Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The Bank of England acts normal. A policy meeting is expected to result in a hike in interest rates for only the second time in a decade. But some believe that a move to “normalize” rates from post-crisis lows is premature, given shaky growth and uncertainty around Brexit.
ASEAN foreign ministers meet. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations will hold various meetings in Singapore through Saturday—Beijing’s aggressive moves in the South China Sea will likely be on the agenda. US secretary of state Mike Pompeo will attend and may meet his North Korean counterpart.
Kellogg serves up second-quarter earnings. While analysts expect cereal sales to be soggy, overall the company is expected to post a rise in second-quarter sales and profit, thanks to recent acquisitions and a direct-to-store delivery system.
World of Warcraft is still going strong. Video-game publisher Activision Blizzard is forecast to post a drop in revenue for its latest quarter, as it battles competition from free online games like Fortnite. However, the eternally popular World of Warcraft is still a steady earner for the company.
While you were sleeping
Tariff-fearing Chinese buyers dented BMW’s profit. The luxury carmaker said its second-quarter earnings dip was partially caused by Chinese consumers putting off purchases (paywall) until the impact of US-China tariffs were clearer. Investment in electric and autonomous cars also pushed up costs.
Barclays made bank. After Lloyd’s upbeat results yesterday, another British bank is looking lively again. Barclays posted spectacular earnings for the second quarter—nearly three times higher than a year ago, when it was laid low by massive restructuring and legal costs.
The Turkish lira set a record low on new US sanctions. The battered lira dropped 1.1% against the dollar (paywall) overnight, while the country’s benchmark stock index plunged in early trading. Ankara refused to release a jailed American pastor, and in retaliation the US announced it will freeze the assets of Turkey’s justice minister and interior minister.
Donald Trump thanked Kim Jong Un for returning US war remains. The president tweeted that he was “not at all surprised” at Kim’s “kind action” and thanked him for his “nice letter.” The presumed remains of dozens of soldiers from the Korean War were received by military honor guards in Honolulu on Wednesday.
The UK hired Obama’s former chief economist to advise it on tech regulation. Jason Furman will chair a new panel to steer the country’s approach to competition and privacy protection. He currently teaches economic policy at Harvard.
Quartz Obsession interlude
Sara Wilson on how wellness became our new religion. “At some point in recent history, we decided to use ‘because it makes me feel good’ as a key metric by which we determine truth. Truth has become, in essence, anything that makes us feel good about ourselves. That shift created the perfect conditions for the wellness industrial complex to flourish.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Could we have stopped climate change in the 1980s? The New York Times dedicated an entire Sunday magazine to one story that argues we could have. Climate scientists aren’t buying it.
Puns are the most elevated display of wit. The practice requires that you harbor two states of mind at once.
Tariffs are ruining India’s solar prospects. Legal challenges to newly introduced tariffs have upended a market that was working well.
Surprising discoveries
Han Solo’s Star Wars jacket is up for grabs. If you have a million to spare, the coat worn by Harrison Ford in The Empire Strikes Back will be auctioned in London in September.
An Alaskan town dug out their old typewriters. After a ransomware attack on computers, Matanuska-Susitna government staff are typing receipts by hand.
A Chinese author was inspired by his real-life murders. Popular crime writer Liu Yongbiao was sentenced to death this week, 23 years after killing four people.
The scutoid is geometry’s newest shape. Previously found in nature but unrecognized in mathematics, the scutoid looks similar to a bent prism.
A 2,000-year-old public library was unearthed in Germany. A construction project uncovered the ruins in Cologne.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, pithy puns, and novel shapes 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 by Jill Petzinger and Akshat Rathi and edited by Jason Karaian.