Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
NASA unveils exoplanets. The US space agency is holding a news conference at 1pm EST to present new findings on planets that orbit stars other than our sun. The event airs live on NASA Television and nasa.gov, and will be followed by a Reddit Q&A. Researchers say we’re in a “golden age” of exoplanet discovery.
A glimpse at the Fed’s thinking. The US Federal Reserve releases the minutes of its first meeting of 2017, which saw officials vote to leave interest rates unchanged after raising them in December. Economists will be looking for clues on when the Fed expects to raise rates again—its next meeting is in mid-March—and how the central bank might shrink its balance sheet.
What’s going on at Tesla. The electric-car company will report fourth-quarter earnings, after a surprise profit in the third quarter. Analysts are expecting a $160 million loss, and will be looking for Tesla to justify its $44 billion market capitalization. CEO Elon Musk is also expected to give an update on Tesla’s many projects, including its first mass-market car, the Model 3.
While you were sleeping
China’s housing bubble deflated a bit. In January home prices increased in the fewest cities in a year, suggesting measures to cool the market have started to work. Last year China began restricting mortgage loans and second-home purchases, and discouraging developers from overbuilding on easy financing.
The World Bank warned against Trump-era protectionism. The group said that global trade was expected to grow more slowly due to “uncertainty about economic policy” (paywall). While the World Bank did not mention the US president by name, it criticized his administration’s plans to unwind global supply chains.
Former Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang was sentenced to 20 months in prison. A jury found him guilty of undeclared conflicts of interest, including a luxury flat in mainland China he leased linked to a broadcaster whose license applications he approved. Tsang, who served from 2005 to 2012, became the territory’s highest-ranking official ever to stand trial for corruption.
The White House tightened deportation rules. The new policy allows immigration agents, customs officers, and border patrol agents to deport almost anyone living in the US illegally, and expedites the deportation process. The Department of Homeland Security is preparing to hire 10,000 new immigration and customs agents.
Mexico said it will offer up to $20 billion in currency hedges. Policymakers hope the move will curb volatility hurting the peso. The currency has hit record lows amid Trump’s threats to impose trade barriers on Mexican goods bound for the US.
Quartz obsession interlude
Ana Campoy on the bureaucratic backwater of US immigration courts. “The troubling potential for abuse in the system existed long before Trump won election. Critics of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, including its judges, say its very design makes it prone to mismanagement under any White House administration.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Catastrophe is a powerful antidote to inequality. History is rife with examples of massive violent shocks putting an end to wealth disparities.
Facebook is already too powerful. Mark Zuckerberg’s suggestion that the social network could be used for political ends is proof that it needs to be regulated.
Americans aren’t that attached to democracy. Public support for democratic governance and the rule of law has been waning for some time.
Surprising discoveries
New Zealand might be the tip of a hidden continent. Most of the 2 million square miles comprising “Zealandia” lie beneath the Pacific Ocean.
Buzz Aldrin drank wine on the moon. The astronaut took a quick communion before stepping out of the lunar module in 1969.
SpaceX’s rocket booster is actually a giant robot. The rocket is able to steer itself back to earth without any assistance.
A slave mailed himself to freedom. Henry ‘Box’ Brown hid inside a wooden crate for 27 hours to escape a plantation in North Carolina.
The Mall of America is hiring a writer-in-residence. Candidates can expect to record their “on-the-fly impressions” over five days in the largest mall in the US.
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