đ Musktweets strike again
Good morning, Â Quartz readers!
Hereâs what you need to know
Elon Musk stayed tethered to his âTwitter sitter.â A federal judge rejected a request to end the 2018 Securities and Exchange Commission settlement that requires Musk to get his tweets approved by a Tesla lawyer. Meanwhile, Tesla shares slid further on Muskâs bid to buy Twitter, and his tweets about Twitter put him on shaky ground.
A Russian ammunition depot near Ukraineâs border caught fire. It was the latest incident to affect Russian military facilities as forces continued to bear down on Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol.
Shanghai covid cases dropped as Beijingâs rose. Shanghai authorities have indicated plans for the easing of restrictions while Beijing continues mass testing to combat the emergence of omicron.
Boeing had a weak first quarter. The airplane manufacturer posted a $1.5 billion loss as it struggled against higher costs and production delays.
Meta shares jumped on positive earnings. The social media giantâs first-quarter results surpassed analystsâ expectations, and its stock rose by more than 18% in after-hours trading.
Myanmarâs Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to five years on corruption charges. The politician, who was ousted last year in a military coup, denies that she accepted bribes from a former political ally.
What to watch for
Today, Apple, Amazon, and Twitter report earnings, marking the grand finale of a week-long extravaganza of big tech financial disclosures. So far, the mood on the calls with investors has not been celebratory. Last week, Netflix watched its stock drop 35% after announcing it lost subscribers in the first quarter. In fact, dropping tech stocks are responsible for about half of the S&P 500âs decline in 2022.
But todayâs tech earnings could give investors something to cheer about. Apple is expected to report strong iPhone sales, despite supply chain challenges. Although Amazonâs e-commerce sales may be growing more slowly than in years past, Amazon Web Services should continue to shine. And even though Twitter is expected to post lackluster numbers in what could be its last earnings report as a publicly traded company, investors wonât be too concerned now that Elon Musk has finalized a deal to buy out their shares.
The (full-blown) pandemic is over in the US
The US may still be logging around 47,000 covid-19 cases each day, but White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci suggested the country is turning a corner on the pandemic. In an interview with the Washington Post, Fauci said the US is âout of the full-blown explosive pandemic phase,â and seems to be moving to a point where cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are much lower, and controllable.
Meanwhile, US president Joe Biden is still pushing Congress for more covid-19 funding after a bipartisan deal stalled on Capitol Hill. A recent Senate package dropped nearly all funding intended to stop the coronavirus from spreading overseas, however, and vaccination rates in the poorest parts of the world remain much lower than in wealthy nations, including the US.
Most people in the US have been infected with covid-19, and nearly 1 million Americans have died after testing positive for the virus.
What does anything even mean anymore?
Unless youâre Elon Muskâor heck, maybe especially if youâre Elon Muskâmaintaining momentum can be a struggle. Even mission-driven business professionals sometimes need help finding and preserving purpose in a profit-driven world, much less getting others in their organization aligned.
Register for free for How to find meaning at work, next up in our Quartz at Work (from anywhere) series. Join us Thursday, April 28, 2022 at 11am-12pm EDT (3-4pm GMT) and hear from our speakers:
Marty Rodgers, market unit lead, US South, Accenture (event sponsor)
Priscila Bala, CEO, LifeLabs Learning
Kerry Chandler, chief people officer, Bombas
Amir Nathoo, CEO and co-founder, Outschool
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Surprising discoveries
MIT engineers have invented paper-thin loudspeakers. The film-like speakers are energy efficient and produce high-quality sound.
Plans for the worldâs first floating city were unveiled at the UN. âOceanix Busanâ in South Korea will be a fully sustainable, floating community that can accommodate 12,000 people.
A 300-year-old Italian violin will soon be up for auction. This âda Vinciâ of stringed instruments could sell for as much as $10.6 million.
A Singapore startup is turning tofu wastewater into soy wine. The drink, made by SinFooTech, is called âSachiâ and contains 5.8% alcohol.
The US could mint a trillion-dollar coin to wipe out its debt. But thatâs not quite how national debt works. Learn why in the latest episode of the Quartz Obsession podcast.
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Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, the da Vinci of sandwiches, and tofu wine to [email protected]. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our iOS app and becoming a member. Todayâs Daily Brief was brought to you by Julia Malleck, NicolĂĄs Rivero, Susan Howson, Courtney Vinopal, and Morgan Haefner.