- France to Lift Minimum Wage in Bid to Rev Up Economy (WSJ)... weeks after it cut the retirement age
- Merkel Urged to Back Euro Crisis Measures (FT)
- Monti lashes out at Germany ahead of summit (FT)
- Italy Official Seeks Culture Shift in New Law (WSJ)
- Migrant workers and locals clash in China town (BBC)
- Romney Would Get Tough on China (Reuters)
- Bank downgrades trigger billions in collateral calls (IFRE)
- Gold Drops as US Data, China Speculation Temper Europe (Bloomberg)
- Brazil Rate Futures Yields Fall to Record on Europe Debt Turmoil (Bloomberg)
- Brazil said to Boost Spending for Local Suppliers Amid Slowdown (Bloomberg)
- China's City Banks Still Barred from Listing (Reuters)
- India Spent $160 Billion for Crude Import in FY12 (Economic Times)
Overnight media digest:
WSJ
* Obama has managed to retain a narrow lead in his race for re-election despite a spate of bad economic news and surging GOP optimism about Romney's prospects, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds.
* America will halve its reliance on Middle East oil by the end of this decade and could end it completely by 2035 due to declining demand and growth of new petroleum sources, energy analysts say.
* Global commodities giants Xstrata Plc and Glencore International Plc are under intense pressure to amend their proposed merger as people close to the matter said it is becoming increasingly clear shareholders will block the landmark deal on its current terms.
* Samsung Electronics Co was dealt a blow Tuesday when a California judge issued an injunction banning sales of the company's Galaxy Tab 10.1 touchscreen tablet at the request of Apple Inc.
* News Corp board is set to decide Wednesday whether to proceed with a split of the media conglomerate into two companies, carving the bigger and more profitable entertainment businesses from the newspapers.
* Best Buy Co Inc founder Richard Schulze, who resigned from the company's board earlier this month, is working with Wall Street bankers to explore taking the electronics retailer private.
* Coca-Cola Inc plans to pour $5 billion into India by 2020. Despite a tumultuous history there and government policy flip-flops, the company sees potential in a fast-growing nation where average Coke consumption is just 12 bottles a year.
* Five years after Wal-Mart Stores Inc promised to open thousands of health-care clinics in its sprawling supercenters, it has fallen far behind its retailing rivals in what has become a race to provide basic medical care in stores.
* The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has voted to file a civil lawsuit against hedge fund manager Philip Falcone and his firm Harbinger Capital Partners LLC, according to people close to the investigation.
* Days before a U.S. bankruptcy judge is expected to rule on labor savings at American Airlines parent AMR Corp two unions indicated they are willing to resume bargaining over new contracts the carrier said it needs to successfully restructure.
* Boeing Co is abruptly changing the chief executive of its commercial unit on the eve of a major air show where the jet maker is expected to announce significant orders for a new version of its 737 Max aircraft.
* New car sales in the U.S. in June are expected to reach their highest point since 2007, according to a new survey.
* Nora Ephron, an essayist and screenwriter whose fixation on food, real estate and the relationships between men and women helped reinvigorate the Hollywood romantic comedy, dies at 71.
* Google Inc is expected this week to show off a tablet running its newest mobile software and a service for companies to rent computer servers to store data, according to people familiar with the matter.
* Facebook Inc acknowledged that it could have made a better effort to educate the social network's users about changes to the way email addresses are displayed with profiles.
FT
RBS LOOKS AT LEGAL ACTION AGAINST CA
Royal Bank of Scotland is discussing at a senior level whether to take legal action against U.S. software maker CA Technologies after a computer update caused a systems failure that left millions of customers without access to their bank accounts.
LATE EFFORTS TO SAVE GLENCORE-XSTRATA DEAL
The $65 billion merger between commodities trader Glencore and miner Xstrata was on Tuesday night on the verge of collapse after the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar, the second largest shareholder in the miner, opposed the terms of the deal.
MONTI LASHES OUT AT GERMANY AHEAD OF SUMMIT
Mario Monti has set the stage for a tough fight with Germany at the EU summit this week, insisting that he will continue to push Italy's proposal to use euro zone bailout funds in an attempt to stabilise financial markets.
LONDON PROPERTY HEADS FOR PRICE PLATEAU
The boom in London's high-end housing market is showing signs of petering out as the impact of the government's tough stamp duty measures begin to set in.
LONDON'S CITY FEARS CAMERON EU DEMANDS
The City of London has raised deep concerns over David Cameron's strategy in Europe, warning that the prime minister's wishlist of "safeguards" in December could actually have damaged its standing as Europe's financial centre.
NEWS CORP WEIGHS UP TWO-WAY SPLIT
Rupert Murdoch has abandoned his resistance to splitting his $50 billion media empire, agreeing to consider a spin-off of News Corp's tarnished UK newspapers and other publishing assets from its Fox, Sky and Star entertainment brands.
COKE'S $3 BILLION TO ADD FIZZ TO INDIA PRESENCE
Coca-Cola is escalating the beverage wars in India, announcing a $3 billion investment intended to help it overtake PepsiCo in one of the few countries where it trails its rival.
GLOBAL ROLE FOR CITI'S ASIA CONSUMER HEAD
Citigroup has underlined Asia's growing importance to the bank by naming its consumer banking head in Hong Kong as global head of retail banking, according to an internal email seen by the Financial Times.
NYT
- Top bankers, who took positions assessing global financial risk for the IMF, knew all about Spain's economic problems but they failed to sound the alarm.
- European Union prods Germany with fiscal plan. The 10-year plan calls for a more tightly knit union and more sharing of the region's debt burden.
- Before talks with lenders, Greece appoints Yannis Stournaras as finance minister. The prominent economist is expected to succeed Vassilis Rapanos, who resigned before he could be sworn in, citing health problems.
- News Corp Inc's proposal to sever publishing arm will be reviewed by the board on Wednesday and a decision could be made as early as Thursday.
- Broadband companies are moving toward a strategy called usage-based billing, which will charge tiers of pricing based on how much people use their Internet at home.
- NYSE Euronext asked regulators to allow it to create a market that is similar to the unregulated "dark markets," and Nasdaq said it had similar plans.
- Roche Holding AG, the Swiss pharmaceutical company, said Tuesday that it would shut down its site in Nutley, New Jersey, which served as its American headquarters for 80 years, in an effort to cut costs. About 1,000 jobs would be lost, the company said.
- The Federal Trade Commission charged Wyndham Worldwide and three hotel and resort affiliates on Tuesday with allowing three breaches of its corporate data files in two years, resulting in the electronic theft of the credit card data of hundreds of thousands of the hotel chain's customers.
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
- Ontario's Premier acknowledges that confusion and delays in the effort to reach possible survivors of a shopping mall roof collapse have raised concerns about the province's capacity to respond to serious emergencies.
Report in the business section:
- Goldcorp Inc. has won a court battle against larger rival Barrick Gold Corp. over ownership of the El Morro copper-and-gold deposit in Chile, a potentially massive deposit that could become a mine as early as 2017 and keep running for nearly 20 years.
FINANCIAL POST
- Canada and Israel signed an agreement on energy cooperation Tuesday that will allow for more collaboration over resource development projects and renewable power research. Joe Oliver, Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, signed the agreement along with Israeli Energy and Water Resources Minister Uzi Landau in Tel Aviv.
NATIONAL POST
- The chair of the Toronto Transit Commission will release on Wednesday a $30-billion transit expansion plan funded by a hike in property taxes. Karen Stintz hopes to funnel $45 annually from every household into the transit fund in 2013. In 2014, the tax hike would increase to $90 per household, then $180 in 2015.
European Economic Update:
- Germany Import Price Index (M/M/Y/Y) -0.7%/2.2% –lower than expected. Consensus -0.6%/2.3%. Previous -0.5%/2.3%.
- Spanish Retail Sales (Y/Y) (Real) -4.3%. Previous -11.3%. Revised -11.5%.
- Italy Business Confidence 88.9 – higher than expected. Consensus 85.5. Previous 86.2. Revised 86.6.
- Norway Unemployment Rate 3.0% – in line with expectations. Consensus 3.0%. Previous 3.0%.
- UK CBI Reported Sales 42 – higher than expected. Consensus 15. Previous 21.