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What to watch for today and over the weekend
The IMF and the World Bank meet in Washington, DC. The annual meeting will wrap up with a conversation between IMF managing director Christine Lagarde and financial writer Michael Lewis (The Big Short) on Sunday. Discussions will focus on how to boost global growth and foster economic inclusivity.
Oil producers meet in Istanbul. OPEC and non-OPEC leaders will convene on Saturday to discuss the implementation of a deal reached last month in Algiers, which aims to cut output to around 33 million barrels a day. The agreement is expected to be in effect for up to a year.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump meet again. The second presidential debate takes place at 9pm ET on Sunday. CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Martha Raddatz from ABC’s “This Week” will moderate the town-hall-style debate, where half the questions will be asked by the audience.
US payrolls data. Analysts expect Friday’s monthly employment report to show an uptick in job gains in September and the unemployment rate to stay at around 4.9%. Jobless claims hit their lowest point since 1973 last week; employers are holding on to skilled staff in a tightening labor market.
While you were sleeping
US authorities warned about Hurricane Matthew. Florida governor Rick Scott urged the 1.5 million residents living in evacuation zones to take the storm seriously and leave. The storm, now a Category Three hurricane, is expected to cause billions of dollars in damage. It has already killed around 300 people in Haiti.
The pound suffered a flash crash in Asia’s morning trading. Possibly caused by a trader’s “fat finger” error, a rogue automated algorithm, or—some thought—French president François Hollande’s tough speech on Brexit negotiations, the pound fell nearly 10% at one point. That followed the currency falling to a 31-year low yesterday on fears of a “hard Brexit.”
Samsung saw a silver lining. The South Korean electronics giant expects its third-quarter profit to grow by more than 5%. Earnings from its chip and display units should offset losses from having to recall its defective Galaxy Note 7 phones worldwide. The recall could actually be a good thing for Samsung’s chip business—2.5 million new chips are needed for the replacement phones.
German and French factories had a good August. Industrial production in France was up 2.1% from July (paywall), while in Germany production rose 2.5% from the month before—its biggest month-on-month jump since January. The Bundesbank warned against optimism, though: the third quarter could be slower, because of uncertainty about the impact of Britain’s decision to leave the EU.
Delta Lloyd felt undervalued. The Dutch insurance group rejected a €2.4 billion ($2.7 billion) offer (paywall) from its rival NN Group, saying the deal, which was announced Wednesday, was unacceptable and undervalued the company’s “prospects and strategic opportunities.” News of the deal drove Delta Lloyd’s shares up 30% earlier this week.
Quartz obsession interlude
Marc Bain on whether the world is ready for sweatpants at the office. “As jeans have gotten more formal, the measure of what’s acceptable has changed, creating room for an even more casual option to creep into the workplace. Designers love to play with these boundaries. Brands such as Vetements and Haider Ackermann have shown sweats on the runway, and for its spring 2016 men’s collection, Burberry even paired tailored joggers with more formal clothes, such as a shirt and tie. Would the look work for the office? Quite possibly.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Time to tune out men talking about women’s reproductive rights. If you are never going to need an abortion, women don’t need to hear your opinions on regulating them.
Be nice to cats, even if you hate them. They have been shown to help reduce childhood allergies, improve mental health, help control diabetes, and decrease hospital stays.
Stop trashing trailer parks. Mobile homes could offer comfortable, affordable housing to many people, and could even be a lucrative investment.
Surprising discoveries
Species with bigger brains have longer yawns. The act of opening our jaws and sucking in air seems to have physiological benefits.
Apes can guess what you’re thinking. Like humans, they have the ability to identify the goals and intentions behind others’ actions.
Bob Marley’s son is turning a California prison into a massive weed farm. Damian Marley plans to grow marijuana in a 77,000-square-foot (0.72 hectare) space that formerly housed drug offenders.
Vladimir Putin is getting a book about himself for his birthday. A pro-Kremlin website has made a book of pop-culture depictions of the Russian president, who turns 64 today.
Turning off the internet is an expensive affair. Over the past year, government-ordered internet shutdowns cost countries $2.4 billion in lost economic production.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, smart-casual sweatpants, and intuitive apes to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our iPhone app.