What to watch for today
Hillary Clinton’s emails. A congressional committee is demanding that the former secretary of state and likely presidential candidate hand over the private email server she used during her time in office. Clinton says she submitted all relevant emails to the State Department and deleted the rest.
The US jobs report. March unemployment is expected to stay unchanged at 5.5%. Anything much higher might spur the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates sooner.
Good Friday. The New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ will be closed for the holiday, along with several exchanges in Asia. Major markets in London, Paris, and Frankfurt will close on Friday and the following Monday (April 6) as well.
While you were sleeping
Iran and six Western powers reached a preliminary nuclear deal. Iran will give up most of its nuclear program and the US and European countries will, in phases, remove their economic sanctions, under a framework agreement reached late on Thursday. Thorough details of the deal haven’t yet been resolved, but that didn’t stop Iranians from rejoicing in the streets.
China’s former security csar was charged with abuse of power. After months of veiled hints, Zhou Yongkang became the most prominent target yet in president Xi Jinping’s purge of allegedly corrupt officials. Zhou, who was also charged with bribery and leaking state secrets, was arrested and expelled from the Communist party in December.
The second Germanwings black box was found. The second flight recorder, which measures data such as speed and altitude, was discovered in a “usable” condition by French investigators. The first box, a cockpit voice recorder, suggested the co-pilot intentionally crashed the plane, killing 150 people.
IBM investors got restless. Major shareholders have approached activist hedge funds such as Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square to push for a shake-up at the computing giant, and IBM has hired investment banks to formulate a defense, according to Reuters. The company has posted 11 consecutive quarters of revenue declines.
Samsung will make Apple’s next iPhone chip. The South Korean electronics company will produce the A9 chip for Apple’s next iPhone and iPad, according to Bloomberg, after losing the contract last year to a Taiwanese rival. Samsung’s strategy is to make more components for other companies’ phones, as a hedge against its own struggling handsets.
Xiaomi announced a tie-up with Alibaba. The Chinese smartphone maker said its recently-released smart wristband can now be used as an identifying tool when making online payments on China’s biggest e-commerce site Xiaomi is also planning updates that will allow the band to open hotel doors and buy tickets.
Quartz obsession interlude
Leo Mirani on Google’s run-in with European regulators. “For Google and Europe, it is only the end of beginning. After five years of wrangling, three attempts at some sort of settlement, and a change of guard at the top of European bureaucracy, Europe is getting ready to file formal antitrust charges against Google.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Iran could become another Saudi Arabia. Lifting sanctions could unleash another expansionist theocracy in the Middle East.
Californians don’t pay enough for their water. It’s no wonder there is a drought when the price of water is artificially low.
Education won’t fix income inequality. Degrees will help the working class, but not enough to close the wealth gap (paywall).
Nigeria’s election is a victory for democracy. Given the dangers they faced in voting, Nigerians deserve a smooth transition.
Regulators can’t win against payday lenders. Companies offering short-term, high-interest loans are finding ways around the rules.
Surprising discoveries
It takes 15,000 liters of water to make 1kg (2.2lbs) of steak. Most of our water footprint comes from making food.
Students can learn code instead of a foreign language. Four US states think “speaking tech” is more valuable.
Rich Indians are putting their wives on company boards. It’s an easy way to comply with a new quota law.
A perfume can step it up if you’re nervous. Researchers in Belfast created a scent that gets stronger in reaction to sweat.
Snoop Dogg can damage your law enforcement career. A Texas state trooper was required to seek counseling after posing for a photo with the rapper.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, corporate board candidates, and Snoop Dogg selfies to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter here for updates throughout the day.