WeWork doesn't have enough money to finish out 2019, and both of its known bailout options are nightmarish.
What we know: Option 1 is to sell control to SoftBank, which enabled former CEO Adam Neumann's worst excesses. Option 2 is to let J.P. Morgan arrange a massive debt package, which could become so onerous that employees may just mail their vested options to Wall Street.
White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham tweeted on Monday that President Trump has not yet seen the violent fake video played at an event for his supporters, but that he "strongly condemns" it. Trump himself has not tweeted about the video or issued a statement.
Background: The video, first reported by the New York Times, is an edited clip from the film "Kingsman: The Secret Service," that shows Trump stabbing and shooting media outlets and political opponents in the "Church of Fake News." The group that put on the event, American Priority, confirmed to the Times that the video was shown at a conference at the Trump National Doral resort in Miami.
NBC News President Noah Oppenheim sent a memo to NBC News/MSNBC staffers on Monday morning defending the company against allegations — in Ronan Farrow's new book, "Catch and Kill" — that NBC management engaged in a cover-up to hide sexual misconduct by former "Today" show host Matt Lauer.
"Matt Lauer's actions were abhorrent, and the anger and sadness he caused continue to this day. As we've said since the moment he was fired, his abuses should never have happened. Ronan Farrow's book takes that undeniable fact and twists it into a lie — alleging we were a 'company with a lot of secrets.' We have no secrets and nothing to hide."
While the most talked-about news on Wall Street proved to be a downer, U.S. equities are poised to get a power boost from 2 big sources soon.
Driving the news: On Friday, the Fed announced plans to buy $60 billion of U.S. Treasury bills a month “at least into the second quarter of next year.”
Wall Street was bursting at the seams with excitement about a trade deal between the U.S. and China — until details of the deal were revealed.
The big picture: China agreed to more than double its annual purchases of U.S. agriculture, up to $50 billion and made yet-to-be-determined concessions on intellectual property rights while the U.S. agreed not to implement its planned Oct. 15 tariffs of 30% on Chinese imports.
The market can influence how people who own shares vote in U.S. presidential elections, a new study by Rice University and University of Pittsburgh examining the electoral implications of stock fluctuations finds.
The big picture: The study compares electoral preferences with levels of dividend income. It finds the effect of recent stock returns on votes for the incumbent party is stronger in counties with greater market participation. And it suggests that if the market had rebounded instead of falling in 2008, Republican presidential candidate John McCain may have won the states of Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, and Ohio.
