GOOD MORNING, QUARTZ READERS!*
Hereâs what you need to know
Home sales in the US plunged to a 15-year low. The housing market conditions are terrible for both sellers and buyers.
Twitter faces massive job cuts under Elon Musk. As much as 75% of the workforce faces layoffs if the deal goes through. The Biden administration is also reportedly considering security reviews of some of the SpaceX foundersâ ventures, including the Twitter takeover.
Chess grandmaster Hans Niemann sued Magnus Carlsen for $100 million. The chess cheating allegations drama is now headed to court.
Google was hit with a $162 million fine in India. The tech giant, which was found to engage in anti-competitive practices, is also facing a lawsuit in Texas over improper user data collection.
Snap launched a $500 million share repurchase program. The company reported its slowest-ever quarterly revenue growth, hit by a digital advertising slump thatâs dragging down major tech companies
The White Houseâs student debt relief plan survived two legal challenges. The Supreme Court refused to block the program, while a federal court tossed out a Republican states-led lawsuit.
Coca plant cultivation in Colombia grew by 43% in 2021. Itâs the highest growth rate the UN has recorded in two decades, reversing three years of reduction.
What to watch for
The year is 2022 and Taylor Swift is banking on potentially record-setting vinyl sales.
Taylor Swift is releasing four different vinyl editions of her new album Midnights for $29.99 each. Each edition features art that, if combined together, forms a clockâand Swift is selling a $49 kit for super-fans who want to spend close to $200 assembling the clock-as-wall art.
Vinyl is undoubtedly having a moment. Streaming subscription services such as Spotify rake in about 68% of industry revenue, but vinyl is the most popular format for people purchasing music. In 2021, vinyl outsold CDs for the first time in three decades. CDs sales also increased last year, and Swift took notice. Sheâs releasing four editions of her album on CD, too.
Taylor Swiftâs new album, Midnights, is likely not just another blockbuster for Miss Americana herself, but also a bellwether for a music industry where everything old is new again.
Loss in Truss
The UK is about to undergo its second prime minister switch in less than four months. Thereâre a lot of questions that remain unanswered, with the big one being whoâll succeed Liz Truss. Ex-chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak is a favorite, but a Boris Johnson boomerang isnât impossible.
Weâve compiled a reading list to get you ready for next weekâs leadership contest:
đ Recap: A six-week timeline of turmoil under Truss
đł Why the UK canât easily call a general election
đ In freaking out, the UK markets did their job
đ§ What the UK should do instead of tax cuts
đ„Ź Will the next PM outlive a head of lettuce?Â
⊠Thatâs not allâQuartz members will get an exclusive deep dive into the aftermath of Trussâs rise and fall in our next Weekend Brief. Sign up for a membership today to get the email this Saturday, along with a 50% discount, on us.
âMake in Indiaâ has a long way to go
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has pushed his âMake in Indiaâ initiative for the past eight years, trying to wean the country off its dependence on China-made goods. But even after billions of rupees in investments, Modiâs hard sought self-reliance has failed to materialize as Chinaâs trade surplus with India has now exceeded $1 trillion.
India is still a long way off from its target, which seems to only be moving farther away.
30%: Increase in Indiaâs imports from China in the past five years
$125.6 billion: Bilateral trade in 2021, which crossed the $100 billion threshold for the first time
$97.5 billion: Portion of 2021 bilateral trade that constituted Indiaâs imports from China
Quartzâs most popular
đŠ Rich countries are destroying the covid vaccines they hoarded
đ The Kroger-Albertsons merger raises one big question: Why now?
đ„« An aluminum bellwetherâs unexpected loss adds to recession concerns
đ Ghanaian traders are locking shops to protest 37% inflation
đ€ COP27 is all about the money
đ Indiaâs festival-time gold obsession hasnât lit up yet
Surprising discoveries
2,700-year-old rock carvings were found in Iraq. They were unearthed by the city gates to the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh.
McDonaldâs toys have $300,000 price tags on eBay. Collectors are really lovinâ the new adult Happy Meal items.
Students in the Philippines made some A+ anti-cheating headgear. Egg carton caps are the hottest thing this fall/winter exam season.
A Victorian railway tunnel has become a motorsports hotspot. Itâs the perfect place to test out aerodynamics.
Bionic noses are nothing to sneeze at. The neuroprosthetic could help people recover their sense of smell.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, Grimace dolls, and Victorian tunnel maps to hi@qz.com. Reader support makes Quartz available to allâbecome a member. Todayâs Daily Brief was brought to you by Sofia Lotto Persio, Scott Nover, Julia Malleck, Niharika Sharma, and Morgan Haefner.
*We hope you have a wonderful INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY this Saturday (Oct. 22). May you write both AGGRESSIVELY and EXPRESSIVELY.