Opening Bell: 9.26.17

Deutsche Bank Slumps to Fresh Record Low on Capital Concerns (Bloomberg)
Deutsche Bank AG shares dropped to a record low amid concerns that mounting legal bills, including a looming fine over its pre-crisis mortgage bond business, may force the German lender to raise capital. The shares declined as much as 6.9 percent and traded at 10.71 euros at 12:38 p.m. in Frankfurt, down 6.1 percent. That brings losses to about 53 percent this year. The 38-member Bloomberg Europe Banks and Financial Services Index slipped 2.4 percent, with Deutsche Bank the worst performer.

Deutsche Bank says to solve problems without help from Berlin (Reuters)
Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) will solve its problems without relying on help from Berlin, Germany's flagship lender said on Monday. "(Chief Executive) John Cryan at no point asked the German Chancellor for the government to intervene in the U.S. Justice Department's mortgages case," a Deutsche Bank spokesman said on Monday...Analysts at Mediobanca said that a rights issue looked inevitable. "John Cryan always said that a rights issue would only be triggered by a larger-than expected litigation charge and it appears increasingly likely that Deutsche Bank investors will be asked to post bail for Deutsche's past crimes," they said in note on Monday.

Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf gets $123.6 million if he walks (USAT)
Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf stands to walk from the bank with $123.6 million in severance and stock value if he retires from the bank, which is still reeling from a scandal where millions of accounts were inappropriately opened for customers. Stumpf's $123.6 million in potential retirement walking money, as calculated by pay consulting firm Equilar as of mid-September, is the sum of Stumpf's $25.2 million in retirement payments, plus a $20 million pension, deferred compensation of $4.3 million as well as the $74 million in stock he already owns. Neither Stumpf nor Wells Fargo has stated the CEO's continued employment is in doubt, but he is eligible for the bank's retirement plan.

World stocks get twitchy before Trump-Clinton showdown (Reuters)
European and Asian shares retreated on Monday with investors focused on how Donald Trump would fare in a U.S. presidential debate against Hillary Clinton, while oil prices firmed before an informal OPEC meeting. Wall Street looked set to open lower, according to index futures ESc1 1YMc1, before the first of three debates, which was due to begin at 0100 GMT/2100 ET. Half of America's likely voters will rely on the presidential debates to help them make their choice between Republican Trump and Democrat Clinton in the Nov. 8 election, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday. "A good performance from Mr. Trump could see market volatility increase, particularly if investors think there is a possibility that he could actually win," wrote Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in London.

Emirates airlines sued by angry lawyer for being stuck next to an obese man on a nine-hour flight (NYP)
Giorgio Destro claims his flight from Cape Town to Dubai was ruined by an overweight passenger whose body "spilled" into his seat on the Boeing 777. Destro snapped a selfie that shows him looking unhappy and apparently cramped in seat 29K next to the unidentified man who had the middle seat. The lawyer, from the Italian city of Padua, said he suffered throughout the flight last July and was told by cabin crew he could not change seats because the flight was fully booked, Italian newspaper Mattino Padova reported. "For nine hours I had to stand in the aisle, sit on seats reserved for the cabin crew when they were free and in the final phase of flight resign myself to suffer the 'spillover' of the passenger at my side," he told the newspaper in comments translated by The Local .

Wall Street is raising alarm bells over the possibility of a Trump presidency (MarketWatch)
Erik F. Nielsen, group chief economist at UniCredit Research, said his conversations with European investors fall into three “categories”: 1) Oh my God, this is bad; 2) This is not good, but the American democracy’s checks and balances are strong enough to prevent him from doing too crazy things; 3) Maybe he’ll be like Ronald Reagan and it all ends well. The economist said he’s firmly in camp No. 1, with his single-biggest concern a “complete lack of knowledge” about Trump’s policies. The fact that the candidate doesn’t have an economic or foreign-policy adviser with a known record of publications or views in the field at his disposal marks a troubling first in modern history, Nielsen said.

CBOE to buy Bats in a $3.2 billion deal (MarketWatch)
CBOE Holdings Inc. confirmed Monday that it has agreed to buy Bats Global Markets Inc. in a cash and stock deal that valued at about $3.2 billion. Under terms of the deal, which is expected to consist of 31% cash and 69% CBOE stock, CBOE will pay $32.50 for each Bats share outstanding, which is a 2.2% premium to Friday's closing price.

Most U.K. CEOs Say They Would Consider Moving After Brexit (Bloomberg)
Some 72 percent of the CEOs surveyed said they voted “Remain” in the June 23 Brexit referendum, KPMG said on Monday in an e-mailed statement. While more than two-thirds said they’re confident Britain’s economy and their own companies will continue to grow over the next year, 76 percent are mulling some form of relocation."

Man caught using mannequin torso to cheat California carpool lane (UPI)
A California police department said a motorcycle officer ticketed a man for driving in the carpool lane with an artificial passenger -- a mannequin. The Brea Police Department tweeted a photo of the female-style mannequin, which was missing its legs, wearing a hoodie with its face partially obscured in the passenger seat of a driver's pickup truck. The department said the motorcycle-riding officer pulled up to the pickup truck's window Wednesday evening when it make a sudden lane change from the carpool lane in heavy traffic on the northbound 57 Freeway. The officer had intended to warn the driver about being mare careful while changing lanes, but the officer's attention was quickly drawn to the unusual passenger. The driver admitted he had been using the dummy in carpool lanes for a while before being caught.