On Wednesday, the Census Bureau reported that median household income in the US reached just over $61k—a level it described as “statistically indistinguishable” from its pre-crisis level in 2007. Lots more here on the numbers and the “lost decade” for America’s middle class  – NYTimes and WSJ

The US has proposed a new round of trade talks with China in an effort to address ongoing conflicts before a new round of US tariffs on Chinese imports takes effect – WSJ and Bloomberg

The Fed, meanwhile, released its latest Beige Book economic report this week that cites tariffs as “contributing to rising input costs, mainly for manufacturers” and causing supply disruptions – Bloomberg and MarketWatch

Turkey has raised its main interest rate to 24% today in an effort to stabilize its troubled currency, and the move—coming just hours after Turkish President Erdogan called for lowering rates—boosted the lira’s value by 5% – WSJ and Bloomberg

There’s been another #MeToo casualty at CBS, with longtime executive producer of 60 Minutes Jeff Fager ousted after being accused of “fostering a culture of harassment” and “touching women at company parties in ways that made them feel uncomfortable” – NYTimes and WSJ

Skittish investors are helping open up a gap between the economic fortunes of America and the rest of the world—especially in developing countries. When you hear the term “contagion,” this is what everyone’s talking about – NYTimes

China’s sovereign wealth fund is reportedly expressing interest in the Deutsche Bank stake that troubled Chinese conglomerate HNA Group recently announced is available for purchase – WSJ

White Collar Watch is in its wheelhouse here as it opines on the difficulty judges face in determining how, exactly, to appropriately punish white-collar defendants. Unlike other crimes, the Sentencing Guidelines offer courts “broad discretion” for the typical white-collar violations – NYTimes

The European Commission is planning to give Europe’s banking regulator—the European Banking Authority—broad new enforcement powers to target money laundering and terrorist financing in the bloc – Law360

Crypto’s “Great Crash of 2018” has now surpassed the equivalent damage done by the dot-com crash, with virtual currencies losing more than 80% of their value from their high in January – Bloomberg

We’ve likely got a new winner for oldest modern abstract human drawings, thanks to a discovery in a South African cave of red lines on a stone flake that predates drawings from Europe by nearly 30,000 years – NYTimes and WSJ