Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Investors look for Fed rate hike clues. The US central bank is not expected to announce any big changes to its plans to raise interest rates this year, but analysts will scour the Fed’s statement for indications about a possible hike in June.
The European Union releases GDP data. Preliminary numbers for the first quarter could shed some light on confusing signals about where the euro zone is headed this year, after a strong 2017. Separately, the EU’s long-term post-Brexit budget proposal will be released.
China’s foreign minister visits Pyongyang. Wang Yi’s two-day visit comes after a historic peace summit between the two Koreas, and as US president Donald Trump firms up plans to meet North Korea’s Kim Jong-un this summer.
Tesla’s cash-burning update from “manufacturing hell.” The electric-car company is under pressure to increase production of its Model 3 sedan while also curbing costs. Elon Musk has promised that Tesla doesn’t need to raise additional capital, but investors are dubious.
While you were sleeping
Apple’s numbers defied concerns over iPhone sales. Earnings rose 25% to $13.8 billion, and revenue was up 16% to $61.1 billion. Sales of the device were on par with analysts’ expectations—52.2 million in the second quarter, up 2.9%—but the company’s shares rose 5% in after-hours trading. Apple also announced that it would spend $100 billion buying back its own shares, using its massive cash pile to help existing shareholders.
Facebook rolled out dating and VR products to a sympathetic crowd. The company announced a Tinder-like dating service and debuted its Oculus Go virtual-reality headset at a developers conference, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged recent scandals but tried to move past them. Separately, UK lawmakers demanded that Zuckerberg testify in person about the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
UC Rusal got a reprieve. An amendment (paywall) from the US Treasury department will give the Russian aluminum giant time to take steps to come off a blacklist related to interference in the 2016 election. For that, Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, a majority shareholder in Rusal’s parent and a target of the sanctions, needs to reduce his holdings (paywall).
A California-led coalition sued the Trump administration over auto emission caps. Seventeen states and Washington DC filed a suit against US Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt, who has said he plans to demolish Obama-era fuel efficiency requirements. The move could effectively split the US auto market in half (paywall).
Quartz obsession interlude
Helen Edwards and Dave Edwards on how Tesla over-automated its factory. “Robots aren’t as flexible as humans; they aren’t as good as humans at adapting to product variants nor can they handle as many complex movements as humans. This means that, beyond a certain point, automation can raise costs, and contrary to what you’d expect, not help quality or productivity. Importantly, automation needs to be overlaid on a stable process to ensure that it’s not the errors that are being automated.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Capitalism is obsolete. Today’s problems are far too complex for market economies to fix—and in many cases capitalism makes them worse.
Society, not biology, makes men bad at friendship. Pressure to reject “feminine” ideals like openness, empathy, and vulnerability leads to increasing male loneliness.
Double-spacing is an abomination. A new study found that it slightly improves readability, but it’s really an anachronism from the monospace fonts of the typewriter era.
Surprising discoveries
Some of the world’s richest nations have the weakest passports. Canada and China have strong economies, but those nationalities essentially “lock their citizens in” due to low visa accessibility.
Crowded airport lounges are irritating the 1%. One well-heeled traveler described recent arrivals as “farm animals.” (paywall)
Swedish meatballs are actually Turkish. The country has admitted that its national food was based on a recipe brought home by King Charles XII after a visit to Turkey.
Zora Neale Hurston has a new book out. The novelist and anthropologist died in 1960 but Barracoon, her account of one of the last-known survivors of the Atlantic slave trade, is about to be published.
Egypt is worried about fake news—about the weather. The country plans to draft a law to stop anyone other than the official meteorological agency from making forecasts.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, strong passports, and meatball recipes to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android. Today’s Daily Brief was written and edited by Tripti Lahiri and Alice Truong.