- China trade surprise gives stocks a lift (Reuters)
- JPMorgan profit hurt by drop in investment banking revenue (Reuters)
- About 40,000 Verizon workers launch strike (Reuters)
- Regulators Set to Reject Some Big Banks’ ‘Living Wills’ (WSJ)
- More Startups Are Getting Lower Valuations Than Joining the Billion-Dollar Club (BBG)
- Closures and court cases leave Turkey’s media increasingly muzzled (Reuters)
- PBOC Seen Averting Cash Shortage as $155 Billion Leaves Market (BBG)
- Mossack Fonseca Says It’s Cooperating After Panama Office Raids (BBG)
- Tax-Rule Changes Ripple Widely (WSJ)
- VW says management bonuses to be cut significantly (Auto News)
- IMF Sees No Cause for Japan to Intervene Now in Currency Market (BBG)
- China Steelmaker Misses 3rd Bond Payment as Defaults Spread (BBG)
- Syrians vote for parliament as diplomacy struggles (Reuters)
- Who Loses the Most From ‘Brexit’? Try Goldman Sachs (WSJ)
- Coal Slump Sends Mining Giant Peabody Energy Into Bankruptcy (BBG)
- In Libya, Islamic State struggles to gain support (Reuters)
- Inside the Nondescript Building Where Trillions Trade Each Day (BBG)
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
– Regulators are set to reject the so-called living wills of at least half of the U.S.’s systemically important banks, including J.P. Morgan Chase & Co, sending them scrambling to revise plans for a potential bankruptcy, according to people familiar with the matter.(http://on.wsj.com/1Vl4q2K)
– The Treasury Department’s new corporate rules will reach far beyond the few companies that moved their legal addresses to low-tax countries, forcing many firms based in the U.S. to change their internal financing strategies and tax planning. (http://on.wsj.com/1TQkMiR)
– A large holder of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc’s bonds called a default as a result of the Canadian drugmaker’s failure to file its annual report earlier this year, adding to the litany of woes it faces. (http://on.wsj.com/1VTibEJ)
– Chip maker Integrated Device Technology was the subject of a mysterious regulatory filing Tuesday, submitted by individuals claiming to own a chunk of the company and looking to buy the rest of it at a steep premium. (http://on.wsj.com/1qPDifX)
– The Central Intelligence Agency and its regional partners have drawn up plans to supply more-powerful weapons to moderate rebels in Syria fighting the Russia-backed regime in the event the country’s six-week-old truce collapses.(http://on.wsj.com/1YsO9Hb)
FT
Oil services provider Schlumberger is cutting back on some of its activity in Venezuela due to insufficient funds. (http://bit.ly/1T2s4xu)
Deutsche Bank AG has frozen plans to expand in North Carolina after a law that overturns protections for gay people. (http://bit.ly/1T2sfsQ)
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan ruled himself out as a potential Republican presidential nominee, ending speculation that he could be a choice if Donald Trump and Ted Cruz failed to win enough delegates. (http://bit.ly/1T2sEeT)
NYT
– As Puerto Rico has spiraled toward possible bankruptcy, the island’s sole representative in Congress has seen his family wealth swell, thanks in part to Wall Street companies that have sought to capitalize on the island’s financial crisis and have hired his wife to advise them. (http://nyti.ms/1YsNUvN)
– The Swiss authorities said that they had started a criminal investigation into two officials in charge of a sovereign wealth fund in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, as part of an inquiry into the financial transactions of the troubled Malaysian state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad. (http://nyti.ms/1SyfLWH)
– The world’s finance ministers opened their annual spring meeting on Tuesday facing dampened expectations for global growth and warnings about financial risks and political movements toward nationalism and protectionism – in the United States and abroad. (http://nyti.ms/1WqTkc4)
– European Union officials waded into the fight against international tax dodging, calling for the world’s biggest companies to disclose more data about their tax arrangements with the bloc’s member governments and to share information about offshore havens where they shelter money. (http://nyti.ms/1SM29Yt)
Britain
The Times
Inflation has risen to its highest level in nearly 18 months, with prices pushed higher by an early Easter holiday and a rise in airfares, the Office for National Statistics said. A 22.9 percent rise in the cost of flights in March was largely responsible for the better-than-expected 0.5 percent increase in the consumer prices index, the statistics office said. (bit.ly/1Xu46fV)
Royal Dutch Shell has signalled that it is likely to sell some of its older North Sea assets. Ben van Beurden, Shell’s chief executive, said that the company would have to consider its operations in the region as he sets about delivering the $30 billion of disposals earmarked when announcing the 36 billion pound acquisition of BG Group last year. (bit.ly/1NniSzn)
The Guardian
B&Q is offering workers two years’ compensation and further negotiations over their pay packages after nearly 136,000 people signed a petition against the retailer’s planned cuts to employee benefits. (bit.ly/1RSw6JW)
Tax investigators from 28 countries will meet in Paris on Wednesday to launch an unprecedented international inquiry following the publication of the “Panama Papers”. (bit.ly/1NmSSEr)
The Telegraph
Major Tory donors are preparing to fund a grassroots campaign to leave the European Union following David Cameron’s decision to spend millions of pounds on a pro-EU leaflet, the Telegraph can disclose. (bit.ly/1oVyJ1V)
Amazon.com Inc is in talks with British broadcasters to add their channel brands and programmes to its streaming service. The company is attempting to adapt its American Streaming Partners Programme to the UK media market and make its Prime Instant Video service and Fire TV set-top box hardware into a more credible alternative to Sky and Virgin Media, and give it an edge over Netflix Inc. (bit.ly/1SLO1yl)
Sky News
Large companies operating in the European Union will be forced to publish key information on the profits they make and taxes they pay in each EU country under plans published on Tuesday. (bit.ly/1S50EVm)
Brexit could cause severe damage to the global economy, the International Monetary Fund has warned. The IMF used its closely-watched World Economic Outlook report to slash its forecast for UK economic growth and warned if Britain were to leave the European Union it “could do severe regional and global damage by disrupting established trading relationships”. (bit.ly/20zOCcf)
The Independent
Greater transparency could be imposed on multinational companies operating in the European Union after the European Commission unveiled plans to require all large firms to disclose their profits earned and taxes paid in each of the bloc’s countries, as well as in overseas tax havens. (ind.pn/1MrQQrK)
A formal inquiry is to open into the UK Home Office’s treatment of international students after Home Secretary Theresa May wrongly deported almost 50,000 students in the wake of the TOEIC English exam scam. (ind.pn/1SLtwSe)
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1oX7S5u Tyler Durden