Dealbook gives us this uncomfortable take on China’s “nuclear option” in the trade war with the United States—its holdings of more than $1 trillion in US foreign debt and the possibility of stepping back from buying (or even dumping) US Treasuries on the open market – NYTimes

[Brief, bloggy counterpoint here – CEPR]

Meanwhile, at home, Beijing’s central banking efforts to prop up a sliding economy is putting serious pressure on the yuan, and Chinese authorities are pushing up interbank lending rates to deter betting against the currency using borrowed funds – WSJ

Google played a tricky game of “look at the shiny new objects” yesterday, as it rolled out a slate of new products (including a new version of its Pixel phone) against the backdrop of a belated disclosure of a substantial data vulnerability on its Google Plus platform – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg

While we’re talking breaches, a group of shareholders has sued Chinese hotel group Huazhu with a proposed class action claiming that it “failed to adequately protect consumer data from a breach in August that led to a drop in the group’s stock price.” That August breach left nearly 500 million pieces of customer information vulnerable online – Law360

Bloomberg’s not backing down from its Supermicro motherboard tampering story, dropping new details on Tuesday of “tampering in China of critical technology components bound for the U.S.” – Bloomberg

Long-troubled retailer (and Eddie Lampert pet project) Sears is hurtling toward a bankruptcy filing that could come as soon as this week – WSJ

Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group is in negotiations to take a majority state in WeWork Companies, the co-working startup that’s “seeking to raise more funds at a $35 billion valuation.”  The deal could see SoftBank’s investment rise to $15 to $20 billion – Bloomberg and WSJ

HSBC has inked a $765 million settlement with federal officials to resolve allegations that “it hid risks associated with residential mortgage-backed securities sold in the years preceding the 2008 financial crisis” – Law360

Royal Park’s bid to hold Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and UBS responsible for their alleged RMBS-related failings, however, is toast.  Again – Law360

The activists have been busy in October, it seems. Nelson Peltz’s Trian Mgmt recently disclosed a new 2.9% stake in paint company PPG (which failed in its bid to buy rival Akzo Nobel last year) [WSJ and Bloomberg], and Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square revealed its new 1.1% piece of Starbucks, whose shares have fallen recently due to slowing same-store sales growth – WSJ and Bloomberg

Great Britain and the EU are slowly moving towards a Brexit deal, as the two sides have reportedly made progress on the sizeable sticking point that is the Ireland/Northern Ireland border – WSJ

We’re 6 years removed from the London Games, and the city and Olympic organizers there managed to pull off not only an impressive games but the rare feat of revitalizing a part of the city in need of redevelopment as promised, even as other Olympic hosts have failed rather spectacularly – NYTimes