Mark Gongloff is an editor with Bloomberg Opinion. He previously was a managing editor of Fortune.com, ran the Huffington Post's business and technology coverage, and was a columnist, reporter and editor for the Wall Street Journal. Read more opinion LISTEN TO ARTICLE 6:36 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share Tweet Post Email

Photographer: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images Photographer: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a K-pop teen-idol group of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. Sign up here.

Today’s Agenda

Breaking out the law-writin' pen. Photographer: Bloomberg/Bloomberg

Warren Heralds the End of the Megamerger Era

Just before Thanksgiving, Tara Lachapelle observed how giant corporate mergers were out of control, and this newsletter suggested nothing seemed likely to stop them. Since then, it has come to our attention that something just might: Elizabeth Warren.

Bloomberg News yesterday reported Senator Plan-For-That is working on a bill to clamp down on the years-long megamerger frenzy Tara identified. Here’s a chart of that frenzy:

In a new column today, Tara suggests Warren’s plan is overly broad, prohibiting almost any deal involving companies with a certain level of annual sales, and is probably a non-starter in Congress. (Elephant-in-Room Observance Time: Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Opinion, is running for president against Warren.)

Still, Warren’s not alone in being disturbed by an antitrust regulatory regime that has lately been as stiff as one of those inflatable-tube guys advertising used-car lots. A new party in the White House in 2021 could mean the end of the giant-M&A party.

Further Dem-Candidate Reading:

Neither Warren nor Pete Buttigieg are the moderates many seem to think they are. — Ramesh Ponnuru

Warren nor Pete Buttigieg are the moderates many seem to think they are. — The Obama administration managed a stealth Green New Deal without radical overhauls or kitchen-sink promises. Today’s Democratic candidates should take note. — Cass Sunstein

Further 2020 Election Reading: Attorney General Bill Barr is making it far too easy for Russia and others to interfere. — Frank Wilkinson

We Have Always Been Brexiting

Believe it or not, the U.K. is just one week away from a general election that wasn’t set until a couple of days before Halloween. Compare that to the American process, in which the 2020 general election began in roughly 1989. Anyway, it looks as if Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservatives are cruising to a large victory, which would seem to mean Brexit is all but a done deal. That in turn would seem to ease investor uncertainty about Brexit, which has been around for almost as long as America’s 2020 election. But even a Brexit with the divorce deal Parliament approved in October will only be the start of a fresh spell of uncertainty, warns John Authers. Because that will begin the harrowing negotiations over the U.K.’s long-term relationship with the EU. Remember that no-deal Brexit? There’s another version of it lurking out there.

Johnson’s election rival, Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn, does have a superior ground game working in his favor, writes Therese Raphael. So you can’t discount the chances of surprise outcomes, including a Labour minority government. But Corbyn also has one big thing working against him, Therese notes: People don’t really like him.

Let’s Invert Again, Like We Did Last Summer

For much of this year, a menace known as the “inverted yield curve” hung over financial markets like a grand piano on a fraying wire. This is the thing when long-term interest rates are lower than short-term ones, real wrath-of-God type stuff that usually heralds the end of the business cycle. Three Fed rate cuts later, the yield curve is not exactly normal, but at least it’s no longer upside-down, notes Brian Chappatta:

So markets are understandably less worried. And yet that doesn’t mean the earlier yield-curve signal was wrong; a recession still might be coming. What’s more, the curve might yet invert again, Brian warns: It’s still flat enough that any combination of even mild economic uncertainty and a Fed on hold would do the trick.

Further Interest-Rate Reading:

Europe’s fiscal policy makers have only themselves to blame for negative interest rates. — Ferdinando Giugliano

only themselves to blame for negative interest rates. — In fact, the ECB has already eased some of the problems negative rates are causing. — Marcus Ashworth

When Is Your Sex Life an HR Matter?

BlackRock Inc. today defenestrated Mark Wiseman, its global head of active equities, which sounds like an important job. In fact, he was apparently in line to be CEO some day. No longer, because he had a consensual relationship with somebody at work and didn’t tell HR about it. This relationship may not have been great for BlackRock’s Canadian division chief, Marcia Moffat, who also happens to be Mark Wiseman’s wife. But otherwise it should not be confused with a #MeToo moment, writes Sarah Green Carmichael. This and the recent McDonald’s Corp. CEO change make Sarah wonder whether HR departments are spending a bit too much time thinking about their employees’ sex lives these days.

Further Sex vs. Work Reading: A former phone-sex worker’s court victory isn’t the First Amendment triumph it seems. — Stephen Carter

Telltale Charts

Kroger Co.’s efforts to modernize its grocery business is falling behind rivals, Sarah Halzack warns.

Kering SA might find better value in a different luxury purchase than Moncler’s pricey jackets, suggests Andrea Felsted.

Further Reading

Long a distant rival of Hong Kong, Singapore may soon have a chance to become Asia’s new financial center. — David Fickling

Biogen Inc.’s claim its new Alzheimer’s drug works is still unconvincing. — Max Nisen

McClatchy Co. may have the formula for saving local journalism, but it’s in a race against time. — Joe Nocera

NATO can’t just kick out Turkey, which will make it even more dangerous. — Andreas Kluth

India’s central bank just made a huge mistake in not cutting interest rates. — Dan Moss

The private Mark Zuckerberg is more insightful than the public one, but that’s still not good enough. — Shira Ovide

Amazon.com Inc. should be allowed to sell “Mein Kampf” but not Auschwitz-themed Christmas ornaments. — Tyler Cowen

ICYMI

Joe Biden called an Iowa voter a “damn liar” and challenged him to a push-up contest.

Area math whiz doesn’t need humans to trade his way to a $700 million fortune.

Drivers keep refusing to put down their phones, and people keep dying.

Kickers

I spent 22 years in prison for a crime I didn’t commit. AMA.

Why mammals are so good at hearing and chewing.

The Cosmic Crisp apple stays fresh for a year.

The best movies of 2019, from the Atlantic, the New Yorker and the Ringer.

Note: Please send Cosmic Crisps and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net.

Sign up here and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.