• Mexico Dispute Could Overshadow May’s Free-Trade Message (BBG)
  • NATO, Russia and trade top the agenda for Trump talks with Britain’s May (Reuters)
  • Trump’s plan for import tax worsens crisis with Mexico (Reuters)
  • Nafta’s U.S. Impact is Modest (WSJ)
  • Republicans Are Making Little Progress on Their Obamacare Repeal Strategy (BBG)
  • Ghost of 1990s Is Haunting Dollar and Slowing Further Gains (BBG)
  • Trump’s hopes for Syria safe zones may force decision on Assad (Reuters)
  • Trump’s Gamble: Luring Countries Into Deals (WSJ)
  • Trump tells Republican lawmakers: Enough talk. Time to deliver (Reuters)
  • UBS Clients Pull $15 Billion in Quarter as Margins Decline (BBG)
  • GDP Growth Is Forecast to Have Slowed to 2.2% in Fourth Quarter (WSJ)
  • Will Trump Make This $7 Billion Clean-Coal Plant Irrelevant? (BBG)
  • Border Wall Tax on Mexican Crude Oil Would Cost U.S. Drivers (BBG)
  • Weak exports may crimp U.S. fourth-quarter economic growth (Reuters)
  • France’s Neighbors Sound Alarm Over Election ‘Catastrophe’ Risk (BBG)
  • Jilting Jefferies Said to Cost Credit Suisse Bankers $10 Million (BBG)
  • Fed to Align Itself With Government Hiring Freeze (WSJ)
  • Challenging the U.S., Moscow Pushes Into Afghanistan (WSJ)
  • Volkswagen’s Ex-CEO Winterkorn Probed on Suspicion of Fraud (WSJ)
  • Toshiba to sell part of chip business, puts overseas nuclear ops under review (Reuters)
  • Turkey threatens to cancel Greece migration deal in soldiers’ extradition row (Reuters)

 

Overnight Media Digest

WSJ

– Toshiba Corp will spin off its computer memory-chip unit at the end of March, the company said Friday, in an effort by the cash-strapped industrial conglomerate to raise fresh capital for the businesses that require large investments. http://on.wsj.com/2jvBA2f

– Verizon Communications Inc is exploring a combination with Charter Communications Inc that would unite two giants in search of growth in a rapidly consolidating media and telecom landscape. http://on.wsj.com/2jvuzyL

– Ant Financial Services Group, which works closely with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and is controlled by Alibaba founder Jack Ma, announced a deal Thursday to buy U.S. money-transfer provider MoneyGram International Inc for $880 million. http://on.wsj.com/2jzKUQs

– The Securities and Exchange Commission accused two former executives of Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC of spearheading a long-running bribery scheme that funneled tens of millions of dollars to high-level officials in Africa. http://on.wsj.com/2jvBBTZ

– Brazilian police on Thursday declared former billionaire businessman Eike Batista a fugitive from the law and said they would ask other countries to help track him down, even as his lawyer said he would return to Brazil as soon as possible. Batista, once Brazil’s richest man, is sought in relation to a wide-ranging corruption scandal. http://on.wsj.com/2jvlea6

– Tesla Motors Inc is accusing the former director of its Autopilot program and the former tech guru behind Google’s self-driving car of improperly recruiting the auto maker’s engineers to create their own autonomous-car startup. http://on.wsj.com/2jvlOom

– Publicis Groupe SA tapped Arthur Sadoun, the advertising giant’s 45-year-old creative chief, to replace longtime Chief Executive Maurice Levy, part of a succession plan to steady a firm buffeted by massive changes in consumer behavior and technology. http://on.wsj.com/2jvA0O5

 

FT

Arthur Sadoun will take over as chief executive of advertising company Publicis Groupe SA from longtime CEO Maurice Levy on June 1, the company said on Thursday.

Britain and the United States should stand united and confront new challenges, including the rise of economies in Asia that people fear could “eclipse the West,” Prime Minister Theresa May said in a foreign policy speech to congressional Republicans in Philadelphia on Thursday.

Tighter border controls after Britain’s exit from the European Union will result in the hospitality, agriculture, construction and manufacturing sectors to compete against each other for a smaller pool of low-skilled migrants, the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford said in a new report.

Banks, insurers and traders that comply with reinforced global financial sector rules should be allowed to operate unhindered across the world to spur economic growth and trade, Financial Conduct Authority Chief Executive Andrew Bailey said on Thursday.

 

NYT

– The White House is drafting a presidential directive that calls on Defense Secretary James Mattis to devise plans to more aggressively strike the Islamic State, which could include American artillery on the ground in Syria and Army attack helicopters to support an assault on the groups capital, Raqqa, officials said. http://nyti.ms/2jasrxG

– The Trump administration is pulling back advertisements that encourage people to sign up for health insurance under former President Barack Obama’s health care law. http://nyti.ms/2jaoKYU

– President Donald Trump’s chief White House strategist, Stephen Bannon said in an interview that media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while. http://nyti.ms/2janZiC

– Microsoft Corp released financial results for the last three months of 2016, reporting 4 percent growth in its overall earnings. http://nyti.ms/2javEx2

– Under a Reagan-era policy revived by President Donald Trump, the clinic on the University of Dakar campus in Senegal, may no longer be able to count on aid money from the United States Agency for International Development. http://nyti.ms/2jayimG

– President Donald Trump spoke by telephone with the acting director of the National Park Service the day after his inauguration to ask why someone from the agency had shared someone else’s Twitter Inc’s post giving an unflattering comparison of his inaugural crowd, according to Trump’s deputy press secretary. http://nyti.ms/2japqNZ

 

Canada

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

** TransCanada Corp has taken U.S. President Donald Trump up on his invitation and has formally submitted a new application to the U.S. Department of State for its Keystone XL pipeline. https://tgam.ca/2kamjVW

** Canada’s housing agency has added Victoria to its list of real estate markets with problems, seeing danger signs in the British Columbia capital’s home values. https://tgam.ca/2kajxzW

** Hunter Harrison has sold his shares in Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd, shortly after quitting as chief executive officer of the Calgary company to pursue the top job at Florida-based railway CSX Corp. https://tgam.ca/2karqW7

** As Britain starts the process of leaving the European Union, Liam Fox, Britain’s international trade secretary, tried to assure Canadian businesses that robust trade between the two nations would not be disrupted. https://tgam.ca/2karzZP

NATIONAL POST

** Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp is not removing the red flag it raised three months ago for the housing market, saying it still sees strong overall evidence of problematic market conditions. http://bit.ly/2karLIl

** Metro Inc has reaffirmed its commitment to the Air Miles program after a report implied the grocery chain might be looking to drop the loyalty program in Ontario. http://bit.ly/2kakFUc

** RBC Global Asset Management chief economist Eric Lascelles on Thursday pushed back against fears over the impact of a Donald Trump presidency on Canada, saying protectionist trade policies could instead serve to hobble U.S. growth in the long term. http://bit.ly/2kahdc8

 

Britain

The Times

* British Ministers sneaked out the news that the UK would leave the European Atomic Energy Community, known as Euratom, within the notes accompanying the bill published yesterday to trigger Article 50, the process for leaving the European Union. http://bit.ly/2jkvMVZ

* Verizon and Charter Communications are exploring a near-$300 billion merger to create the largest telecommunications company in the world, it emerged yesterday. http://bit.ly/2jkt6rH

The Guardian

* Buoyant consumer spending kept the UK economy growing at the brisk pace of 0.6 percent in the final quarter of 2016, marking a strong finish to the year despite the Brexit vote. The initial estimate for fourth-quarter GDP from the Office for National Statistics matched the 0.6 percent growth recorded in the third and second quarters. http://bit.ly/2jkpOVr

* Hermes, the courier company that delivers parcels for John Lewis and Next, is facing a legal claim from workers who believe they are wrongly classed as self-employed, according to the Labour MP Frank Field. http://bit.ly/2jk9T9w

The Telegraph

* BT is at risk of having its credit rating cut over fears that the heavy blow to profits from its accounting scandal in Italy and a slump in big contracts will slow effort to reduce its debt pile. The ratings agency Moody’s has changed its outlook on BT from stable to negative in the wake of the company’s profit warning earlier this week. http://bit.ly/2juWVZQ

* Tata Steel UK’s pension fund is set to be spun off in a move that will ring-fence the business from future financial burdens flowing from the retirement scheme. Steel workers’ unions are advising their members to vote for a deal which would close the 15 billion pounds ($18.89 billion) scheme to future accruals, with members getting smaller payouts. http://bit.ly/2jv1hjL

Sky News

* The proprietors of The Daily Telegraph, Barclay brothers, are accelerating plans to cash in on record festive trading at Shop Direct, their retail business, by offloading a significant chunk of the 2 billion pound business. http://bit.ly/2juXcMi

* The British Government has announced plans to close one in 10 Jobcentres as part of plans for “under-used” buildings. http://bit.ly/2jvah8r

The Independent

* Paul Polman, the chief executive of Unilever, said Britain should “get used to” price rises triggered by a slump in the pound after the Brexit vote. http://ind.pn/2jvaoRp

* Barclays has reiterated that it will keep its global headquarters in London even after the UK leaves the EU, in response to media reports that it was planning on establishing a European headquarters in Dublin. http://ind.pn/2jv6Leb

 

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