Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The European Central Bank weighs in. With the French election imminent, the ECB is not expected to make any major moves. Traders will watch for any shifts in the bank’s assessment of the euro zone economy and hints about future tapering of its quantitive easing program.
A big day for tech earnings. Analysts expect Alphabet, Google’s parent company, to post an impressive 21% increase in revenue to $20 billion, though they’ll also be watching for signs (paywall) that advertisers are abandoning YouTube. Microsoft and Amazon will also report quarterly results.
Shinzo Abe sits down with Vladimir Putin. North Korea will be on the agenda when the Russian and Japanese leaders meet in Moscow—but so will sea urchin and scallop cultivation in the islands off the coast of Hokkaido that are claimed by both countries.
While you were sleeping
Donald Trump pulled a 180 on NAFTA. Shortly after news leaked that Trump would end US participation in the North American Free Trade Agreement, the president announced that the White House would merely “renegotiate” its terms with Canada and Mexico. Cue a collective sigh of relief (paywall) from the Mexican peso and Canadian dollar.
United said it would offer bumped fliers up to $10,000. In an effort to calm the huge public backlash after a passenger was violently dragged off a United flight on April 9, the airline announced a policy overhaul that also includes a reduction in overbookings and fewer law enforcement personnel on its aircraft.
Airbus profits nosedived. The world’s second-biggest planemaker reported a 50% drop in first-quarter profit as it grappled with higher production costs, engine problems in the new A320neo passenger plane, and lingering fallout from its problem-riddled A400 military aircraft. Rival Boeing may be gloating—it celebrated a 19% jump in its first-quarter profit yesterday.
Angry Venezuela said it would pull out of OAS. After members of the Organization of American States agreed to meet and discuss the country’s plight, Venezuela accused it of meddling and vowed to start the withdrawal process. Around 30 people have been killed in the last month of protests against president Nicolás Maduro’s government.
Hot chips! Samsung had its best quarter in three years. Robust performance in its components division spurred the South Korean company to operating profits of 7.68 trillion won ($6.8 billion). Samsung rejected demands from US activist investor Elliott to split itself in two, but offered to pay its first-ever quarterly dividend and cancel tens of billions of dollars in treasury shares.
Quartz obsession interlude
Katherine Foley on how science got it wrong about fat: “In an article published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers from the UK and California reviewed all the existing studies about cholesterol and heart disease. Based on all the published literature, ‘the conceptual model of dietary saturated fat clogging a pipe is just plain wrong,’ they write.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Kim Jong-un is acting rationally. He’s doing what it takes to stave off a military coup or a popular uprising—both of which would upend the regime.
Pre-muddied expensive jeans are a symptom of “the war on work.” For $425, the wealthy don’t have to get their hands or pants dirty.
Getting fired is worse than bereavement or divorce. Research found that employees who were sacked never bounced back to the same level of mental well-being.
Surprising discoveries
Donald Trump has a special red button to request a soda. The Oval Office device is not to be confused with the one that could start a nuclear war.
Historically, queens were more likely to wage war than kings. And married queens were more bellicose than unmarried ones.
Amazon’s new gadget judges your fashion sense, or lack thereof. The $200 Echo camera uses machine learning to analyze your clothing choices.
Humans may have arrived in the Americas 130,000 years ago. Controversial research posits that people lived in California 115,000 years earlier than is commonly accepted.
Baby whales whisper to their mothers. The faint squeaks and grunts are designed to prevent eavesdropping by predatory orcas.
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