Opening Bell: 12.9.15
Yahoo to Suspend Work on Its Alibaba Spinoff Plan (Bloomberg)
The Web portal will instead explore a reverse spin, in which the assets and liabilities excluding the Alibaba stake would be transferred to a newly formed company, the Sunnyvale, California-based company said in a statement Wednesday. The stock of the new entity would be distributed pro rata to Yahoo shareholders, resulting in two separate publicly-traded companies.
Citigroup Sued by Failed Hedge Fund Over 2008 Crisis Trades (Bloomberg)
Liquidators of Millennium Global Emerging Credit Fund Ltd., which had almost $1 billion in losses, said Citigroup terminated positions too quickly and at rates that didn’t reflect the market, according to court papers filed in October and made available last week. The liquidators are seeking about $53 million in damages.
Dow Chemical and DuPont Are Said to Be in Merger Talks (Dealbook)
Dow Chemical and DuPont, two of the biggest and oldest companies in the American chemical industry, are in talks to merge in what would be one of the largest transactions in a year full of huge deals, people briefed on the matter said on Tuesday. Under the terms being discussed, a merger of the two companies — each with a market value of roughly $60 billion — could eventually be followed by a breakup of the company, two of these people said.
Lawmakers worry AB InBev beer deal will hurt craft brewers (Reuters)
...in a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee, lawmakers worried about the merger's effect on craft beer, defined as brewing in volume of fewer than 6 million barrels annually. Craft was 11 percent of the U.S. market last year. Despite the panel's concerns, it will have no say on whether it goes ahead. That decision lies with the U.S. Justice Department.
Man named Bud Weisser accused of trespassing at Budweiser plant (Reuters)
Police apprehended the 19-year-old St. Louis man on Thursday when he entered a secure area at the brewery and refused to leave, the St. Louis Police Department said in a statement. Weisser was issued summonses for trespassing and resisting arrest and authorities continue to investigate the incident, police said.
Conviction of Former Jefferies Trader Is Overturned (Dealbook)
A federal appeals court has overturned the 2014 conviction of a former Jefferies Group trader, Jesse C. Litvak, striking a blow to the government’s efforts to crack down on abuses in bond trading. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said in an 84-page decision on Tuesday that there was a lack of evidence that misstatements made by Mr. Litvak were material to the government and that the lower court erred in excluding expert witness testimony. Mr. Litvak was accused of lying about mortgage bond prices to bolster profits. The case was returned to the Federal District Court in New Haven for a new trial on securities fraud charges.
China Sets Yuan at Four-Year Low in ‘Stress Test’ (WSJ)
China guided the yuan to its weakest level in more than four years as the country deals with currency outflows and a slowing economy while trying to loosen its grip on the exchange rate. The central bank is testing how far it can let market forces go in determining the yuan’s value without setting off a sharp selloff and incurring wrath from trading partners, according to people familiar with the matter.
Banks Will Struggle With Profitability in 2020, Survey Shows (Bloomberg)
The firms on average will earn a 9 percent return on equity in 2020, still short of their cost of equity, according to the survey of 147 analysts and portfolio managers conducted by Institutional Investor and Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc., which handles trade processing and investor communications for banks and other companies. Sixty-one percent of the respondents expect regulatory pressure to increase over the next five years and 9 percent predict a decline.
Florida burglary suspect eaten by alligator after fleeing police (Reuters)
A 22-year-old man suspected of burglarizing homes in Florida was killed and partially eaten by an 11-foot (3.4 meters) alligator after he waded into a lake, apparently to avoid detection by law enforcement officers pursuing him, police said on Tuesday. An autopsy on the man, Matthew Riggins of Palm Bay, determined that he drowned in November after an apparent alligator attack. A necropsy on the alligator revealed parts of the man's body in the reptile's stomach, according to a report released this week by the Brevard County Sheriff's Office. Sheriff's deputies chased Riggins and another suspect with dogs and a helicopter on Nov. 13 after residents in the Barefoot Bay community reported two men walking behind houses, authorities said.