What to watch for today
Yahoo’s $1.1 billion Tumblr play. Yahoo is expected to announce an all-cash deal to buy the popular blogging site Tumblr. CEO Marissa Mayer is trying to make Yahoo hip again, but monetizing Tumblr’s 60 billion annual page views could be difficult—especially because they include a whole lot of porn.
Jamie Dimon works the room. JP Morgan’s chairman and CEO will fly to Florida as part of a last-ditch attempt to thwart the shareholder resolution to separate his dual roles. Dimon’s lieutenants are exploring a possibility of a deal before the final vote on Tuesday.
Asian Diplomacy Day. Myanmar President Thein Sein visits US President Obama in Washington as the countries seek to consolidate the fragile diplomatic breakthrough that ended Myanmar’s pariah status in 2011. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is likely to discuss potential arms deals with Indian officials. And Chinese premier Li Keqiang met Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in Delhi, where the countries signed eight agreements in areas ranging from sewage to buffalo meat.
Earnings that are “mmm mmm good.” Campbell Soup is set to report piping-hot third-quarter results before US markets open, with new products and overseas expansion expected to produce double-digit revenue growth.
Over the weekend
SAC Capital’s troubles deepened. The hedge fund was warned it may face criminal charges after it scaled down cooperation with investigators looking into insider-trading allegations.
Ryanair flying high. The European budget airline’s full-year profits rose 13% to €569 million ($731 million) as competing legacy airlines struggled. Separately, there are many reasons why its flight attendants look so miserable.
North Korea’s been at it again. The hermit kingdom is seeking attention in all sorts of ways. It fired short-range missiles into the ocean for the third day in a row, and reportedly hijacked a Chinese fishing vessel over the weekend, holding 16 sailors for ransom.
The FTSE 100 neared a pre-crisis peak. The London index reached 6,738 points this morning, just short of its 2007 level.
David Cameron is “losing control.” Former conservative minister Lord Howe launched a scathing attack on the UK prime minister, accusing him of “opening a Pandora’s box” by opposing the terms of Britain’s membership in the European Union.
Jamaica is not irie. Concerns are mounting that the island nation is teetering on the verge of financial collapse. A bailout by the International Monetary Fund may be its last chance.
Quartz obsession interlude
Christopher Mims and Leo Mirani on the man behind Bitcoin (maybe). ”The inventor of Bitcoin, says [hypertext inventor Ted] Nelson, is probably Japanese mathematician Shinichi Mochizuki. Nelson offers no direct evidence for his conclusion. Instead, in his eccentric way, he offers plausible circumstantial evidence about his theory… Whoever created Bitcoin has the intellectual might of Isaac Newton.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Ben Bernanke tells grads their future is bright. In a weekend commencement speech, the US Federal Reserve chairman offered a long list of reasons to be optimistic about the economy. Meanwhile, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg suggested that sub-par students would be better off as plumbers.
Will robots take our jobs? Yes, but much more slowly than everyone thinks.
The euro crisis forced Greeks to put off having babies. Not anymore.
Surprising discoveries
The yellow light gambit. Florida tweaked its traffic lights by a fraction of a second and raised millions of dollars through increased traffic tickets.
Gold coins and a treasure map might rewrite Australian history. How did 1000-year-old coins end up on a remote beach?
Want to be better at math? A jolt of electricity to the brain might help.
Biceps vs. taxes. The strange correlations between male upper body strength and support for wealth redistribution.
It’s hard to fight land mines if you can’t find them. Honeybees to the rescue.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, worthless degrees, and treasure maps to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter here for updates during the day.