Early reports suggested that although Teresa May’s cabinet wasn’t thrilled, it backed the PM’s Brexit plan, leaving the controversial deal to make its way to Parliament. But the resignation of two Cabinet members—including the Brexit secretary—has thrown the deal, the pound, and her government into chaos – Bloomberg and WSJ
And then, there’s Europe. Which, Brexit aside, got challenging news yesterday from Germany. The usually reliable economic powerhouse revealed that its economy “unexpectedly shrank” .2 percent through Q3, “with a drop in exports suggesting the stall was a manifestation of [the White House’s] trade war with China” – NYTimes and WSJ
The Times throws back the curtain on years of Facebook’s machinations to address the “cascading crises” that the company faced over privacy breaches, election meddling, and growing division on its platform. Buckle up. It’s quite a read – NYTimes
Mr. Buffett has announced that Berkshire Hathaway now has a $4 billion (or 1%) stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. The move adds to his stable of big-bank investments, including a 9% share of Bank of America and Wells Fargo, alike – WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
MoneyGram Int’l investor Khong Meng Chew has filed a proposed securities class action against the money-transfer company in Illinois federal court accusing it of “lying about its anti-fraud compliance, leading to overinflated stock prices that sank after a $125 million settlement with the FTC was revealed” – Law360
Uber’s deliberate march towards a 2019 IPO continues, as does its work to “stem losses” ahead of that offering—a task made harder on news that it lost just over $1 billion in Q3 and experienced slowing growth, to boot – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
And while we’re talking going public, iconic American denim company Levi Strauss is planning its own IPO that would value the company at roughly $5 billion – CNBC
The DOJ and SEC are investigating disclosures to investors that Snap made ahead of its March 2017 IPO. The authorities are zeroing in on “statements about potential competition with Instagram,” in particular, including downplaying the threat of Insta’s “stories” feature – Law360
The SEC is also moving ahead with its official CAT (Consolidated Audit Trail) launch today, despite bugs that will limit its functionality and user access capabilities. Prompted by 2010’s flash crash, CAT is a data warehouse intended to “track all U.S. stock and options orders” – WSJ
A flux-capacitor equipped Delorean? Naaaah. Turns out the brain handles time travel pretty much all on its own – NYTimes