What you need to know on Wall Street today
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Imagine a parasite living in the US economy, siphoning off the cash that has powered the middle class for decades. We know it's there, but no one - on the right nor the left - is talking seriously about how to slow its growth.
This parasite is our healthcare system, writes Business Insider's Linette Lopez. It is already causing more damage to the economy than you know, and at least one group of people seems to have this figured out: the same Wall Street doomsayers who predicted the financial crisis.
In finance news, Morgan Stanley is making a boatload of cash lending money to rich people - and it's just getting started. Former Ford CEO Mark Fields will join private-equity group TPG Capital. And UBS just asked its London-based investment bankers whether they'd prefer to move to Amsterdam, Madrid or Frankfurt.
In deal news, the company behind Burger King wants to take over fast food - and that could mean buying Papa John's. JPMorgan dropped more than $200 million to buy a digital payments startup. Allergan's unusual deal with a Native American tribe could be backfiring.
And Wall Street's favorite deal-making restaurant has opened in Silicon Valley - here's what it's like to eat there.
In markets news, during an interview on a podcast, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the stock market will tank if the GOP tax bill is not passed. And the Treasury Department backed down on some of its criticism of China's currency policies.
Elsewhere in news and views:
- Red-hot earnings have traders the most bullish on banks in years - and that's huge for the stock market
- WE ARE SORRY: BTIG apologizes for overestimating Snap
- Traders can't stop betting against battered Blue Apron
- Kohl's says it's not trying to get acquired by Amazon - but traders are preparing just in case
- JEFFERIES: Steph Curry's new shoe is going to be the No. 1 sneaker in basketball
- IBM's cloud business helped it top Wall Street revenue targets
- Anthem, a huge health insurer, just decided to build its own middleman to manage prescriptions
Lastly, Neiman Marcus' gift list for billionaires reveals the guilt that plagues America's richest people.