- January Jobs Report Closely Watched for Momentum, Wages (WSJ)
- Oil prices steady, weak fundamentals weigh after volatile week (Reuters)
- How Much Global Oil Output Halted Due to Low Prices? Just 0.1% (BBG)
- Congress Tweet ‘Unfortunate,’ Lawyer Says as Shkreli Goes Online (BBG)
- Syrians Flee Aleppo to Escape Damascus Offensive Against Rebels (WSJ)
- Dollar Set for Biggest Weekly Loss Since 2009 Before Jobs Data (BBG)
- Brazil’s Recession Is Crashing Its Biggest Party (BBG)
- WikiLeaks’ Assange should go free from embassy and be compensated: U.N. panel (Reuters)
- Companies Form New Alliance to Target Health-Care Costs (WSJ)
- U.S. banks targeted by activist investors on merger wave hopes (Reuters)
- Mugabe Declares National Emergency in Zimbabwe Over Drought (BBG)
- Michigan emails show officials knew of Flint water disease risk (Reuters)
- ArcelorMittal Asks Investors for $3 Billion Amid Steel Rout (BBG)
- Snow Heading for New Hampshire Just in Time for Tuesday’s Vote (BBG)
- Platt’s BlueCrest Said to Be Probed by SEC Over Employee Fund (BBG)
- Bill Gross Investors Aren’t the Only Ones Pulling Pimco Money (BBG)
- Julius Baer advisers admit helping Americans dodge taxes (FT)
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
– The Democratic presidential candidates clashed Thursday night over who is the true progressive at their first one-on-one debate, with Hillary Clinton saying Senator Bernie Sanders has put forward an unrealistic agenda that would ultimately collapse. (http://on.wsj.com/1K22WXn)
– Twenty major companies, including American Express Co , Macy’s Inc and Verizon Communications Inc, are banding together to use their collective data and market power in a bid to hold down the cost of providing workers with healthcare benefits. (http://on.wsj.com/1PY3XSI)
– Viacom Inc said Thursday that Sumner Redstone resigned as executive chairman of the company and will be succeeded by Chief Executive Philippe Dauman, who has been one of the 92-year-old Redstone’s most trusted advisers for three decades. (http://on.wsj.com/23Lh7q2)
– Wall Street is increasingly skeptical about the pace of Federal Reserve interest-rate increases this year, the latest blow to the central bank’s yearslong efforts to unwind its easy-money policies and return the economy to a normal footing. (http://on.wsj.com/1nL2nGK)
NYT
– Martin Shkreli, former chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, who is facing federal securities fraud charges, repeatedly exercised his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination, infuriating members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. (http://nyti.ms/1PmEdtp)
– Symantec Corp said on Thursday it had taken a $500 million investment from the investment firm Silver Lake Partners, as the company moves to focus on its core security software and services. (http://nyti.ms/1KtL5bC)
– A deal about to close on Wall Street illustrates just how much some investors are willing to give up to gain a piece of the hottest start-up. Wealthy clients of Morgan Stanley are piling into a special fund that gives them a chance to bet on Uber. The fund, called New Riders LP, is a lesser-known contribution to the billions of dollars in capital that Uber, the private ride-sharing company, has been raising in recent months. (http://nyti.ms/1R8kHWm)
– In a case that echoes the Takata Corp airbag recalls, automakers including Honda Motor Co Ltd and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV will recall about five million vehicles worldwide to fix a defect in an airbag component known for years but left unaddressed. Continental Automotive Systems, the German supplier that manufactures electronic components that control car airbags, has been aware of a defect in some units since January 2008. (http://nyti.ms/1UPHsgB)
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** Royal Dutch Shell disclosed on Thursday that the LNG Canada joint venture in northern British Columbia is being delayed by about nine months, saying the partners are now aiming to make a final investment decision at the end of 2016 instead of the first quarter. (http://bit.ly/1L2Au2g)
** Suncor Energy Inc faces a funding deficit estimated at C$4 billion ($2.91 billion) as oil prices remain under severe pressure this year, but it’s still forging ahead with a pair of big-ticket oil sands and offshore projects while maintaining its dividend. (http://bit.ly/1UOzuod)
** External demand for Canadian bonds is at risk of faltering, casting doubt on the supply of foreign capital needed to meet Canada’s borrowing needs, according to a National Bank Financial report. (http://bit.ly/1L2Au2g)
NATIONAL POST
** As the NFL’s Carolina Panthers prepare to take on the Denver Broncos this Sunday, Bell Media is preparing for the possibility that this will be the last Super Bowl with a guaranteed audience for Canadian ads because a federal regulator has decided to stop Bell, which owns the television rights to the Super Bowl through broadcaster CTV, from requiring that cable companies carrying U.S. stations broadcasting the game substitute CTV’s signal to increase the reach of its advertisements. (http://bit.ly/1S4I2t1)
** Canada’s oil industry elite walked away Thursday with an “understanding” from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that oil export pipelines are needed and that there would be more collaboration to make them happen. (http://bit.ly/1nRnHv8)
** Trailer Park Boys actress Lucy DeCoutere acknowledged Thursday at the Jian Ghomeshi sexual assault trial that her profile soared after she made public allegations against the former CBC star as his lawyer repeatedly questioned why she maintained a friendship with him following an alleged attack. (http://bit.ly/1L0lNgf)
Britain
The Times
Barclays Plc has abandoned its protracted fight with the Serious Fraud Office over sensitive documents about its 2008 Middle East fundraising and handed them over for scrutiny. (http://thetim.es/1X6SxeR)
South32 Ltd, which was spun out of BHP Billiton , is cutting more than 600 jobs and preparing for a $1.7 billion write-down. (http://thetim.es/1X6T7JD)
The Guardian
Analysts at Goldman Sachs are warning that sterling could fall by up to 20 percent if Britain votes to leave the European Union. The U.S. investment bank believes Britain will remain in the EU, but its macro markets strategy team has looked at what would happen to the pound if the vote goes the other way. (http://bit.ly/1X6TmUV)
AstraZeneca Plc has warned that revenues and profits will fall this year as the drugmaker loses patent protection on its cholesterol pill Crestor in the United States. (http://bit.ly/1X6UpEq)
The Telegraph
Vodafone Plc has hit out at CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd’s promise to freeze mobile phone bills for millions of customers if Brussels approves the proposed merger between Three and O2. (http://bit.ly/1X6TPXc)
Cheaper fares at Ryanair Holdings Plc in the wake of the Paris atrocities sent passenger numbers at the Irish budget airline soaring by a quarter last month. (http://bit.ly/1X6TTq1)
Sky News
The Bank of England has cut its forecasts for UK economic growth to the weakest level in three years and said that it stands ready to cut interest rates if there is another slump. (http://bit.ly/1X6TZOo)
Thatcherite cabinet minister John Whittingdale has broken his silence on David Cameron’s EU renegotiation and signalled he stands ready to campaign for Britain to leave the European Union. (9http://bit.ly/1X6U4BB)
The Independent
Top City law firms are billing up to 1,100 pounds ($1,603.36) an hour – the highest rates ever recorded – producing “astronomical” and “unjustifiable” fees that are restricting access to justice, according to the author of a report for the Centre for Policy Studies think-tank. (http://ind.pn/1X6Vxb9)
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1TIwNpQ Tyler Durden