Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Apple’s iPhone X finally launches. Potential sales in China are still a big question mark, but lines formed outside stores pretty early in Singapore, Japan, and Australia. Investors worried that announcing three iPhones at once was a mistake, but Apple’s quarterly earnings were solid.
Berkshire Hathaway reports its quarterly earnings. This year’s extreme weather did a number on billionaire Warren Buffet’s collection of insurance groups. Analysts expect major losses (paywall), but Berkshire should still turn an operating profit.
Donald Trump visits Hawaii on his way to Japan. Pearl Harbor is the US president’s first stop before touring Asia. Japan is up first, then South Korea, China, Vietnam, and finally, the Philippines. Trump’s not going anywhere near the Demilitarized Zone, a stop he’s deemed too “cliche” for his time.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi opens World Food India. The inaugural showcase will host several investors and executives from the region’s largest food companies, with dozens of nations participating. The plan is to also spread awareness about food security in India, which holds a rather dismal ranking on the Global Hunger Index.
While you were sleeping
Alibaba beat earnings again. Revenue soared from the same quarter last year, up 61% to $8.29 billion, while net profits shot up by 93% to $2.62 billion. All that cash suggests the e-commerce giant could push into the grocery market—Alibaba is already working with Chinese chain stores to expand its reach.
Donald Trump nominated Jerome Powell to lead the Fed. Janet Yellen, the current chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, will end her term in February 2018. Powell has served on the Fed’s board of governors since 2012—an Obama-era appointee.
The Bank of England raised interest rates for the first time in 10 years. Even though the UK’s economy is looking pretty grim these days, the rate hike is seen as necessary for getting the nation back to where it was in 2009, just after the global economy bottomed out.
Right-wing billionaire Robert Mercer quit his job. The Renaissance Technologies hedge fund co-chief announced his self-imposed demotion (paywall), fueled by heat over his stake in Breitbart News (which he sold to daughters). “The most repugnant to me have been the intimations that I am a white supremacist or a member of some other noxious group,” Mercer wrote in a staff letter.
Teen Vogue’s magazine is dead. Condé Nast cut 80 jobs across its 3,000-person workforce, slashing budgets and reducing the print calendar for GQ, Glamour, Allure, Bon Appétit, Architectural Digest, and Condé Nast Traveler. Teen Vogue’s politically charged revival didn’t make the cut, but it will continue publishing online.
Quartz obsession interlude
Michael J. Coren on how Amazon competing with so many companies may not end well: “For business historians, Amazon is starting to look like the sprawling conglomerates of the past century. History has some bad news, says MIT’s Cusumano. ‘Eventually, Bezos is going to be, if he’s not already, a sample of the US or world economy,’ he says. When that happens, Amazon’s equity growth rate may mirror that of the broader economy itself. Since the company went public in 1997, the S&P 500 has grown by a respectable 197%. Amazon stock has risen 700-fold over the same period. Such a drastic slowdown would dash Amazon’s global promise.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Trump’s concerned about China’s economy. His strategy for handling what he feels are unfair trade practices can be explained in four charts.
It’s no coincidence that innovative cities are unequal. An analysis of US cities shows that growth in high-tech innovation causes a widening gap between the rich and the poor.
We shouldn’t separate work from life. Instead, we should seek work-life integration by incorporating our personal and business interests into our daily routines.
Surprising discoveries
Finnair is weighing passengers at Helsinki airport. The airline is checking that the estimates it uses to calculate total weight, fuel, and safety are accurate.
Scientists discovered a void inside the Great Pyramid of Giza. The mysterious 30-meter-long hole may have been a burial chamber, a gallery, or just a sealed-off construction passage.
NASA found another 20 promising planets for human colonization. If confirmed, this would increase the number of known, habitable near-Earth-sized exoplanets to around 50.
Kleptopredation is a new scientific term for super-sizing a meal at sea. It refers to a previously unknown behavior: a predator eating prey that is full of more prey.
The world’s most expensive whisky is actually fake. Laboratory tests found that a £7,600 dram of 1878 Scotch, bought by a Chinese millionaire, was likely distilled sometime after 1970.
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