Fed Chair Janet Yellen is doing all she can to soften the blow of (or at least sufficiently prep the markets for, bond traders be damned) the seemingly inevitable Fed interest rate liftoff at the Fed’s December meeting. Barring something unexpectedly awful in Friday’s jobs report, the long-discussed and oft-delayed move looks to be a lock – NYTimes and WSJ
Speaking of jobs, payroll processor ADP’s pegging November’s growth at 217,000. Economists expect the official government numbers at the end of the week to come in a bit under that figure – NYTimes
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, jobs are awfully hard to come by, and the ECB’s almost certainly going the other way—even as questions remain about what impact any new action will have on a stagnant Eurozone economy – NYTimes
The Journal explains the ongoing battle by regulators to crack down on leveraged loans (which go to companies already deeply in debt)—a big profit center for banks and the subject of a post-crisis boom that worried regulators enough to direct some major auditing pressure their way – WSJ
A new phenomenon in the UK with a tougher approval process than here in the US, deferred prosecution agreements are set to become all the rage in Britain after a recently penned deal with Standard Bank Group has helped show the way for prosecutors and firms – Law360
Breakingviews jumps on the “Marissa Mayer’s Yahoo turnaround is out of time” boat – NYTimes [and WSJ]
Next thing you know, there’ll be [misquoted] talk of “malaise” at the SEC, given its reported “crisis of confidence” over its in-house court program – WSJ
Target’s coughing up just shy of $40 million to resolve claims by banks and credit unions associated with its 2013 holiday-season data breach – Bloomberg and Law360
There are hockey fans out there. And then there are Minnesota hockey fans. Gotta love this – Star Tribune
Anyone in your life plagued by a Costanza wallet? Well, my college buddy Richie knows someone like that, and he’s wrung 5 episodes of comic gold out of it – Simply Unemployable
