Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Arun Jaitley presents India’s budget. The finance minister will likely announce measures to address the cash shortage resulting from the nation’s unexpected demonetization move last November. He’s also expected to increase spending and ease off on slashing the deficit.
The US Federal Reserve wraps up its first policy meeting of the year. Another interest rate hike is possible but unlikely in January. The central bank is still assessing the impact of the new administration, as analysts look for clues about the timing of future increases.
Facebook releases its fourth-quarter results. Analysts expect another blockbuster quarter as the company builds on its dominance in mobile advertising. Investors will be watching to see if Facebook can maintain its dizzying pace of revenue growth, which may require (paywall) capturing some advertising market share from TV companies.
While you were sleeping
Donald Trump announced his Supreme Court nominee in prime time. Adding a dash of reality TV to the highest US court, the president chose Neil Gorsuch, a federal judge from Colorado. Gorsuch has been described as the intellectual heir to Antonin Scalia, the late conservative judge whom he will replace on the court if confirmed. Gorsuch, though, is even more conservative.
Apple had a killer quarter. The company returned to its winning ways, beating analyst expectations on just about every measure thanks to record iPhone sales. Revenue rose 3.3% to $78.35 billion as millions of consumers adopted a new dongle-laden life and bought an iPhone 7.
Uber joined forces with Daimler on self-driving cars. The parent company of Mercedes-Benz said it would sell self-driving vehicles to the ride-hailing service in the “coming years.” Given Uber’s other partnerships in this arena, notably with Ford and Volvo, Mercedes vehicles could become the luxurious Uber Black cars of the autonomous future.
Toshiba said it would stop building nuclear power plants. The Japanese conglomerate has incurred billions of dollars in losses attempting to complete long-delayed projects in the US. Toshiba’s decision to exit the nuclear construction business, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, could have global implications (paywall) for the nuclear-power industry.
The American Civil Liberties Union joined Y Combinator. The nonprofit group, which got a boost in donations following the US election and Trump’s clampdown on refugees, will receive funding and expertise from the tech incubator.
Quartz obsession interlude
Jenny Anderson on the cognitive bias that makes people unreasonably afraid of terrorists: “An average of 737 Americans a year were shot dead by another American (21 of them by toddlers), 737 were killed by falling out of bed, and nine were killed by Islamic jihadists—who in most cases were US citizens, not immigrants.” Read more here.
Quartz markets haiku
For millennia
We have foolishly chased gold
Today it seems wise
Matters of debate
Uber is the wrong target for liberal outrage. The company got caught up in airport protests against the US “Muslim ban.”
Trump is teaching a master class in autocracy. He is following in the footsteps of repressive kleptocrats in Hungary, Venezuela, and South Africa.
We should give up on tidying and embrace the mess. Research shows that “pilers” do better than “filers.”
Surprising discoveries
Dozens of falcons got their own seats on a plane. The trained hunters are frequent passengers on flights to the Middle East.
China has stolen millions of US jobs—but not the ones you might think. The computer and electronics industries—not steel or autos—were hit hardest.
Russia’s reindeer photo op sent a chilling message. Moscow is expanding its presence in a region where shipping routes and massive oil deposits are up for grabs.
The weasel that took down the Large Hadron Collider is going on display. It was electrocuted by an 18,000-volt transformer after hopping over a fence.
Indians have finally identified a killer fruit. Investigators discovered that the lychee (paywall) has been killing malnourished children for decades.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, reindeer pics, and falcon passports to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android.