Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Jeff Bezos reveals his space exploration plans. The Amazon CEO, who also founded the private space company Blue Origin, is expected to talk about reusable rockets that will take tourists to suborbital heights, and eventually into orbit and beyond. Blue Origin has also proposed a shipping service to the moon in a memo to NASA.
China’s forex reserves. Beijing’s country’s foreign currency holdings fell below $3 trillion in January, their lowest level in six years, and are expected to fall even further in February. It’s unclear how long the central bank can defend both its currency and its reserves if the US dollar keeps getting stronger.
Australia’s central bank signals if easing is over. The economy has rebounded thanks to rising commodity exports and an increase in household debt, which might encourage the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to leave raising interest rates on hold.
While you were sleeping
Donald Trump issued an updated travel ban. The revised executive order, which will take effect on Mar. 16, temporarily bans new US visas for travelers from Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, and Syria. In contrast to the previous presidential order, it exempts current visa holders, removes religious criteria, and takes Iraq off the banned countries list.
Snap fell from a great height. Shares plunged 12% to below $24, where the stock debuted last week. Although millennials showed the most interest in scooping up Snap stock, none of the analysts covering the company recommended buying it.
A US Navy ship had a close call with Iran. Several fast-attack Iranian boats unexpectedly approached the USNS Invincible, an unarmed radar tracking vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, and forced it to change course. The “unsafe” incident, which took place on Saturday, was disclosed by US officials on Monday.
Exxon Mobil is investing $20 billion in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil giant said it would expand chemical and refining plants at 11 separate sites. The move comes after Exxon wrote down its proven oil reserves by a staggering 19.3%, essentially erasing 3.5 billion barrels of reserves at Canada’s Kearl oil sands field.
Deutsche Bank asked investors for an $8.5 billion do-over. CEO John Cryan described the U-turn as the “brave step of admitting we were going in the wrong direction.” The bank reversed its decision to sell Postbank, scrapped plans to divide its investment banking and corporate banking units, and asked investors to approve a €8 billion ($8.5 billion) sale of new shares.
Quartz obsession interlude
Hanna Kozlowska on America’s mass incarceration crisis. “The story goes like this: The US prison population is ballooning because the ‘War on Drugs’ needlessly put countless drug offenders behind bars; non-violent felons are getting egregiously long sentences; [and] private prisons are a cancer on the system. But criminologist and law professor John Pfaff thinks … the ‘Standard Story’ of mass incarceration gets many things wrong.” Read more here.
Markets haiku
At last, doubt returns
To gullible investors
Let’s all thank the Fed
Matters of debate
Bill Gates’ proposal to tax robots is a bad one. Trying to offset jobs lost to technology will squeeze out many benefits and stifle innovation.
“Artificial intelligence” doesn’t mean anything anymore. Most systems aren’t sentient; they’re just software.
A US “Day Without a Woman” strike is tainted by privilege. Most women cannot afford to opt out of work, as organizers have urged.
Surprising discoveries
A Basque startup got in trouble for selling neon blue wine. It’s not one of the approved colors under EU oenological regulations.
Mercedes is making the world’s most expensive SUV. The Maybach G-Class 650 will cost a bracing $500,000.
India has a school just for grandmothers. They learn reading and math while donning bright pink fuchsia sarees.
A chatbot lawyer is now helping refugees… The software that overturned 160,000 parking tickets now files asylum applications.
…And MIT’s new robot can read your thoughts. It blushes when you think it made a mistake.
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