- Russia says NATO turning Ukraine into 'frontline of confrontation' (Reuters)
- Oil Drillers Under Pressure to Scrap Rigs to Cope With Downturn (BBG)
- Demonstrators Defy NYC Mayor's Call to Suspend Police Protests (BBG)
- U.S. to send more private contractors to Iraq (Reuters)
- ISIS Shoots Down Jet From U.S.-Led Coalition, Syrian Monitors Say (NYT)
- Russians Race to Secure Mortgages Before Costs Spiral (BBG)
- Abe Brings in Former Soldier Nakatani as Defense Minister (BBG)
- At Coke, Newest Flavor Is Austerity (WSJ)
- Fear and retribution in Xi's corruption purge (Reuters)
- UBS Raises Flag on China’s $1 Trillion Overseas Debt Pile (BBG)
- South Korean Officials Indict Uber CEO, Korean Partners for Violating Public-Transport Law (WSJ)
- Online Bargain Hunters Push Korean Retailers to Slash Prices (WSJ)
- Meredith Whitney Fund Sued by Billionaire Platt’s BlueCrest (BBG)
- Former President Bush, 90, hospitalized for shortness of breath (Reuters)
- San Gold Corp. Seeks Protection From Creditors (WSJ)
- Craig Schiffer, Ex-Lehman Executive, Dies in Avalanche at 58 (BBG)
- Takata President Steps Down Over Air-Bag Recalls (WSJ)
- Indie cinemas play leading role in Sony's 'Interview' comeback (Reuters)
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
* Sony Pictures reversed course and said it would release "The Interview" on Christmas Day, though only a small number of theaters signed on to show the controversial farce amid fears of reprisals from a group of hackers and frustration with the studio's quick-changing distribution strategy. (http://on.wsj.com/1rfbd0f)
* United Parcel Service Inc and FedEx Corp started capping air express deliveries in recent days after an 11th-hour increase in packages caused some retailers to exceed agreed-upon limits, according to people briefed on the situation. (http://on.wsj.com/1wDurxu)
* South Korean department stores are slashing prices to compete with overseas online retailers like Amazon.com Inc , eBay Inc and the Gap Inc as more consumers hunt for bargains from online vendors abroad. (http://on.wsj.com/16PgBhD)
* U.S. government approvals for U.S. weapon sales to Iraq have nearly tripled this year to almost $15 billion, promising much-needed work for U.S. weapons factories if the proposed deals can overcome congressional concerns. (http://on.wsj.com/1wji6JJ)
* DirecTV and Walt Disney Co have reached a multiyear distribution agreement that expands content available on smartphones and tablets in an era in which consumers increasingly are watching media on different devices. (http://on.wsj.com/13uKtOc)
* American Apparel Inc said its board has adopted a revised code of conduct and ethics in connection with its review of the company's corporate governance and policies, just a week after terminating Chief Executive Dov Charney. (http://on.wsj.com/1EbiQuF)
* American Airlines Group Inc, trying to build employee trust and heartened by strong financial results in the first year after its merger, said that it will raise pay scales by 4 percent for any unions that reach joint postmerger labor contracts and lift nonunion pay by the same. (http://on.wsj.com/1xIUEMB)
* A bankruptcy judge tied up a remaining loose end from the 2008 collapse of Washington Mutual Bank, endorsing a $37 million settlement of the company's claims against its former leaders. (http://on.wsj.com/1vkMMei)
* Sony Corp has been exploring the sale of its Sony/ATV Music Publishing unit, the company's recently leaked internal emails suggest. (http://on.wsj.com/13XrUTY)
* Gold-miner San Gold Corp has asked Canadian courts for protection against its creditors on Tuesday, another miner running into trouble as the price of the yellow metal falls and the sector's empire building in the commodity boom years comes back to haunt it. (http://on.wsj.com/1xKhdRc)
* Sears Holdings Corp said that Imran Jooma, one of its senior executives with wide ranging oversight of the company's business, resigned. (http://on.wsj.com/1zgWVtK)
* Japanese mobile carrier KDDI Corp said it would start selling the first smartphones in Japan that run on the open-source Firefox operating system beginning on Thursday. (http://on.wsj.com/1GW9YHe)
FT
Sony Pictures said it will release its controversial film 'The Interview' in a select number of theatres on Christmas after going back on its original plan following threats from a hacker group.
Top European truckmakers including Volvo, Daimler AG and Iveco operated a cartel for 14 years to delay the progress of emissions-related technology, the Financial Times reported citing leaked European Commission documents.
Rockstar, an intellectual property consortium led by Apple and Microsoft, has decided to end its legal battles with Samsung, LG and other smartphone manufacturers by selling its mobile patents for $900 mln to patent management company RPX.
A group of minority shareholders led by activist group Ethos made a last-ditch effort to save Saint Gobain from buying its rival Sika. The shareholders filed a motion to remove a clause in Sika's articles of association that enables Saint-Gobain to gain control of Sika, without having to make an offer to the minority shareholders.
NYT
* Israeli officials and the antitrust regulator have said they are concerned that Noble Energy Inc, a Houston-based oil company, and its partners, Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration, had a lock on Israeli gas production. (http://nyti.ms/1Eb3RAV)
* The Russian government said it was forcing five major state-controlled exporters, including the publicly traded energy behemoths Gazprom and Rosneft, to limit their foreign currency holdings to help prop up the ruble. (http://nyti.ms/1x9KcuR)
* The American economy grew last quarter at its fastest rate in over a decade, providing the strongest evidence to date that the recovery is finally gaining sustained power more than five years after it began. (http://nyti.ms/1wE0y02)
* A high-profile hack at JPMorgan Chase & Co - to say nothing of monstrous breaches at Sony and Home Depot - has made cyber security a daily concern for executives at big banks and corporations. One partial protection is to take out insurance. (http://nyti.ms/1GW2F27)
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** The Canadian economy put in a surprisingly robust performance in October and is positioned to extend its broadly-based growth with higher exports to the United States, but uncertainty remains over the impact of lower oil prices on the energy sector. (http://bit.ly/1HzUjM4)
** The governing Conservative Party has taken a slim lead over the Liberals, according to a new poll that also found a "sizeable" improvement in public sentiment toward Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The Abacus Data poll is the latest to find an increase in Conservative fortunes ahead of the looming federal election, scheduled for next October. (http://bit.ly/1CA6Dhf)
** Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird will travel to Egypt next month to push for the release of imprisoned Egyptian-Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy. Baird said Canada has been working hard behind the scenes to win the release of the Al Jazeera journalist who will be entering his 13th month in captivity by the time he arrives in Cairo in January. (http://bit.ly/1vlB8zO)
** Quebec Superior Court Justice Guy Cournoyer sentenced Luka Rocco Magnotta to life imprisonment on the murder charge of Jun Lin, with no chance of applying for parole for 25 years. The verdicts were a quick and sudden end to a saga that began in 2012 with a horrific crime captured in part on video and published on the Internet. (http://bit.ly/1tbmHDl)
** Mental-health authorities in Ontario have lost their power to hold patients for more than six months, after a court ruling in the case of a pedophile detained for 19 years under the province's mental-health law. (http://bit.ly/1CAnlNJ)
NATIONAL POST
** Veresen Inc Chief Don Althoff said in an interview on Tuesday that his Calgary-based company's Jordan Cove LNG project, proposed for the Oregon coastline, "could very well be the first West Coast LNG facility up and running". Althoff also confirmed that his company intends to make a final investment decision on the project in the second half of 2015. (http://bit.ly/16PGjTg)
** Ontario's governing Liberals have decided taxpayers would no longer be on the hook for about C$10,000 ($8,616) they paid a computer expert to allegedly wipe hard drives in the premier's office. (http://bit.ly/1vmUuEI)
** The father of Jeffrey Labelle, a allegedly radicalized man who faces a terrorism-related charge, will testify at his son's bail hearing in Montreal on Tuesday. Montreal police say Labelle's family tipped them off last week that he had become radicalized. (http://bit.ly/1sUoXZZ)
China
CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL
- China Academy of Social Science estimated that Shanghai Composite Index would hit 5,000 points in 2015.
- The number of newly opened A-share accounts saw a 29 percent decrease last week, compared with the week before, said the paper, citing data from China Securities Depository and Clearing Corp Ltd.
CHINA DAILY
- China and Egypt signed five agreements on infrastructure projects on Tuesday during Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's first state visit to China. The agreements aim to promote the development of China's new Silk Road and Egypt's economic plan.
SHANGHAI DAILY
- Shanghai ramped up environmental protection efforts and cracked down on illegal hunting of wild ducks.
- Toll highways in China posted a total loss of 66 billion yuan ($10.60 billion) in 2013, hurt by increasing cost of construction.
PEOPLE'S DAILY
- The basic national condition of China is that it is a unified multi-ethnic country. Different ethnic groups should work together to promote prosperity, the paper, which acts as a mouthpiece for the ruling Communist Party, said in a commentary.
Britain
The Times
MANSION TAX WOULD START 'ON DAY ONE' UNDER LABOUR, SAYS ED BALLS
Owners of properties worth more than 2 million stg face paying a mansion tax from "day one" of a new Labour government, Ed Balls has said. The shadow chancellor revealed he plans to impose the extra levy in 2015-16, even though the 12-month period begins before the election. (http://thetim.es/1zvzSAx)
MORTGAGE LENDING COMES OFF BOIL AS MARKET SLOWS
Mortgage lending dropped by a fifth over the past year as the housing market catches a chill, but George Osborne's overhaul of the unpopular stamp duty system could change everything. Mortgage approvals for house purchase fell to 36,717 in November, down from 37,153 in October, according to the British Bankers' Association (BBA). (http://thetim.es/1JQdPYA)
The Guardian
BLOWS FOR OSBORNE AS GROWTH REVISED DOWN AND CURRENT ACCOUNT DEFICIT SOARS
George Osborne's hopes of using a strengthening economy as the springboard for election victory next May have been dealt a double blow with news of weaker growth during 2013 and 2014 and the biggest current account deficit in the UK's history. The Office for National Statistics said the economy's performance throughout much of 2013 and 2014 had been less impressive than initially thought. (http://bit.ly/1vkXX6E)
GREEK MPS' SECOND FAILURE TO ELECT HEAD OF STATE BRINGS SNAP ELECTION CLOSER
Greece has come a step closer to a snap general election that could plunge the eurozone into renewed crisis after Athens' parliament failed for a second time on Tuesday to elect a new head of state. (http://bit.ly/16NTF2v)
The Telegraph
RBS SUSPENDS BONUSES FOR 18 EMPLOYEES AS FOREX PROBE DEEPENS
Royal Bank of Scotland has suspended the bonus pots of 18 traders as part of an internal investigation into foreign exchange rigging. (http://bit.ly/1GVlQJs)
UK HOME SALES FALL BELOW 100,000 FOR FIRST TIME IN A YEAR
The number of homes sold in the UK fell below 100,000 in November for the first time in a year, Government figures have shown. A total of 98,490 residential properties were sold last month, according to HM Revenue and Customs data, the lowest level since November last year, when 99,320 homes changed hands. (http://bit.ly/1xeH04a)
Sky News
TOP UKIP OFFICIAL CLEARED OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT
UKIP's general secretary has been cleared of impropriety after an inquiry into claims he sexually harassed a would-be parliamentary candidate. (http://bit.ly/1zRNLqH)
RSA TALKS TO INFLEXION OVER NON-CORE SALE
RSA Insurance Group PLC, the FTSE-100 insurer, is in talks to sell a division which helps employers to comply with industrial safety requirements, the latest in a string of asset disposals since ousting its chief executive last year. (http://bit.ly/1xJqt7Z)
The Independent
DANNY ALEXANDER INTERVIEW: OSBORNE SAVAGED BY HIS CLOSEST ALLY IN THE COALITION
George Osborne has been accused by his Liberal Democrat deputy of planning the "wilful destruction" of key public services if the Conservatives win next May's general election. Danny Alexander, a loyal ally of the Chancellor since the Coalition was formed in 2010, said Osborne would make 60 billion stg of unnecessary cuts by 2020. (http://ind.pn/1AFVR6W)
TATE GALLERIES FORCED TO DISCLOSE THE EXTENT OF CONTROVERSIAL BP SPONSORSHIP DEAL
The Tate has been ordered to reveal how much sponsorship it receives from oil giant BP PLC after a landmark victory by environmental campaigners.(http://ind.pn/13uzFzs)
Fly On The Wall Pre-market Buzz
ECONOMIC REPORTS
Domestic economic reports scheduled for today include:
Jobless claims for week of Dec. 20 at 8:30--consensus 290K
EIA petroleum status report for week of Dec. 19 at 10:30
EIA natural gas storage change for week of Dec. 19 at 12:00
ANALYST RESEARCH
Achillion (ACHN) sell-off yesterday a buying opportunity, says Piper Jaffray
Arctic Cat (ACAT) initiated with a Market Perform at Wells Fargo
Ellington Financial (EFC) initiated with a Hold at MLV & Co.
Virgin America (VA) initiated with a Buy at Deutsche Bank
Virgin America (VA) initiated with an Overweight at Barclays
COMPANY NEWS
ARCP (ARCP) to reevaluate dividend rate after delivery of financial statements
American Realty (ARCP) provides business update, retains Korn Ferry for CEO search
Brookfield (BAM) to acquire remaining equity in Brookfield (BAM) Residential
Cutrale-Safra extends tender offer for Chiquita (CQB)
DirecTV (DTV), Disney sign new multi-year, expanded agreement
ETP, ETE approve final terms for Bakken pipeline project
Equinix (EQIX) says has not yet received PLR from IRS
j2 Global (JCOM) to commence tender offer for Carbonite (CARB) at $15 a share
LSB Industries (LXU) appoints Barry Golsen CEO, succeeding Jack Golsen
Manulife Financial (MFC) unit to buy New York Life's retirement business
Middleby (MIDD) to acquire Goldstein Eswood
Ocwen (OCN) ratings downgraded by Fitch
Panera Bread (PNRA) Chief Concept and Innovation Officer will leave company
ResMed (RMD) wins patent infringement lawsuit against BMC Medical
Sealed Air (SEE) appproves restructuring plan, sees incurring costs of $275M-$285M
Silver Spring (SSNI) announces Chief Accounting Officer C. Douglas Andrews to resign
StealthGas (GASS) adopts stockholder rights plan
ValueAct lowers stake in Rockwell Collins (COL) to 4.2% from 5.8%
EARNINGS
Companies that beat consensus earnings expectations last night and today include:
CalAmp (CAMP)
Companies that missed consensus earnings expectations include:
Piedmont Natural Gas (PNY), Cal-Maine Foods (CALM)
Piedmont Natural Gas (PNY) reaffirms FY15 EPS $1.82-$1.92, consensus $1.90
Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) affirms FY14 adjusted EPS view after Insignia incident
CalAmp (CAMP) sees Q4 non-GAAP EPS 26c-30c, consensus 28c
Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) sees Insignia incident cutting Q4, Q1 EPS by 5c each
NEWSPAPERS/WEBSITES
Citigroup (C) to sell Japan retail business to Sumitomo (SMFG), WSJ reports
FedEx (FDX), UPS capped air deliveries in recent days, WSJ reports
Global LCD TV shipments to reach 215M units in 2014, DigiTimes says
IAMGOLD (IAG) CEO says open to deals in 2015, Bloomberg reports
Sony (SNE) mulling sale of music publishing business, WSJ says
SYNDICATE
Paycom (PAYC) files to sell 5.585M shares of common stock for holders
Pennsylvania REIT (PEI) withdraws $1B mixed securities shelf due to misfiling
Peregrine (PPHM) files to sell $150M in common stock, preferred stock
Perry Ellis (PERY) files to sell 1.5M shares of common stock for holders
RCS Capital (RCAP) files automatic mixed securities shelf