The Wall Street Journal first reported yesterday that Amazon, fresh from a weekend leak suggesting that Northern Virginia was the HQ2 frontrunner, will choose two locations with an evenly split workforce for its next headquarters, a “surprise decision that will spread the impact of a massive new office across two communities.” So I guess we’re talking about a pair of HQ1.5s?  – WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch and NYTimes

Even as US job growth booms and the economy hums along, American soybean farmers are feeling major pain, with mid-October federal data showing that their sales to China have declined by a whopping 94% since last year’s harvest thanks to a year’s worth of escalating trade-war positioning and tariffs between the US and China – NYTimes

Oh, and by the way, Alibaba’s Jack Ma is no big fan of that trade dispute.  To put it mildly – Bloomberg

Verizon announced that, under the leadership of new CEO Hans Vestberg, it will split its wireless unit into separate divisions based on the types of customers served (rather than by the type of service provided). The changes will take effect starting in January 2019 – WSJ

A divided 2d Circuit panel has reversed the 2016 insider-trading conviction of former JPMorgan analyst Sean Stewart, finding that the “trial judge improperly blocked conflicting statements from Stewart’s father, who prosecutors had on tape saying that Stewart handed him stock tips on a ‘silver platter’” – Law360

The CFTC voted yesterday to move forward with a proposal that would “allow more ways to trade swaps on electronic platforms known as swap-execution facilities,” a significant change aimed at loosening the grip of central clearinghouses on interest-rate and credit-default swaps in particular. The Commission also voted to make permanent the $8 billion trading threshold governing which swap dealers must register with it – WSJ and Law360

On Monday, N.D. Texas judge Ed Kinkeade rejected Exxon Mobile’s reconsideration request, confirming that a putative securities fraud class action “claiming the oil giant hid its climate change knowledge” may proceed – Law360

Sears is in talks to secure a much-needed “financial lifeline” that would allow it to “avoid running out of cash while it pursues a turnaround.” Notably, the infusion would not involve Eddie Lampert or his ESL Investments, the retailer’s go-to source of funds in recent years – Bloomberg

Call it Silicon Valley through the looking glass.  Superficially, China’s tech scene bears resemblances to its American counterpart. But just under the surface is a “futuristic yet closed-off world that can be equally impressive, alienating and dystopian” – NYTimes

3 years and $9 billion later, Dollar Tree’s acquisition of Family Dollar is looking like anything but a bargain – WSJ

A timely look at the effort by many of America’s largest companies to both encourage their millions of workers to vote and to actually make it easier to do so – NYTimes and Marketplace

So yeah.  Don’t forget to get out there today and exercise some democracy.  Go vote.