Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Xi Jinping in the UK. The Chinese president will be visiting for four days, meeting with UK prime minister David Cameron, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, and Queen Elizabeth II to discuss the potential for economic partnerships. The countries are expected to announce, among other things, a deal for a new atomic energy plant.
Canada’s election is finally here. Justin Trudeau of the Liberal Party is challenging prime minister Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party. Trudeau is the son of prior PM Pierre Trudeau. Harper is running for his fourth term. The contentious 78-day federal election ends today.
Earnings season continues. Among those companies reporting results in the US on Monday are Halliburton, Hasbro, Morgan Stanley, IBM, and Six Flags.
Checking on US housing. The National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) will publish their September data for the housing market index. The newest data could influence US housing stocks. Though housing stocks have risen more than 6.4% this year, last month’s PHLX index of housing stocks fell 9.9%.
Over the weekend
Egypt’s elections. More than 27 million people are eligible to vote in Egypt’s parlimentary election of over 5,000 candidates for 596 positions. The Egyptian parliament dissolved in 2012. Support for President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has pervaded poll predictions so far. The second phase of the election will take place on December 2.
Volkswagen’s chief quit again. French investigators searched former CEO Martin Winterkorn’s offices on Sunday. Winterkorn had resigned as Volkswagen CEO in September and resigned as CEO of Porsche on October 17. Former CFO Hans Dieter Poetsch will succeed Winterkorn.
United’s CEO is still in the hospital. A month after becoming the head of the second largest U.S. carrier by capacity, Oscar Munoz remains in recovery after suffering a heart attack. As of yet, Munoz does not have an interim replacement.
Match Group’s IPO filing. The Match Group includes 45 online dating services such as Match.com, OKCupid, Tinder, HowAboutWe, Our-Time, PlentyofFish, and BlackPeopleMeet. All of these apps will be listed on Nasdaq under the ticker “MTCH.”
Quartz obsession interlude
Gwynn Guilford on the hack of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: “If the perpetrator is indeed from the People’s Republic, it marks the latest in a series of high-profile hacks that US officials say has resulted in theft of US commercial secrets, potentially sensitive government information, and military data. With the US threatening sanctions, Chinese president Xi Jinping recently vowed not to commit commercial cyber-espionage—a pledge US officials are watching closely for signs of follow-through.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
“Plantation” and other words associated with slavery are too kind. “Labor camp” is more accurate than the romantic image summoned by a plantation, and “slave-owners” were really “enslavers.”
9/11 wouldn’t have happened under president Trump. The Republican presidential contender claims he’s so “tough on illegal immigration” that he would have been able to prevent the terrorist attack.
It’s more difficult to make friends as a parent than a single person. “Mom friends” are supposed to become easily, but among the laissez-faire moms, the crunchy granola moms, and the perfectionists, it can be hard to connect.
The Berniebro is #FeelingtheBern. The Berniebro chuckles politely at Bernie Sanders jokes, but “his face does not seem to entertain the possibility that this could ever be humorous.” He spends a lot of time on Facebook and is irate when CNN takes its online poll results down. “The Berniebro posts about that, too.”
Surprising discoveries
Larry David is a dead ringer for Bernie Sanders. No one else could so closely match that distinctive New York accent, exuberant hand gestures, and plaintive whine.
An algorithm can predict human behavior better than humans. A Data Science Machine can judge which students are about to drop out of school and which crowd-funded projects are most “exciting” far better than most humans.
Apple Music is for the (relatively) old. A survey of 500 iPhone users found 62% of those under 35 had cancelled their subscription, while 67% of those aged 35 and over have stuck with the service and are now paying subscribers.
Poker could soon have a professional league of its own. A poker-industry impresario says he’s raised $5 million to start the league, which would see players compete in a stadium-like setting.
A mathematician has come up with the answer to an 80-year-old puzzle. Terence Tao, from the University of California, has written a paper in response to the “Erdos discrepancy problem.” It sounds like a game, but the math is incredibly complex, and Tao hopes it can be used to prove other mathematical theories.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, Bernie Sanders impressions, and algorithmic predictions to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day.