Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
India celebrates Diwali. Financial markets are closed as Indians light up the sky with fireworks. Celebrations will also take place around the world, including at Disneyland in California.
21st Century Fox opens its books. Investors are looking for updates on the Disney deal, and how the “New Fox” is shaping up. The company is expected to report a rise in first-quarter profit, thanks to higher fees from cable distributors.
The Fed meets. The two-day meeting isn’t expected to result in a rate hike but could yield insights about how the central bank views the economy and the recent volatility in US markets.
While you were sleeping
Democrats flipped the House. In what was viewed as a rebuke to Donald Trump, Democrats took the House in Tuesday’s midterms amid unusually high turnout. Republicans, meanwhile, solidified their hold on the Senate. The vote sets the stage for a protracted battle between Congress and the president in the remaining two years of his term, and could see Democrats open a number of investigations. Tuesday’s races also resulted in a number of firsts—including the US’s first openly gay governor and first Muslim congresswoman.
Markets mostly welcomed gridlock in Washington. US stock futures rose while the dollar edged lower after the midterm results, as investors bet that a Democratic House and a Republican Senate probably won’t undertake any big policy and spending changes. Asian and European markets gained on Wednesday morning, with traders generally seeing the election result as a good thing.
Mike Pompeo’s meeting with North Korea was postponed. The US secretary of state was to meet North Korean officials in New York tomorrow, but the meeting will be rescheduled. Pyongyang threatened last week to resume its nuclear weapons development.
Electric cars dented BMW’s bottom line. The Germany luxury automaker reported a 24% plunge in net profits (paywall) in the third quarter, as it spent big on R&D for electric vehicles and rushed to make its cars compliant with new emissions regulations.
Hermès flashed some fancy financials. The French luxury group (paywall) reported sales growth of almost 10% in its latest quarter, and said it wasn’t seeing any slowdown in demand from well-heeled consumers in China, as suggested by some of its rivals.
Obsession interlude
Happy birthday to the 401(k): 40 and fabulous! People blame the US’s primary retirement plan for undermining the old-fashioned pension. But it didn’t—and its existence means more people have retirement benefits than ever. Celebrate the unsung hero of savings vehicles at the Quartz Obsession.
Matters of debate
The battle against income inequality begins with full employment. That improves wages for even the lowest-paid, unskilled workers, Janet Yellen says (paywall).
There is no such thing as old age. If 60-year-olds have 40 years of life left, consigning them to a bracket traditionally reserved for people in need of care makes no sense.
Voting advocates should stop with the scolding. Trying to shame or badger people into voting is likely to backfire (paywall).
Surprising discoveries
The Girl Scouts sued the Boy Scouts for trademark infringement. It claims that by rebranding as Scouts BSA, the Boy Scouts will cause confusion and encroach on the Girl Scouts’ turf.
Google’s top US election day search request was in Spanish. The country’s Hispanic population wanted to know: “Dondé votar?”
San Francisco fined a couple $2.25 million for illegal Airbnb rentals. The company, rather than fighting the move, says it doesn’t want scofflaws on its platform.
Rain makes voters more Republican. Researchers found bad weather makes voters who might have voted Democrat more likely to switch their vote.
Researchers created an artificial society to investigate religious conflict. The model found that two xenophobic groups that are in regular contact create “periods of mutually escalating anxiety.”
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, legal Airbnb recommendations, and Girl Scout cookies 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 edited by Jason Karaian.
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