Quartz Daily Brief—SAC $1B settlement, China GDP growth, GE earnings, sleeping away brain toxins
Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Massive SAC settlement. Steven Cohen’s hedge fund is reportedly close to agreeing on a fine of more than $1 billion to settle an insider trading case with federal prosecutors, according to the Wall Street Journal.
GE’s flat earnings. The US industrial conglomerate is trying to shift away from its once-lucrative finance arm and back to old-fashioned manufacturing, but a backlog of orders and low US demand are expected to produce a moribund quarter.
Bush fires rage across Australia. Hundreds of fires are burning near Sydney; one man has died, and there are fears that hundreds of homes have been destroyed.
San Francisco rail workers are on strike. Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) employees walked off the job after negotiations with management over pay broke down; the commute will be even tougher in one of the US’s most traffic-clogged cities.
Bank of America may prohibit overdrafts. The lender could introduce a new checking account forbidding customers to withdraw more money than they actually have, eating into the billions of dollars of overdraft fees it collects each year.
While you were sleeping
China’s economy bounced back. Third-quarter GDP rose 7.8% thanks to a major injection of government spending on things like transportation infrastructure, clearing the path for the country to easily meet its 7.5% annual target. Spurred by the positive numbers, global stock markets hit a five-year high.
Bankers without bonuses. Dutch co-op lender Rabobank voluntarily abolished bonuses for its executive board, saying they are “no longer compatible with the economic role Rabobank plays in Dutch society.”
Saudi Arabia rejected a seat on the UN Security Council. It cited the Syrian civil war and Israeli-Palestinian conflict as evidence that the 15-country body is incapable of resolving global conflicts.
Silk Road’s main competitor closed. Black Market Reloaded shut down indefinitely following a data breach that could reveal the owner’s identity.
Edward Snowden left his classified documents behind. The ex-National Security Agency contractor said he gave the secret materials to journalists, ensuring the files were safe from Russian spies.
Starbucks bashing in China. State media criticized its higher coffee prices compared to other countries. But as Quartz readers know, Starbucks in China doesn’t really sell coffee—it rents couches.
Sands China beat estimates. Sheldon Adelson’s Macau casino operator reported strong third quarter earnings thanks to growth in the world’s biggest gambling hub.
Quartz obsession interlude
Chris Mims on the giant coffee machine that could be the robot barista of the future. ”The Briggo coffee kiosk knows how to make a perfect coffee because it was ‘trained’ by an award-winning barista, Patrick Pierce. He’s since left the company, but no matter: as in the techno-utopian Singularity, whose adherents believe that some day we will all upload our brains to computers, once a barista’s essence has been captured by Briggo, his human form is just a legacy system.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Assange and Snowden need mainstream media validation. But the new Greenwald-Omidyar news venture could change how public knowledge is disseminated.
Only a few countries are teaching children how to think. “Smart-kid countries” like Poland and Finland demand the most from their students.
How to create more competition in the audit business. The Big Four dominate—Deloitte has audited Procter & Gamble since 1890—but change could be on the way.
Are currency markets flawed, or fraudulent? Why regulators around the world fear traders are manipulating exchange rates.
Surprising discoveries
Jeff Bezos has a human shadow. Promising executives at Amazon are assigned to follow him everywhere.
A “bionic man” made his debut in the US… The walking, talking $1 million robot is comprised of 28 artificial body parts, including lungs, a circulatory system, and a spleen.
…While France opened a robotic petting zoo where visitors can caress multicolored, animatronic tentacles.
KFC’s popularity isn’t about spices. The secret to fried chicken success lies in the art of pressure frying.
Sleep may clean our brains. Research shows cerebral spinal fluid washes around the brains of slumbering mice, eliminating biological waste products.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, lunar eclipse sightings and pressure frying recipes to [email protected]. You can follow us on Twitter here for updates during the day.