system is ill equipped to move workers to where they are needed, including high skilled positions in other industries, according to a new report being released on Tuesday by the CD Howe Institute, a Toronto-based economic think tank. (http://bit.ly/1o1z0k4)
** In a bid to break out of a depressed market for junior miners in general and nickel projects in particular, Royal Nickel Corp announced it was acquiring a stake in Salt Lake Mining, an Australian nickel and gold producer, as well as all of Vancouver-based VMS Ventures Inc, part owner of a copper mine in Manitoba. (http://bit.ly/1o1zo1Z)
** David Baazov, chairman and chief executive of Amaya Inc , owner of the popular PokerStars brand, said on Monday that he and an unnamed group of investors, with whom he is “in discussions”, plan to make a takeover offer for all the shares of the company at C$21 per share, for a total valuation of about C$2.8 billion ($2 billion). (http://bit.ly/1o1zVB4)
NATIONAL POST
** Alberta Economic Development and Trade Minister Deron Bilous and Energy Minister Marg McCuaig-Boyd announced a new program on Monday, which would give companies building new petrochemical plants a total of C$500 million ($357 million) in royalty credits. (http://bit.ly/1o1Alap)
** Canada’s biggest banks are relying more heavily on wholesale funding than their global peers, a situation that tends to raise the risk of periodic difficulties in refinancing debt, according to Moody’s Investors Service. (http://bit.ly/1o1Azi0)
** A pregnant Canadian who travelled to Brazil in December told the National Post that she is facing aborting her baby because she has been refused testing for the Zika virus, which the World Health Organization on Monday declared a global emergency.
Britain
The Times
One of Britain’s biggest retailers, Matalan, has been placed in Lloyds Banking Group’s business support unit, which was set up to help troubled companies. It is understood that the heavily indebted fashion and homewares retailer approached Lloyds late last year and asked to be placed in the bank’s support unit. (http://thetim.es/1PNwq7n)
Clydesdale Bank Plc <IPO-CLBP.L> has cleared the final big legal hurdle for its planned stock market flotation and separation from National Australia Bank. The demerger from its parent was approved by the Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia, Monday, allowing conditional trading in the shares of CYBG, the new entity covering the operations of Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks, to begin Tuesday. (http://thetim.es/1PNwJz0)
The Guardian
The founder of easyJet Plc has opened a discount food store that is selling everyday groceries for 25 pence each. Stelios Haji-Ioannou has launched easyFoodstore in an attempt to take advantage of the fast-growing discount market in the UK, which is led by Aldi and Lidl. (http://bit.ly/1PNClJt)
The Telegraph
BT Group Plc has revealed a management shake-up ahead of its 12.5 billion pounds takeover of Britain’s biggest mobile company, EE, having also posted its best quarterly revenue growth in more than seven years. (http://bit.ly/1PNC0Xj)
EasyJet Plc passengers could be served waste water produced by their plane’s fuel system, after the airline unveiled plans to trial zero-emission hydrogen technology. (http://bit.ly/1PNC4WV)
Sky News
Morrisons has announced plans to cut the cost of more than 1,000 “staple” products – in a move likely to add fuel to the ongoing supermarket price war. The UK’s fourth-largest grocer will slash the prices of many items, including fruit and vegetables, by an average of 19%. (http://bit.ly/1PNyrk2)
Eight new projects in UK have been given 20 million pounds ($1.44 million) to research and develop driverless car technology. The money will be used to help improve the communications systems between vehicles and the urban environment – including “talking car technologies.” (http://bit.ly/1PNALr0)
The Independent
The wealthy Indian Gupta family, which owns Liberty House Group and Simec, is looking at plans to float a minority stake in its international steel-to-industrial empire that could value the business at $1 billion. (http://ind.pn/1PNCAnR)
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1o25zyl Tyler Durden