Historic Fed hike, Google’s car business, Japanese surname setback
Good morning, Quartz readers!
As the year comes to an end, we’re taking stock of everything we learned in 2015, from the prosaic to the profound. We’re inviting Quartz readers to answer this question: What do you know now that you didn’t know a year ago?
Let us know at [email protected], and some replies will be edited and published. Thanks!
What to watch for today
The EU meets in Brussels. On the agenda are sanctions against Russia, anti-terrorism efforts, and the UK’s demands over its continued membership. The two-day summit will end as leadersadopt “conclusions on Syria.”
A UN summit on terror funding. US Treasury secretary Jack Lew convenes a meeting of finance ministers from the UN Security Council, in an attempt to cut off financing to groups like the Islamic State.
Puerto Rico is out of time, again. An agreement between the island territory’s electric provider and its bondholders expires today, marking the third time the utility has extended its deadline to drum up support for a debt restructuring deal. Puerto Rico’s governor has warned of a default next year after a provision to ease bankruptcy laws was left out of a major US spending bill.
Bank of Japan talks interest rates. The central bank is expected to keep rates steady when it hold its monthly two-day policy meeting. Most economist think the BOJ is done boosting stimulus measures and will wait to see if economic growth picks up.
Earnings: Rite Aid will report earnings for the first time since news of its $9.4 billion acquisition by Walgreen Boots Alliance. Accenture, General Mills, Scholastic, and Winnebago also post results.
While you were sleeping
The Fed announced the biggest tiny rate hike in history. The US central bank raised its benchmark short-term interest rate by a quarter of a percent—the first hike in more than a decade, showing that “the economic recovery has clearly come a long way,” according to chairwoman Janet Yellen. US stocks rose on suggestions that the Fed would proceed slowly with future hikes.
The US cleared a massive weapons sale to Taiwan. US national security officials notified Congress of a $1.8 billion deal to sell ships, missiles, amphibious assault vehicles and other equipment to Taiwan, the first such deal in four years.The deal was strongly opposed by China, which considers Taiwan to be a rogue province.
The San Bernardino shooters didn’t talk on social media, after all. FBI director James Comey said Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik only communicated their murderous intentions in “direct, private messages.” He called earlier reports about jihadist social media postings—used by GOP presidential candidates to blast the Obama administration—a mistaken “garble.”
Alphabet will make self-driving cars in 2016. The Google parent company is expected to set up an independent business to make cars for a service that will compete with the likes of Uber and Lyft, Bloomberg reported. Google’s X Labs, where the car project began, hired veteran auto industry executive John Krafcik to run the business last year.
General Electric is giving $26 billion back to shareholders. The conglomerate announced $8 billion in dividends and $18 billion in stock buybacks as it moves forward with a transition away from finance and back to its industrial roots. Shares rose 2%, to their highest point in seven years.
Quartz obsession interlude
Quartz’s AI-powered Marvin Prime on the best Twitter bots of 2015: “Bots get a bad rap, in part because they are often confused with spam and aren’t particularly attractive to advertisers seeking human customers. Twitter, perhaps sensing those mixed feelings, also hasn’t done much to encourage or highlight bots on its platform. That’s a shame because bot makers, particularly the #botALLY community, are responsible for some of the most creative work on Twitter right now.” Read more here.
Market haiku
Seven years at ZIRP
Just like that, it’s all over
Now what do we do?
Matters of debate
A single word almost wrecked the Paris climate deal. US objections almost scuttled the deal before France smoothed things over.
The Fed rate hike isn’t the most important thing in the world. Long-term economic trends matter more than any one decision.
Japan is undermining its economy with an arcane surname law. Husbands and wives have to share the same last name—almost always the man’s.
Surprising discoveries
A man built a self-driving car in his garage. George Hotz, also the first person to hack an iPhone, wants to challenge Tesla and Google.
“Uhs” and “ums” help you communicate. Verbal fumbling help listeners recognize and remember the words that come after them.
Even women think men are more creative. Both genders associate creativity with stereotypically “masculine” traits.
Your attitude toward shapes can predict your political beliefs. Those less forgiving of imperfect circles and squares were found to be more conservative.
No one knows who owns Las Vegas’ newspaper. The identity of the person who bought Review-Journal on Monday is a closely guarded secret.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, AI-powered Twitter bots, and suggestive shapes to [email protected]. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day.