What to watch for today
Can the UK grow any faster? The United Kingdom reports its first quarter GDP growth. Analysts predict the economy grew at 0.3% after chugging along at 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2012. But the fear of a triple-dip recession lingers.
Looking for some new debt? Buy Rwandan! The African country will price $400 million in 10-year bonds on the open markets today. Investors believe that it could yield less than 7%, a level Spanish bond yields surpassed last year.
More Brazilians out of work. March unemployment data come out today; the level has been slowly rising for the last few months, to 5.6% in February. But even in Brazil’s sluggish economy that’s still lower than economists think is sustainable.
Another big day for earnings: Exxon, Volvo, Bayer, Dow Chemical, Banco Santander, UPS, VAle, Baidu, and Amazon.com all report today.
While you were sleeping
Taiwan confirmed the first case of H7N9 bird flu outside of mainland China. Details of the case suggest that the disease could have passed from human to human.
Italy got its youngest prime minister in 25 years. Italian president Giorgio Napolitano put the task of uniting the country’s divided parliament on the shoulders of Enrico Letta, the right-hand man of former Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani and the first PM to come from Generation X. Here’s everything we know about him.
Fiat ogled the rest of Chrysler and a US stock listing. The birth of the world’s seventh-largest auto group?
Starbucks waged war on US taxes. It wants to protect and expand tax breaks (paywall) on foreign earnings, even after a high-profile tax quarrel in the UK.
The end of Dreamliner drama. Boeing announced that it would restart deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner in May, seemingly drawing a close to the battery problems that have kept them grounded for three months. Despite its problems, Boeing’s first quarter profits rose 20% year-on-year.
“Too big to fail” reincarnated. US Senators Sherrod Brown and David Vitter formally introduced a bill that would force banks to hike capital, with an editorial in the New York Times. So far, we’re skeptical.
Quartz obsession interlude
Todd Woody on how California’s dream to be the Saudi Arabia of solar is drying up in the desert. “So why are big solar thermal projects in the desert fizzling, while installations of rooftop photovoltaic panels in cities and suburbs continue to set records? It’s all about money, technology and location, location, location.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
A “stealth war” to export deflation. Will victory bring back growth?
George Osborne has a bone to pick with Reinhart and Rogoff. Who should take the blame for losing the UK’s triple A rating?
21st century superheros. Central bankers.
Second Ave. Sagas: How to become internet famous, and not by buying followers.
Surprising discoveries
Virgin America will now promote “mile-high flirting.” Buy that cutie in 11B a drink!
Pig Latins of other languages. It’s not just English that can be made to sound like nonsense.
US psychiatrists spend an average of 38 minutes getting patients admitted to the hospital. Even when they’re at risk of committing suicide or homicide.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, mile-high flirts and Pig-Latin versions of the Quartz Daily Brief to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter here for updates during the day.