Euro surge to two-year high prompts stocks pause (Reuters) Short Sellers Give Up as Stocks Run to New Records (WSJ) U.S. toughens stance on foreign deals in blow to China's buying spree (Reuters) Trump team seeks to control, block Mueller’s Russia investigation (WaPo) Trump Would Set Off a Chain Reaction by Trying to Fire Mueller (BBG) Manafort Investigated for Possible Money Laundering (WSJ) Strong quake off Turkish and Greek coasts kills two, injures dozens (Reuters) Bank Profits Near Pre-Crisis Peak in U.S. Despite All the Rules (BBG) Senate Republicans complain of chaos in healthcare effort (Reuters) GOP Floats Proposal to Ease Medicaid Cuts (WSJ) GOP Health Bill’s $13,000 Deductibles Would Be Illegal, CBO Says (BBG) Power struggle at Guggenheim Partners rattles a Wall Street star (FT) Exxon sues U.S. over fine levied for Russia deal under Tillerson (Reuters) U.S. Owns 700 Million Barrels of Oil. Trump Wants to Sell It (BBG) McCain illness deprives Senate of crucial vote, Trump critic (Reuters) Wal-Mart, Amazon Rivalry Spreads to Forklifts (WSJ) Siemens retreats from Russian energy after Crimean scandal (Reuters) He Investigated Suspicious Firings for U.S. Then He Was Fired (BBG) With No Safe Spaces for Brazil's Politicians, Restaurants Suffer (BBG) U.S. general says allies worry Russian war game may be 'Trojan horse' (Reuters) Russia: Western worries about Moscow's war games 'buffoonery' (Reuters) GE quarterly revenue drops 12 percent; cash flow up on quarter (Reuters) Overnight Media Digest WSJ - The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday imposed a $2 million fine on Exxon Mobil Corp for what it called a "reckless disregard" of U.S. sanctions on Russia while Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was the oil giant's chief executive, a finding the company immediately said it would challenge. on.wsj.com/2uFgiFZ - Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating possible money laundering by Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign manager, as part of his probe into what intelligence agencies say was a Kremlin-backed campaign to meddle in the election. on.wsj.com/2uFgFjP - Sears Holdings Corp said Thursday it will start selling its Kenmore appliances on Amazon, loosening its grip on one of its historic product lines and becoming the latest big American brand to capitulate to the online-retail giant. on.wsj.com/2uEXKFK - Blackstone recently made a roughly $3 billion bid to buy RLJ Lodging Trust, a move that if successful would end RLJ's agreement to acquire rival hotel investor FelCor Lodging Trust. RLJ said in a securities filing Monday it had rejected a $24-a-share offer from an unnamed equity firm. It isn't clear if Blackstone intends to make another offer. on.wsj.com/2uF6Rq7 - Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, known for his teasing tweets and ever-expanding list of high-tech ambitions, set observers abuzz again with a vague claim he received "verbal" approval for a high-speed, tunnel-based travel system along one of the busiest corridors in the U.S. on.wsj.com/2uFgJ35 - Financier Anthony Scaramucci, a top donor to President Donald Trump during the campaign, is expected to be named White House communications director on Friday, two White House officials said. on.wsj.com/2uF0OBM ? FT Jaguar Land Rover is opening an engine plant in China, its first outside of the UK as the premium carmaker ramps up its international expansion. Exxon Mobil Corp has sued the U.S. Treasury in an attempt to stop a fine for allegations it behaved with "reckless disregard" for violating Russian sanctions in 2014. The California-based regulators who exposed the Volkswagen AG diesel emissions scandal have scored another settlement, costing the German carmaker an additional $154 million. Frankfurt's attempt to become the EU's pre-eminent post-Brexit financial centre received another boost on Thursday as more details emerged of Deutsche Bank AG and Citigroup Inc's plans to beef up their operations in the German financial capital. NYT - U.S. President Donald Trump's administration said Harley-Davidson was no longer required to fund the antipollution program, knocking $3 million off the company's bill. nyti.ms/2gP7fwp - Microsoft reported that its profit in the most recent quarter more than doubled from a year ago. Microsoft's cloud-computing business was the star of the company's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report as revenue from its Intelligent Cloud business rose 11 percent to $7.4 billion. nyti.ms/2gOZPcF - The American and European authorities said on Thursday that they had shut down two of the largest online black markets, AlphaBay and Hansa Market, and arrested their operators. nyti.ms/2gP0z1o - Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he had been given "verbal" government "approval" for his Boring Company, to build an underground transportation system connecting New York City to Philadelphia to Baltimore and on to Washington D.C. enabling people to make the trip in 29 minutes. nyti.ms/2gOTNZD Canada The Globe and Mail ** TransCanada Corp's proposed natural gas pipeline in British Columbia is facing delays after a court ruling that the National Energy Board must examine the issue of whether the project should be under provincial or federal jurisdiction. tgam.ca/2tN8IEV ** Ontario-based Magna International Inc has issued a blunt criticism of the province's new labour legislation, saying the changes threaten future investment and jobs and will make the company less competitive. tgam.ca/2uPtmsY National Post ** London-based DAZN, an online sports streaming service said it would launch in Canada with exclusive rights to NFL Game Pass and NFL RedZone, which includes live streams of every live football game in the pre-, regular and post-season in 2017. bit.ly/2ugXonG