Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Myanmar’s parliament selects a president. Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is banned from serving as head of state under a restrictive constitution written by the former military junta. Instead, her longtime confidant Htin Kyaw is likely to be confirmed; Suu Kyi has said she will “serve above” the president.
The Bank of Japan reports from negative territory. The central bank surprised markets by lowering interest rates below zero in January. Further dramatic moves are unlikely in the near term, but shouldn’t be ruled out since inflation is well below the BOJ target.
The Federal Reserve starts its two-day meeting. The Fed is under pressure to nurture the economy’s fragile gains, so no interest rate hike is expected. But investors will read the tea leaves for clues about future increases.
While you were sleeping
Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops to start withdrawing from Syria. The surprise move comes as Syria resumes UN-brokered peace talks in Geneva with anti-government rebel groups. It suggests that the Russian intervention has turned the tide in Bashar al-Assad’s favor.
Turkey retaliated against Kurdish militants for an Ankara suicide bombing. The military conducted airstrikes targeting camps in northern Iraq after Turkey said it was “almost certain” that the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) carried out a suicide attack that killed 37 people.
A Chinese firm tried to break up a major US hotel merger. Anbang Insurance Group made a $12.8 billion bid for Starwood, the US-based hotel and resort chain that has been planning to merge with Marriott. Over the weekend, Anbang bought a $6.5 billion portfolio of luxury hotels from Blackstone Group.
Goldman Sachs bought a robo-advisor startup. The acquisition of Honest Dollar, an online platform for setting up retirement savings accounts, is a move to offer more services to small businesses. Honest Dollar charges a small fee to set up and maintain retirement accounts that are managed by Vanguard.
Institutional investors filed a $3.6 billion lawsuit over Volkswagen’s emissions scandal. Nearly 300 large investors, including the US pension fund Calpers and German insurance companies, are suing VW for breaching its obligations to capital markets.
Quartz market haiku
All the little dots
Don’t paint much of a picture
Quartz obsession interlude
Madeline E. Heilman on why women get less credit in the workplace. “In study after study, we have found that female as well as male evaluators attribute less credit to women than men for teamwork. Women, along with men, devalue the contributions of other women.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Populist fears about China’s economic prowess are misplaced. Manufacturing jobs in the U.S. are actually on the rise.
Donald Trump has unleashed fearsome forces. Violence between protesters and Trump supporters is likely to increase in the months ahead.
Economics needs a woman’s touch. Ignoring the social norms that drive economic decisions isn’t just sexist—it’s inaccurate.
Surprising discoveries
Ducks are getting less bread. A campaign to feed them seeds and veggies instead appears to be working.
Americans are buying more legal pot than Girl Scout cookies. The weed industry is becoming a serious economic engine.
Amazon hires more MBAs than any other tech company. Business school graduates aren’t turned off by its hard-driving culture.
The secret to happiness in Swedish workplaces is fika. Some of the least stressed-out people in the world leave the office for coffee two or three times a day.
T. rex brains came before brawn. The fearsome dinosaur started out small and evolved its intelligence before its size.
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