It’s Friday, which means it’s time for billionaires to have a public catfight on CNBC. Icahn and Ackman slugging it out over Herbalife (except not really over Herbalife) provided the afternoon’s entertainment, but there was plenty else going on. Denis McDonough got the nod as the new White House Chief of Staff, Exxon once again became the world’s largest company by market cap, and the S&P 500 closed higher for the 8th day in a row – just the 64th time that’s happened since 1950. We’ll see next week whether the streak can make it to 9, but in the meantime, here’s what we’re looking at headed into the weekend:
- In case you missed it, here’s that phone fight between Icahn and Ackman (CNBC)
- After a year of record heat, winter has finally decided to settle in (Live Science)
- Government currency interventions sparking big swings – to some traders’ delight (Bloomberg)
- Ireland goes full-stereotype, plans to issue drunk-driving permits (Global Post)
- What does the Davos theme mean? Sounds suspiciously like Davos-hater Nassim Taleb’s “Antifragile” (Atlantic Wire)
- Economist calls for the eradication of cats from New Zealand (New York Times)