- GOP Tax Proposal Expected to Benefit Wall Street Firms (WSJ)
- Trump’s Tax Cuts May Produce Short Job-Growth ‘Sugar High’ (BBG)
- Playboy founder Hugh Hefner dies at age 91 (Reuters)
- Mountains of Aid Languish on Docks in Stricken San Juan (BBG)
- Janet Yellen Can’t Help Retirees (BBG)
- Macron’s EU vision faces reality check at Estonia dinner (Reuters)
- EU’s Barnier Says It May Take Months for Brexit Talks to Move On (BBG)
- Aramco listing reshapes Saudi Arabia’s OPEC oil policy (Reuters)
- Health Insurers Stay in ACA Despite Fears of Last-Minute Exits (WSJ)
- Trump Prepares to Pick His Own Auditor at the IRS (BBG)
- Lyft close to selecting IPO adviser (Reuters)
- History Shows Even Sovereign Bond Default Won’t Unseat Maduro (BBG)
- ‘Amazon Effect’ Leads Investors to Sour on Retail Around the World (WSJ)
- Michael R. Bloomberg: Jeff Sessions Has a Point About Free Speech (BBG)
- Toshiba $18 billion sale of chip unit signed, but discord emerges immediately (Reuters)
- Here’s Where the Most Millionaires Are Being Minted (BBG)
- Video streamer Roku raises $219 million in IPO, prices at top of range (Reuters)
- Fighting the Toxic Nightmare Next Door (BBG)
- Apple Interested in Advanced LCDs for Some iPhones in 2018 (WSJ)
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
– U.S. President Donald Trump and GOP leaders proposed sharply reducing tax rates on businesses and many individuals, starting a major legislative push to overhaul the country’s tax code this year. on.wsj.com/2fSLNUq
– Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine, died on Wednesday at the age of 91. on.wsj.com/2wYNup2
– Hain Celestial Inc reached an agreement with activist investor Engaged Capital LLC calling for changes to the food-and-beverage company’s board and opening the door to a possible sale, according to people familiar with the matter. on.wsj.com/2fSO4Pc
– Federal securities regulators are investigating an allegation by PepsiCo Inc’s former top lawyer Maura Smith that the company fired her in retaliation for the way she handled an internal probe into potential wrongdoing in Russia, according to people familiar with the matter and internal documents. on.wsj.com/2wTzd1v
– Uber Technologies Inc on Wednesday confirmed it is shutting down its U.S. auto-leasing business, known as Xchange Leasing, which will affect about 500 jobs. on.wsj.com/2k6ugwi
FT
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn set out plans to take on landlords, big business and the establishment in his speech to the annual party conference in Brighton by raising the prospect of tighter rent controls.
HSBC Holdings Plc is aiming to become the first high-street lender to launch an app next year that allows customers to see all their accounts, as looming regulation threatens to weaken established lenders’ customer relationships.
Drax Group Plc, owner of Britain’s largest power station, expects its plant in North Yorkshire to play a significant role providing services to UK’s National Grid, such as helping to keep the electricity fed through the system at a stable frequency and providing reserve power to cater for unplanned losses of generation or peaks of demand.
Former Scottish National Party MP George Kerevan told a conference on Wednesday that he will apply for the top job at the Financial Conduct Authority after its current chairman steps down next year.
NYT
– Ford Motor Co and Lyft on Wednesday said they had struck a partnership to develop and test autonomous vehicle designs and technology, with the aim of putting Ford’s self-driving vehicles on Lyft’s ride-hailing network in the future. nyti.ms/2fAcEYj
– Ryanair Holdings Plc, dealing with staff shortages that prompted the cancellation of 2,100 flights this month, said on Wednesday that it would cut 18,000 more flights. nyti.ms/2wkXCch
– Brazil offered the world’s oil companies a chance to bid for drilling rights in its waters on Wednesday, and it declared the results encouraging in which 20 companies from eight countries made bids. nyti.ms/2fSn0zK
– Hugh Hefner, Playboy’s founder died Wednesday at his home, the Playboy Mansion near Beverly Hills, California. He was 91. nyti.ms/2fTmW2N
– Facebook Inc insisted it is pro-democracy and pro-truth and the German election shows it, after U.S. President Donald Trump took aim at Facebook on Wednesday calling the social network “anti-Trump.” nyti.ms/2yazEF4
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau says the federal government’s proposed new tax rules will target billions in “dead money” currently parked in small businesses, encouraging owners to pump those savings into the economy. tgam.ca/2hybJbG
** Netflix Inc will spend a minimum of C$500 million ($400 million) over five years on the production and distribution of Canadian movies and TV shows as part of a landmark agreement that will be at the centre of Ottawa’s new cultural policy, federal sources say. tgam.ca/2yK3kpo
** Stelco Holdings Inc plans to raise C$150 million in an initial public offering, money that the Hamilton-based company will plow into production of high quality steel for auto makers and construction projects. tgam.ca/2yKBNEy
NATIONAL POST
** There are 155,000 non-productive oil and gas wells sitting idle in Alberta that pose a potential C$8.6 billion liability to the energy industry and taxpayers, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report. bit.ly/2yJ8H8k
** Most of Airbnb Inc revenue comes from people renting entire homes that they don’t live in, according to a study by real estate company CBRE, and commissioned by Ottawa-based Hotel Association of Canada. bit.ly/2yIONKO
** Vancouver tech incubator Istuary Innovation Group is facing lawsuits from investors alleging fraudulent activity and “unjust enrichment.” bit.ly/2yKjRKm
Britain
The Times
Piers Pottinger has stepped down as chairman of Bell Pottinger’s Asian division after its formal separation from its disgraced British parent company 10 days ago. bit.ly/2wXCwjK
Scania has been fined 880 million euros ($1.03 billion) as the European Commission closed its file on a cartel of lorry makers told to pay 3.8 billion euros for rigging prices on more than nine out of 10 vehicles they sold in Europe over 14 years. bit.ly/2wWYUi0
The Guardian
Google’s price comparison service will compete with rivals for the right to appear at the top of the search engine’s home page, in an effort to comply with an European Union anti-trust ruling. bit.ly/2fA7xHR
Ryanair Holding Plc is facing enforcement action from the Civil Aviation Authority for “persistently misleading passengers” about their rights, piling more woe on the no-frills carrier as it announced a second wave of flight cancellations that will affect 400,000 people. bit.ly/2wW6I3k
The Telegraph
Uber Technologies Inc has denied it treats drivers differently to other minicab firms in London as it appeals a landmark legal ruling that its drivers are owed workers rights such as sick pay and holiday leave. bit.ly/2yIRrQL
Civitas Social Housing plc which buys stock from housing associations in order to provide affordable homes, is to launch a 350 million pounds ($469.11 million) equity raise. bit.ly/2fsesPH
Sky News
Sky News has learnt that talks about a takeover of Palmer & Harvey which supplies every Tesco Corp outlet in the UK, remained in the balance amid an increasingly urgent need for new investment. bit.ly/2fRlI8b
Monarch Airlines has landed bids for parts of its struggling short-haul business from rivals including easyJet Plc and WizzAir as it seeks to extricate itself from a bitter industry price war. bit.ly/2xH1es3
via http://ift.tt/2xFnqBm Tyler Durden