Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The 2017 Oscar nominations are announced. La La Land, Manchester by the Sea, and Lion are among the films picking up hype. Last year, no people of color received nominations for top awards, so the pressure is on to acknowledge films with large African-American casts like Moonlight, Hidden Figures, and Fences.
Turkey’s central bank takes timid steps. Analysts expect it to raise interest rates slightly at its monthly meeting, but not enough to really help the battered lira. The currency has fallen by around 8% this year as political upheaval and a slowing economy have deterred investors, but president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has leant on the bank to keep rates low.
Verizon’s earnings. Investors will be looking closely at the number of new wireless subscribers the company has added when it reports fourth-quarter and full-year earnings at 8.30 Eastern Time.
While you were sleeping
The UK’s supreme court ruled on Brexit. It said the government cannot trigger Article 50, which starts the process of leaving the EU, without parliament’s approval, despite last summer’s referendum in favor. But it also said the government need not consult devolved assemblies, which might push Scotland to try for independence again.
Dodgy accounting in Italy hammered BT. The British telecoms company saw its stock plunge by 15% after it revealed that improper accounting in its Italian unit has cost it more than three times as much as it originally thought. For the next two years it won’t grow revenue and will barely grow profits.
SAP floated on the cloud. The German software giant—and Europe’s most valuable tech company—saw a 4% rise in fourth-quarter operating profit to €2.4 billion ($2.5 billion). SAP said bookings to migrate its customers to cloud-based internet platforms were up 40% in the quarter.
2017 got off to a fine start for factories in the euro zone. Markit’s purchasing managers survey said factory growth in January hit its highest level since April 2011 (paywall). At 54.3, the 19-country area is growing, thanks to the weaker euro and a rise in orders. It also clocked its largest monthly rise in employment in nine years.
Samsung had a fantastic quarter despite everything. Year-on-year quarterly earnings were up 50%, thanks largely to the booming memory-chips division, where they rose 77%. Even the mobile unit’s profit grew 12%, despite the recall of millions of Galaxy Note 7s. But the probe into Samsung’s involvement in South Korea’s influence-peddling scandal is casting a shadow over the earnings.
The European Parliament backed a free-trade deal with Canada. Its international trade committee approved the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which EU officials see as a model for similar pacts in the future—including with the UK after Brexit.
Quartz obsession interlude
Jason Karaian and David Yanofsky track the helicopters at Davos. “Amid a populist upheaval and growing anti-establishment fervor, the gathering of the global elite in Davos this year was expected to be a more sober, soul-searching affair. But judging from helicopter traffic into the posh Swiss ski resort last week, Davos bigwigs aren’t in a mood to skimp.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Hiring for “cultural fit” kills diversity. Recruiters tend to choose people whose backgrounds mirror their own.
High-school civics courses are due for an overhaul. Media and politics have changed dramatically—so should the way we teach kids to exercise citizenship.
If you don’t trust your employees to work remotely, you shouldn’t have hired them. The freedom to work whenever and wherever naturally weeds out bad actors.
Surprising discoveries
The year’s best children’s book is about Jean-Michel Basquiat. Radiant Child, a book about the Brooklyn artist who died at 27, won the Randolph Caldecott Medal.
The new US White House press secretary is in a five-year feud with Dippin’ Dots. Sean Spicer really doesn’t like the colorful balls of ice cream.
Belgium’s parliament serves free booze. Since the 1990s, the country has offered alcoholic beverages to lawmakers to keep them in their seats during sessions.
Ants are more sophisticated navigators than we thought. They can find their way home walking backwards, while using the direction of the sun to avoid getting lost.
Napping in public is a sign of diligence in Japan. Inemuri, translated as “sleeping on duty” or “sleeping while present,” means that you have worked yourself to exhaustion (paywall).
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