The Mueller message isn’t just about Manafort.  It’s a message to the next five people that they talk to. And the message is: ‘We are coming, and we are not playing, and we are not bluffing.’  Mueller’s Moves Send Message to Other Potential Targets:  Beware, I’m Coming (Washington Post)

Ahead of today’s testimony by Google, Facebook and Twitter to Congress on the extent of Russian influence on their networks, the Washington-based Internet Association is advising lawmakers to clarify the responsibility of advertising platforms. Google, Facebook Lobby Group Asks for Clearer Ad Disclosure Laws (Bloomberg)

As global investment banks cut thousands of analyst jobs over the past years, Chinese firms went the other way and bulked up their research departments.  At the same time, Chinese investment banks are largely insulated from the EU’s MiFID II rules leading hordes of overseas-educated Chinese to return home.   Chinese Analysts Fleeing MiFID Are Returning Home (Bloomberg)

First on the Terminal:  U.S. stocks fell yesterday after Bloomberg reported that the U.S. House of Representatives was considering a 5 year phase-in period for cutting corporate tax rates to 20%.   House Panel’s Talk of Phased-In Tax Cut Counters Trump Wishes (Bloomberg)

For our French readers from the national newspaper of record in France, Le Monde: Michael Bloomberg: The Era of Big Cities is Just Beginning.  L’ere de Villes ne Fait qui Commencer  (Le Monde) 

And for our Spanish-language readers:  El Pais asks if one man can oppose the decision of an entire government to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.  Their answer is “Yes, as long as he responds to the name of Michael Bloomberg.”   ¿Pueden ser las Ciudades un Contrapoder al Estado? (El Pais)

Thought of the Day:

One more data point exhibiting San Francisco’s rise as the second most powerful city in the U.S.:   Manhattan’s vaunted Jean-Georges, located in Trump’s tower on Columbus Circle, fell from three stars to two in the 2018 Michelin guide, the first time it’s been downgraded.  New York now has only five three-star restaurants.  San Francisco boasts seven. Michelin Drops Jean-Georges to Two Stars (New York Times)

Tweet of the day:

@lloydblankfein: In London.  GS still investing in our big new Euro headquarters here.  Expecting/hoping to fill it up, but so much outside our control.  #Brexit 

Quote of the Day:   

“So Paul Manafort has now been charged with lobbying for the government of Ukraine and not telling the U.S. government he did this.  He’s also been charged with laundering tens of millions of dollars into secret foreign bank accounts in remote island nations around the world.  Which basically makes Manafort one eye patch away from being a Bond villain.” — TREVOR NOAH