Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Donald Trump arrives in China. As an ascendant China seeks superpower status, America’s Asian allies are watching nervously whether Trump, unlike his predecessor Barack Obama, will accommodate president Xi Jinping’s ambitions (paywall).
M&S reports half-year results. Marks & Spencer releases its earnings just weeks after its clothing and beauty director quit months into the role, and as the British retailer is in the midst of trying to turn around its clothing business.
Hermes announces its numbers. The French luxury house reports third-quarter earnings, after it recently announced it was investing more in its leather goods business thanks to an uptick in demand from Chinese shoppers.
While you were sleeping
Trump left Moon waiting at the DMZ. He backtracked on an earlier decision not to visit the Demilitarized Zone, and attempted a surprise trip there by helicopter that was thwarted by heavy fog—South Korean president Moon Jae-in was waiting for Trump at the DMZ. Trump later delivered a blistering attack on North Korea in a speech in South Korea’s legislature.
Democrats swept elections in Virginia and New Jersey. In the first crucial test of the party’s ability to come back after losing last year’s presidential election, Democratic candidates won governorships in the states, with a defeat for Trump-backed Ed Gillespie in Virginia. Danica Roem also became the first openly transgender person elected to a state legislature in Virginia.
Tencent’s online publishing spinoff made its trading debut. China Literature, which is similar to Amazon’s Kindle e-book unit, soared as much as 100% on its first day of trading in Hong Kong. Private-equity firm Carlyle holds a minority stake in the company, which raised over $1 billion in its IPO.
Snap fell short of the mark. The Snapchat owner’s revenue was only $207.9 million—far short of projections of $235.5 million—and the number of daily users also fell well short of expectations, sending its shares plummeting as much as 20% after markets closed. CEO Evan Spiegel said the company would redesign its infamously hard-to-use app, though he acknowledged that would risk alienating current users.
Quartz obsession interlude
Jason Karaian updates Quartz’s Christmas Creep Calculator™. “Christmas creep is particularly pronounced in Britain, which lacks a traditional starting point for the holiday season, like advent markets in continental Europe or Thanksgiving in the US. Based on current trends, our algorithms suggest that, eventually, crass commercialism will overcome seasonal sense, and around 2120 the Christmas shopping season will start in July.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Punishing Big Tech is good for innovation. European competition law is crucial in protecting startup founders from monopoly abuses by companies like Google.
The iPhone X user experience is a mess. The home button, a simple and intuitive feature of the iPhone, has been replaced by a thumb-wiggling nightmare.
The Disney-Fox talks are all about defeating Netflix. It’s difficult for even a company like Disney to compete on its own with the breadth of content that Netflix has.
Surprising discoveries
Not everyone is getting upgraded to 240-character tweets. Users who tweet in some Asian languages are still restricted to the old 140-character limit.
A soprano hit a note never sung before at the Met. Audrey Luna of the Metropolitan Opera in New York sings the A above high C (paywall) for a split second in Thomas Adès’ new opera, The Exterminating Angel.
The First Cat of New Zealand died. Prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s cat Paddles—which had opposable thumbs—was hit by a car in Auckland.
Nutella tweaked its recipe to include more sugar and fat. A German consumer group accused the company of stinting on chocolate as cocoa prices have climbed.
Saudi Arabia’s newest jail has a 4.5 star rating on TripAdvisor. Members of the Saudi elite arrested last weekend are being held in the Ritz in Riyadh.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, high-A attempts, and memories of Paddles to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android.