Sports

Update: It's past 10 pm in Moscow, and while many didn't expect a response from the Russian government to the news of its Winter Olympics ban, a representative from Russian state television said it will not broadcast the Winter Olympics unless its national team is allowed to compete, according to Interfax.

Meanwhile, the president of the Russian skating union says the IOC decision to ban Russia from the Olympics is offensive and insulting, and will ultimately harm the Olympic movement.

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How much cash do you have in your wallet right now?

Historically, it has been found that the amount of cash people carry is a key indicator of their use of cash. According to research from the European Central Bank, people in the eurozone carried an average of €65 in their wallets in 2016.

You will find more statistics at Statista

As Statista's Niall McCarthy notes, on a country by country basis, Germans tended to carry the most cash on average, €103.

As the NFL continues to try to address the ongoing civil war between Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Commissioner Roger Goodell, not to mention the intermittent hostile fire from the White House, viewers are increasingly deciding they've had enough and are abandoning professional football viewership altogether.  As the NY Post points out today, the embattled league saw ratings dip 6.3% in Week 11 meaning 1 million fewer people tuned in to see players take a knee during the national anthem versus last year.

Bunds are bid relative to Treasuries this morning following the Merkel headlines, pushing the US-German yield spread to the critical 200bps level...

Amid heavy volume selling in Treasury futures...

Which has pushed the US-German spread up to 200bps once again...

A key threshold since the election...

Is that cheap enough to buy, or a breakout?

After surging above its 50-day moving-average on Friday, it appears someone is keen for that key technical level not to hold as they dumped almost $2 billion notional in seconds this morning, testing down to the 50DMA (but holding for now).

15,000 contracts dumped in under two minutes... but for now the 50DMA is holding...

The Dollar Index has been flying around after the Merkel headlines over the weekend...