Morning Brief: Top Stories Dominating Financial Media on Monday, March 14

CNBC

• China Restricts Activities In Shenzhen, Shanghai Following Covid-19 Resurgence
  • China's tech hub city Shenzhen ordered businesses concerned with non-essential public services to suspend production or have employees work from home for a week starting March 14 following another COVID-19 outbreak, CNBC reports.
  • Shenzhen reported over 600 positive cases since late February. Mainland China reported 1,437 new confirmed cases as of March 13.

Reuters

• Inflation, Fed Rate Hike, War, Pandemic To Steer US Central Bank Policymakers Meeting
  • Amid the rising inflation worries, investors may see the first rate hike from the Federal Reserve in the post-pandemic era, reports Reuters.
  • The Fed has made its intentions clear to raise its benchmark overnight interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point at the end of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday.
  • The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will also share its inflation and economic growth projection for 2023 and 2024 to tame inflation that has surpassed expectations, running at three times the Fed's 2% target.

• Telecom Italia Explores KKR's $11B Takeover Offer, Possible Tie-Up With Open Fiber
  • Telecom Italia SpA (OTC: TIAIY) (OTC: TIIAY) looked to discuss KKR & Co Inc's (NYSE: KKR) €10.8 billion ($11.8 billion) four-month-old takeover offer, Reuters reports.
  • KKR's bid of €0.505 per share is a 75% premium to TIM's March 11 closing, against a 46% premium four months back, which CEO Pietro Labriola deemed as too low last time.

WSJ

• US To Explore Alternatives To Iran Nuclear Deal Without Russia
  • The U.S. won't negotiate exemptions to Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the Wall Street Journal reported.
  • The U.S. could try to strike a separate accord excluding Moscow, the report cited a senior official.

• Lawmakers Seek To Enact Rent Control Measures In US
  • Amid rising rental prices, U.S. lawmakers are looking to enact rent control, reviving measures shunned mainly in recent years, to curb the surge in home rental prices, reports Wall Street Journal.
  • According to real-estate broker Redfin Corp, the prices have hit record levels across the U.S and are up about 18% on average over the past two years. The proposals would generally allow landlords to boost monthly rents by 2% to 10%.

• JPMorgan In Talks With Tsingshan To Contain Nickel Crisis
  • The Big Banks worked over the weekend to resolve the nickel market crises that left them on the hook for billions of dollars owed by a Chinese metals giant, reported WSJ.
  • JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM), Standard Chartered PLC (OTC: SCBFF), and BNP Paribas SA (OTC: BNPQY) were among the banks and brokers seeking to reach an agreement with Tsingshan Holding Group, stated people familiar with the discussions.

Bloomberg

• Rio Tinto Offers To Buy Turquoise Hill Resources For $2.7B
  • Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RIO) proposed to buy out Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd (NYSE: TRQ) for $2.7 billion, aiming to gain more control of a giant copper mine it's developing in Mongolia, reported Bloomberg.
  • Rio wants to expand its exposure to so-called future-facing commodities. This transaction could ease many problems at the flagship Oyu Tolgoi growth project. Rio has faced spiraling costs and long-running disputes with the Mongolian government and Turquoise Hill.

Financial Times

• US Warns China Against Helping Russia In Ukraine War
  • Russia sought China's military ​equipment to ​support its invasion of Ukraine, Financial Times reports citing U.S. officials.
  • The U.S. looks to caution its allies against China's possible assistance to Russia.
  • Russia could also have fallen short of weaponry as the war extended into its third week.
  • Before leaving to talk to China's top foreign policy official, the U.S. national security adviser warned China against bailing out Russia.

Benzinga

• BREAKING: Elon Musk Bearish On US Dollar Right Now, Says He Still Owns Dogecoin And These 2 Cryptocurrencies And Not Selling
  • Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk appears to be laughing at the expense of the greenback while 'hodling' his Dogecoin DOGE, Bitcoin BTC, and Ethereum ETH.
  • What Happened: In a series of tweets on Sunday, the entrepreneur clarified his stance on fiat, as well as cryptocurrencies.

• Alibaba And Tesla Rivals Nio, Xpeng Plunge In Hong Kong Today Amid Worries Over New COVID-19 Restrictions In China
  • Shares of U.S.-listed Chinese tech companies tumbled in Hong Kong on Monday and dragged the benchmark Hang Seng Index sharply lower for a second straight day amid worries about a growing COVID-19 outbreak in China.
  • The Hang Seng Index opened sharply lower and was down 3.8% at the time of writing.