Good morning, Quartz readers!
Here’s what you need to know
Robinhood reported its first profitable quarter. It has the Federal Reserve’s regime of soaring interest rates to thank.
CVS beat quarterly revenue expectations but warned it doesn’t expect further growth in 2024. The pharmacy chain initiated cost-cutting measures, including job cuts, earlier this week.
France’s AFP sued Elon Musk’s X. The news agency claimed X has refused to discuss revenue sharing over articles posted on the platform.
Etsy sought to avert a widespread sellers’ strike. The US platform promised changes to the amount it withholds from sellers as reserve funds after UK users started a boycott.
One big number: $60 billion
Targeted valuation by Arm—the lower end of the range desired, actually—for its Nasdaq IPO this September
The British semiconductor company, owned by Japanese investment giant SoftBank, is hoping that optimism in AI-powered chips will help it achieve one of the largest market debuts in the last couple of years.
What’s in a Fitch rating?
Fitch Ratings downgraded US debt from its pristine AAA rating down to an AA+. But, as Quartz’s Nate DiCamillo explains, this won’t affect the US economy much.
Some reasons to help stave off concern:
- For one, debt ratings matter much more for emerging economies
- Most bond traders will keep buying US debt at the same level
- The US Federal Reserve can essentially set the interest rates on US debt, anyway
AI isn’t going to win any Grammys just yet
Yesterday, Meta announced it has released three open-sourced generative AI models—MusicGen, AudioGen, and EnCodec—that allow users to generate music and sound effects with only a text prompt.
With its long sequences of data and, you know, heartstring-tugging abilities, music is arguably the most challenging type of audio to create. Meta acknowledged that AI, so far, doesn’t quite get it, but urges others to improve upon its models. The music industry will, no doubt, be listening closely.
Michelle Cheng will tell you all about it—and you can give it a try.
Quartz’s most popular
📵 China is proposing a two-hour limit on children’s smartphone use
🚲 The company behind Helbiz e-scooters is now going after VanMoof’s e-bikes
👛 Sam Altman’s Worldcoin might unleash worse problems than those it’s trying to solve
🚘 Chinese EV maker BYD is rocketing up Fortune’s Global 500 ranking
🎙️ Indonesia plans simpler rules to attract stars like Taylor Swift, Coldplay
😶🌫️ For $8 a month, you can pretend like you never paid for Twitter
Surprising discoveries
An ancient whale is the new biggest creature on record... Perucetus—found in Peru—was certainly huge, certainly slow, and probably a peaceful manatee-esque giant.
..and an ancient jellyfish is the new oldest jellyfish on record. It’s been a big week for surprising fossils, especially since gelatinous creatures don’t exactly fossilize easily.
Gen Zers are realizing they’re the true fossils. Gen Alpha’s bizarre “Skibidi Toilet” memes are making the youngs feel like olds.
The heat is reducing working hours. Climate change effects are real, and they’re affecting small businesses.
“Darkroomcore” is the latest dining aesthetic. Hope everyone’s fine with “Phoneflashlightcore,” as we’ll all need to use those to see the menus.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, light-up menus, and fun new fossils to talk@qz.com. Reader support makes Quartz available to all—become a member. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Sofia Lotto Persio and Susan Howson.