Good morning, Quartz readers!
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Nvidia is as valuable as ever. The AI industry’s favorite chipmaker is putting its summer slump in the rearview.
Boeing is taking its ball and going home. A breakdown in union contract talks led the planemaker to revoke the “best and final offer” it made to its striking machinists.
Google is showing some big cracks in its facade. The search giant faces the prospect of getting broken up after losing a big antitrust lawsuit.
Lower Fed rates pushed mortgage rates higher. A crush of post-cut demand made home loans more expensive.
McDonald’s has beef with the meat industry. It’s suing the cattle market’s “Big Four,” accusing them of colluding to fix prices.
Allegiant’s surface-to-air Milton mess
Budget airline Allegiant canceled a huge chunk of its substantial Florida-bound routes in anticipation of Hurricane Milton. But that’s not the only headache the storm is causing the company.
In December, it opened the Sunseeker Resort in Charlotte Harbor, Florida, a 20-acre, 785-room shot at a diversified bottom line. It has shut down as the Milton approaches — the third major hurricane to strike the property in as many years.
Quartz’s Melvin Backman digs into the seemingly cursed property that one travel website called “the craziest thing Allegiant Air ever did.”
GM can’t leave fossil fuels in the past — yet
General Motors is stuck between a gas tank and a hard place. Though 95% of its deliveries last quarter were internal-combustion-engined vehicles, the company is still betting big on an electrified future despite expecting to lose $4 billion on the segment this year.
The automaker is building new battery research facility and is hoping to cut costs for EV production. On the other hand, it’s still sinking a third of its production budget into refreshes for its gas-guzzling SUV fleet.
Quartz’s William Gavin follows GM’s tightrope-walk into the future of the car industry and what it says about the elusive tipping point to a greener future.
MORE FROM QUARTZ
🧇 The Waffle House Index flashed red for Hurricane Milton
🌀 Here’s the help Florida’s biggest retailers offered residents in the storm’s path
🚫 The person pegged as Satoshi Nakamoto in a new documentary says not-I
🪄 Disneyland raised its prices — again
🦄 These are the 10 most valuable private companies in the world
💉 Offering Wegovy and other weight loss drugs on Medicare could cost the government billions
🛑 AOC told Mark Cuban to shut up about Kamala Harris ditching FTC chair Lina Khan
SURPRISING DISCOVERIES
Bitcoin bros are big political spenders. Some estimates say cryptocurrency backers are contributing almost half of all corporate PAC donations for the 2024 election cycle.
Hurricane Milton could cost the insurance as much as $100 billion. The total would rival the economic damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Racoons are capable of swarming. A woman in Washington state said scores of the critters sieged her home in search of food.
EBay has some literal treasures hidden among its listings. Federal officials allege that a seller used the platform to smuggle ancient Egyptian antiquities into the U.S.
A major shoplifting report has gone missing. The National Retail Federation says that it won’t publish an annual shrink report for the first time in three decades.
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Our best wishes on a safe start to the day. Send any news, comments, illicit antiquities listings, and foundering resorts to talk@qz.com. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Melvin Backman and Sarah Douglass.