- After Comey, Russia Probe Escalates (WSJ)
- Comey Firing Distracts Trump White House, Risking His Agenda (BBG)
- Trump wanted to preview Comey's Senate testimony (Reuters)
- Traders Ask What Will Rouse Markets When Trump and Twitter Can't (BBG)
- EU Raises Growth Forecasts but Cites Threats From Brexit, Trump (WSJ)
- Oil bounces, world stocks hold near all-time highs (Reuters)
- McCain, Sasse to Vote Against Trump Trade Nominee (WSJ)
- Acting FBI Head to Testify Before Congress (WSJ)
- Aetna to Pull Out of Current Affordable Care Act Exchanges (WSJ)
- In Trump's shadow, Fed official says trade barriers a 'dead end' (Reuters)
- Emirates Airline Battered by Trump Travel Ban (WSJ)
- Uber deemed transport service by EU top court adviser (Reuters)
- Money from Chinese State Giants Helped Fund Aluminum Stockpile (WSJ)
- Germany's Schaeuble calls for euro zone parliament: La Repubblica (Reuters)
- The Secretive Firm Set to Expand in Retail Options: Two Sigma Securities (WSJ)
- Wells Fargo management expected to woo shareholders with new cost cuts (Reuters)
- Number of Illegal Cuban Immigrants Caught by Coast Guard Drops to Zero in April (WSJ)
- AIG plans to name Brian Duperreault CEO (WSJ)
- Student Loans Just Got More Expensive (BBG)
- China April vehicle sales notch steepest fall in 20-months on tax hike (Reuters)
- Highest-Paid Women in America Reap Rewards of Technology Boom (BBG)
- The Volcker Rule: How Trump’s New Regulator May Unleash Big Banks (WSJ)
- EU Passports for Sale in Sunny Cyprus Lure Rich Russians' Cash (BBG)
- "Ice age" looms for China's outbound investment (Reuters)
- Tesla starts taking orders for premium solar roofs (Reuters)
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
- Verizon Communications Inc will buy Straight Path Communications Inc for more than $3 billion, after beating rival AT&T Inc in an unusually intense bidding war for the wireless-spectrum holder, according to people familiar with the matter.
on.wsj.com/2q5dw9M- American International Group Inc plans to name Brian Duperreault - a onetime lieutenant to former CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg - as the firm's chief executive officer, with an announcement expected as soon as Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter. on.wsj.com/2q5dcI1
- Whole Foods Market Inc is dramatically reshaping its board in an effort to show it is open to change after an activist investor last month publicly urged the organic-grocery chain to explore a sale and speed up its turnaround efforts. on.wsj.com/2q5dAGy
- Snap Inc, in its first quarterly report as a public company, showed it struggled to maintain strong user growth at its Snapchat vanishing-messaging app, sending shares tumbling and sparking worries about its ability to challenge social-media titan Facebook Inc on.wsj.com/2q56Yba
- Bombardier Inc, which ranks as one of Canada's largest corporate recipients of government financial backing, is facing a push to remove its executive chairman, Pierre Beaudoin, a member of the founding family that controls the transportation company through multiple-voting shares. on.wsj.com/2q57xlq
- Calpine Corp, which owns 80 power plants and has a so-called enterprise value of more than $16 billion, is working with investment bankers at Lazard to sound out possible buyers, according to people familiar with the matter. on.wsj.com/2q5nPLj
FT
Boeing Co said it has suspended test flights of its new 737 Max-8 single aisle passenger jet after discovering problems with the engine.
Time Inc cut its dividend and announced a board reshuffle as the magazine publisher prepares to ramp up cost cuts and sell some titles.
Barclays Plc Chief Executive Jes Staley apologised to shareholders for the "error" he admitted he had made in trying to uncover the identity of a whistleblower.
British food-on-the-go chain Pret A Manger is being lined up for a New York listing. UK-based private equity firm Bridgepoint, which owns a majority stake in Pret, has appointed bankers to prepare a U.S. initial public offering this year. (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom; Editing by Sandra Maler)
NYT
- Abercrombie & Fitch said on Wednesday that it has begun talks to sell itself. It said it was in "preliminary discussions" with unnamed suitors after it received expressions of interest. nyti.ms/2q4XzRc
- Twenty-First Century Fox said on Monday that it had incurred costs of $10 million "related to settlements of pending and potential litigations" during its third quarter in the aftermath of sexual harassment allegations at Fox News. nyti.ms/2q5jesj
- Snap Inc, the parent of the messaging app Snapchat, reported earnings that missed Wall Street expectations reporting a $2.2 billion loss for the first quarter. Its revenue was lighter than expected, and the company disclosed that its user growth was decelerating sharply. nyti.ms/2q5btTl
- The Department of Homeland Security is considering banning laptops and other large electronic devices from carry-on bags on flights from Europe to the United States. The action would extend a limited ban that was put in place in March. nyti.ms/2q5qzIs
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** British Columbia Premier Christy Clark, with a precarious hold on government pending a final count of ballots, is now searching for areas where her Liberals and the British Columbia Green Party can work together. tgam.ca/2qWUUKF
** Andy Ellis, a top Canadian Security Intelligence Service official until last year, argues that the Canadian government's no-ransoms-for-hostages stand is an outdated and even hypocritical posture that needs to be reconsidered for the sake of citizens held abroad. tgam.ca/2qWX9NR
** An internal federal report, commissioned by Infrastructure Canada, warns of a wide range of potential problems with the proposed Canada Infrastructure Bank, including that it could duplicate the work of provinces, slow down projects with new layers of bureaucracy and expose Ottawa to "public relations disasters and embarrassment". tgam.ca/2qWUeVz
NATIONAL POST
** Embattled mortgage lender Home Capital Group Inc. will face tough questions on Thursday when it reports its first-quarter earnings, as its subsidiary's demand deposits continue to fall and shareholders increased their holdings. bit.ly/2qWZgBm
** Moody's Investors Service downgraded the credit ratings of the Big Six banks late Wednesday reflecting "expectation of a more challenging operating environment for banks in Canada for the remainder of 2017 and beyond". bit.ly/2qWUp30
** The National Energy Board may consider the upstream and downstream emissions associated with the construction of TransCanada Corp's massive Energy East pipeline project. bit.ly/2qWZyIu
Britain
The Times
Tweedy, Browne, another top shareholder in Akzo Nobel , has launched a damning assault on the Dulux paints owner for its refusal to support a 27 billion euros ($29.34 billion) takeover of the group. bit.ly/2r3OEO7
The outgoing boss of ITV Plc, Adam Crozier, urged the group to stick with the strategy of expanding its production business amid a drop in advertising revenue. bit.ly/2r1Gdlw
The Guardian
Jes Staley, the chief executive of Barclays Plc under fire for his attempts to unmask a whistleblower, has admitted to hundreds of shareholders that he made a mistake and has issued a personal apology for his behaviour.bit.ly/2r1jTJ4
Just Eat Plc's proposed takeover of Hungryhouse is facing an in-depth investigation by the competition watchdog over fears restaurants could end up with a worse deal. bit.ly/2q4xodg
The Telegraph
Murdoch-owned Twenty-First Century Fox said it is confident that its proposed 11.7 billion pound merger with Sky Plc will receive approval by the end of 2017. bit.ly/2pyg78Y
Paris-based investment firm AEW is to float a new UK real estate business on the London Stock Exchange, with plans to raise up to 150 million pounds. bit.ly/2r3hzlz
Sky News
The chief executive and former finance director of BT Group Plc will miss out on annual bonuses worth more than 3 million pounds following the accounting scandal in Italy which helped wipe billions from the company's stock market value earlier this year. bit.ly/2q6SWEo
Broadband firm TalkTalk's shares have fallen sharply after it cut its dividend as part of its efforts to invest in growing its customer base. The dividend was cut for the year to March to 10.29p from 15.83p and will be lowered to 7.5p this year. bit.ly/2plgFUq
The Independent
After a decade presenting Deal or No Deal, Noel Edmonds is finally taking on the banker himself by presenting Lloyds Banking Group Plc with a 100 million pounds proposition of his own. Edmonds has written to Lloyds Banking Group chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio demanding millions in compensation from his former lender, HBOS. ind.pn/2r0zR69
City of London analysts are divided over what message the Bank of England will likely send to financial markets on Thursday about the future path of interest rates in the face of rising inflation, but also signs that the economy is slowing down in the face of a flagging British consumer. ind.pn/2q49LBO
