- Trump Tariff on GM Would Violate NAFTA. That May Not Stop Him (BBG)
- Obama Tries to Save Parts of Health Law Amid GOP Attack (WSJ)
- Trump Puts Auto Makers, Trade Policy in Spotlight (WSJ)
- British consumers borrow at fastest rate in 11 years as inflation threat rises (Reuters)
- Investment banking fees fall 7 percent in 2016 dragged down by equity raisings (Reuters)
- Manhattan Home Prices Are Tumbling Down (BBG)
- Iraqi forces press gains against Islamic State in eastern Mosul (Reuters)
- Turkey Detains Five Islamic State Suspects Linked to Nightclub Attack (BBG)
- Israeli soldier convicted of manslaughter in killing of immobile Palestinian assailant (Reuters)
- Repealing Obamacare Could be Trump’s First Lesson in the Glacial Pace of Congress (BBG)
- No One Questioned This Hedge Fund’s Madoff-Like Returns (BBG)
- Yuan Surges as China Seeks New Tools to Block Outflows (BBG)
- French Presidential Candidate, Embracing His Catholicism, Challenges Secular Tradition (WSJ)
- Exxon Mobil, Tillerson agree to cut all ties (Reuters)
- U.S. banks gear up to fight Dodd-Frank Act’s Volcker rule (Reuters)
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
– Ford Motor Co scrapped a plan to build a $1.6 billion small-car factory in Mexico that Donald Trump had slammed, a move announced just hours after the President-elect knocked General Motors Co on Twitter for importing compact cars from Mexico to sell in the U.S. http://on.wsj.com/2hPy97k
– Exxon Mobil Corp has awarded former Chief Executive Rex Tillerson a $180 million retirement package as the company moves to break financial ties with President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state. http://on.wsj.com/2hPI5xC
– Qualcomm Inc views its latest smartphone chip as a “connected device” chip, a bid to outdistance rivals such as Intel Corp in the burgeoning market for gadgets and equipment with computing and communications capabilities built in. http://on.wsj.com/2hPNBR1
– Tesla Motors Inc’s fourth-quarter sales rose 27 percent – but not enough for the Silicon Valley auto maker to reach its goal of delivering at least 80,000 vehicles in 2016. http://on.wsj.com/2hPG70h
– Lawyers representing owners of tainted Volkswagen diesel-powered cars in Germany filed the first lawsuit seeking consumer compensation for damages from the car maker’s diesel scandal in a test case that could turn up pressure on it to compensate millions of European customers. http://on.wsj.com/2hPGKqB
– Intel Corp is acquiring a 15 percent stake in Here International B.V. for an undisclosed sum, joining the digital mapmaker’s core shareholders BMW AG, Daimler AG and Volkswagen AG’s Audi unit in developing navigation technology for self-driving cars. http://on.wsj.com/2hPznQi
– Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly is leaving to join NBC News, taking on a variety of roles for the broadcast network after rising to prominence over the course of more than a dozen years at the cable news juggernaut. http://on.wsj.com/2hPG7xj
FT
British Airways cabin crew plan to hold a 48-hour strike starting on Jan. 10, after suspending previous plans to walk out over Christmas, trade union Unite said on Tuesday.
Britain’s ambassador to the European Union, who sometimes clashed with London over its approach to Europe, abruptly resigned less than three months before Prime Minister Theresa May is due to trigger formal Brexit negotiations.
Britain’s exit from the European Union would adversely affect UK agriculture with the loss of income from the EU in the form of Common Agricultural Policy payments, uncertainty over the scope of new trade deals, and possibly stiffer trading competition from larger economies with lower animal welfare and food safety standards, according to a report published on Wednesday by the Environmental Audit Committee.
NYT
– Timothy G. Massad, the top United States derivatives regulator, said on Tuesday that he would step down as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission when Donald Trump becomes president on Jan. 20. http://nyti.ms/2iGCV6O
– Euronext NV said on Tuesday that it had offered to buy the French arm of the London Stock Exchange Group Plc’s majority-owned clearing business, as the British company looks to win regulatory approval for a merger with Deutsche Boerse. http://nyti.ms/2iGDXA1
– Ford Motor Co said on Tuesday that it would scrap plans to build a small-car assembly plant in Mexico that President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized. Trump also threatened to impose tariffs on cars made in Mexico by General Motors Co. http://nyti.ms/2hPJvbA
– Anthony Atkinson, an acclaimed British economist who pioneered the study of changes in the distribution of wealth and income, allowing for a better understanding of poverty and inequality, died on Sunday in Oxford, England. He was 72. http://nyti.ms/2hOpn4E
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** Finance and health ministers in the provinces and territories that have refused the federal government’s offer on health-care funding are asking for a meeting between premiers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to put an end to the impasse. https://tgam.ca/2hPByyr
** Statements by U.S. transition officials and tweets by the President-elect Tuesday are bringing into question the future of jobs and exports from Canada’s auto industry, as Donald Trump warns that U.S. companies should not be allowed to sell internationally manufactured cars in the U.S. market without penalty. https://tgam.ca/2hPyEK0
** More than 300 city employees in Vancouver have been commandeered from other jobs to help with salting and sanding roads, as well as picking up garbage and ticketing people for failing to shovel sidewalks, as the region enters its fourth week of an unusually cold and snowy winter. https://tgam.ca/2hPm1yo
NATIONAL POST
** The British Columbia government’s newly unveiled “Home Owner Mortgage and Equity Partnership Program” will be giving out loans to first-time homebuyers who won’t have to make payments or incur interest for the first five years after buying (then, the interest starts at the buyer’s bank mortgage rate). http://bit.ly/2hPndC2
** TCL Communication, the Chinese company that manufactured the latest two devices for the former smartphone titan based in Waterloo, Ontario, released a teaser video for the next BlackBerry device on Twitter late Monday night. The four-second video zooms in on the physical QWERTY keyboard. http://bit.ly/2hPscTf
** City officials in Grande Prairie were justified in refusing an anti-abortion group’s advertising campaign for public buses because the ad was likely “to cause psychological harm” to women who’ve had or are considering having abortions, an Alberta judge has ruled. http://bit.ly/2hPCVNk
Britain
Euronext, which operates exchanges in Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Lisbon, has offered to buy the French clearing arm of LCH.Clearnet from the London Stock Exchange for 510 million euros. http://bit.ly/2iMT6g8
Belgian company TVH Group NV on Tuesday raised its offer for Britain’s Lavendon Group Plc to 444 million pounds, slightly pipping an offer from French rival Loxam SAS. http://bit.ly/2iMUUWv
The Guardian
Richard Cousins, the chief executive of the catering group Compass, has abruptly left his position as senior independent director of Tesco just days before Britain’s biggest retailer unveils its Christmas trading figures. http://bit.ly/2iMSxTp
A leading group of central bankers was due to meet on Jan. 8 to agree changes that could have forced some banks, largely in Europe, to hold more capital, but it was announced on Tuesday that the meeting had been called off. http://bit.ly/2iMRHX0
The Telegraph
Aberdeen Asset Management has led the call for other City investors to vote against Sports Direct’s embattled chairman Keith Hellawell’s re-election this week. http://bit.ly/2hP4nQe
Lulu Guinness, the British accessories brand best known for its lip-shaped handbags, has narrowed its losses after shutting unprofitable London shops and expanding overseas. http://bit.ly/2iMW6cn
Sky News
British Airways cabin crew plan to stage a 48-hour strike after rejecting an offer aimed at resolving a pay dispute. http://bit.ly/2iMUv6q
British clothing retailer Next is expected to provide a formal profit warning for its 2017 financial year in its fourth-quarter trading update on Wednesday. http://bit.ly/2iMVpzQ
The Independent
The UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index hit 56.1 in December, up from 53.4 in November, reflecting the country’s strongest manufacturing rate in 2-1/2 years. http://ind.pn/2iMKpCx
Paris could lure as many as 20,000 workers from Britain’s finance industry with the exodus potentially starting within weeks as the UK begins its withdrawal from the European Union, according to Europlace, the French capital’s lobby group. http://ind.pn/2iMSB5V
via http://ift.tt/2j8HxUb Tyler Durden