Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today and over the weekend
Xi Jinping arrives to protests in Switzerland. Pro-Tibet demonstrations are expected on Sunday during the first visit by a Chinese president to the country in nearly two decades. Xi will go to Bern, Lausanne, and Geneva before making his way to the World Economic Forum in Davos next week.
One last try for John Kerry. He will attend the Middle East peace talks in Paris on Sunday in one of his final trips as US secretary of State. Israel is not sending any senior officials as it’s angry about the US allowing a UN resolution to pass last month condemning Israeli settlement building.
Upbeat news from US banks. Bank of America and Wells Fargo are among the banks that will deliver their fourth-quarter numbers. Since Donald Trump’s election victory, bank stocks have done well amid expectations of financial deregulation, higher interest rates, and increased trading activity.
While you were sleeping
Nintendo’s pricey new console dismayed investors. The Switch, a tablet-sized hybrid designed for both home and mobile use, will cost about $300, and apparently that’s considered too expensive to boost the company’s stumbling console division. Nintendo shares fell almost 6% in Tokyo after the unveiling.
PETA infiltrated the enemy camp. The animal-rights organization said it had become a shareholder (paywall) in LMVH so it can put pressure on the French luxury goods group to stop selling exotic skins. A PETA investigation last year revealed horrific treatment at crocodile farms supplying LMVH’s Louis Vuitton. PETA has bought similarly tactical stakes in Hermès and Prada.
What emissions cheating? Fiat’s shares rebounded. After dipping 16% on Thursday in the wake of a US regulator’s accusation that it had violated emissions laws, Fiat Chrysler and its major shareholder, Exor, bounced back up by (paywall) more than 6% on Friday morning on the Stoxx 600.
SpiceJet gave Boeing a whopping order. The Indian budget airline will pay $22 billion for 205 new airplanes—a return to ambitious expansion for SpiceJet, and a nice boost for Boeing in a continent where Airbus has the edge in narrow-body fleet sales.
China’s exports slumped again. In 2016, exports fell 7.7%—the second annual decline in a row—thanks mainly to faltering global demand. Things don’t look any brighter for the year ahead either, with China nervously waiting to see if Donald Trump, who has already insulted Beijing over the One China policy, will immediately make good on his threat to impose higher tariffs on Chinese goods.
Quartz obsession interlude
Gwynn Guilford on the evolutionary advantages of killer whale grandmothers: “Scientists have long puzzled over why killer whales stop reproducing in their 30s and 40s yet—in the words of Destiny’s Child—keep on surviving, often for several decades. We now know that a matriarch’s longevity allows her to use her knowledge and hunting skills to increase her family’s chances of survival.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Imitation is the secret to tech success. Instagram’s “Stories” is thriving after shamelessly copying the feature from Snapchat.
Manufacturing is not dead in America. Job losses have mostly been limited to low-pay, low-skill positions.
Globalization needs to be all-or-nothing. The woes associated with free trade can be blamed on not going far enough.
Surprising discoveries
You can name an Indonesian island. Thousands of unnamed and unmanaged islands are up for grabs for foreign investors.
Smells can ease boredom in zoo elephants. They showed signs of enjoyment after learning to identify and then hunt for smells like lemongrass, coffee and fur.
Shenzhen built more skyscrapers last year than the US and Australia combined. The Chinese tech-manufacturing hub has the country’s hottest real-estate market.
Gay men are underpaid but lesbians earn a premium. On average, gay women make 9% more than their heterosexual peers.
A good hedge-fund manager is born poor. Investors born in the bottom quintile by wealth outperformed those in the top by more than 1% a year.
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