Frontrunning: May 5

• Fed's Yellen says met firm at heart of leak probes (Reuters)
• EU Raises Growth Outlook as ECB Counters Greek Threat (BBG)
• Hillary Clinton Takes Hit in WSJ Poll, but Holds Edge Over GOP Rivals (WSJ)
• China stocks slump on tighter margin rules, IPOs; Hong Kong down (Reuters)
• McDonald’s Chief Promises Turnaround in a Restructuring (NYT)
• German Bond Market Selloff Continues (WSJ)
• Vanguard overtakes Pimco’s Total Return following outflows in wake of Bill Gross’s departure (WSJ)
• EU Demands Concessions as Greece Hurtles Toward Deadlines (BBG)
• Junk Bonds Are The New Haven Assets (BBG)
• The Real NYC Condo Boom Isn't in Manhattan (BBG)
• Big Property Investors Hunt for Bargains in Brazil (WSJ)
• Sheryl Sandberg's husband Goldberg died after hotel gym accident (Reuters)
• Russian Missile Sale to Iran Involves Unseen Deals With Israel (BBG)
• NYPD officer shot in head dies, commissioner cites historic anti-police sentiment (Reuters)
• How Employers Wrangle Restless Millennials (WSJ)

Overnight Media Digest

WSJ

* Hillary Clinton's stature has been battered after more than a month of controversy over her fundraising and email practices, but support for her among Democrats remains strong and unshaken, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds. (http://on.wsj.com/1F2Jczz)

** The Federal Reserve is providing a congressional panel with the names of its staffers who had contact with a consulting firm that published details of market-sensitive policy deliberations in October 2012, "with the understanding that the names will be kept confidential," Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen said. (http://on.wsj.com/1EMF2bW)

* The sudden death of technology executive David Goldberg has left Silicon Valley without one of its greatest champions of the private startup. A veteran of the technology industry who founded, advised, invested in or ran dozens of companies, Goldberg advocated for keeping startups private, away from the regulatory hurdles of the public markets, for as long as possible. (http://on.wsj.com/1KIvQaA)

* Panera Bread Co committed itself to removing at least 150 artificial sweeteners, colors, flavors and preservatives from its menu by the end of next year, the latest move by a major food company to respond to a consumer shift toward foods seen as simpler and more healthful. (http://on.wsj.com/1GWQiWX)

* Pacific Investment Management Co's Pimco Total Return fund has lost its title as the world's biggest bond mutual fund. Vanguard Group's Total Bond Market Index fund ended April with $117.3 billion in assets under management, surpassing the Pimco Total Return fund, which closed the month with $110.4 billion, according to estimates from both companies. (http://on.wsj.com/1Qh72tj)

* Behind the scenes of the new blockbuster "Avengers: Age of Ultron," a fight has been brewing between Walt Disney Co and movie-theater operators. (http://on.wsj.com/1F1gNKn)

FT

Britain's shadow health secretary Andy Burnham has said that he intends to "reset" the public's expectations of the NHS if Labour wins the elections and also added that the country needs to be more realistic regarding what the health service can provide.

The International Monetary Fund has warned Greece's eurozone creditors that the country faces losing vital aid from the agency unless the European lenders write off major amounts of its sovereign debt.

The Pimco Total Return Fund has lost its title as the world's biggest bond mutual fund. Pacific Investment Management Inc said on Monday that its assets slipped to $110.4 billion at the end of April. By comparison, the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund had $117.3 billion.

Luxaviation, a Business jet management and charter group, is set to create the world's second-largest corporate aircraft operator on Tuesday when it acquires Zurich-based ExecuJet Aviation in a deal that is expected to total hundreds of millions of euros.

NYT

* Faced with slumping sales in its biggest markets, McDonald's on Monday announced the first steps of a global turnaround strategy, acknowledging that a business that has served up billions of burgers on the cheap was in urgent need of change. (http://nyti.ms/1EMCEC7)

* Exor, the investment firm controlled by the Agnelli family, had its $6.4 billion offer for the reinsurance group PartnerRe rejected on Monday. (http://nyti.ms/1Pk6IHW)

* The U.S Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether federal regulators may encourage electricity users like schools, hospitals and shopping centers to reduce consumption at peak times in exchange for price breaks. (http://nyti.ms/1JNaLya)

* The Internet is taking over television. That shift is occurring at Comcast, where the number of people who subscribe to the company's Internet service surpassed its total video subscribers for the first time during the second quarter this year. (http://nyti.ms/1KIxg50)

Canada

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

** Energy shares have held up in the face of a potentially massive political shift to the Left in Alberta even as some executives and analysts warn of surging industry costs. (http://bit.ly/1Kco2gs)

** Canada's telecom regulator, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, is poised to rule Tuesday on a key element of competition in the wireless industry, with many observers expecting the decision to give new entrant carriers a boost. (http://bit.ly/1FMzfFe)

** Ottawa plans to lower the regulatory fees companies pay the federal government for licences to secure access to satellite spectrum, which is used to deliver TV and Internet services. (http://bit.ly/1c0dN3x)

NATIONAL POST

** Two Canadian mining magnates, First Mining Finance Corp and Sulliden Mining Capital Inc are fighting an increasingly heated battle for a tiny junior company, Coastal Gold Corp, with one accusing the other of "incestuous behavior" within his empire. (http://bit.ly/1bupDT2)

** Tens of thousands of students around Ontario will be out of class this week as a third school board is hit with a Peel Region high school teachers' strike, while some parents are expected to pull their kids from school to protest the province's new sex-education curriculum. (http://bit.ly/1ENtfKl)

Hong Kong

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

-- Hong Kong's tax revenue swelled to a record-breaking HK$301.9 billion ($38.94 billion) in the fiscal year 2014-15, up 24 percent on the previous year's takings. The rise was largely due to an upsurge in stamp duty revenue, which rose 80 percent to HK$74.8 billion. (bit.ly/1IcazrD)

-- Former Liberal Party leader James Tien plans to commission the city's largest single opinion poll on the government's electoral reform package next month in an attempt to persuade four pan-democratic lawmakers to support the plan. Tien said he would pay the University of Hong Kong's public opinion programme HK$250,000 out of his own pocket. (bit.ly/1R7Zoml)

-- Average revenue at the city's hotels may have dropped 20 percent during the Labour Day holiday this year compared with the same period last year, an industry insider says. (bit.ly/1ET2JRj)

THE STANDARD

-- Hong Kong's new police commissioner has promised to improve ties and enhance communication between the force and the public. Stephen Lo Wai-chung, 53, whom netizens christened "The Monitor" because he had been a class monitor in secondary school, succeeded Andy Tsang Wai-hung, who went on preretirement leave on Monday. (bit.ly/1dJ94o9)

-- China's former top representative in Hong Kong, Lu Ping, who once branded the territory's last British governor Chris Patten a "sinner for a thousand years", has died aged 88 from cancer. The Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office announced Lu's death in an obituary, saying he died at Beijing Hospital due to illness. (bit.ly/1zJ7Wek)

-- Hong Kong travel agencies are no longer hiring new staff due to rising operational costs and a strong Hong Kong dollar, Travel Industry Council chairman Michael Wu Siu-ying said. Inbound travel agencies are hit hard by falling sales and revenues due to a spike in the number of passenger arrivals over the Labour Day weekend, Wu said. (bit.ly/1IamDYX)

HONG KONG ECONOMIC JOURNAL

-- MTR Corp Ltd received 28 expression of interest in submitting bids for the development of the seventh phase of the Lohas Park residential project in Tseung Kwan O with potential bidders including The Link Real Estate Investment Trust and China Vanke.

MING PAO DAILY

-- Lifestyle International, which operates Sogo department store in Hong Kong, saw double-digit growth in sales in the city during the Labour Day weekend, said chief executive officer Thomas Lau.

-- Mainland tourist arrivals totalled 441,568 during the Labour Day weekend between May 1 and 3, up 13.8 percent from the same period a year ago, data from Immigration Department showed.

Britain

The Times

RBS 'STRIPPED ASSETS' OF STRUGGLING FIRMS

Royal Bank of Scotland was under pressure to strip companies of their assets to improve its balance sheet, The Times can reveal. The bank's global restructuring group, which was supposed to help businesses in trouble with debt, was given a remit by RBS's management to focus on reducing exposure to businesses that had badly affected its capital position. This was in response to pressure from regulators and politicians. (http://thetim.es/1PjvKqM)

SPRING TURNS TO STUMBLE AS EUROZONE SUFFERS ECONOMIC SETBACK

Manufacturing in the eurozone's economies stuttered in April, held back by contractions in France and Greece and weak growth in Germany and the Republic of Ireland, according to a closely watched survey. (http://thetim.es/1JMR2P2)

The Guardian

RBS: ONE IN THREE TOP MANAGEMENT ROLES TO BE FILLED BY WOMEN BY 2020

Royal Bank of Scotland has set a target for one third of its top 600 management roles to be held by women by 2020. (http://bit.ly/1E0Thr2)

TALKTALK RAISES PRICES AGAIN

TalkTalk is putting up prices for home phone, broadband and TV customers, just seven months after it last raised its landline and call charges. (http://bit.ly/1F2NmHU)

The Telegraph

BAE WINS DEAL TO EQUIP US ARMY WITH ADVANCED NIGHT SIGHTS AND GOOGLES

BAE Systems has won a contract worth up to $434 million to provide US soldiers with combined night-vision googles and thermal sights. (http://bit.ly/1IHwvKo)

ROLLS-ROYCE AND WEIR FORM JOINT VENTURE IN FRACKING

Rolls-Royce and Weir have signed a joint-venture agreement to develop equipment that will make drilling for oil by "fracking" more efficient. (http://bit.ly/1FLHeCw)

Sky News

LEAHY FIRM WOOS CHINESE FOR NEW LOOK BID

Clayton Dubilier & Rice, the investment firm which employs the former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy is courting Chinese backers to assemble a bid for New Look, the high street fashion chain. (http://bit.ly/1IHwZ2Z)

LIB DEMS VOW TO FUND HEALTHCARE FROM BANK FINE

The Liberal Democrats are promising to use the 227 million pounds ($343.20 million) fine imposed on Deutsche-Bank for rigging the Libor rate to fund investment in the health service. (http://bit.ly/1GWDaAQ)

Comments

[Catullus]

Those Demand Response providers are shady. That market simply would not exist if there wasn't this bullshit capacity market in power.

Evidence: there's demand response in Texas and no one participates. The DR providers think that by having FERC regulate this that things will get better for them. No way. They're going to end up taking over capacity markets as well and then they're F-ed.

[dizzyfingers]

http://rt.com/news/255137-manning-assange-snowden-statue/  Holy Trinity of whistleblowers: Statues of Assange, Snowden and Manning go up in Berlin