Wednesday newspaper round-up: Brexit, Amazon, Stobart, Renault

The US-China trade standoff will continue to weaken confidence in the global economy into next year, economists have warned, as the increasingly gloomy outlook for growth dragged on share markets across the world. Plunging oil prices and intensifying concerns about technology stocks in the US spread contagion to Asia Pacific markets on Wednesday after renewed losses on Wall Street. – Guardian

Theresa May will meet Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels on Wednesday to try to finalise the political declaration covering future UK-European Union relations after attempts by hard Brexiters to remove her ended in humiliation. The prime minister meets the European commission president in the late afternoon in her strongest position since the first part of the Brexit deal was published last week after Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Tory rebels,conceded that it might take time to call a no-confidence vote. – Guardian

Amazon is reportedly bidding for a group of 22 local TV sports channels in the US, a move that would accelerate its push into live sports broadcasting and heighten its rivalry with traditional broadcasters. The tech company is one of six to have placed first-round bids in an auction for the regional channels, which broadcast American football, basketball and baseball games, according to CNBC. – Telegraph

The former Stobart boss at the centre of a bitter High Court dispute has denied a sexist email rant about the company’s former chairman was “completely unacceptable” Andrew Tinkler defended an email sent from his work account complaining he was paid a “pittance” and “might have been better with a pair of t**s”. He said he “had a drink or two” and claimed the subject of the remarks, Avril Palmer-Baunack, “has called me worse than that”. – Telegraph

Nearly 70 small business leaders have signed an open letter to the government urging acceptance of Theresa May’s European Union withdrawal deal and warning that livelihoods are at risk from a “no-deal” Brexit. The deal is “not perfect”, but the signatories have “not heard . . . any viable alternative”, according to the letter co-ordinated by Emma Jones, who founded Enterprise Nation, a small business support network. – The Times

Renault put an interim management team in charge last night after the arrest of Carlos Ghosn, its chief executive, on suspicion of tax evasion and misuse of corporate funds at Nissan. The board of the French carmaker, which is in a partnership with Nissan and Mitsubishi, asked Thierry Bolloré, the chief operating officer, and Philippe Lagayette, an independent director, to run the group during Mr Ghosn’s detention in Japan, but stopped short of sacking him. Though the stay of execution was a relief to supporters of Mr Ghosn, 64, who believe he is the victim of a Franco-Japanese power struggle, his future looked bleak after he lost the support of the French state, which holds a 15 per cent stake in Renault. – The Times