Wall St. Brief: Amazon Preps for MASS Production of New Smartphone, JPMorgan Claws Back MILLIONS

The Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) smartphone rumors are on the rise, reported the Wall Street Journal, with the company supposedly testing a potential device with a four to five-inch inch screen through Asian component suppliers. Mass production could begin late this year.

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Barclays’ (NYSE:BCS) investors are looking for a change with three of its top 10 saying they’d like an external candidate appointed as chairman. This could conflict with the deputy chairman Sir Michael Rake’s potential to become Marcus Agius’ successor.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) gave Bill Johnson the boot after its merger with Progress Energy partially due to his alleged autocratic leadership style, said CEO Jim Rogers at a North Carolina Utilities Commission hearing on Tuesday. Concerns have been lingering about Progress’ nuclear assets and its weak performance since the deal’s announcement 18 months ago.

JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) will clawback millions of dollars in stock from the individuals associated with the infamous CIO trading loss, reported the Wall Street Journal. This will include former CIO boss Ina Drew and “London whale” Bruno Iksil. The clawback announcement could come on Friday, which is the same day the bank will report its earnings.

DirecTV’s (NASDAQ:DTV) almost 20 million subscribers lost access to 17 Viacom (NYSE:VIA) networks on Tuesday night due to a failure between the companies to reach a deal over carriage fees. Affected channels included Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central. This dispute comes after a June disagreement between Dish Network (NASDAQ:DISH) and AMC Networks (AMCX).

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