đ Binance decides to bounce
Good morning, Quartz readers!
Hereâs what you need to know
Binance wonât be buying FTX after all. A review of the books made the crypto platform reverse course on rescuing its collapsed rival, triggering a slide in the crypto market.
Meta announced it will cut over 11,000 jobs. Facebookâs parent company is slashing 13% of its staff amid low growth and falling ad revenue.
Russia is withdrawing from a key Ukrainian city. Troops have been ordered to leave Kherson, which was annexed in September, marking another win for Ukraineâs counteroffensive.
Germany stopped the sale of a chip factory to a Chinese-owned company. The âŹ85 million ($85 million) deal to sell Elmos Semiconductor to a Swedish subsidiary of Chinaâs Sai Microelectronics was blocked over security concerns.
Adani Ports & SEZ will buy a 49% stake in Indian Oiltanking. Indiaâs largest transport utility will pay âč10.5 billion ($129 million) to seal the deal as it seeks to diversify its cargo operations.
Franceâs Sanofi agreed on a tie-up with Hong Kongâs Insilico. The pharmaceutical and biotech companies signed a $1.2 billion partnership focused on AI-driven drug research.
COP27 focused on climate finance. UN experts flagged projects investors can fund to help poor countries to cope with climate change, including a $3 billion Lesotho-Botswana water transfer scheme.
Keep up with the latest news about humanityâs future by signing up for our limited email series, Need to Know: COP27.
What to watch for
As Thanksgiving day approaches on Nov. 24, Americans shopping for one of the most elaborate meals of the year will be feeling the impact of decades-high inflation.
The US consumer price index (CPI) soared 8.2% over the last year, and 0.4% in September, topping the 0.3% forecast by economists. But that report did have one bright spotâthe prices of some goods are starting to calm the heck down.
As we wait for the Office for National Statisticsâ release of October CPI on Thursday (Nov. 10), weâre taking a look at how the price of five Thanksgiving staples has changed since 2020. Can you guess what itemâs (or category of itemsâ) price changes are reflected in this chart?
Hint: Of all the Thanksgiving staples we researched, the items depicted in this chart have witnessed the steepest increase in prices since the pandemic, due to disruptions in the availability of their base ingredients. Get hints, find out the answer, and tackle other mystery charts while you procrastinate on planning Thanksgiving Inflation Feast, if you celebrate.
Thanks for the sweet coat, US dollar!
The strong dollar is making luxury goods much cheaper in Europe than in China and even the US. While currencies are always fluctuating, the dollarâs steep rise is distorting retailer prices dramatically. Investors have been buying up greenbacks as reserves during volatile times, and the US Federal Reserve has kept raising interest rates to slow inflation. Year to date, the euro is down 11% vs. the dollar, while the British pound lost 16%.
Humans, not math, are whatâs flummoxing brands. If they donât raise prices in places like Europe, where goods have become unusually cheap, it could train tourist shoppers to always expect a discount. But with high inflation, passing on price increases to customers would be untenable as well.
Cutting prices in the US is not an option for luxury houses either because it could damage companiesâ reputations with American customers. So, Europeans, enjoy the unintentional sale while it lasts.
The global economics behind Americaâs fentanyl problem
As opioids go, fentanyl is cheaper, easier to make and transport, and 30-50 times more powerful than heroin. And while the US struggles with its omnipresenceâsynthetic opioids were linked to more than 70,000 drug overdose deaths in the US in 2021âfentanyl is much less of an issue in the rest of the world.
Quartzâs Annalisa Merelli explores the economics of the fentanyl supply chain and explains why the law-enforcement approach to opioids has only strengthened their foothold.
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Surprising discoveries
A guy made himself eat a biblical number of rotisserie chickens. The âPhiladelphia Chicken Man,â reportedly, did not enjoy consuming 40 birds 40 days in a row.
More creepy crawlies were found in the deep ocean. Among them is a gooey-looking eel and a ravioli-shaped, surprised-looking relative to the anglerfish.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is now the #1 game sold in Japan. Itâs sold over 10.45 million copiesâTom Nook would be proud.
France wants parking lots to soak up more sunshine. A solar panel covering will be mandatory for lots that can park 80 vehicles or more.
One of the oldest sentences known to humankind was written about head lice. A Canaanite comb from 17,000 BCE reads: âMay this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard!â
Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, and commentsâmay this email root out the lice of the hair and the beard!âto [email protected]. Reader support makes Quartz available to allâbecome a member. Todayâs Daily Brief was brought to you by Tiffany Ap, Ananya Bhattacharya, Sofia Lotto Persio, Julia Malleck, and Susan Howson.