Week InReview
Friday | Feb 7, 2020
Meanwhile in China.

Chinese health experts’ recommendations for easing coronavirus stress: Have a good cry, buy a punching bag for the office or try singing. Not recommended: drinking and gambling.

—  Jakarta Post
in case you missed it...
Large banks with significant trading operations will have their finances tested in 2020 against a scenario that includes “heightened stress” in leveraged loans. The Federal Reserve also plans to test banks with substantial trading or processing operations against a hypothetical counterparty default. Their focus on leveraged lending comes after regulators and some in the industry have aired concern for years over the rapid growth in the corporate debt market, particularly in loans to already heavily-indebted firms. (Reuters | Feb 6)

Despite the boasting about a booming economy, the federal deficit is ballooning, forcing the Treasury Department to keep debt-sales above the financial crisis-era  peak  and bring back 20-year bonds. The agency has kept the sizes of debt issuance steady at a record $84 billion for a fifth straight quarter in its quarterly refunding announcement . That surpasses levels last seen when the nation was digging out of its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. (Bloomberg Markets | Feb 5)

Private data can be as accurate, and timelier, as government data when trying to get a clear picture of the U.S. economy. Fed economists discovered that data from the payroll processor ADP might have more quickly illustrated the severity of the 2008-09 Great Recession than the government’s own data did. (The Associated Press | Feb 5)

The market’s most-popular recession warning is flashing red again as fears about the economic impact of China’s coronavirus outbreak prompt a big drop in Treasury yields. Yet the warning – a drop in the 10-year Treasury yield below the three-month bill, known as an inverted yield curve – is signaling something much more benign: the expectation of Federal Reserve support later this year. (The Wall Street Journal | Feb 4)

The biggest U.S. banks are just as risky today as they were before the last financial crisis, according to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. While idiosyncratic risk – a measure based partly on return on assets – is much lower now, systemic risk measured in two different ways is pretty much unchanged. Liquidity risk, meanwhile, was slightly higher than before 2008, according to the study, which defined big banks as those with more than $250 billion in assets and examined a period starting in 2000. (Bloomberg Law | Feb 4)
the cyber cafe
Ashley Madison cyber-breach: 5 years later, users are being targeted with ‘sextortion’ scams
Scammers have found a new way to wring money out of unsuspecting victims of the 2015 breach of the Ashley Madison affair-dating website, by using their stolen credentials in an amped-up version of the common “sextortion” scam.
—  CNBC

Users warn of new Windows 10 update problems (updated)
Picked up by the eagle-eyed  WinCentral , Microsoft’s long-awaited fix for  Windows 10’s File Explorer issues  (KB4532695) is now causing a wide array of new problems itself, including broken audio, slow performance, game incompatibilities, driver issues and blue screen of death (BSOD) crashes. 
—  Forbes

Companies pursue zero-trust, but implementers are hesitant
Almost three-quarters of enterprises plan to have a zero-trust access model  –  verification and continuous authentication  –  by the end of the year, but nearly half of cybersecurity professionals lack the knowledge to implement the right technologies, experts say.
—  Dark Reading
binge reading disorder
Why asset managers land in the doghouse
Crossing one of these three lines will trigger an unplanned review with most allocators: get hacked, hike fees, or switch portfolio managers.

6 ways to stop overthinking
But there’s a line between thorough planning and overthinking. When we slip into the latter, it can immobilize us, also known as “analysis paralysis.” Try these tactics to get unstuck.
—  Fast Company

Not born into nobility? No worries: you can buy your way in.
There’s growing interest, particularly in the U.S., where a tongue-twisting noble name carries an old-world flair (think Claus von Bülow) that can turn the bearer into a dinner-party sensation. Although the U.S. government doesn’t allow noble titles on official documents such as passports, you’re free to adorn your credit cards with the extra flourishes.
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