On second thought, Wall Street does have some questions about the specifics of the pause in the trade war that apparently emerged from the G-20 sidelines this weekend. And when Wall Street has questions—well, not a banner day for the bulls – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
The US Treasury benchmark rate dipping further below 3% on Tuesday didn’t help the cause much, either – WSJ and MarketWatch
Markets will take a breather today to honor the 41st President, George H.W. Bush – CBS
A quick check-in on the economic roots of the current Yellow Vest movement (and social unrest) in France as seen through 5 key numbers – NYTimes
Shareholders for Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical have signed off on the company’s massive bid for Europe’s Shire PLC, a deal valued at $58 billion. Shire’s shareholders will consider the deal later today – WSJ
Fearing threatened auto tariffs, a host of German carmakers are in the midst of a pilgrimage of sorts to D.C. “in hopes that promising to create jobs for American workers will stave off tariffs that would devastate their country’s most important industry” – NYTimes and WSJ
MasterCard revealed this week that it expects a $650 million fine from the EU’s antitrust enforcer related to swipe fees – Law360
That whole “the hard part is still ahead” news for Theresa May and her EU-blessed Brexit plan is coming true, just as advertised. And how – Bloomberg
A White House review of the US Postal Service has led to proposed “sweeping changes in its operations that could raise alarm bells—and prices—for Amazon.com Inc. and other major businesses.” One recommended change would affect the USPS’s cost methodology, which could “put further upward pressure on many package prices” – WSJ and MarketWatch
AOL and Yahoo owner Oath, a Verizon entity, has agreed to pay roughly $5 million to resolve charges from the NY AG that its online advertising business was violating COPPA, the federal children’s privacy law mean to “protect young children from being tracked and targeted by advertisers online.” It’s the largest penalty any company has paid related to the law – NYTimes and MarketWatch and Law360
Navient Corp. is citing preemption under the Higher Ed Act as its reason for asking a New York federal court to “throw out a proposed class action accusing the student loan servicing giant of misleading millions of borrowers about accessing a federal loan forgiveness program” – Law360
We’re at that stage of early winter in Minnesota where it feels like the sun may never shine again. So how about some perspective to really put us in a [literal] dark place. A team of astronomers has managed to measure the total amount of light that has ever been produced by all the stars in our universe. And while 4 x 1084 photons sounds like a lot, “in the grand cosmic scheme of things all of this light provides about as much illumination as a 60-watt bulb seen from 2.5 miles away.” So, you know, happy December – NYTimes
