What to watch for today
Apple deal-maker’s court date. Apple vice-president Eddy Cue is expected to take the stand (paywall) in the e-books antitrust trial that revolves around the deals he helped negotiate.
Trading begins for Coty. Shares of the cosmetics giant, which went public on Wednesday, will start being traded. The IPO, priced at a 25% discount to rivals, may prove to be an alluring bet for investors.
Window into BoJ’s mind. The Bank of Japan will release the minutes from its May policy meeting. Investors will look for clues about future monetary policy action.
Talking sense to Turkey. The European parliament will vote on a non-binding resolution that will call on Turkey to build a “truly democratic, free and pluralist society.” Meanwhile Turkey’s prime minister defied international criticism and ordered an end to the protests in 24 hours.
Data-heavy day in the US. Market-moving economic data points including retail sales, initial jobless claims, and business inventories. Economists expect a modest rebound (paywall) in retail sales for May.
While you were asleep
Defending the surveillance state. National Security Agency chief General Keith Alexander told Congress that extensive internet and telephone surveillance helped thwart dozens of terror attacks. Meanwhile NSA leaker Edward Snowden vowed to fight efforts to extradite him from Hong Kong.
An Indian tire maker drove into the US. Apollo Tyres announced a deal to buy US-based Cooper Tire for $2.5 billion. It’s the latest instance of emerging-market companies making high-profile acquisitions in the US.
A pleasant surprise for the euro zone. Industrial output unexpectedly grew 0.4% in April. And it was France that did the heavy lifting.
Switzerland agreed to lift the veil. The upper house of parliament voted to allow banks to sidestep secrecy laws and cooperate with tax-evasion investigations by the US. The draft law now heads to the lower house next week.
A changing of the Scots guard. Royal Bank of Scotland announced that Stephen Hester would step down as CEO in December. The search for a successor for the part-nationalized bank will begin immediately.
Quartz obsession interlude
Lily Kuo on whether building more cities is the answer to China’s economic problems. “Chinese officials are calling for a kind of populist urbanization… According to premier Li Keqiang, city dwellers spend more than rural residents on services like schools, healthcare, leisure and financial advice—all things that would boost the country’s services sector and decrease its export dependence.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
What’s the biggest threat to the global economy? You’ll never guess: Space weather.
Internet companies should take a stand on surveillance. And not be like the telcos.
Failure, Inc. How Kodak was bankrupted by its own innovation.
America’s worst charities. A billion-dollar business.
Why Facebook’s shareholders are unhappy with it. Blame the generation gap.
Surprising discoveries
Psyche, Popeye, Cookie, and Twelve. Why Chinese choose weird English names for themselves.
India’s best shot at population control. Cable TV!
There’s a sea change in the US Navy. It’s got to do with ALL-CAPS COMMUNICATIONS.
Japanese baseball players are hitting more home runs than ever before. But they had a little help.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, Swiss secrets and interesting Chinese names ALL IN CAPITALS to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter here for updates during the day.