In case you haven’t had your eye on matters of global intrigue of late, figured we’d get you a bit caught up so that you know why your gas prices are heading north in the next couple of weeks – MarketWatch and NYTimes

Facebook has recruited a stable of major backers—including Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and Uber—for its new cryptocurrency, Libra, which it plans to officially launch next year. Each of the dozen or so supporters will pour $10 million into the venture, a digital coin that “will be pegged to a basket of government-issued currencies to avoid the wild swings that have dogged other cryptocurrencies” – WSJ

KPMG will pay upwards of $50 million to resolve civil claims from the SEC over allegations “related to the conduct of former partners who learned which of their audits would be subject to surprise regulatory examinations” – WSJ

New numbers out this week show the US Budget Deficit up 39% in the first 8 months of the current fiscal year, despite an 80% increase in customs duties (as a result of White House tariffs) from a year earlier – WSJ

All of which has prompted the Journal spend some time thinking about how Washington went from balancing the budget in the Clinton years to embracing a new tack in which the U.S. appears  “on course to test just how much it can borrow” – WSJ

One of Wall Street’s most senior execs publicly accused of sexual harassment, Jess Ravich, is out at bond-fund manager TCW, where he had headed the firm’s alternative products group – NYTimes

And just as Ravich heads out, another accused finance manager—this time at Fidelity—is coming back in – WSJ

Uber and “hundreds of Boston-area taxi companies” have agreed in principle to resolve 6 of 7 consolidated lawsuits that accuse the ride-hailing company  of employing unfair pricing practices, mere weeks ahead of a trial start date in federal district court in Massachusetts – Law360

Italy’s nationalist government is kicking around a few proposals to “scramble out of the deficit maze” that’s plaguing the country, and one in particular is raising eyebrows—the mini-BOT. That’s mini bills of treasury, a financial instrument “similar to an IOU that its supporters believe will allow the cash-strapped Italian government to pay debts, stimulate the Italian economy and give Italians a way to pay their taxes.” Not everyone’s quite so bullish on the idea – NYTimes

A bit of SCOTUS intrigue for you on a Friday, with news that Chief Justice John Roberts sold at least $100,000 in AT&T stock in November, “shortly after a judicial watchdog said he should have recused himself in a case involving the telecom and while AT&T’s merger with Time Warner was pending before the D.C. Circuit” – Law360

Streetwise weighs in on the growing consensus among economists that the Fed’s next move will be a rate cut by looking back at similar central bank moves aimed at short-circuiting a potential recession – WSJ

Credit Suisse has asked a NY appeals court to take another crack at a lower court ruling that found for the trustee of four toxic RMBS suits “that allegedly caused over $1 billion in losses, saying it wrongly interpreted the sole remedy provision in the underlying contracts” – Law360

Financial powerhouses Citadel and PIMCO are bickering over Finra’s proposal “to study the impact of giving investors 48 hours before having to reveal their large corporate bond trades to other market participants.” That window, which Finra maintains could help it examine whether current rapid disclosure rules deter buying and selling, has not found a fan in Citadel, while PIMCO and others are all about it – Bloomberg

Tyson, the chicken folks, made a bit of news this week with its announcement that it’s going beyond sizeable investment in meat-replacement companies like Beyond Meat (which it sold off pre-IPO) and pivoting to plant-based foods on its own, including in its ubiquitous nuggets line – WSJ and Bloomberg

Sadly, we’re not destined for Wally World, but we are making like the Griswolds and piling in the Family Truckster to hit the open roads next week. Say a prayer or two for us all, and enjoy the break.  We’ll see you back here on the 24th – YouTube