* Merger Monday: PNC buying the U.S. Retail banking group of RBC for $3.45 billion
* Did Skype fire execs to avoid acquisition-related payouts? If so, its PE sponsors and Microsoft have some explaining to do.
* Morning Call: U.S. Futures point lower, London falls early, European shares extend losses and the Nikkei flattens.
* Roben Farzad: Why Apple isn’t in the Dow
* Strangers among us: The NY Fed’s top embeds
* Derek Thompson: Why China’s ghost towns matter for our economy
* Peter Whoriske: Gap keeps growing between wealthy and everyone else
* Michael de la Merced: The magical accounting of web startups
* Lots of people steal content, but you don’t expect it from a sitting Congressman. I guess Rep. Canseco (R-TX) was out the day they went over copyright law.











