What to watch for today
Oracle’s cloudy future. The business-software giant is expected to post a meager 7% growth in earnings per share and a 2% increase in revenue (paywall). The drag: continued struggles in the cloud computing space.
Apple’s last chance to woo the judge. Lawyers for Apple and the Justice Department are scheduled to make closing arguments in the trial in Manhattan, where Apple is accused of price-fixing with e-book publishers.
Kodak sells itself to its retirees. Eastman Kodak is expected to seek a bankruptcy court’s approval (paywall) to settle claims made by its own UK pension fund by selling its camera and scanner businesses to the fund for $650 million.
Data deluge. US economic indicators include initial jobless claims and existing home sales for May, and there are purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data from the US, euro zone and China.
While you were sleeping
A timeline on quantitative un-easing. US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed will start paring its $85-billion-a-month bond buying program by the end of the year, and that it could end altogether by mid-2014 if unemployment continues to decline. Markets jittered.
Swiss secrecy remained intact. The lower house of the Swiss parliament rejected a proposal to allow the country’s notoriously secretive banks to hand over data on US clients. That exposes Swiss banks to the threat of prosecution in the US.
Drug firms were fined for delaying generics. Europe’s antitrust regulators fined nine drug companies €146 million ($195 million) for blocking the supply of cheaper anti-depressants.
Bear market scuttled big Brazilian IPO. Remember how we said Brazil was having a bumper year for IPOs? Maybe not so much. Votorantim just suspended its $3.7 billion offering.
Fashionable frauds. Italian fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were handed prison sentences of one year and eight months for evading taxes on income of around €1 billion, though they won’t serve the time in an actual jail. The designer duo were also fined €500,000.
An exit shrouded in mystery. US clothing retailer Men’s Wearhouse fired its founder and executive chairman George Zimmer under mysterious circumstances. Zimmer hit back saying he was terminated because he raised questions about the direction the company is heading in.
Quartz obsession interlude
Christopher Mims on how Amazon is staffing up for its $600 million “private cloud” for the CIA. “One thing that’s mysterious, and possibly telling, about Amazon’s job announcement for a “Systems Engineer—Government Cleared” is that the location of this job—Herndon, Virginia—may or may not coincide with the location of the CIA’s own cloud computing centers. CIA headquarters is in Langley, but Herndon, about 15 miles to the west, is also thought to be home to a CIA building.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Predicting terrorist attacks. Metadata can provide valuable information without exposing the content of phone calls and emails.
Xenophobia alert. The disturbing rise of violence against migrants in South Africa.
The G8 pact to stop paying terrorist ransoms won’t work. It isn’t even a very good idea.
Bribery is changing shape in India. Corporate deals are the new conduits, instead of cash.
The part you should read of Orwell’s 1984: the Appendix. Big Brother did not get the last word.
Surprising discoveries
Generation Tinder. An iPhone app is revolutionizing the way young professionals are dating.
Tequila is about to go massive in China. Good news for Mexico.
The isle of the rich. Hong Kong now has more millionaires than Singapore.
Mission to save the Earth. Help NASA hunt dangerous asteroids.
Blame it on the office. Your work could be jeopardizing your weight-loss plans.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, Orwellian wisdom, and Tinder dating tips to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter here for updates during the day.