Feb 23 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the New York Times business pages. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
- Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:VRX) VRX.TO has been trading near record low, at around $16 per share, and at levels not seen in seven years. This spells big financial trouble for one of its largest shareholders, Pershing Square (NYSE:SQ) Capital IPO-PERS.L , the hedge fund company managed by the billionaire William Ackman, whose efforts to salvage Valeant and his reputation as a savvy investor are looking increasingly desperate. Valeant's collapse has put a serious dent in the publicly traded Pershing Square Holdings' 2016 performance, which was down 13.5 percent, net of fees. SolarCity, the nation's leading installer of rooftop solar panels and a renewable energy darling, lets customers sign up to lease a system, where they will make payments to the company every month for at least 20 years. In dozens of cases over the last three years, SolarCity has reached long-term lease agreements with homeowners shortly before or even after they defaulted on mortgages. In at least 14 cases, the homeowners were already in default, or had other liens on the property, by the time SolarCity filed paperwork about the panels with the government. These cases raise questions about how well the company vets customers. Carlos Ghosn is stepping down as the chief executive of Nissan Motor Co 7201.T , more than 15 years after he took control of the Japanese automaker and helped save it from collapse. Nissan said on Ghosn would remain chairman of Nissan's board. He will continue to lead the global automobile alliance created during his tenure at Nissan, which also includes Renault RENA.PA of France and Mitsubishi Motors 7211.T of Japan. According to minutes published of the U.S. Federal Reserve's most recent meeting, on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, "many participants" wanted to increase the benchmark rate "fairly soon" if the economy continued to grow. The minutes stopped short of suggesting a rate increase was likely at the Fed's next meeting, in mid-March. They said that a core group of Fed officials remained cautious about the economic outlook, seeing balanced risks of faster and slower economic growth.