Welcome to Finance Insider, Business Insider's summary of the top stories of the past 24 hours.
It's all about the retail sector right now.
Sears had a brutal holiday season, and is closing 150 stores. It has also sold the iconic Craftsman brand for $900 million. Kohl's and Macy's are both getting crushed after reporting disappointing holiday sales. Macy's also said it is closing 68 stores.
Together, the negative news for the sector represents a warning sign that we're nearing a "retail recession."
In related news, Amazon is in talks to buy bankrupt American Apparel, and the bid could solve its Trump problem in one master stroke.
In Wall Street news, Credit Suisse thwarted another attempt by Jefferies to hire a number of its senior bankers. Deutsche Bank's David Bianco has been given a bigger role at the bank. And three London-based partners of a boutique M&A firm shared in a $43 million profit pool.
In macro news, the Federal Reserve is watching for the impact of fiscal policy on economic growth and on how quickly it raises interest rates, according to the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting held in December.
And there's a big disagreement taking place at the central bank, according to Pedro da Costa at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
In markets news, Saudi Arabia is reportedly following through on its promise to cut oil production, Treasurys are surging, and bitcoin crashed before staging something of a recovering.
In related news, we visited the "Crypto Castle," where young bitcoin entrepreneurs party and plot the future of money.
In tech news, Apple will invest $1 billion into the world's largest technology venture fund. One of Wall Street's most accurate tech analysts has predicted the 10 biggest surprises for 2017.
And Elon Musk and Donald Trump suddenly have an awkward alignment that "really seemed to sneak up on people."
Lastly, here are the 27 most important finance books ever written.
Here are the top Wall Street headlines from the past 24 hours
GOLDMAN SACHS: The US Treasury is going to have to borrow more than we expected - It remains to be seen whether the election of Donald Trump will "make America great again," but it will likely require the US Treasury to borrow more.
US auto sales rose to a new record in 2016 - US auto sales rose for an unprecedented seventh straight year in 2016, topping the record set in 2015.
HSBC: The 'euphoria' surrounding the dollar will end once reality sets in - The US dollar has been on a roll since President-elect Donald Trump's win in early November.
Morgan Stanley is 'eating humble pie' over its post-Brexit economic forecasts - Morgan Stanley, one of the world's biggest investment banks, is - in its own words - "eating humble pie" about its post-Brexit economic forecasts.
BARCLAYS: These 13 'black swans' could cause market chaos in 2017 - 2016 was a year of shocks, and with Donald Trump set to be sworn in as US president in two weeks and the UK set to begin the formal process of leaving the European Union by the end of March, 2017 could get even more interesting.
This app will send you alerts when Donald Trump tweets about stocks you own - When President-elect Donald Trump tweets about a public company, the market listens.
The "frenzy" for Manhattan real estate is over - The housing market in Manhattan continued to shift in favor of buyers at the end of last year.
America's hottest investment product is taking over - here are the top performing funds of 2016 - There's no doubt about it: exchange-traded funds are hot.
New York City's most iconic hotel is closing indefinitely - take a look back at its star-studded past - New York City's Waldorf Astoria is one of the most legendary hotels in the world.