- Chinese stocks tumble again, ignoring Beijing's blandishments (Reuters [17])
- Plight of Greek pensioners heaps pressure on Tsipras (Reuters [18])
- Cash Crunch Hits Everyday Life in Greece (WSJ [19])
- Souvlakis Tell a Story Well Beyond Today's Greek Crisis (BBG [20])
- Greek Referendum on Bailout Too Close to Call, Poll Shows (BBG [21])
- Move Over Greece: For Treasuries Traders, Today Is About the Fed (BBG [22])
- ECB adds corporate names to QE-eligible bonds (FT [23])
- Special Report: How Greece went bust (Reuters [24])
- Puerto Rico’s Pain Is Tied to U.S. Wages (WSJ [25])
- Sweden takes interest rates deeper into negative territory (FT [26])
- New Data Could Affect Health-Insurer Deals (WSJ [27])
- The Long Odds CEOs Engineer Another Quarter of U.S. Profit Gains (BBG [28])
- As Saudis Keep Pumping, Thirst for Domestic Oil Swells (WSJ [29])
- U.S. hiring seen solid in June, keeping September rate hike in play (Reuters [30])
- Shale Drillers' Safety Net Is Vanishing (BBG [31])
- How Facebook and Campbell Soup Are Trying to Read Your Mind (BBG [32])
- U.S. probing whether airlines collude to keep airfares high (Reuters [33])
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
* The shutdown of Greece's banking system is crippling businesses and making it hard for people to pay their bills. The freezing of Greece's banking system is the most dramatic moment of the country's five-year debt crisis - and perhaps its most pivotal. Since Monday, Greeks can get only 60 euros a day at cash machines and can't transfer money abroad. (http://on.ft.com/1C0Frto [34])
* Puerto Rico's economic problems stem in some part from how the U.S. commonwealth has to operate under the same minimum-wage rules as the more prosperous 50 states. (http://on.wsj.com/1IuDyGC [35])
* President Barack Obama formally announced that the United States is renewing diplomatic relations with Cuba and called on Congress to lift the long-standing embargo, setting in motion what is likely to be a longer and more uncertain battle on Capitol Hill to dismantle laws keeping the trade and travel bans in place. (http://on.wsj.com/1Nx3eBP [36])
* The Justice Department is investigating whether U.S. airlines colluded on expansion plans, amid concerns from consumer advocates and politicians that the industry is trying to control capacity to keep airfares high. The four largest U.S. airlines - American Airlines Group, United Continental Holdings, Delta Air Lines, and Southwest Airlines - confirmed that they are part of the probe and said they are cooperating. (http://on.wsj.com/1R5NE6B [37])
* Sealed Air Corp, the original seller of Bubble Wrap since 1960, is rolling out a revamped version of its signature product. Dubbed iBubble Wrap, the new packaging is sold in flat plastic sheets that the shipper fills with air using a custom-made pump. The inflated bubbles look much like traditional Bubble Wrap, with one key difference: They don't burst when pressure is applied. (http://on.wsj.com/1f38DG9 [38])
* The U.S. government's release of new data on health-insurer payments under the Affordable Care Act is roiling the industry, including potentially affecting the timing of any deal for Humana Inc, as suitors pore over the detailed information disclosed late Tuesday. (http://on.wsj.com/1UaSBde [39])
FT
The United States filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to stop Sweden's Electrolux AB from buying General Electric Co's appliance business, the Justice Department said in a statement.
OPEC's decision, led by Saudi Arabia, to not cut oil production has put pressure on U.S. shale gas producers which in turn has put the brakes on America's energy boom, according to the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Commerzbank has sold loan portfolios worth 2.9 billion euros ($3.20 billion) as it continues to streamline its balance sheet.
Under a scheme to cut waste in the National Health Service, the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has unveiled a plan that will have a price tag stamped on medicines, with the slogan "Funded by the UK taxpayer".
NYT
* Any new bailout deal between Greece and its creditors is likely to include harsher austerity measures based on an increasingly grim economic outlook, analysts said. (http://nyti.ms/1f3wmWS [40])
* Puerto Rico's power authority, which supplies electricity to the island's 3.6 million people, made a $415 million debt payment that was due Wednesday after reaching a deal with its bond insurers to borrow more money. (http://nyti.ms/1f3yvSs [41])
* The Justice Department moved on Wednesday to block General Electric Co's plan to sell its famed home appliances division to Electrolux AB of Sweden, as federal regulators again showed a willingness to assert their antitrust oversight. (http://nyti.ms/1FTrMiM [42])
* Ace Ltd's agreement to buy Chubb Corp, one of the best-known names in the property insurance business, brought talk that more consolidation is in store for the sector. It is being led by Ace's chief executive, Evan Greenberg, scion of a famous insurance family - one known for growing through serial deal-making. (http://nyti.ms/1HuWlRA [43])
* PayPal, the online payments company weeks away from an expected spinoff from eBay Inc, took a leap into the growing digital money transfer business on Wednesday by acquiring Xoom Corp, a big player in the field. (http://nyti.ms/1CLFK6s [44])
* The American public relations chief of Toyota Motor Corp , Julie Hamp, resigned on Wednesday, the automaker said, offering her notice from a Japanese jail after her arrest last month on suspicion of illegally bringing a restricted painkiller into the country. (http://nyti.ms/1T7YoyQ [45])
China
CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL
- The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has approved two airport projects worth 23 billion yuan ($3.71 billion). It has approved 800 billion yuan in projects so far in the first half of this year.
- Mobile handset and television maker TCL Corp said it has repurchased some of the company's shares from public individual investors for 79.5 million yuan.
SECURITIES TIMES
- China may not cut interest rates in the second half of this year and the central bank has a leeway of 100 basis points to cut reserved requirement ratio by this year, Ding Shuang, head of Great China research department Standard Chartered Bank, said in an interview.
SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS
- Some listed companies repurchased stakes to stem further falls in their own share prices as the stock market tumbled, with even some suspending share trading or delaying the resumption of trading, the newpaper reported.
SHANGHAI DAILY
- The contract value of foreign-funded projects in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone rose five times from a year ago to $23.5 billion by the end of May, according to Shang Yuying, chairwoman of the Shanghai Commission of Commerce.
CHINA DAILY
- Alibaba-backed Sesame Credit Management said it has teamed up with China's Supreme Court to pressure people to comply with court verdicts.
Britain
The Times
The head of one of Britain's biggest law firms is quitting to take up a new role at Lloyds Banking Group, in a move that surprised the banking and legal worlds. Simon Davies, managing partner at Linklaters since 2008, will join Lloyds from January in a newly created role as chief people, legal and strategy officer. (http://thetim.es/1KsQA7y [46])
Tool rental group Speedy Hire has parted company with its second chief executive in 18 months after a shake-up of the business sent profits plunging. Mark Rogerson has decided to step down as chief executive officer. (http://thetim.es/1KsUoWC [47])
The Guardian
Barclays has shed light on the cost of hiring its new IT director from Australia, revealing he was paid 1.6 million pounds ($2.50 million) worth of shares last month. The award, which was announced to the stock exchange, was part of deal to buy Michael Harte out of his role at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. (http://bit.ly/1KsVBgC [48])
Scotland's Gleneagles hotel, the golf resort that has hosted the Ryder Cup and the G8 summit, has been sold to the leader of the private investment group Ennismore. It is a company that runs hotels fashioned after east London's hipster district Hoxton. (http://bit.ly/1Kt0AxS [49])
The Telegraph
British brewer Greene King has completed its acquisition of Spirit Pub Co, the brewer said, as it announced full-year sales of 1.32 billion pounds, up 3 percent. (http://bit.ly/1KsWs0P [50])
Greece's embattled prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, has refused to back down over a referendum on the country's bail-out future, despite being threatened with imminent financial ruin and a banking collapse as early as Monday if he chooses to press ahead with the vote. (http://bit.ly/1KsWzcI [51])
Sky News
Giant investment firms Blackstone and CVC are examining takeover bids for Worldpay, the UK-based payment processing group which is drawing up plans for a stock market listing valuing it at 6 billion pounds. (http://bit.ly/1KsXs59 [52])
British Prime Minister David Cameron has said he will decide by the end of the year whether to expand Heathrow. The Airport Commission has named the airport as the preferred site for a new runway after a three-year investigation and recommended Heathrow be expanded to include a third runway. (http://bit.ly/1KsYazj [53])
The Independent
Nike Inc chairman Phil Knight will step down from sportswear company he built into a multinational worth $93 billion. Knight announced that, at 77, Knight will step down next year. (http://ind.pn/1KsZuCc [54])