Google announced late Tuesday that co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are “stepping down from executive roles at Google’s parent company, Alphabet.” Google CEO Sundar Pichai will now helm both operations, while Page and Brin will stay on Alphabet’s board. The duo also remains firmly in control of a majority of the company’s voting shares – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch

Stocks took another dive on Tuesday after news from the White House that the trade war with China could extend through the 2020 election – WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch and NYTimes

A spate of CEOs wasn’t surprised by this move, though, or the renewed threats of a tariff hike on another $160 billion of Chinese goods as of December 15th – Bloomberg

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, negotiators from the two countries may actually be making progress on the amount of tariff rollbacks that would grease the wheels for a phase one deal to be inked before that December 15th deadline – Bloomberg

Anyone else growing weary of this game yet?

Bridgewater co-CEO Eileen Murray will leave her leadership role at the world’s largest hedge fund in March, with other co-CEO David McCormick assuming the role sans “co-“ then – WSJ

A federal judge has granted the DOJ’s request to remove former DAG James Cole from his role as defense counsel for Huawei in a case in which it’s accused of violating sanctions on Iran. EDNY Judge Ann Donnelly took action after prosecutors “argued that Cole, during a stint as deputy attorney general, had access to classified matters they argued have a ‘substantial’ connection to Huawei” – Bloomberg and Law360

To be an American  hemp farmer in 2019 means to take really drastic measures to inform thieves and regulators alike that your crop of choice isn’t worth their cannabis-seeking effort – NYTimes

On the plus side, these farmers are now finally able to deal with banks free from AML filings that had been required for literally each interaction with their lender after federal and state bank regulators “announced Tuesday that they were scrapping a burdensome requirement that banks said kept them away from the hemp business” – NYTimes

Ahhh, ze Germans, who prize saving and frugality so much that not even negative interest rates can prompt a loosening of the purse strings – WSJ

Jurors in California federal court have found former Bumble Bee Foods CEO Chris Lischewski “guilty of price-fixing after a four-week trial over allegations he worked with executives at rivals StarKist and Chicken of the Sea to illegally raise the price of canned tuna” – Law360

In news at the intersection of several strains of my life, recent cold weather has helped boost Lands’ End stock, with shares jumping after earnings beat expectations, “recovering much of the ground it lost this year as it worked to disentangle itself from Sears, its former parent company” – WSJ

Quick word of advice to Peloton: maybe take another crack at that holiday ad, eh? – Bloomberg and MarketWatch