- Countdown to first Fed hike in a year under way, but focus shifting to 2017 (Reuters)
- What to Expect From the Fed: Decision-Day Guide (BBG)
- Investors Expect Fed Rate Rise, Seek Clues on Next Step (WSJ)
- What ceasefire? Aleppo evacuation delayed (Reuters); Aleppo Fighting Resumes Hours After Cease-Fire Deal (WSJ)
- Too big to fail: China maps out its Trump strategy (Reuters)
- China Said to Lift Tax on Smaller Cars to 7.5% Through 2017 (BBG)
- Goldman Sachs to Name Cohn’s Successors (WSJ)
- Finance Titans Face Off Over $5 Trillion London Gold Market (BBG)
- Dutch court rules Crimean gold treasures must be returned to Kiev (Reuters)
- Forget Bitcoin and Mobile Pay. Cash Is Still King of the World (BBG)
- Trump’s Pledge to Loosen Regulations on Businesses Is a Heavy Lift (WSJ)
- Retailers’ Discounts Run Deeper This Holiday Season (WSJ)
- Companies Are Already Canceling Plans to Move U.S. Jobs Abroad (BBG)
- Wells Fargo Faces Limits After Second Living Will Failure (BBG)
- Hertz Global Replaces CEO After Earnings Misses, Stock Slump (BBG)
- Heineken Faces Competition in Effort to Buy U.K.’s Punch Taverns (BBG)
- Sanofi in Deal Talks With Actelion; Value Could Total $30 Billion (WSJ)
- Aramco Keeps Building Oil Rigs Even as Saudis Agree to Pump Less (BBG)
- Saudi Oil Minister Sees Commitment to Cuts Ending Glut in Months (BBG)
- OPEC Says Supply Cuts Won’t Re-Balance Market Until Second Half (BBG)
- TV Reporter Files Discrimination Suit Against 21st Century Fox Station (WSJ)
- Le Pen Slips as Fillon, Macron Rise in Big French Election Poll (BBG)
- Investor Peter Thiel Is Helping Mold Tech’s Ties to Donald Trump (WSJ)
- Uber Rolls Out Self-Driving Cars in San Francisco Without DMV Approval (BBG)
- U.K. Employment Declines for First Time in More Than a Year (BBG)
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
- U.S. President-elect Donald Trump pushed ahead with his controversial pick for secretary of state, Exxon Mobil Corp chief Rex Tillerson, setting up a likely battle with senators - including some Republicans - who have raised questions about his closeness to Russian leader. http://on.wsj.com/2hv13pY
- Goldman Sachs plans to elevate David Solomon and Harvey Schwartz to be top lieutenants to CEO Lloyd Blankfein, filling a void left by Gary Cohn, who is leaving the bank to join the Trump administration. http://on.wsj.com/2hv2TqQ
- U.S. regulators slapped Wells Fargo with new regulatory sanctions, saying the firm failed to address alleged "deficiencies" in a plan to manage its own bankruptcy without a taxpayer bailout. http://on.wsj.com/2hv6ENf
- Tens of thousands of civilians and the remaining rebels are preparing to evacuate opposition-held parts of the decimated city, sealing a major victory for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. http://on.wsj.com/2hv62ao
- An on-air reporter at a 21st Century Fox-owned local television station in New York is suing the company for hostile work environment and age and pregnancy discrimination. http://on.wsj.com/2hv6CVy
- Inspectors from the U.S., China and four other nations visited Areva SA 's Le Creusot Forge in central France earlier this month to examine the plant's quality controls and comb through its internal records. http://on.wsj.com/2hv9VvI
- U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has selected Montana Representative Ryan Zinke to lead the interior department, according to a transition official, tapping a freshman Republican congressman who, like the president-elect, is often at odds with environmentalists but has opposed efforts to sell federal lands to states. http://on.wsj.com/2hv4i0T
- Oculus VR, the troubled virtual-reality company owned by Facebook Inc, is looking for a new head after revamping its structure. Oculus said it is creating two divisions - one focused on mobile, the other on PCs - and that CEO Brendan Iribe is stepping down to run the PC group. Jon Thomason, who joined Oculus this summer as its head of software, will run the new mobile VR group at Oculus. http://on.wsj.com/2hv4ZXO
NYT
- Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State nominee and Exxon Mobil Corp's chief, has extensive international business experience and argued for gay rights, but is a target of environmentalists. http://nyti.ms/2gYIREb
- Google's parent company, Alphabet, said on Tuesday that its autonomous vehicle project was spinning off from its research lab X and would operate as a stand-alone company under the name Waymo. http://nyti.ms/2hv96mL
- Lidia Curanaj, now a Fox 5 reporter whose legal name is Lidija Ujkic, filed a 28-page discrimination and hostile work environment suit against the 21st Century Fox, in which she said Roger Ailes harassed her when she was applying for a job at Fox News. http://nyti.ms/2hrHaT2
- After waging an 18-month assault on the Republican establishment, President-elect Donald Trump changed course and enlisted the party's high priests of foreign policy to help him win the confirmation of Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. http://nyti.ms/2hM4o2U
- A group of financial investors on Wednesday offered as much as $5.5 billion for Tatts Group, the Australian gambling operator. The investors include Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the giant American private equity group. http://nyti.ms/2htIzWC
- President-elect Donald Trump plans to name Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas, to lead the Energy Department, an agency far more devoted to national security and basic science than to the extraction of fossil fuels that is Perry's expertise. http://nyti.ms/2gGIeTJ
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** British Columbia New Democratic Party leader John Horgan says the Canadian federal government could end up having to use the notwithstanding clause to proceed with the controversial expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline if his party wins next spring's provincial election. https://tgam.ca/2gJHag4
** In the first-ever commitment of government funds to Canada's leading defender of the wrongfully convicted, the government of Ontario and the Law Society of Upper Canada have committed a total of $900,000 over three years to Innocence Canada - at a time when the organization was facing financial catastrophe. https://tgam.ca/2hqj8YW
** Canadian National Railway Co denied a report that alleges the Montreal-based freight carrier has overcharged Ontario taxpayers for construction work for the past 15 years. https://tgam.ca/2htAUYa
NATIONAL POST
** An attack on a mosque in Chakwal, Pakistan, has led to calls for an investigation in Canada over allegations a Toronto-area man was part of a group that vowed "extreme measures" against the place of worship. http://bit.ly/2hssb8z
** A $1.5 billion project to train Canada's fighter pilots, touted by the Liberal government as an example of how it is improving defense procurement, has gone off track as the Liberal government has quietly pushed the contract award date to next year, an extension that could see the deal announced as late as October. http://bit.ly/2gFzqO3
Britain
The Times
* BP Plc is struggling to maintain safety standards at some of its biggest manufacturing sites, according to a leaked internal report that has exposed serious flaws in its monitoring of operations at refineries and chemicals plants. http://bit.ly/2hCM54g
* Britain's attempt to resist tougher sanctions against cheap Chinese imports was finally overcome yesterday after the European Council agreed to boost its trade defences. http://bit.ly/2hCKBqE
The Guardian
* Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox Inc is not expected to offer Sky Plc as a regulatory pawn to secure an 11.2 billion pound ($14.17 billion) takeover of Britain's largest pay-TV broadcaster. http://bit.ly/2hCHrTX
* Tens of thousands of banking jobs could be lost to continental Europe from next year if ministers do not agree a transitional deal on single market access with the European Union, a Lords report on financial services after Brexit is expected to warn. http://bit.ly/2hCElzl
The Telegraph
* Taxpayers are footing a 50 million pound ($63.28 million) bill for the biggest series of rail strikes in a generation, while the company Southern Rail line in charge of the train line stands to save money, it has emerged. http://bit.ly/2hCHKxX
* Details of future infrastructure, public sector and defence projects such as the HS2 rail link, Hinkley Point nuclear power station and the new Dreadnought Trident missile submarines are being released by the government in an attempt to boost Britain's steel industry. http://bit.ly/2hCKziB
Sky News
* The financial spread-betting company CMC Markets Plc is to consider relocating chunks of its business away from the United Kingdom if the Financial Conduct Authority presses ahead with plans to curb bets placed by retail customers. http://bit.ly/2hCCFG2
* The Consumer Price Index measure of inflation rose to a higher-than-expected 1.2 percent in November, according to Britain's Office for National Statistics. Inflation was up from 0.9 percent in October and the highest since October 2014. http://bit.ly/2hCIWRT
The Independent
* The British government has now lost around 500 million pounds ($632.80 million) on Lloyds Banking Group Plc after selling more shares for less than taxpayers paid to save the lender from meltdown, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility. http://ind.pn/2hCCaLY
* Union members voted overwhelmingly for the delivery drivers' three-day Christmas walkout after they said Argos Resources Ltd had failed to pay holiday back pay for two years, amounting to 700 pounds ($885.92) per worker on average. http://ind.pn/2hCGgnz