Month: April 2016

Valeant may be on the verge of a technical default as its lender demand not one but two pounds of flesh, it may be suffering imploding sales, it may have fired the entire salesforce for the female libido drug Addyi (which it acquired late last year), and it may be trying to pin all of its allegedly criminal book-cooking on its former CFO (who used to be a fromer head Goldman banker), the same CFO who refuses to resign from Valeant’s board even though Valeant clearly wants him gone, but at least minutes ago, an ad hoc committee from Valeant’s board (yes the same board where the former scapegoated CFO is still present) has decided that upon reviewing its company, it has found nothing else that was glaringly criminal, and will therefore no restate results any further, and intends to file a 10K on or before April 29, 2016.

From the release:

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (NYSE: VRX and TSX: VRX) today announced that the ad hoc committee of the board of directors (the “Ad Hoc Committee”) believes that its review of various Philidor and related accounting matters is complete, and that it has not identified any additional items that would require restatements beyond those required by matters previously disclosed.

 

Given the completion of the review, Valeant’s Board has determined to dissolve the Ad Hoc Committee and that the 12 independent directors on Valeant’s Board, including the members of the Board’s Audit and Risk Committee, will assume oversight responsibility for remaining work associated with the completion of the Company’s current and restated financial statements and disclosures, as well as its assessment of related internal controls and remediation matters.  As previously disclosed, the company intends to file its Form 10-K on or before April 29, 2016.

 

Robert Ingram, chairman of the board and chair of the Ad Hoc Committee stated, “We appreciate the efforts of the Ad Hoc Committee and its independent advisors over the past five months. After conducting more than 70 interviews and reviewing over one million documents, the Ad Hoc Committee has not identified any additional items requiring restatements beyond those matters previously disclosed. We believe it is appropriate to transfer responsibility for any continuing work to the Board’s independent directors.  We continue to work diligently and are on schedule to file our Form 10-K on or before April 29, 2016.” 

 

The company is in the process of restating the affected financial statements and the restated financial statements will be included in the company’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, which the company intends to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Canadian Securities Regulators on or before April 29, 2016.  The company believes that after giving effect to the restatement, it will have remained in compliance with all of the financial maintenance covenants in its credit facility at the end of each affected quarterly period.

Some questions:

• Is Valeant’s clearing itself of any further fraud merely going to be the latest fraud in this epic saga of alleged criminality?
• What happens when the next skeleton emerges from the closet?
• Is this merely a last ditch effort to regain leverage in the covenant renegotiation discussions with lenders?
• And just who can possibly take anything Valeant’s deeply entrenched board says seriously any more?

We will find out, for now however, a sudden short squeeze has pushed the stock up nearly 17% higher, from fresh multi-year lows around $25 to just over $30.

We doubt this price will last.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1q39o76 Tyler Durden

There were two notable things about a report released by the ECB this morning as part of its Occasional Paper Series titled “Profit distribution and loss coverage rules for central banks“, which purportedly analyzes “how profit distribution rules can affect the amounts distributed and the financial strength of central banks.“

The first highlight, was the very basic asymmetry at the core of the actual analysis – how can one talk of profit of there is no possibility of loss? Printing money to fill “loss” gaps by definition obviates any calculation of profit since the whole premise of risk/return does not exist.

The second highlight comes from footnote 7, which tells you all you need to know about the “business model” of all central banks, and specifically why they can never go “insolvent” – they can and will just print their way out. To wit:

“Central banks are protected from insolvency due to their ability to create money and can therefore operate with negative equity.”

And that, for those curious why every commercial bank in the world is now backstopped by central banks, is all you need to know.

Source: ECB

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1q35MSG Tyler Durden

As of this moment, the Atlanta Fed calculates Q1 GDP to be -0.7% (Bank of America has it at 0.6%). We expect this number to be promptly revised even lower following the latest disappointing trade data from the US, when moments ago the BEA reported that the US February deficit rose from $45.9BN to $47.1BN, missing the $46.2BN consensus estimate. This was the largest monthly deficit since August 2015’s $50.5BN, and the number is likely only going to increase as the US is once again forced to start importing more oil with its own shale industry increasingly mothballed.

From the BEA:

The U.S. monthly international trade deficit increased in February 2016 according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Census Bureau. The deficit increased from $45.9 billion in January (revised) to $47.1 billion in February, as imports increased more than exports. The previously published January deficit was $45.7 billion. The goods deficit increased $0.9 billion from January to $64.7 billion in February. The services surplus decreased $0.3 billion from January to $17.7 billion in February.

Exports

Exports of goods and services increased $1.8 billion, or 1.0 percent, in February to $178.1 billion. Exports of goods increased $1.8 billion and exports of services decreased less than $0.1 billion.

The increase in exports of goods mainly reflected increases in consumer goods ($1.1 billion) and in other goods ($0.6 billion).

The decrease in exports of services mainly reflected decreases in transport ($0.2 billion), which includes freight and port services and passenger fares, and in financial services ($0.1 billion). An increase in travel (for all purposes including education) ($0.2 billion) was partly offsetting.

Imports

Imports of goods and services increased $3.0 billion, or 1.3 percent, in February to $225.1 billion. Imports of goods increased $2.7 billion and imports of services increased $0.3 billion.

The increase in imports of goods mainly reflected an increase in consumer goods ($3.6 billion). A decrease in automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($1.5 billion) was partly offsetting.

The increase in imports of services reflected increases in travel (for all purposes including education) ($0.1 billion), in other business services ($0.1 billion), which includes research and development services; professional and management services; and technical, trade-related, and other services, and in transport ($0.1 billion).

Goods by geographic area (seasonally adjusted, Census basis)

• The deficit with China increased $1.0 billion to $32.1 billion in February. Exports decreased $0.3 billion to $8.4 billion and imports increased $0.8 billion to $40.5 billion.
• The deficit with Canada increased $0.3 billion to $1.0 billion in February. Exports decreased $0.7 billion to $21.6 billion and imports decreased $0.4 billion to $22.6 billion.
• The balance with members of OPEC shifted from a deficit of $0.2 billion in January to a surplus of $1.9 billion in February. Exports increased $1.6 billion to $7.4 billion and imports decreased $0.4 billion to $5.5 billion.

 

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1RBSEyz Tyler Durden

Authored by Steve H. Hanke of the Johns Hopkins University. Follow him on Twitter @Steve_Hanke.

Last week, a slew of politicians in California, New York, and the United Kingdom embraced higher minimum wages.

That might look attractive to youths and minorities. But, analysis of the data shows that higher minimum wages will not fulfill most of the advertised promises. Among other things, it throws those who lack skills out of work. In the first comprehensive study of the effects of higher minimum wages, David Neumark and William Wascher examined 17 OECD countries over the 1975-2000 period, and they found that the minimum wage elasticity of teenage employment is significantly negative — in the -0.2 to -0.4 range. This means that a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage would cause teenage employment to fall by 2 to 4 percent. Since the Neumark-Wascher pioneering work, there have been numerous other international studies based on OECD data. The results are all similar: higher minimum wages have a significant negative impact on employment in the affected groups (teenagers, women, minorities, and so forth).

As it turns out, the European Union (E.U.) provides a natural experiment on the effects of minimum wages. Most E.U. countries impose minimum wages, but some do not.

The accompanying charts tell the tale for both overall and youth unemployment in the E.U.. Unemployment rates are dramatically elevated in the E.U. countries that impose minimum wage laws, relative to those that do not. Milton Friedman clearly had it right when he concluded that “A minimum wage law is, in reality, a law that makes it illegal for an employer to hire a person with limited skills.”

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1q35JpX Steve H. Hanke

Days before the ICIJ released this weekend’s trove of “Panama Papers” international tax haven data involving Panamaian law firm Mossack Fonseca, Bloomberg conducted an interview on March 29 with the two founding lawyers. In it, it found that even before the full leak was about to be made semi-public (any of the at least 441 US clients are still to be disclosed), the Panama law firm knew that the game was already largely over.

As Bloomberg reports, “during a four-hour interview last week, Mossack and Fonseca sounded like two men in retreat: the go-go days of cranking out shell companies en masse for clients was over; the firm’s been considering scaling back its international franchising; and Mossack was expressing frustration about how Fonseca’s political ambitions were earning them unwelcome scrutiny from regulators and the media. Just days earlier, Fonseca had stepped down as a special adviser to President Juan Carlos Varela, saying he wanted to focus his attention instead on the business.”

“We are going to make ourselves the right size — smaller,” Fonseca said. For the co-head of a firm that over the past few decades has helped revolutionize the way companies and wealthy individuals structure their investments across the globe — and popularized the British Virgin Islands as a hub — the statement marks a big drop in ambition.

 

We previously profiled one of the two founders of the infamous law firm. This is what Bloomberg had to add:

Of the two men, it is Mossack, a 68-year-old with German roots, who displays a keen mastery of the nuts and bolts of the business. He did most of the talking during the interview in their Panama City headquarters. The building is sleek, with a distinctive glass-facade, but looks diminutive amid the skyscrapers that dominate the financial district. Across the street is the iconic F&F Tower, a helix-shaped building that helped give the booming city its nickname “Dubai of the Americas.” As the two men spoke that morning, they were flanked by their legal director and two consultants. In all, the firm employs some 500 people in Panama and across the globe.

 

If Mossack is the nitty-gritty guy, Fonseca, 63, is the self-proclaimed dreamer. He boasts that his friends have labeled him “a da Vinci man” for his interests in politics, law, business, letters and philanthropy. He’s penned a half-dozen novels over the years, and for a while as a young man had considered becoming a priest.

 

It was during his time as a bureaucrat at the United Nations in Geneva, where he was surrounded by international lawyers, that Fonseca said he was lured by the mysterious world of offshore businesses. “One day it occurred to me that I could do it too,” he said. “I created my little office and left the UN and started with one secretary to create and sell companies.” He’d join up with Mossack soon thereafter.

“It’s like selling cars”

Setting up offshore vehicles has become routine for corporations, investment funds, family offices and billionaires. Low- or no-tax jurisdictions offer places to base a company or to send and park cash, company shares, art and other assets. Establishing a structure for them typically costs just a few thousand dollars. Once those fees are handed over to shops like Mossack Fonseca, the organizational and operational framework for the entity is drafted and registered in the local jurisdiction. Annual fees are then charged to maintain the company.

 

While offshore holdings are usually legal, they can also be used to hide wealth. Since the 2008 financial crisis, Western governments have sought to shed greater light on offshore banking centers, arguing they can be used to avoid taxes or hide illicit funds.

 

In addressing the legality question, Mossack is fond of drawing an analogy to the auto industry. When you create hundreds of thousands of offshore companies, he says, some are bound to end up in the hands of rotten characters: It’s just the nature of the business and isn’t the fault of the manufacturer. He makes a reference to Volkswagen AG recalling some of its cars before one of the firm’s consultants suggests that isn’t the most appropriate parallel. The scrutiny that the partners are under, Mossack says, stems in part from all the success they’ve had over the years.

However, unlike selling cars, the world is now increasingly focusing on tax evasion as the primary motive behind setting up offshore havens. This is something the Panamanians were clearly aware of with all the heat they had been drawing from independent media inquiries.

The Central American country was already becoming the flag of choice for ship-owners looking to avoid stricter labor and fiscal rules back home when Panamanian officials based their requirements for company incorporation on the laws of Delaware, a U.S. state that protects information on ownership. Panama doesn’t charge foreigners taxes on income earned abroad.

 

While the Financial Action Task Force recently commended efforts to clamp down on money laundering, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development calls Panama the “last major holdout that continues to allow funds to be hidden offshore from tax and law enforcement authorities.” Panama’s presidential office said in a statement that it has zero tolerance for any legal or financial operations that aren’t managed with the highest levels of transparency.

 

Whether the new regulations are up to the OECD’s standards or not, the industry is feeling the squeeze, according to Mossack and Fonseca. A law implemented in 2011 required Panama-registered agents to provide client information when requested on all new incorporations, and the British Virgin Islands has adopted restrictions on due diligence.

At this point, the duo admit, Panama’s prominent reputation as an offshoring center is fast coming to an end. As Mossack admits, “the cat is out of the bag“

It’s a far cry from the boom years, a period when Mossack said he and Fonseca used to keep a vast inventory of “shelf companies” on hand because banks would request as many as a hundred at a time. This weekend’s document leak will only add to the firm’s woes, he said.

 

“The cat’s out of the bag,” Mossack said. “So now we have to deal with the aftermath.”

Perhaps it is for Panama, but one place is very happy to take its place: the US, and specifically states like Nevada and Wyoming, which as we showed before, are the new global tax havens. To wit, US-based tax havens are the new Switzerland, or Bahamas or, for that matter, Panama. Indeed, for most Americans, offshore tax haven are now meaningless with the passage of the FATCA law, which makes the parking of dirty US money abroad practically impossible. So where does that money go instead – it stays in the US:

Others are also jumping in: Geneva-based Cisa Trust Co. SA, which advises wealthy Latin Americans, is applying to open in Pierre, S.D., to “serve the needs of our foreign clients,” said John J. Ryan Jr., Cisa’s president.

 

Trident Trust Co., one of the world’s biggest providers of offshore trusts, moved dozens of accounts out of Switzerland, Grand Cayman, and other locales and into Sioux Falls, S.D., in December, ahead of a Jan. 1 disclosure deadline.

 

“Cayman was slammed in December, closing things that people were withdrawing,” said Alice Rokahr, the president of Trident in South Dakota, one of several states promoting low taxes and confidentiality in their trust laws. “I was surprised at how many were coming across that were formerly Swiss bank accounts, but they want out of Switzerland.”

And, to top it off, there is one specific firm which is spearheading the conversion of the U.S. into Panama: Rothschild.

Rothschild, the centuries-old European financial institution, has opened a trust company in Reno, Nev., a few blocks from the Harrah’s and Eldorado casinos. It is now moving the fortunes of wealthy foreign clients out of offshore havens such as Bermuda, subject to the new international disclosure requirements, and into Rothschild-run trusts in Nevada, which are exempt.

 

* * *

 

For financial advisers, the current state of play is simply a good business opportunity. In a draft of his San Francisco presentation, Rothschild’s Penney wrote that the U.S. “is effectively the biggest tax haven in the world.” The U.S., he added in language later excised from his prepared remarks, lacks “the resources to enforce foreign tax laws and has little appetite to do so.”

Yes, Mossack Fonseca may now be history, and its countless uberwealthy clients exposed, but none other than Rothschild is now delighted to be able to fill its rather large shoes. In fact, someone with a conspiratorial bent may decide that today’s dramatic takedown of the Panama “offshoring” industry was nothing more than a hit designed to crush the competition of domestic “tax haven” providers… such as Rothschild.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1USMzQX Tyler Durden

With the USDJPY crashing to a fresh 17 month low, sending the Nikkei down 2.3% and taking out levels during which we have seen direct BOJ intervention in both February and March, many were wondering how a panicking Japan would try to push its currency lower. The answer was revealed moments ago, with the following Reuters headlines:

• BOJ LIKELY TO DEBATE POSSIBILITY OF EASING MONETARY POLICY AT APRIL 27-28 RATE REVIEW – SOURCES
• IF BOJ WERE TO ACT, MORE LIKELY TO INCREASE ASSET BUYING THAN FURTHER CUT INTEREST RATES – SOURCES
• WILL BE CLOSE CALL AT BOJ APRIL MEETING ON WHETHER TO EASE OR NOT – SOURCES

More from Reuters:

Bank of Japan policymakers will likely debate the possibility of easing monetary policy further at a rate review this month, as a raft of gloomy data threatens their scenario that a moderate economic recovery will accelerate inflation towards a 2 percent target, sources familiar with their thinking said.

 

If the central bank were to act, it would more likely increase asset purchases than cut interest rates, the sources said, as financial institutions are still scrambling to adjust to a negative rate policy deployed in January.

 

But a decision on whether to ease at the April 27-28 review will be a close call as many BOJ officials are wary of using their limited policy tools again so soon, especially as the negative rate move has proved unpopular among the public.

 

“It will be a question of whether the BOJ feels it has forestalled risks in January or whether they feel that January’s action wasn’t enough,” said one of the people familiar with the BOJ’s thinking. (Reporting by Leika Kihara, Sumio Ito and Yoshifumi Takemoto; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

Will the BOJ increase QE as this headline suggests? Most likely not, as there are simply no more bonds to monetize; it may increase equity purchases but that would make the Jaoanese market even more facrical.

What is troubling is that, as noted above, at previous key support levels for the USDJPY, the BOJ intervened directly in the market. This time, it couldn’t even do that and was forced to spread leaks via the traditional trial balloon conduit, Reuters.

Is the BOJ out of ammo?

After spiking to 110.80, the USDJPY has promptly filled almost the entire gap.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1XexSoQ Tyler Durden

By James Burgess of OilPrice

Did Italy And Malta Actually Agree To Swap Oil Rights For Refugees?

As the Syrian refugee crisis reaches a critical impasse, both in terms of European security and refugee human rights, Brussels has found itself having to deny accusations of a secret pact between Malta and Italy to swap refugees for oil exploration rights.

The Maltese opposition leader has claimed that Malta and Italy cut a secret deal in which Malta would surrender oil exploration rights in an offshore area disputed with Italy, while Italy would return the favor by picking up Malta’s share of migrant rescues at sea.

In late March, the European Commission was forced to respond to the accusations as the Syrian refugee crisis has hit a fever pitch, denying the accusations; but it’s a complicated issue.

Maltese opposition leader Simon Busuttil of the Nationalist Party, and a member of the European Parliament until 2013, accused the Maltese government late last year of allowing the Italian government to drill for oil in Maltese waters in a dubious oil-for-migrants swap.

His accusations were boosted by the reporting of an Italian newspaper, Il Giornale, which claimed that Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had agreed to the deal with Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Last September, Maltese Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela stated that Malta had an informal agreement with Italy take on irregular migrants from Malta, but the minister later altered that statement to a situation of “close collaboration” between Italy and Malta, according to the Italian media report.

While Malta has admitted to close collaboration, the country’s officials maintain that there is no agreement concerning migrants or linking migrants to oil exploration.

Now the European Commission has had to step up to the plate.

Malta is the European Union member country that is closest to the Libyan coast. And with that in mind, Italian centre-right lawmaker Elisabetta Gardini has recently asked the European Commission to explain why there are such low migrant arrival numbers in Malta.

Her question was poignant.

Since 2015, out of the 142,000 people who fled their homes bound for Europe, leaving from the North-African coast, only around a 100 arrived in Malta. It’s an odd situation during this heightened refugee crisis.

In 2013, Maltese officials registered 2,008 arrivals. During the same period, Italy accepted some 150,000 refugees. The argument that there was no deal would suggest that refugees simply have no desire to try for Malta.

Late last month, the European Commission finally replied to the allegations, with European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos saying that it was “not aware of any such bilateral agreement… between the Maltese and Italian authorities concerning Search and Rescue (SAR) operations in the Mediterranean Sea.”

“Not aware” certainly does not put this issue to rest.

That said, as reported by the Independent, the Commission noted that coincidentally the area of oil exploration in question overlaps with the migrant rescue areas.

While not being aware of any agreement, the Commission said that if there was an agreement, it would be in line with normal burden-sharing.

“When it comes to the emergency relocation mechanism, the Commission sees it as establishing concrete measures of solidarity and contributing to the fair sharing of responsibilities between member states, in line with Article 80 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU,” according to the Commission.

What’s at stake here in terms of the oil play? Quite a lot, potentially. According to an independent review, Malta has a potential 260 million barrels. But Malta and Italy have been locked in dispute over offshore exploration zones as well as over what their migrant rescue zones are.

The crux of the issue is a 2012 law passed by Italy that essentially doubled Italy’s continental shelf southeastwards of Sicily and towards the Libyan coast. Malta balked because this cut into maritime territory it claims. In late 2015, Malta and Italy reached an informal agreement to suspend exploratory oil drilling in this area.

Perhaps one open-ended question is this: With an EU-Turkey deal in place that will see Turkey (in return for some EU favors and a bunch of financial aid) take back refugees landing in Greece, it will essentially cut off the Aegean Sea human smuggling route. It might mean a renewed interest in the Libya route. And if Malta has traded off its rescue area, it will mean problems for Italy, which would have to intercept them all.

nbsp;

 

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1XexUgr Tyler Durden

• Panama Papers: Biggest Banks Are Top Users of Offshore Services (WSJ)
• Panama Papers probes opened, China limits access to news on leaks (Reuters)
• Credit Suisse CEO Distances Bank From ‘Panama Papers’ (WSJ)
• Fed’s Evans says market more pessimistic on U.S. rate hikes (Reuters)
• IMF’s Lagarde Says Risks to Weak Global Recovery Are Increasing (BBG)
• New U.S. inversion rules threaten Pfizer-Allergan deal (Reuters)
• Time Is Running Out (Again) for Greece (BBG)
• The World Has Started Spending More on Weapons (BBG)
• Ted Cruz Is Confident of Wisconsin Win Over Donald Trump on Tuesday (WSJ)
• Trump Faces Biggest Test Yet in Tuesday’s Wisconsin Primary (BBG)
• Another Brazil State-Run Giant Readies Its Own Graft Writedowns (BBG)
• Afghan Spy Agency Arms Villagers to Hold Off Islamic State (WSJ)
• Disney expands search for new CEO, COO Staggs leaving (Reuters)
• Economic models predict GOP White House, even with Trump (Hill)
• Oil glut up close: How Cushing copes with full crude tanks (Reuters)
• Goldman Profit Estimates Cut Again as Analysts Project 45% Drop (BBG)
• Former U.S. tax judge charged with cheating on her tax returns (Reuters)
• Russia to start deliveries of S-300 missiles to Iran in coming days (Reuters)

 

Bulletin Headline Summary

WSJ

– The Treasury Department imposed new tough curbs on corporate inversions Monday, shocking Wall Street and throwing into doubt the $150-billion merger between Pfizer Inc and Allergan PLC, which was on track to be the biggest deal of its kind. (http://on.wsj.com/1W7WOzY)

– Succession planning at the world’s largest media company fell into disarray on Monday as Tom Staggs, Walt Disney Co’s chief operating officer and the heir apparent to Chief Executive Robert Iger, unexpectedly said he would step down. (http://on.wsj.com/202jgKT)

– A battle for control of the nation’s third largest home builder went public as PulteGroup Inc founder William Pulte and Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Dugas traded barbs and outlined competing visions for the company. (http://on.wsj.com/1Ty6p2x)

– TransCanada Corp said Monday that it had shut down parts of its Keystone oil pipeline for the rest of the week as the company continues to investigate a possible leak in South Dakota. (http://on.wsj.com/2289TJ7)

– United Continental Holdings Inc has reached tentative agreements with its nearly 30,000 ground workers. No details were released on the proposed labor pacts, which are subject to ratification by union members. (http://on.wsj.com/1ox3aLE)

 

FT

Airbus Group warned its UK employees that Brexit threatens the company’s investment plans in the country. (http://on.ft.com/1Sx1Xfw)

Tesla Motors blamed its “hubris” for its production shortfalls, as the carmaker revealed glitches with the ramp up of its Model X. (http://on.ft.com/1Sx22Qo)

Pimco stepped up a legal war of words with Bill Gross, saying they could have fired him for abusing his colleagues in the months before his resignation. (http://on.ft.com/1Sx2HBn)

Walt Disney’s chief operating officer, Tom Staggs, left the company. Staggs was seen as the favourite to succeed Chief Executive Bob Iger at Disney. (http://on.ft.com/1Sx2TQY)

 

NYT

– The U.S. Treasury Department took new steps on Monday to further curtail a popular type of merger in which an American company buys a foreign counterpart, then moves abroad to lower its tax bill. (http://nyti.ms/23clbP4)

– A group of hedge funds asked a federal court in San Juan to freeze the assets of Puerto Rico’s powerful Government Development Bank, claiming it was insolvent and appeared to be spending what cash it had left to prop up other parts of the island’s troubled government. (http://nyti.ms/1RB6sJm)

– Thomas Staggs, the favored contender to lead Walt Disney Co after Robert Iger’s retirement, unexpectedly announced his departure on Monday, throwing succession at the world’s largest entertainment company into disarray. (http://nyti.ms/1S4Bc1x)

– Governor Jerry Brown of California signed a bill on Monday that would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022, placing the state at the center of a closely watched economics experiment. (http://nyti.ms/1RKoXYy)

 

Canada

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

** Canadian Labour Congress president Hassan Yussuff says Tom Mulcair does not deserve another term as NDP Leader and predicts he will win less than 60 per cent in Sunday’s leadership review vote. (http://bit.ly/1N6gHQK)

** In a decision that the B.C. New Democratic Party shared only with federal regulators and its environmental supporters, the opposition has officially rejected the proposed Pacific NorthWest LNG plant near Prince Rupert, saying plans for an $11.4-billion terminal on Lelu Island would generate significant greenhouse gas emissions and threaten the important Skeena River salmon runs. (http://bit.ly/228OAao)

** The Saskatchewan Party, under the leadership of Brad Wall, won 51 seats in Monday’s election. The NDP secured the remaining 10. The leader of the New Democratic Party lost his seat by 232 votes as the province’s right-of-centre party waltzed to its third consecutive victory. (http://bit.ly/1RVQOY5)

NATIONAL POST

** Air Canada will firm up its CSeries order within “weeks”, but some level of government funding will still be necessary to help Bombardier Inc succeed, the airline’s chief executive said Monday. (http://bit.ly/1W8XKEh)

** Canada’s largest commercial bank finds itself in the middle of a global uproar over leaked documents exposing activities in offshore tax havens. But the Royal Bank of Canada , which was among financial institutions named in the so-called “Panama Papers,” has denied any wrongdoing, saying it has “established controls, policies and procedures in place” to detect and prevent tax evasion. (http://bit.ly/1VsWcV7)

 

Britain

The Times

Marathon Oil has submitted plans to shut down its giant Brae Field 168 miles northeast of Aberdeen after suffering a series of gas leaks on ageing production platforms.(http://bit.ly/1RYmWO1)

The chief executive of William Hill James Henderson has hailed a “game-changing deal” after it invested in NYX Gaming as part of the latter’s 270 million pound acquisition of OpenBet. (http://bit.ly/1qqzvVV)

The Guardian

Airbus, which employs 15,000 people in the UK to design and manufacture aircraft wings, has told its staff that a vote to leave the EU could choke off future investment in the UK. (http://bit.ly/23b2M5c)

The new chief executive of Marks & Spencer, Steve Rowe, has signalled he is prepared to make changes to the way the retailer is run by retaining personal control of the troubled clothing division.(http://bit.ly/1Ma4qjn)

The Telegraph

The Government must step in to maintain production at Tata’s loss-making UK plants or risk customers abandoning them, signing a death warrant for the British steel industry, unions have warned as the crisis engulfing the sector intensifies. (http://bit.ly/1UR1FX7)

Jitters over the health of the Chinese economy could trigger a bloodbath on financial markets if a hard landing materialises, the International Monetary Fund has warned. (http://bit.ly/1Vro8Zv)

Sky News

InterContinental Exchange has reached agreement with Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ to provide part of the debt that will be required to finance an offer for the LSE Group. (http://bit.ly/1V4Gnos)

The chief executive of BT Group Gavin Patterson has accused ministers of failing to acknowledge its efforts to overhaul Britain’s broadband infrastructure as regulators mull tougher oversight of the former state monopoly.(http://bit.ly/23bFJr1)

The Independent

Chapel Down, a British leading wine producer based in Kent, has raised 1.7 million pound from new shares and a crowdfunding campaign to build a new beer and cider brewery. (http://ind.pn/1MOBLAk)

Alaska Air has reached a deal to buy Virgin America for $2.6 billion and the merger airline will become the fifth largest in the United States. (http://ind.pn/1PQoou7)

 

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1TyZmXd Tyler Durden