Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Donald Trump names the next Federal Reserve chair. The US president is expected to nominate 64-year-old Fed governor Jerome Powell, although on Wednesday, he pointedly called current Fed chair Janet Yellen “excellent.” Trump’s mixed messages have critics saying he’s treating the nomination process like a reality show.
Apple and Alibaba report earnings. Apple’s quarterly figures are murky, but the market is largely expecting it to beat its earnings targets. Alibaba is also set to beat estimates its second quarter and maintain its year-over-year growth record.
The Bank of England raises interest rates. The UK central bank is expected to raise its benchmark by 25 basis points, reversing its current policy of monetary easing in the face of accelerating inflation and favorable economic expansion.
While you were sleeping
New details in New York’s terror attack came to light. 29-year-old Uzbek native Sayfullo Saipov is said to have planned the attack weeks in advance and appears to have committed it “in the name of ISIS,” per handwritten notes found near the scene, and a close resemblance to the Islamist extremist group’s blueprint (paywall). Donald Trump called for an end to the US’s diversity visa program (paywall), which admitted Saipov.
Facebook’s revenue soared…The social media company reached 2.07 billion users versus estimates of 2.06 billion, and reported revenue up 47% to $10.03 billion, beating expectations of $9.84 billion. The blockbuster earnings landed as Facebook was being grilled by US lawmakers.
…and Tesla’s went downhill. Elon Musk’s electric carmaker reported wider-than-expected losses and said it would cut production on the Model S and X to reallocate resources to its new mass-market Model 3. The company burned through $1.4 billion of cash during the quarter.
The CIA released materials from Osama bin Laden’s compound. Among the files taken from the al Qaeda leader’s computer were kids’ movies, a journal, and documentaries with himself as the subject. The full list of the tens of thousands of files—which the US hopes will give insights into al Qaeda—is available for download.
The Fed signaled rate hikes ahead. The US central bank quietly upgraded its assessment of the economy, reporting widespread stability despite hurricane-related disruptions, and describing growth as “solid”—a word it hasn’t used since 2015.
Quartz obsession interlude
Amy X. Wang spent a week with 8,000 worshippers of the fake, fantastical cult of zumba: “So really, what is zumba? I had asked Beto and A.P. directly, the morning beforehand. Beto took a second to muse over it, but it was A.P. who shrugged noncommittally and leaned forward to … unexpectedly give me the most elegant, starkly brutal answer of all: ‘Zumba? You can say it in every language. It doesn’t mean anything, so it has no meaning in any language, and it sounds like what it is.’” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Amazon is invading finance without really trying. Its cloud computing platform has drastically lowered barriers to entry for financial startups.
Activist investors are just rebranded corporate raiders. Their goal is to load up companies with debt while only owning a tiny percentage of shares.
The internet is dying. The web is losing the structural and economic diversity that defines it, as Google, Facebook, and Amazon become ever more dominant.
Surprising discoveries
Astronomers found a “monster planet” orbiting a small star. The discovery has scientists questioning our understanding of planet formation.
Audible lets romance fans jump to the juicy parts. Listeners can skip to the first date, a marriage proposal, and, of course, a sex scene.
Researchers in Japan say they can predict policy by analyzing facial expressions. But their favorite subject, Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda, laughed it off.
“When I pray, sometimes I fall asleep,” confessed Pope Francis. The leader of the Catholic Church justified himself by saying that even saints napped.
An Australian couple lost NZ$520,000 ($360,000) in a game show after failing to name New Zealand’s capital. He said Christchurch; she said Auckland. (It’s Wellington).
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