Halister News

(Bloomberg) -- Total of 424 people were initially arrested between Dec. 16-18, Public Prosecutor says in e-mailed statement.

• Apart from 233 still detained, 79 people were placed on probation, 16 released, nine are on bail and one is under house arrest
• Those detained are charged with crimes including theft, looting; four charged with money laundering
  • More of those initially arrested to be presented at hearings Wednesday
• Police officers detained charged with undue use of arms
• Four people, two adolescents and two adults, died in riots in states of Bolivar, Apure, Anzoategui, Aragua, Barinas, Falcon, Sucre, Tachira and Zulia
• Public Prosecutor Luisa Ortega calls for calm
• Ortega calls for political dialogue to continue

--PAUL COX

(Bloomberg) -- Co. found liable for man’s testicular cancer in third lawsuit to go to trial in 3,500 similar lawsuits over toxic Teflon chemical found in Ohio and West Virginia waters, for which spinoff Chemours Co. had agreed to bear cost.

• Verdict delivered Wednesday in court, according to Keep Your

Promises Dupont, a community group advocating to hold the chemical co. responsible for what it says are obligations in connection with C-8 contamination

• Juries in past two trials have also delivered verdicts

against DuPont, and the company is appealing first ruling in Cincinnati court.

• Chemours dropped 8.5% to $22.92 at 2:30 p.m. in New York,

paring intraday drop of up to 13%

• Punitive damages will be determined in a hearing to start Jan. 4

• Case is In re Du Pont de Nemours and Company C-8 Personal Injury Litigation, 13-md-2433, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio (Columbus)

(Bloomberg) -- Nokia says since patent license agreement with Apple in 2011, Apple has declined offers made by Nokia to license additional patents which are used by Apple products.

• Nokia says 32 patents in suit across all of actions, covering technologies including display, user interface, software, antenna, chipsets and video coding
• Nokia shares halted
• AAPL pares gain

Link to Statement:Link

(Bloomberg) -- BB&T pares earlier decline of as much as 0.9%; analysts say agreement to consent order with FDIC, state regulators (and soon with the Fed), requiring "corrective actions and enhancements" to address "deficiencies” within Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) compliance program, may not increase costs.

• Order limits M&A potential, analysts say
• Separately, on Dec. 20, BBT boosted 2016-2017 share buybacks by $200m

WELLS FARGO (Matt Burnell)

• Notes no criminal activity identified, BBT will pay no financial penalty
  • Order probably won’t materially increase operating expense as BBT may have been aware of possibility for some time, had already begun to invest in process/systems upgrades, hire BSA/AML-specific staff
• May prohibit BBT from pursuing "meaningful" M&A for the next 1-2 years
• Regulatory approval of capital action suggests order doesn’t materially threaten expected capital return actions in 2017 capital planning cycle
• Reiterates outperform

SANDLER O’NEILL (Stephen Scouten)

• While "obviously not a great optic," and will keep BBT out of M&A for "even longer" than many may have expected, doesn’t see material impact on forward earnings
• Reiterates hold
• Also previews BBT 4Q, updates assumptions to reflect steepening yield curve, potential for lower corporate tax rate environment in 2018; raises PT to $48 from $40

EVERCORE ISI (John Pancari)

• Evercore ISI remains "somewhat cautious" even though, on follow- up call, mgmt indicated it doesn’t expect material impact on expenses from consent order, BBT has been building out BSA/AML compliance over past couple of years, most related expenses are already in run rate 
• Reiterates buy, raises PT to $51 from $49; says solid EPS growth, above-peer profitability, and solid credit to present incremental upside to relative valuation over time

DATA

• BBT has 11 buys, 19 holds, 3 sells, avg. PT $46: Bloomberg data
• Short interest 1.7% of shares outstanding as of Dec. 20: Markit 
• BBT up 22% since Nov. 8 vs S&P 500 financials (S5FINL) +18%

RELATED

• Dec. 20, BB&T Cut to Neutral at Hilliard Lyons, PT $50
• Dec. 15, 2017 Bank Outlook Bullish on Growth, Rates, Taxes, Rules: RBC

To contact the reporter on this story: Felice Maranz in New York at fmaranz@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Arie Shapira at ashapira3@bloomberg.net Beth Mellor