As widely expected, the Fed affirmed the general strength of the US economy today by raising the benchmark interest rate again today—the 5th raise since the financial crisis – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg

Also from the FOMC announcement yesterday: Dr. Yellen’s not the biggest bitcoin fan in the world – Bloomberg

The latest on the shape of the conference committee tax overhaul bill – MarketWatch

In a letter disclosed as part of the stolen-trade-secrets case between Uber and Alphabet’s Waymo, the DOJ confirmed that Uber is, indeed, under criminal investigation—though it didn’t reveal specifics of the probe – NYTimes

In other Uber legal news, a group of shareholders has filed a derivative suit against the ride-hailing company’s founder and other directors over the company’s alleged reckless approval of the $680 million acquisition of Otto, the company at the heart of the Alphabet dispute – Law360

Spurred in no small part by Brexit and a rising tide of economic nationalism, the European Union is struggling with the reemergence of new trade barriers that are “overturning a generation of moves toward trade liberalization—and driving countries further away from a well-functioning common market” – WSJ

Target announced yesterday that it’s buying grocery-delivery company Shipt for $550 million in an apparent effort to keep pace with Amazon and push its same-day shipping plans – Bloomberg

The European Commission made a series of “equivalence decisions linked to MiFID II” this week that will allow European investors to continue trading in shares listed on a spate of trading exchanges and venues across the US, Australia, and Hong Kong – Law360

In “this is sure to end well” news, a group of “lenders on the fringe of the financial industry” are beginning to offer loans using bitcoin and other digital currency as collateral—never mind, it seems, the massive volatility that defines cryptocurrencies – Bloomberg

Breakingviews weighs in on the Disney deal for Fox announced this morning, suggesting that current-and-future-CEO Bob Iger would have “his work cut out” in making it work – NYTimes

An 150-year-old storm that runs 10,000 miles across and 200 miles deep?  You know we gotta dig into that – NYTimes