Swiss Franc-enstein: As if Switzerland wasn’t already expensive enough, the Swiss National Bank’s currency move just made it crazy costly. The Telegraph explains why the SNB did it … The Guardian weighs what a Swiss vacation will now cost tourists … and Bloomberg goes high-brow to dissect what it will mean for bar tabs at the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos.
NYT explains who is that attacking Dodd-Frank: Legislation proposed in the House would reduce transparency in derivatives trading, allow large banks to keep certain risky securities two years longer than now permitted and prevent the Securities and Exchange Commission from regulating private equity firms involved in some securities transactions, writes Gretchen Morgenson.
And Jack Lew says Dodd-Frank should be protected: The Dodd-Frank Act needs protecting, not dismantling, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew writes in the Washington Post. He notes the progress the U.S. economy has made since the financial crisis and credits a substantial part of that to regulatory changes.
Wango, Jango, Contango: In the first of a series that explains the basics of commodities, the Financial Times tackles “contango.” Kudos to the FT because with the way commodities markets have rocked and rolled, a series like this stands to benefit mom-and-pop investors trying to learn the lingo.
$1,000,000,000,000,000: That is one quadrillion dollars. It is also the total value of contracts traded at CME Group. That is a big number. (It sounds best when said in a Dr. Evil voice)
Sports break: With the college football season coming to a close, most agree the 4-team playoff system worked. Great games. Lots of hype. Fans traveled to support their teams. Ratings were up for the semi-final games and final (shhh … let’s not talk about the other big bowls). That kind of success has some clamoring for an expanded playoff. Nate Silver over at FiveThirtyEight offers the best analysis of why 8 teams makes the most sense.