Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Feb 14, 2018

Valentine's Day Overview:

Happy Valentine's Day! The National Retail Federation projects that Americans will shell out an average of $143.56 today on flowers, jewelry, candy, apparel and more,up fromlast year's high of nearly $136.57. Total spending will reach $19.6 billion. The breakdown:
--Nearly four outta 10 celebrating the holiday (37 percent) plan to treat their dates to a night out at a restaurant, tickets to a show or another experience. That'll run $3.8 billion dollars. The most likely gift is candy (55-percent), up from last year's 49.7 percent.
--Greeting cards (45.9 percent), flowers (35.6 percent) and an evening out (35.2 percent) will also be popular gift ideas this year. It's a toss-up whether men or women receive the most Valentine's Day cards, but women definitely buy more of them.A survey by card maker American Greetings finds 85 percent of the Valentine's Day cards purchased every year are purchased by women. By comparison, most men consider buying Valentine's Day cards an "ordeal."
--Another $4.3 billion will be spent on necklaces, earrings and other jewelry items, with nearly one in five (19 percent) planning to treat their significant other or family member to jewelry;$1.4 billion will be spent on gift cards or gift certificates.
--Nearly half (47 percent) of people will spend $1 billion on greeting cards; another $2 billion will be spent on flowers.
--PS: Americans will also spend $681 million to treat their favorite pets to some sort of Valentine's Day gift.

Top-10 most romantic love songs:

The NY Daily News compiled a list of the "100 Most Romantic Love Songs Of All Time." The criteria was each song had to have been in the Top 20 during the year it was released, and be at least 10 years old. Here's the Top 10:
10. "I Can't Stop Loving You" --RAY CHARLES
9. "Michelle" --THE BEATLES
8. "Are You Lonesome Tonight" --ELVIS PRESLEY
7. "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" --ROBERTA FLACK
6. "In My Life" --THE BEATLES
5. "You Are So Beautiful" --JOE COCKER
4. "I Just Called To Say I Love You" --STEVIE WONDER
3. "Wonderful Tonight" --ERIC CLAPTON
2. "I'll Be There" --JACKSON 5
1. "My Girl" --THE TEMPTATIONS

What's the Buzz:

Congrats to Flynn the Bichon Frise, who won Best in Show at the 142nd Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York City last night.
Other competitors for Best in Show included Lucy the Borzoi, Biggie the pug, Slick the Border Collie, Bean the Sussex spaniel, Ty the giant schnauzer (who won second place) and Winston the Norfolk terrier.
To celebrate his victory, Flynn will get a special lunch at the famed New York City restaurant Sardi's, today, as well as a trip to One World Observatory at the top of the Freedom Tower with his handler, BILL McFADDEN.