Despite recent signs that both sides were backing off of the brinksmanship moving the US and China towards a protracted trade war, the White House unveiled plans on Tuesday to move ahead with tariffs and other “punitive measures” ahead of another round of [now-jeopardized] “high-profile trade talks that begin this weekend” – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and Law360
That news and the weekend’s Italian political developments had the anticipated effect on Wall Street on Tuesday – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch and ThePost
And as Bloomberg points out, when markets have been bad this year, they’ve been REALLY bad – Bloomberg
“Deal-hungry conglomerate” JAB Holding Company has added the UK’s Pret a Manger to its impressive stable of brands that includes Caribou Coffee, Krispy Kreme, Panera, and Dr Pepper Snapple. The deal’s valued at nearly $2 billion – NYTimes and Bloomberg
Which means that it’s as good a time as any to point out that food companies are burning through CEOs at an impressive clip, as behemoths like Campbell Soup, General Mills, Mondelez, Kellogg, and Nestle contend with “a new era of American eating and grocery shopping habits” – WSJ
The CBS/Redstone war continues, with Shari Redstone suing CBS and several board members this week, arguing that their lawsuit and “dilutive dividend” aimed at keeping her from “interfering ahead of a vote diluting her controlling interest in the company . . . violated corporate governance laws and should be rescinded” – Law360 and NYTimes
Despite a red-hot housing market in many major US cities, just shy of 10% of Americans are still under water on their mortgages, more than 10 years after the housing bubble burst – Bloomberg
A recent raft of stories about ICO regulation efforts [like say, for example, tamping down on blockchain evangelists] has apparently had no effect on one Cayman Islands-based start-up—block.one—which has raised more than $4 billion through its yearlong initial coin offering – WSJ
New Yorkers prepare yourselves: it’s Manhattanhenge week again, and you’ve got one more night to soak it up – NYTimes
