Opening Bell: 9.14.17

Treasury Secretary Mnuchin requested government jet for European honeymoon (ABC News)
Officials familiar with the matter say the highly unusual ask for a U.S. Air Force jet, which according to an Air Force spokesman could cost roughly $25,000 per hour to operate, was put in writing by the secretary's office but eventually deemed unnecessary after further consideration of by Treasury Department officials.

Saudis Prepare for Possible Aramco IPO Delay to 2019 (BBG)
Saudi Arabia is preparing contingency plans for a possible delay to the initial public offering of its state-owned oil company by a few months into 2019, according to people familiar with the matter. While the government is still aiming for a Saudi Aramco IPO in the second half of next year, that timetable is increasingly tight for what’s likely to be the biggest share sale in history, the people said, asking not to be named discussing internal deliberations.

Bill Ackman is playing Jekyll-and-Hyde with ADP (NYP)
It looks like Bill Ackman is trying Jekyll-and-Hyde tactics to shake up Automatic Data Processing’s board. The activist investor’s hedge fund Pershing Square said Wednesday that it wants to replace three of ADP’s board members as he pressed the payroll processor to cut costs and update its technology. That’s an abrupt turn from last week, when Ackman told ADP’s board in a letter that he preferred to avoid a proxy fight and instead have his three nominees added to an expanded board.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to a CLO Rule Rollback (Gadfly)
A funny thing happened on the way to this market's death and destruction. Since these risk-retention rules went into effect, CLO sales have actually risen, with the $73 billion of such issuances so far this year already eclipsing 2016’s full-year total. Not only that, but an entire ecosystem has been created around financing the portion of risk in each deal that needs to be retained.

How I Snatched 153,037 ETH After A Bad Tinder Date (Medium)
[Long story short: Guy finds Ethereum vulnerability and steals massive amount of ether. Anonymous and unverifiable.] Look, here’s the thing. If you’re holding 30 million dollars in 250 lines of code that you haven’t audited, then it’s on you. Seriously. It takes any half-decent appsec guy less than one man-day to fleece those 250 lines. At most, that would cost them a few thousands of dollars. They didn’t do it because they wanted it all for free. They didn’t do it because they’re greedy and cheap. They absolutely deserve this.

Meet the Earth’s Largest Money-Market Fund (WSJ))
Xu Xiaoyan, an IT manager in Shanghai, sees Yu’e Bao as a simple and safe cash-management tool. Since April 2014, the 32-year-old has been plowing 20% to 30% of her monthly salary into the fund. “I am not too concerned about what Alibaba does with my money since it’s too big to collapse,” said Ms. Xu, “I’m happy that the monthly yield can buy me at least a cup of milk tea.” She currently has about $775 in the fund.

Ayuda! (Help!) Equifax Has My Data! (Krebs on Security)
Holden’s team spent some time examining Equifax’s South American operations online after the company disclosed the breach involving its business units in North America. It took almost no time for them to discover that an online portal designed to let Equifax employees in Argentina manage credit report disputes from consumers in that country was wide open, protected by perhaps the most easy-to-guess password combination ever: “admin/admin.”

Bodega Isn’t Just Bad Branding, It’s Bad Business (Eater)
Fortunately for its critics, and unfortunately for McDonald, Rajan, and their investors, Bodega faces more obstacles than just a morning of high-intensity Twitter loathing. A range of conveniently located, beautifully merchandised kiosks with an easy app-based point of sale and an evolving range of user-calibrated products seems like a nice, attractive idea. But something like that is built on an intensely complex logistical apparatus — and any mention of that sort of thing seems to be missing from McDonald and Rajan’s talking points, which focus mostly on what they call “the last hundred feet.”

'Total monster': fatberg blocks London sewage system (Guardian)
A fatberg weighing the same as 11 double decker buses and stretching the length of two football pitches is blocking a section of London’s ageing sewage network. The congealed mass of fat, wet wipes and nappies is one of the biggest ever found and would have risked raw sewage flooding on to the streets in Whitechapel, east London, had it not been discovered during a routine inspection earlier this month. Now workmen armed with shovels and high-powered jets are working seven days a week to break it up. The grim task is expected to take three weeks.