Trump's White House bake-off for chief of staff (Axios)
Gary Cohn, who'd love the job as chief, is nonetheless rightly wary of that particular promotion, and instead is keeping his eye on an even grander prize. Friends say that after his current gig, Cohn would love to be named ... chair of the Federal Reserve.

Uber Fires Former Google Engineer at Heart of Self-Driving Dispute (NYT)
When Mr. Levandowski was ordered by a federal judge to hand over evidence and testimony, he asserted his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination. Uber has pressured Mr. Levandowski to cooperate for months, but after he missed an internal deadline to hand over information, the company fired him.

Morgan Stanley's 16,000 Human Brokers Get Algorithmic Makeover (BBG)
Backed by a firm’s algorithms, “advisers are going to be part of a value proposition, rather than the service conduit for the industry,” Thompson said. “The cutting of the bonus check, it’s nearly over.”

Citigroup Wins U.K. Lawsuit Over Firing of ‘Good Guy’ FX Trader (BBG)
While giving evidence Citigroup’s Timothy Gately, who fired Madaras, said the former trader was a "good guy" and he was "gutted that this one chat out of so many, so long ago, could lead to dismissal," according to the ruling.

The Billionaire Gadfly in Exile Who Stared Down Beijing (NYT)
Show Mr. Guo a spreadsheet listing the shareholders of the giant Chinese company HNA, which has been buying up businesses in the West, and he’ll rattle off the names of the prominent families that he claims really control their stakes. Ask him to map out family trees for those names, the key to tracking ill-gotten wealth in China, and he’ll do it from memory, down to the sisters, the cousins and the aunts.

Why Investors Get Mixed Up in Venezuelan Debt (WSJ)
Trading such debt can be lucrative short-term. Venezuela’s government debt was the best-performing in the high-yield emerging market sovereign bond universe last week, with an 8.39% total return; PdVSA’s returned 11.03% over the same period. PdVSA’s bonds trade with a lower yield than Venezuela’s sovereign debt, in part because the company owns the rights to most of the country’s oil reserves.

What Life is Really Like In Prison for White Collar Criminals (Town & Country)
So you're about to go away for a while. You'll have plenty of time to figure out why you're going; the first thing you need to know is where! We've put together a short list of top choices for hard time, including where Bernie Madoff, Martha Stewart, and more did their time.

Amazon’s Brush With $1,000 Signals the Death of the Stock Split (WSJ)
A big stock price is “a new way of calling attention to yourself,” said William C. Weld, a finance professor at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School who has studied stock splits. It used to be that splitting shares signaled reliability and stability, he said. “Companies now are saying ‘look at us, we’re tough and strong.’”

Are Stock Traders Actually More Pessimistic Than Bond Traders? (Macro Tourist)
Between 2013 and 2016, the relationship between the inverted yield of the 30 year US Treasury and the SPDR XLU ETF held fairly tight. Yet since the Trump election, it has completely broken down. Obviously, the correlation need not continue, and the two assets might simply head their own merry way. But what if this divergence is due to recouple? Although I am a long term bond bear, it certainly feels like fixed income is itching to rally.

Here's What It Looks Like to Get Attacked by a Bear (Gizmodo)
So you’re doing some hunting in Canada and all you have is a bow and arrow. And then, suddenly, a black bear appears in the distance and starts charging straight at your face. What do you do? You scream—scream and hope for the best.