There’s some surprise market wheeling and dealing afoot this morning. The Hong Kong stock exchange has offered to buy its London counterpart as part of a deal valued at $37 billion that would connect “the established financial markets in the West with the emerging financial markets in the East” – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
Uber announced a second round of layoffs in recent months—this time affecting 435 in its product and engineering teams—as the ride-hailing company struggles to get in the black and “regain its competitive edge” – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
All the highlights from yesterday’s Applefest, which featured new iPhones, an updated watch, Apple Arcade, and more on Apple’s new streaming service (though, disappointingly, no “one last thing”) – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
A tough week for Big Tech is getting worse, with news that former EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager is “expanding her portfolio to become the equivalent of the European Union’s digital czar,” a position that “analysts say will give her unmatched regulatory reach at a time when public anger is rising over issues like privacy, disinformation, data management and the enormous reach” of the tech giants – NYTimes
Back at home, the FTC is interviewing merchants that sell on Amazon “to determine whether the e-commerce giant is using its market power to hurt competition” – Bloomberg and MarketWatch
China’s Anbang Insurance conglomerate has unloaded its US hotel holdings for more than $5.8 billion to Mirae Asset Global Investments, an arm of a South Korean financial services company. The 15-hotel portfolio at issue doesn’t include the Waldorf Astoria, which remains closed while undergoing renovation, but it did come with the bonus of a mess of fake deeds to complicate matters – WSJ
White Collar Watch on the current state of what actually defines a “trade secret,” a question at the heart of the DOJ’s Economic Espionage Act case against former Waymo engineer Anthony Levandowski, who decamped to join Uber in 2016 – NYTimes
Peloton’s given some direction on its planned initial IPO price range – MarketWatch
Eight state AGs have banded together to challenge what they’re calling the SEC’s “’watered down’ new regulation governing the standards of conduct for brokers.” The group claims the commission violated the APA by adopting a standard more lax than that prescribed by the Dodd-Frank Act – Law360
A couple of Wall Street titans with takes on interest rate maneuvering here in the U.S.—Morgan Stanley’s chief James Gorman has concerns about the Fed cutting rates too quickly [Bloomberg], while JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon said that his outfit’s begin preparing for “how to make money if interest rates in the U.S. drop to zero” – WSJ
Title insurance company Fidelity National Financial has decided to ditch plans for a $1.2 billion purchase of Stewart Information Services Corp, a real estate services provider, after “a challenge from the Federal Trade Commission” – Law360
What to get for the man who ships everything (and has a $42 billion fortune to boot)? Well, for Jack Ma, a break from the captain’s chair at Alibaba did the trick – Bloomberg and NYTimes
How about this geologic fun fact for your Wednesday: Castleton Tower, a “nearly 400-foot sandstone spire near Moab, Utah,” actually pulsates at about the same rate as a human heartbeat by tapping into the earth’s “natural vibrations” – NYTimes
