Hello, Quartz readers! Our apologies for the delay in sending today’s Daily Brief, due to technical issues.
What to watch for today
Snap and Blue Apron report earnings. Investors are bracing for big swings (paywall) from the recently public companies that are struggling in the face of steep competition from Facebook and Amazon, respectively. Snap’s stock hit a record low last week and meal-kit startup Blue Apron has also seen sharp declines since its IPO.
China summons bigwigs to talk steel. Regulators and steel executives will meet to discuss the industry’s sharp declines in production, due in part to pollution fears, which has sent global prices surging.
EU observers weigh in on Kenya’s election. A group of 130 monitors will report on the fairness of the Aug. 8 vote. Opposition leader Raila Odinga has protested incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta’s claim of victory, arguing the results were hacked.
While you were sleeping
North Korea nuclear tensions sent investors running for cover. Belligerent rhetoric by Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un sparked a rise in the Swiss franc and other safe haven assets. US defense secretary Jim Mattis followed up with a similarly stark warning that Pyongyang risked the “end of its regime and the destruction of its people.”
The FBI raided Paul Manafort’s home. Agents seized 400 pages of documents and other materials (paywall) from Donald Trump’s former campaign manager. The raid, which took place in late July but was only recently revealed, was part of the investigation into Russia’s interference in the US election.
McDonald’s said it will double its Chinese stores by 2022. The world’s second-biggest economy will become the company’s largest market outside the US, according to an expansion plan that comes on the heels of a partnership with the state-backed conglomerate Citic and Carlyle.
The US hit Venezuela with more sanctions. The Trump administration froze the assets of eight Venezuelans, seven of whom are government officials, to raise pressure on president Nicolas Maduro’s regime. The move has deepened the nation’s economic turmoil, although it stops short of banning Venezuelan oil imports.
Tesla announced plans for self-driving semi-trucks. The carmaker will test autonomous, electric semi-trucks in Nevada next month. The long-haul model will be able to move in truck “platoons” and marks Tesla’s first move into the area of commercial transport.
Quartz obsession interlude
The Quartz finance team looks back a decade, when people were blithely unworried about impending financial doom. “It’s more likely the economy is sturdy and will grow solidly in coming months, and perhaps years,” said Bear Stearns’ then-chief economist David Malpass. Read more here.
Markets haiku
Sub-prime, black swans, TARP: / All words we’ve gained. Those we’ve lost: / Bear Stearns and Lehman
Matters of debate
The secret to happiness at work is caring less. That frees us up to care more about things that matter more.
Greedy drug makers deserve public shaming. In an era of sharply rising costs, there’s no excuse for thwarting generics.
The debt-ceiling crisis is real. Hitting it this fall as the US is poised to would eradicate any future constraints (paywall) on congressional responsibility to the national debt.
Surprising discoveries
Economists have put a price on living without pain. The estimate of $56 to $145 a day could help governments decide how much to spend on health care.
Commuting to Silicon Valley on a private jet is cheaper than opening an office there. A Houston intellectual property firm has gained several new clients that way.
The Thai navy is giving monkeys vasectomies. The marauders have been stealing food and wreaking havoc at the country’s largest base (paywall).
Donald Trump gets a folder of positive press twice a day. It contains admiring tweets and images of Trump on TV looking powerful.
The world’s shortest scheduled flight takes 90 seconds. It’s between two Scottish islands.
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