FIFA names names, Yum’s China spin-off, Australia’s “dollarydoos”
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What to watch for today
FIFA names corruption suspects. In an attempt to improve transparency, soccer’s embattled global governing body will publicly announce which of its officials are under internal investigation for corruption. The officials were given a one-day heads-up.
Ferrari goes public. The supercar manufacturer, which is selling a 10% stake on the NYSE, reportedly priced its offering at the top of a $48-52 per share range. Sources told CNBC that demand was “well oversubscribed,” as enthusiasts clamor for a way to own a piece of Ferrari that doesn’t involve shelling out €1 million ($1.14 million) for a hybrid LaFerrari.
Brazil and Canada stay high and low, respectively. Canada’s central bankers are likely to maintain the benchmark interest rate at 0.5% as the economy reels from low oil prices. Their Brazilian counterparts will probably keep their much higher 14.25% rate unchanged as well, in an attempt to bring down the country’s 9.49% inflation rate.
Ebay first post-Paypal results. The firm’s like-for-like revenues are expected to decline slightly amid intense competition from the likes of Amazon and Walmart. After spinning off Paypal, eBay’s new leaders are faced with the daunting task of figuring out how to retool an e-commerce pioneer. Other earnings include Credit Suisse, Coca Cola, Boeing, Amex, GM, and Texas Instruments.
Back to the Future Day. October 21, 2015 is the famous “destination time” in the classic time-travel trilogy, which envisioned the future as having wearable technology (check), drones (check), hoverboards (check, sort of). Amazon released all three movies for its Prime subscription members earlier this month, and many US movie theaters will have screenings.
While you were sleeping
Yum Brands cut its losses in China. The owner of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and KFC announced it will spin off its chain restaurants in China into a separately publicly traded company, after years of failed attempts to revive its fast-food chains on the mainland. Yum China will pay its former parent company a cut of sales for the exclusive rights to Yum’s outlets in China.
Blackstone bought Manhattan’s biggest apartment complex. The private equity giant will pay $5.3 billion for the 80-acre Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village. Blackstone will be required to charge affordable rent for 5,000 of the 11,000 apartments—traditionally home to middle-class New Yorkers—for the next 20 years.
United named an interim CEO. Brett Hart, United’s general counsel, will step in as acting chief executive of the world’s second largest airline, while CEO Oscar Munoz recovers from a heart attack. The decision to elevate Hart drew criticism from investors, who are anxious to know the company’s next steps.
Apple Music gained on Spotify. Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the streaming service has 15 million subscribers, up from 11 million in August. That still trails Spotify’s 20 million paying users by a considerable margin, but Spotify does have a seven year head start. Cook also revealed that the new Apple TV will ship at the end of the week.
Russian forces killed the leader of an anti-Assad group. Basil Zamo was the leader of the First Coastal Division, one of several rebel groups under the umbrella of the Free Syrian Army that are receiving US weapons and other support. Zamo, a former Syrian military officer, was killed in a Russian airstrike, along with four other fighters and 15 civilians.
Quartz obsession interlude
Nikhil Sonnad on the secret to creating perfect—and unforgettable—passwords. “A pair of computational linguists at the University of Southern California have a possible answer to your easy-to-hack habits. They set out to automatically generate unique passwords that are both easy for humans to remember and very difficult for computers to crack. They found inspiration from, of all things, poetry.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Payday loan companies get a bad rap. Stricter regulations may do more harm than good.
Silicon Valley’s diversity gap isn’t just about race and gender. Age bias is widespread and overlooked.
We need a new way to think about free will. Instead of IQ, a freedom quotient would measure our ability to shape our own lives.
Note to the Fed: Don’t trust the Phillips curve. The inverse relationship between inflation and unemployment doesn’t apply right now.
Parents should let children fail. Kids’ happiness should not be valued above competence and autonomy.
Surprising discoveries
Facial-recognition can detect depression. Depressed people use different muscles to smile.
High-tech brooms are changing the sport of curling. But some top Canadians refuse to use them.
Borders bookstores still exist in Malaysia. The chain went bankrupt in 2011 but its foreign franchisees live on.
Indonesia’s palm oil fires are climate change disasters. Thousands of burning peat fires emit more greenhouse gases than the entire United States.
Australians are petitioning to call their currency “dollarydoos.” The word was coined in a 1995 episode of The Simpsons .
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