Wednesday newspaper round-up: Crude, Halliburton, Deliveroo, retailers

Tight restrictions on US crude oil exports, in place for 40 years, would be lifted as part of a budget deal agreed in Congress on Tuesday evening, news agencies reported. The deal presented to Republicans in a late-night meeting by House Speaker Paul Ryan would also raise spending on defence and a number of domestic programmes. It would also avoid a government shutdown that had been looming as soon as Wednesday. – Financial Times

Halliburton, the US oil services group, has been forced to delay for a second time its planned $26bn acquisition of rival Baker Hughes, after failing to reach an agreement with US competition regulators. The US Department of Justice has told the two companies that the disposals they have offered to mitigate the deal’s affect on competition are inadequate, but has not yet launched a legal action to block the takeover. – Financial Times

Deliveroo, the high-end takeaway company, hi-tech e-commerce company Powa Technologies and personalised children's book firm Lost My Name are among 15 firms that have been hailed as future stars of the UK digital economy. They have been inducted into the Future Fifty programme, which aims to support fast-growing technology companies that are gearing up for an exit. – Telegraph

UK exports can only be boosted by creating an independent advisory body comprising people from industry, economics and politics who are not side-tracked by short-term issues and “political point scoring”, the CBI has said. The lobby group is calling for a national exports commission modelled on similar groups working low pay and infrastructure, to set long-term policy and targets to increase sales of UK goods abroad. – Telegraph

The gender pay gap for women over 40 is almost double the average when they enter management – and it gets worse as they get older, a study has found. The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) found that women over 40 in management roles are paid 35% less than men, a much greater disparity than the 19% average gap across the whole economy. Once women in senior jobs enter their 60s, the gender pay gap widens further to 38%. - Guardian

Christmas shoppers are set to benefit from the deepest high street discounts since 2008 after mild weather and a disappointing Black Friday left shops with stock to clear. With fewer than 10 days to Christmas, discounts are averaging 41.8%, according to analysts at consultants Deloitte, and will rise to 45% by the weekend. – Guardian

Almost a third of households would have to cut spending, work longer hours or change their mortgage terms if interest rates rose by just 2 percentage points without any increase in pay, according to the Bank of England. Research by the Bank found that the number of vulnerable UK households remained high six years after the end of the recession, but they “appear a little better placed to cope with a rise in interest rates than a year ago”. – The Times