Mese: ottobre 2017

Euro-zone GDP, #Samsung soars, #AI horror stories

Good morning, Quartz readers!

WHAT TO WATCH FOR TODAY

The EU publishes an initial estimate of GDP growth. Analysts expect the euro-zone economy expanded 0.5% in the third quarterfrom the second. With economic sentiment high after a decade of malaise, the European Central Bank last week announced it will begin to gently dismantle the emergency stimulus it’s been providing.

Australia shuts down a refugee detention center. Fearing for their safety outside, hundreds of asylum seekers are refusing to leave the country’s controversial Manus Island facility in Papua New Guinea, even as authorities plan to cut off water, food, and power supplies. Refugees report being assaulted by local residents.

A flurry of earnings reports. Among the companies sharing their numbers today (pdf) are MasterCard, Aetna, Mosaic, Electronic Arts, Devon Energy, Archer Daniels Midland, and Under Armour. The last is expected to report slower sales growth as it loses ground to German rival Adidas.

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

China and South Korea agreed to shelve the dispute over THAAD. The two countries, each set to host Trump early next month,will restore a relationship that was strained by South Korea allowing the deployment of the US missile shield on its soil. Beijing said it still had concerns about the system but didn’t see South Korea as a strategic threat.

New Zealand said it will ban foreigners from buying existing homes. Making good on one of her campaign pledges, new prime minister Jacinda Ardern said, “We are determined to make it easier for Kiwis to buy their first home, so we are stopping foreign speculators buying houses and driving up prices.” The new rules, which won’t apply to Australians, will start early next year.

Apple is designing iPhones that would jettison Qualcomm components. The tech giant could make the devices only with modem chips from Intel or possibly MediaTek, reported the Wall Street Journal (paywall). Qualcomm has reportedly withheld testing software following a lawsuit in January, in which Apple said Qualcomm uses its market dominance to block competitors.

Samsung Electronics notched another stellar performance.After hitting record operating profit in the second quarter, the company did even better in the third with $12.9 billion, thanks to soaring memory chip earnings. The strong showing came despite turmoil at the top level of the company.

QUARTZ OBSESSION INTERLUDE

Zheping Huang on China blocking the world’s hottest video game. “[Authorities] compared PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and similar survival games with ancient Rome’s gladiator battles, saying the violently competitive spirit behind them is ‘against our country’s core socialist values and the Chinese nation’s traditional cultural behaviors and moral principles, and bad for teenagers’ physical and mental health.’” Read more here.

MATTERS OF DEBATE

Trump is turning the Fed into a reality show. His selection process disrespects the institution and undercuts his eventual pick—reportedly Fed governor Jerome Powell.

Changing the topic won’t work for sexual harassers. Actor Kevin Spacey’s pivot to discuss his own sexuality is offensive—and it didn’t save House of Cards from cancellation.

Do robots have free speech? The Russian-backed bots that influenced the 2016 election raise a host of questions about who and what qualifies for constitutional protections.

QUARTZ ANNOUNCEMENT

New Orleans is more than parades and parties—it’s home to the fastest-growing tech conference in America. Come to Collision on April 30-May 3, 2018 and meet the biggest founders and investors in tech. Last year’s attendees included leaders at Facebook, WeWork, FanDuel, Intel Capital, Benchmark Capital, Cisco, eBay, Credit Karma, and Mozilla—oh, and Wyclef. Enter herefor the chance to go for free—airfare and hotel included.

SURPRISING DISCOVERIES

The alt-right is creating its own language. Quartz analyzedbillions of comments to define terms like “hypergamy,” “femoids,” and “meeks.”

Google is fixing its inaccurate cheeseburger. CEO Sundar Pichai said the company “will drop everything” to address the Android emoji that stacks the cheese beneath the burger.

There’s a planet where it snows sunscreen. Titanium dioxide, the active ingredient in sunblock, falls from the sky on Kepler-13Ab, a scorching-hot planet six times the size of Jupiter.

Japan’s Halloween is a celebration of cuteness and grossness. From pumpkin decorations to faux-moldy hamburgers, the holiday is now bigger than Valentine’s Day and second only to Christmas.

An AI learned to write horror stories. “Shelley” generates spooky, off-putting plots after studying 140,000 original horror posts from Reddit.

Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, flawed emoji, and sunscreen snow to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or downloadour apps for iPhone and Android.

Bespoke Brunch Reads: 10/28/17

Good Morning!
Below is our “Bespoke Brunch Reads” linkfest featuring some of our favorite articles from the past week.

Rethinkings

Public Policy After Utopia by Will Wilkinson (Niskanen Center)

A case for evidenced-based policy making and an eschewing of “the perfect world” that radicals of all kinds think they can achieve, but are often unable to show would actually move forward their goals. [Link]

A Peek at Future Jobs Shows Growing Economic Divides by Ben Casselman (NYT)

Huge swathes of the country have employment landscapes dominated by jobs that are estimated to shrink by 2026 per new BLS data. [Link; soft paywall]

Investing

The Morningstar Mirage by Kirsten Grind, Tom McGinty and Sarah Krouse (WSJ)

Investors flock to funds that receive a coveted five star rating from Morningstar, but returns don’t tend to be much higher for funds with more stars. [Link; paywall]

Inflation

How I Accidentally Stiffed My Poor Venezuelan Waiter by Stephen Merelman (Bloomberg)

When the amount of cash you need to accomplish daily tasks rises into the “grocery bags” denomination, even tipping becomes a major challenge. [Link]

The Lighter Side

So This Happened in Our Comments Section Today by Nancy Wartik (NYT)

Never read the comments, except for this one. [Link; soft paywall]

Blockchain

This Company Added the Word ‘Blockchain’ to Its Name and Saw Its Shares Surge 394% by Lisa Pham (Bloomberg)

A company with little to offer got investors to bid up its shares by almost 4x on a simply name change, in case you’re wondering what sentiment around cryptocurrencies looks like. [Link]

Backed by Dollar Scarcity, Price of Bitcoin Caps $10,000 in Zimbabwe by William P (Crypto Analyst)

The exchange which services Zimbabwe has seen an explosion in local prices for bitcoin, driven by huge domestic demand and a lack of arbitrage. [Link]

Tech Dystopia

The 12 Most Desperate Stunts Cities Have Pulled To Woo Amazon’s New H.Q. by Maya Kosoff (Vanity Fair)

Buying (and reviewing!) 1000 separate items, Spotify playlists, noisemeters at hockey games, a 21 foot cactus, free sandwiches, and more. [Link]

Elon Musk Was Wrong About Self-Driving Teslas by Tom Randall (Bloomberg)

Tesla owners are suing over a feature that hasn’t lived up to its much-hyped debut buzz last year, and doesn’t show any sign of being ready soon. [Link]

New Chatbots Will Help People Accept Death by Jordan Pearson (Vice)

While chatbots are proving helpful for people unaware of basic legal and medical planning for the end of their lives, they’re not going to be providing much in terms of spiritual guidance any time soon. [Link]

Food & Drink

‘Fish Fraud’ Is Rampant. Here’s How to Fix It by Elizabeth Dunn (WSJ)

As much as one third of US seafood is mislabeled, and with 90% it imported there’s lots of room for standards in the market to propagate better practices elsewhere around the world. [Link; paywall]

World wine production ‘to hit 50-year low’ (BBC)

+15% declines in Italy, Spain, and France brought about by weather mean global grape growth has slowed dramatically. Australia and Argentina will be up while the US crop should be little changed (forest fires in California came after most of the harvest). [Link]

The Thing About Bisquick by Alia Akkam (Taste Cooking)

For our two cents, biscuits don’t need anything more than flour, milk, butter, baking powder, and a bit of honey. But Bisquick is defensible if only for its time saving properties. [Link]

Long Reads

Under The Darkest Sky by Jasmina Keleman (Roads And Kingdoms)

In wide open Texas, the limitless night skies are in need of conservation; not against traditional threats to visibility, but from the even more pernicious footprint of human civilization, light. [Link]

How Martin Luther Changed The World by Joan Acocella (The New Yorker)

While the man who launched the Reformation probably never nailed his 95 Theses to a church door, he was still a fascinating and truly revolutionary character who has deeply shaped our modern world. [Link]

Have a great Sunday!

TPP talks resume, US election-probe arrests, interstellar comet

Good morning, Quartz readers!

WHAT TO WATCH FOR TODAY

The revival of TPP talks. The US pulled out of the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, but the chief negotiators from the remaining 11 nations are meeting in Japan and aim to move forward. They hope to finish the last stages of negotiation this week and reach a broad agreement at next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Vietnam.

The first arrests in the US’s 2016 election probe. The FBI’s investigation into Russian meddling in the last presidential election could bear its first public fruit. A grand jury assembled by FBI special counsel Robert Mueller’s office approved charges against individuals on Friday; they could be taken into custody as soon as today.

Iceland starts to form a new government. After a snap election this weekend, neither prime minister Bjarni Benediktsson’s Independence Party nor any other won a majority in parliament. Today leaders from eight parties that won seats will meet individually with president Gudni Johannesson, who will decide who gets the first crack at trying to assemble a government—but coalition negotiations could take months.

OVER THE WEEKEND

The Spanish government sacked Catalonia’s leaders. Over 140 people were dismissed early Saturday (paywall) as part of Spain’s takeover of the region, and a vote has been scheduled for Dec. 21 to replace the elected officials removed. In the region’s capital Barcelona, hundreds of thousands marched for a unified Spain yesterday, highlighting the divisions within Catalonia.

Nikon plans to close a digital camera factory because of competition from smart phones. The Nikkei reported that the plant(paywall) in China churns out entry-level devices, while the global market for compact digital cameras has shrunk to a tenth of its peak within the past decade. The company projects a sharp drop in the sale of such cameras this year.

HSBC reported strong earnings with help from Asia. The bank reported a pretax profit of $4.6 billion in the third quarter, up from $843 million in the same period a year ago, thanks in part to its expanding marketshare in Asia. The year-ago period was affected by a one-off loss from the sale of its Brazilian unit, and adverse foreign currency movements.

Whitefish’s $300 million Puerto Rico contract was canceled.The Puerto Rico Power Authority nixed a contract to rebuild the island’s energy grid at governor Ricardo Rossello’s urging. The unfavorable terms raised questions about how Whitefish got the deal, as did the company’s apparent ties to the Trump administration, which tried to distance itself from the affair.

An explosion killed at least 27 people in Mogadishu. Two car bombs exploded on Saturday just outside the Nasa Hablod Two Hotel—two weeks after the city was hit with the deadliest car bombings in Somalia’s modern history, which killed over 275. Al-Shabaab, the local branch of al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility.

QUARTZ OBSESSION INTERLUDE

Annalisa Merelli on the US’s maternal mortality rate. “On that May day, she joined one of the US’s most shameful statistics. With an estimated 26.4 deaths for every 100,000 live births in 2015, America has the highest maternal mortality rate of all industrialized countries… While most of the world has drastically reduced maternal mortality in the past three decades, the US is one of just a handful of countries where the problem worsened.” Read more here.

MATTERS OF DEBATE

Underwater gates will save New York. A nonprofit wants the city toput a series of massive underwater gates in New York Harbor, echoing the work of Dutch and UK governments, to prevent flooding.

Daylight savings time is massively disruptive. It’s only an hour, but it could make you cranky, and even dangerous.

A “millionaire’s tax” is not the answer to US tax reform.Republicans should argue it makes more sense to close the loopholes and subsidies that distort economic decisions (paywall).

SURPRISING DISCOVERIES

Scientists think they saw the first “interstellar comet” from beyond our solar system. Astronomers have waited decades to see the object they have dubbed A/2017 U1.

Kazakhstan may soon become Qazaqstan. The country’s president signed a decree swapping its 42-letter Cyrillic alphabet to a32-letter Latin alphabet, to be fully implemented by 2025.

The tea-infusing business had its own Juicero. Teforia, a $1,000 internet-of-things device that brews loose-leaf tea, had its price slashed to $199 after the company went belly-up on Friday.

China could turn its western desert into “California.” Chinese scientists hope to build a 1,000-km (621-mile) tunnel to divert a Tibetan river into an arid region in Xinjiang, turning it into an agricultural mecca.

Martin Luther mailed it, not nailed it. The German monk behind the Protestant Reformation likely never nailed his 95 theses to a church door, historians believe. Instead, he mailed them to a Catholic archbishop.

Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, tea machines, and holy snail-mail to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android.

Weekend edition—Princess Moana, free-range humans, nuclear weapons

Good morning, Quartz readers!

America’s next election is just a year away, and the country is still picking up the pieces from the last one.

This coming week, lawyers from Facebook, Twitter, and Google will tell the US Congress and the public how their platforms were used by Russian accounts to spread fear, hate, and division before last November’s presidential vote. While they’re testifying in the US, what they’re saying should resonate from Europe to Africa to Asia, where local elections have been marred by foreign propaganda spread on social media.

We’re at the early stages of the US grappling with how social media may have been weaponized by a foreign government. The next step after companies try to publicly defend themselves should be the unsettling process of examining how your relatives, your neighbors, your high school classmates, and yes, even you yourself, might have been targeted or manipulated.

But there’s no way to do that. These information giants are unilaterally disappearing the evidence—pulling down whole pages andeliminating accounts linked to Russian users. When news organization have unearthed individual examples, social media companies are wiping them from the internet. Some members of Congress are pushing the companies to make these messages public, but they’re resisting.

These companies are also hoping to avoid heavy regulation, by writing new rules themselves. Twitter said this week it would stop taking advertising dollars from Russian state media, and Facebookrolled out new political ad guidelines that include identifying who they reached, and keeping an archive of federal election ads that goes back years. (That won’t include the Russian propaganda targeted to US voters in 2016, however—the archive starts now. )

Trying to eliminate the evidence of wrongdoing while strengthening rules to prevent it in the future is an understandable corporate reaction. But it doesn’t take into account how intertwined Facebook, Twitter, and Google are in voter’s lives. Americans need to be able to see for themselves what was used to try to divide us, or else it could happen again.

The next test is coming fast—there are 34 Senate seats and all 435 in the House up for grabs in Nov. 2018.—Heather Timmons

WEEKEND WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

What’s being said about Robert Mueller’s indictments in the Trump-Russia probe

FIVE THINGS ON QUARTZ WE ESPECIALLY LIKED

One school can teach a nation. A poor, multi-ethnic school on the eastern fringes of London has overcome austerity and changing demographics to produce some of the nation’s top-performing students. Aamna Mohdin returned to the school, which she attended as a refugee from war-torn Somalia, and asks, might my school hold lessons for how a post-brexit Britain can heal its fractured communities?

🎵 How far we’ve come. 🎵 Preeti Varathan responds to a viral essayby a white mother agonizing over her daughter’s desire to dress up as Moana, a Polynesian Disney princess, for Halloween. Varathan, who is South Indian and once got to live out her childhood dream of dressing up as Rapunzel for the holiday, argues for letting children dress up as heroes from another race, and provides practical tips for doing so in a way that’s thoughtful, culturally sensitive, and instructive for children—and their parents.

The White House held a fancy party. Heather Timmons reportedon disgruntlement over the $8,000 party the White House held for its homeland security nominee. As a direct result, a Congressional committee has called for an investigation.

What should a robot wear in the 21st century? You might think JiaJia, a Chinese-built robot, would sport black leather, Lycra, form-fitting jumpsuits, and synthetics. But the astonishingly true-to-life humanoid instead donned white embroidered robes and an elaborate hairstyle in an exhibit in Shanghai this spring. While she didn’t impress AI experts and techies, she left many in China breathless at her beauty. Tripti Lahiri dives deep on the theory behind the robot’s fashion choices, and unearths a puzzling fact: Robots in Asia have human stylists.

This Twitter account hunts for bots that push political opinions. Keith Collins built a service to ferret out the social media astroturfing that Russians and others used to influence the 2016 US presidential election. That loving mother from Langhorne, PA who just wants to see a better world for her grandchildren? Fake news.

Bonus: The Nostalgia Economy. Quartz Ideas ran a series of articles on how nostalgia shapes our world: Paul Smalera on whether your idealized past ever even existed. Adrienne Matei on the etymology of wistful pain. Eileen Reinhard on rock ‘n roll becoming the stuff of academia. Ben Ho on how Hollywood manipulates us with our childhood memories. Jessica Furseth on why millennials love vintage brands. Richard E. Ocejo on why every cool guy wants to be a butcher or a bartender all of a sudden. And James Gleick on how the physics of time travel isn’t just sci-fi.

QUARTZ ANNOUNCEMENT

Collision is back. America’s fastest-growing tech conference is descending upon New Orleans on April 30-May 3—conveniently timed in between the two weekends of Jazz Fest. Come talk shop with the biggest founders and investors in tech, then boogie down with some of the world’s biggest musical acts. We’re offering a chance to attend Collision for free (that includes airfare and flights, too). Enter here.

FIVE THINGS ELSEWHERE THAT MADE US SMARTER

Desperate cancer patients are making their own miracle drugs at home. When out of medical options from their providers, some terminally-ill cancer patients have started making their own immunotherapies in borrowed lab space, Kristen Brown writes for Gizmodo. Most physicians agree that making these sometimes dangerous DIY drugs at home probably won’t work—but they can’t do anything to stop them from trying.

War games. How many nukes will the US have left in the event it needs to decimate North Korea, Iran, Russia, China, and others at the same time? In a striking visual presentation, the New York Times Editorial Board explores this grim scenario by illustrating the incredible size of the US nuclear battery through the context of destruction. It’s display that hits you with cinematic punch: Is this really what it take for Americans to feel safe?

Free-range humans will save the planet. All manner of mammals, birds, trees, insects, and microbes have become stronger because of contact with migrating homo sapiens, contrarian scientist Chris Thomas tells Nautilus for a revealing Q and A in which he posits that the path to true conservation will be cleared only when we stop cordoning off nature from people.

One of the wealthiest families in the US made a fortune on the opioid crisis. The epidemic, which has killed hundreds of thousands since 2000, was created in part by a massive marketing effort by Purdue Pharma, which produces OxyContin. The New England-based company is owned by the Sackler family, which has donated millions to medical groups, the arts, and universities. Patrick Radden Keefe, writing for the New Yorker (paywall) explains the complicated history of a family that has been so generous, yet is also tied to gross addiction and death.

A tale of two economies. Bridgewater hedge fund founder Ray Dalio argues on LinkedIn that the plight of the middle class American is unknowable via “average” statistics. He cuts the economy in two to prove it, and what follows is a grim picture—the bottom 60%, the vast majority of Americans, see flat or falling household incomes, are unlikely to save or contribute to retirement accounts, and die at increasing rates. “The average man,” meanwhile, sees flat mortality, rising wealth and income, and more and more spending on education. Why are the numbers so misleading? The top 40% now have 10 times as much wealth as the bottom 60%.

Our best wishes for a relaxing but thought-filled weekend. Please send any news, comments, free-range humans, and Disney princess costumes to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter here for updates throughout the day, or download our apps for iPhone andAndroid.

CWS Market Review – October 27, 2017

CWS Market Review

October 27, 2017
“Selling your winners and holding your losers is like cutting the
flowers and watering the weeds.” – Peter Lynch

We’re now at the high tide of earnings season, and it’s been a good one for us. So far, we’ve had 13 Buy List earnings reports, and 12 have beaten Wall Street’s estimates.

This week, we had nine earnings reports. I’ll summarize them all in this week’s newsletter. I’ll also preview five more earnings coming next week. There’s a lot to get to, so let’s dive right in.

Sherwin-Williams Beat and Raised Guidance

Let’s start with Tuesday. We had two earnings reports on Tuesday morning. The earnings report from Sherwin-Williams (SHW) is a bit confusing, so I’ll try to clear it up. For Q3, the company earned $3.33 per share, but that figure includes $1.42 per share in acquisition costs. That means Sherwin made $4.75 per share from continuing operations, which beat Wall Street’s estimate of $4.67 per share. Sherwin’s EBITDA from continuing ops is up 9.6% this year, to $1.70 billion.

Sherwin previously said to expect adjusted earnings between $4.80 and $5.20 per share. However, the company estimates that the hurricanes dinged last quarter’s sales by $50 million and EPS by 27 cents per share. Considering all that, this was a decent quarter.

Now for guidance. SHW sees Q4 ranging between $1.97 and $2.27 per share. Adding back 98 cents in acquisition costs, that comes to $2.95 to $3.25 per share.

For all of 2017, Sherwin expects earnings between $11.20 and $11.50 per share. Adding in costs, the range is $14.85 to $15.15 per share. That’s an increase of five cents per share at both ends from their previous guidance. Overall, this was a good quarter for Sherwin. The stock broke out to a new high on Thursday. This week, I’m raising my Buy Below on Sherwin-Williams to $417 per share.

For Q3, Wabtec (WAB) earned 88 cents per share. That beat Wall Street’s estimate of 84 cents per share. I said before that I wanted to see signs of improvement here, and it looks like we got them. Some stats:

Cash from operations was $40 million for the third quarter. For the first nine months of 2017, cash from operations decreased compared to the same period of 2016, mainly due to an increase in working capital.

At Sept. 30, the company had cash of $228 million and debt of $1.9 billion. Total debt was 6 percent lower than at the end of the second quarter.

Wabtec’s multi-year backlog rose 2% to a record $4.5 billion. Their 12-month backlog is up 5% to $2.2 billion, also a record.

Wabtec now expects full-year revenue of $3.8 billion, and EPS between $3.45 and $3.50 per share. That’s a reduction from their previous guidance of $3.55 to $3.70 per share, but I believe the newer figure includes a charge of 18 cents per share.

Shares of WAB gapped up to $82 on Tuesday, but pulled back to $76 later this week. I’m relieved by this report. The stock remains a buy up to $81 per share.

In last week’s issue, I said that Express Script (ESRX) was due to report on Wednesday. I got that wrong. Express Scripts reported after the close on Tuesday. My apologies for the error.

Obviously, the big issue with Express is the loss of Anthem as a client. Still, things are going well for Express. The pharmacy-benefits manager reported Q3 earnings of $1.90 per share, which was three cents better than estimates.

Express also nudged up its 2017 range from $6.95 to $7.05 per share to $6.97 to $7.05 per share. The midpoint represents 10% growth over last year. For Q4, Express expects $2.03 to $2.11 per share. Express Scripts is doing well. I still like the stock but there are a lot of challenges ahead of them.

AFLAC Raised Its Dividend for the 35th Year in a Row

On Wednesday, AFLAC (AFL) beat earnings, raised guidance and increased its dividend for the 35th year in a row. Then on Thursday, the stock touched a new all-time high. Not bad.

The duck stock reported Q3 operating earnings of $1.70 per share. (Remember, with insurance stocks, we always want to look at operating earnings instead of net.) That number includes an after-tax benefit of four cents per share. Also, the yen/dollar exchange rate knocked off seven cents per share last quarter.

AFLAC raised its quarterly dividend by two cents to 45 cents per share. This is the 35th year in a row in which AFL has raised its dividend. Going by Thursday’s close, the new dividend yields 2.15%. AFLAC also raised full-year guidance to $6.75 to $6.95 per share. That’s a big increase over the previous range, which was $6.40 to $6.65 per share. Those numbers don’t include the impact of the yen.

The CEO said that if the yen averages between 110 and 115 to the dollar, then they expect Q4 earnings between $1.42 and $1.66 per share. On Thursday, AFL got to a new all-time high of $85.70 per share. For now, I’m keeping our Buy Below at $86 per share.

We had five more reports on Thursday. First up was Axalta Coating Systems (AXTA). The company earned 26 cents per share for Q3. That’s down from 33 cents per share last year, but it beat estimates by two cents per share. If you recall, a few weeks ago, the company pared back its Q3 guidance due to the hurricanes. To be fair, that’s not a reflection of Axalta’s business execution.

Axalta provides guidance on several metrics except EPS. For 2017, they see net sales growth of 6% to 7%, adjusted EBITDA of $870 million to $900 million and diluted shares outstanding of 246 million. Despite the difficulties Axalta faced, these are good numbers. I’m keeping our Buy Below price at $33 per share.

We got our first earnings miss this season, and it was from Cerner (CERN). The company earned 61 cents per share instead of the 62 cents expected by Wall Street. If a miss had to come from somebody, I guess it can be our #1 stock this year.

So what happened? Cerner blamed it on several large contracts that were expected to be signed in Q3, but were pushed to Q4. I’m not at all worried about a miss of one penny. I’m writing this to you before the market opens on Friday, but shares of CERN got hit by 7% in Thursday’s after-hours market. Of course, that’s traders being traders. Don’t let the selling rattle you. Cerner is doing just fine.

For Q4, the company expects revenue between $1.3 billion and $1.35 billion, and EPS between 60 and 62 cents. They also provide some preliminary numbers for 2018. Cerner sees 2018 sales between $5.5 and $5.7 billion. The midpoint is a 9% increase over this year. For EPS, Cerner sees $2.52 to $2.68. That midpoint would be an increase of 7% over this year. Wall Street had been expecting $2.78 per share.

Expect to see a short-term hit, but remember that Cerner has been a big winner for us this year. I still like this company a lot.

Microsoft Crushes Earnings Again

After the closing bell on Thursday, Microsoft (MSFT) reported fiscal Q1 earnings of 84 cents per share. That easily beat Wall Street’s estimate of 72 cents per share. This was a very good report; Mr. Nadella and his team continue to deliver outstanding results.

Let’s dig a little deeper. Total revenue came in at $24.5 billion, nearly $1 billion more than expected. Revenue from Microsoft’s intelligent cloud business rose 14% to $6.92 billion. The Street had been expecting $6.70 billion. Revenue from Azure rose 90%. Gross margins at Microsoft’s cloud business are running at 57%. That’s very good.

Two years ago, Nadella set a goal for the company of $20 billion in cloud revenue by 2018. They’re very close to hitting that now. At the time Nadella set the goal, Microsoft was doing a little over $6 billion in cloud revenue. This week, I’m raising our Buy Below on Microsoft to $85 per share.

Also on Thursday, Stryker (SYK) reported Q3 earnings of $1.52 per share, two cents better than estimates. That’s an increase of 9.4% over last year. For Q4, they expect $1.92 to $1.97 per share. Wall Street has been expecting $1.93 per share. Stryker sees full-year earnings in the range of $6.45 to $6.50 per share. Forex costs will be about 10 cents per share for the year. SYK was up nicely in Thursday’s after-hours trading.

Lastly, we also got an earnings report from CR Bard (BCR). I wasn’t sure if they were planning on reporting this season, because the merger with BDX should happen soon.

This was another good report for Bard. For Q3, BCR earned $3.02 per share, which was seven cents more than expectations. This is Bard’s last earnings report as an independent company. The company also raised its full-year range to $11.86 to $11.90 per share. That’s an increase of 15 cents to the low end.

Thanks to the rally in BDX, the buyout price for BCR is up to $329.47 per share (based on Thursday’s closing price). The original buyout price in April was $317.

Six Buy List Earnings Reports Next Week

On Tuesday, Halloween, Fiserv (FISV) is set to report. The company missed earnings last time, which is very rare for them. Their full-year 2017 guidance is still $5.03 to $5.17 per share, which is an increase of 14% to 17% over last year. Wall Street is looking for $1.31 per share for Q3.

On Wednesday, Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH) and Ingredion (INGR) are scheduled to report. This summer, Cognizant raised its guidance. For Q3, they see earnings of at least 94 cents per share, and full-year earnings of at least $3.67 per share. They should be able to reach both. The stock is up 33% YTD.

Last month, Ingredion gave us a 20% dividend increase. The company sees full-year earnings of $7.50 to $7.80 per share. Wall Street expects $2.02 per share for Q3. They should beat that.

Shares of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) have drifted lower recently. This may come to an end on Thursday when ICE reports earnings. Last report, ICE missed by a penny, but it was their 17th straight quarter of revenue growth. The consensus on Wall Street is for Q3 earnings of 70 cents per share.

I’m also going to mention Becton, Dickinson (BDX), which reports on Thursday. This will be for the fourth quarter of their fiscal year. Three months ago, BDX said they expect quarterly earnings of $2.33 to $2.38 per share.

Full-year earnings should be between $9.42 and $9.47 per share. Not including currency, that would be $9.70 to $9.80 per share.

On Friday, Cinemark (CNK) and Moody’s (MCO) will report earnings. In August, one of Cinemark’s competitors bombed its earnings report, so traders fear the same for CNK. Instead, Cinemark missed by just a penny per share. I’ll note that concession revenue per person, which is the real moneymaker, rose by 8.9%. There have been a lot of stories about low sales at the box office for Hollywood. Wall Street expects 35 cents per share.

In July, Moody’s reported very good earnings, plus they raised guidance. For Q2, the ratings company earned $1.51 per share, which was a 16% increase over last year. That beat expectations by 17 cents per share. Quarterly revenues were up 8% to $1 billion, and operating income rose 12% to $457.5 million.

More importantly, Moody’s raised its full-year guidance range to $5.35 to $5.50 per share. The previous range was $5.15 to $5.30 per share. The consensus is for Q3 earnings of $1.37 per share.

That’s all for now. I’m going to be on the road next week. I hope to get the newsletter out at the regular time, but it may be delayed a day or two. I can’t say yet. Next week will have more earnings. There will also be a Fed meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. Don’t expect any movement on interest rates. At least, not yet. Also, the big jobs report will be out next Friday. The unemployment rate is currently at a 16-year low. Be sure to keep checking the blog for daily updates. I’ll have more market analysis for you in the next issue of CWS Market Review!

– Eddy

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Named by CNN/Money as the best buy-and-hold blogger, Eddy Elfenbein is the editor of Crossing Wall Street. His free Buy List has beaten the S&P 500 eight times in the last ten years. This email was sent by Eddy Elfenbein through Crossing Wall Street.

Catalan crisis, Australian shakeup, robotic aquabees

Good morning, Quartz readers!

WHAT TO WATCH FOR TODAY AND OVER THE WEEKEND

The Catalan crisis comes to a head. Today Spanish lawmakers are expected to pass legislation allowing prime minister Mariano Rajoy to seize control of the insurgent region’s budget, police force, and state-run media. Last night Catalonia’s president, Carles Puigdemont, said he would let the Catalan parliament vote on independence, which it could do today (paywall).

Venezuela might default on its debt. The state-run oil company PDVSA owes $985 million on its 2020 bond today and investors fear the country’s cash-strapped government doesn’t have enough money. The radio silence out of Caracas isn’t helping, and neither is the fact that another bond payment, for $1.2 billion, comes due next week.

Voting resumes in Kenya’s repeat presidential election. In various areas yesterday it was prevented by protestors andpostponed until Saturday. Police used tear gas, three deaths were reported in the city of Kisumu, and opposition supporters—who contend the vote isn’t credible—barricaded polling stations in the Kibera slum of Nairobi.

Apple starts taking iPhone X pre-orders. Customers and media are bracing for a mad retail rush as everyone basically ignores the iPhone 8 (paywall) in favor of its more expensive face-scanning successor, which is expected to be initially in short supply.

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

Australia’s deputy prime minister was ruled ineligible to remain in parliament. Barnaby Joyce’s status, along with that of six other lawmakers, had been cast into doubt when it was found they were dual citizens, which makes them ineligible for national parliament. Joyce’s departure is no small thing, as prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s government will lose its one-seat majority.

James Mattis visited the Korean DMZ. The US defense secretarystopped at the heavily fortified border on the Korean Peninsula ahead of talks today in Seoul. South Korea is pushing for operational control(paywall) of its own forces in the event of a conflict with the North, whereas under existing arrangements the US would command both forces. The trip paves the way for a visit by Donald Trump, whobegins a tour of Asia early next month.

CVS is considering a blockbuster bid for Aetna. The $66 billion deal (paywall) would combine a major drugstore chain with one of the largest US health insurers, and give the merged company more leverage against pharmaceutical companies. CVS also faces anexpected push by Amazon into the pharmacy business.

Alphabet and Amazon posted stellar results. Google’s parent company generated $7.8 billion in quarterly profit on $27.8 billion in revenue, almost entirely from advertising, proving that being a one-trick pony can be a very lucrative business. Amazon’s $256 million profit on $43.7 billion in revenue easily outpaced analyst expectations.

QUARTZ OBSESSION INTERLUDE

Aamna Mohdin and Jenny Anderson on lessons from a multi-ethnic UK school that could heal a divided nation. “Barking Abbey is a microcosm of Barking itself, which has transformed since the 1990s from a predominately white community to a far more racially diverse one. Over the same period, this one-time bastion of working class Britain has become poorer, and life has become harder for its residents.” Read more here.

MATTERS OF DEBATE

Remote meetings are still the worst. Ill-designed tools and short attention spans contribute to an environment ripe for failure.

Facebook owes a debt to the cities it gentrified. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is handing out grants to cities where it has helped to drive up real estate prices.

It’s OK for your kid to dress up as Moana, regardless of race. A knee-jerk response does a disservice to the cause of cultural acceptance.

SURPRISING DISCOVERIES

Front-facing cameras were never intended for selfies. Sony, which introduced the feature, thought it would enhance business meetings.

Neanderthals with disabilities got social services to survive.Scientists’ reanalysis of a 50,000-year-old skull showed that a visually impaired and deaf male lived well into his 40s.

Abandoned land in Japan will be the size of Austria by 2040.Unclaimed land and “ghost homes” can be found all over Japan, thanks to the country’s dwindling population.

Daydreaming may be a sign of greater intelligence. People who reported higher mental walkabouts also scored higher on creativity tests.

Scientists made robotic aquabees to study the ocean. The 175 mg device has wings that both flap and paddle, allowing it to transition from air to water.

Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, Japanese real estate listings, and intelligent daydreams to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android.

#Thai king cremation, New Zealand’s new era, noodle harassment

Good morning, Quartz readers!

Today, we’re releasing What Happens Next—our video guide to the future. To make five documentaries, each under 15 minutes long, our team traveled from tiny Pacific islands and South Dakota farms to Oregon forests, Canadian cities, and Central American backlands. Each episode focuses on a different aspect of human life poised to see large changes in the years to come—money, work, food, fact, and home.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR TODAY

Kenyans head to the polls, again. The previous presidential election was nullified over hacking claims by the opposition party, whose candidate, Raila Odinga, has since withdrawn. Odinga is calling for a boycott of the contest, which was allowed to proceed after not enough justices showed up to rule on a potential challenge.

Catalonia’s parliament meets. At a plenary session, the regional Junts pel Si party will state its response to Madrid’s decision to impose direct rule over Catalonia under Article 155 of the Spanish constitution. Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras said the region has “no choice” but to declare independence and will “work toward building a republic.”

The ECB holds an important meeting in Frankfurt. European Central Bank president Mario Draghi is expected to announce(paywall) plans to scale back its bond purchases as part of its €2.3 trillion ($2.72 trillion) quantitative-easing program.

Thailand bids farewell to its king. The body of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died last year at age 88, will be cremated in front of Bangkok’s Grand Palace in a $90 million, five-day ceremony that’s expected to draw about 250,000 mourners. US defense secretary James Mattis will attend the ceremony.

US-bound airlines roll out new security rules. The measures could include “short security interviews” at departure airports. About 325,000 passengers on some 2,000 commercial flights will be affected every day.

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

South Korea’s economy grew at the fastest pace in seven years. GDP rose 1.4% in the third quarter from the previous quarter, marking the best quarterly economic performance since 2010. Exports, which make up some 40% of the economy, jumped 6.1% after a decline in the previous quarter.

New Zealand’s new prime minister was sworn in. Jacinda Ardernpromised a government that would be “focused, empathetic, and strong,” and would take seriously issues such as climate change and poverty. Some members of her cabinet made their oaths in the Māori language.

More men were named in sexual harassment allegations. Five women said Game Change co-author and journalist Mark Halperin sexually harassed them while he was working at ABC News; Halperin apologized for his “inappropriate” behavior in a statement. Former US president George H.W. Bush also issued an apology after an actress said he groped her in 2014 during a photo op.

Cambridge Analytica sought Assange’s help against Clinton.Following a report earlier that the data analytics firm, used by the Trump campaign during last year’s election, had approached WikiLeaks to release thousands of Hillary Clinton’s emails, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange confirmed the approach took place. Assange said WikiLeaks rejected the request.

Brazil’s president survived a corruption vote. Michel Temer won enough votes in the lower house of Brazil’s congress to avoid facing trial on corruption charges in a case involving meatpacking giant JBS. Temer is safe from further investigation until he steps down at the end of next year.

QUARTZ OBSESSION INTERLUDE

Molly Rubin on the true cost of the iPhone X. “Are the new bells and whistles and bigger screen worth, for example, 50% of your monthly salary? That’s a decision consumers in Spain will have to reckon with when the iPhone X goes on sale next month. In India and China, smartphone markets poised for massive growth and where Apple is trying to expand, the iPhone X costs far more than the typical monthly income in each country; in India, the new model will cost almost as much as the average citizen makes in a year.” Read more here.

MATTERS OF DEBATE

Hurricane victims are getting too much stuff and not enough money. Aid experts say that donations rarely match up with needs on the ground.

Facebook thinks too little of us. Its new Explore feed uses an algorithm to predict what we’ll like, but it’s actually a distillation of the worst parts of the internet.

Corporate insistence on four-year degrees is a costly mistake.It’s one reason US employers can’t fill 6.1 million openings.

MESSAGE FROM OUR PARTNER

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SURPRISING DISCOVERIES

A Japanese company is tackling “noodle harassment.” Food maker Nissin is selling an electric fork that emits noises to mask the noise of slurping, a Japanese habit Nissin says is an annoyance to foreigners.

You should wash your apples with baking soda. The mild bleach used by growers doesn’t remove much pesticide residue.

The island Bangladesh is planning to put Rohingya refugees on is hardly an island. Thengar Char appeared only recently as Himalayan sediments carried to the sea collected and settled, forming a flimsy land mass.

A German photographer is giving voice to sad office plants.German Business Plants is an attempt to document the lonely cacti and wilting succulents in offices in a coffee-table book.

The 74-year-old “Ninja of Heisei” has been unmasked. Police were surprised at the age of the nimble Japanese thief.

Singapore now has the world’s most powerful passport.Holders can now access 159 countries, narrowly edging out Germany.

Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, neglected potted plants, and baking soda to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android.

#Putin’s favorite German, no Xi successor, #Sony robot pup

Good morning, Quartz readers!

WHAT TO WATCH FOR TODAY

Germany’s new president visits Vladimir Putin. Though his role is ceremonial, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has often criticized the West for goading Russia, is liked by Putin. His visit will be watched for signs of a thaw in the countries’ frosty relationship. Putin will hope Steinmeier can persuade Germany, and by extension the EU, to drop economic sanctions.

Nike holds an investor day at its Oregon headquarters. The company is struggling with stagnant sales and renewed competition from Adidas, and its stock has fallen 17% in the last two years as Nike has largely missed the “athleisure” trend. CEO Mark Parker willprobably have to temper his projection of $50 billion in sales by 2020.

Equifax reports its quarterly earnings. The credit-reporting agency revealed last month that hackers had accessed the personal data of over 145 million US customers. That led to its shares plummeting, but some analysts see a “buy,” believing the companycan handle any lawsuit settlements and won’t lose corporate clients. Investors await Equifax’s comments on the breach’s impact.

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

China’s president announced the members of Politburo Standing Committee. Xi Jinping named the seven members of the nation’s most powerful decision-making body. Significantly, none are young enough to be his possible successor. Yesterday Xi achieved Mao-like powers when the ruling party approved an amendment to include his name and doctrine into its constitution.

The US Senate overturned an Obama-era rule designed to help consumers stand up to big banks. It voted 51-50 to nix a rule, slated to go into effect next year, making it easier for consumers to sue banks in groups (paywall). At issue is the fine-print requirements for arbitration—which banks prefer over class-action lawsuits—that US banks often include in their contracts with consumers.

LG Display reported a stellar third quarter. The South Korean company said operating profit surged about 80% from a year earlier thanks to a recovery in panel prices and higher demand for mobile devices ahead of the holidays. The world’s second-largest display maker forecast increased demand for panels in the current quarter.

Cuba said US claims of sonic attacks were “science fiction.” Itsaid it had no weapons capable of such attacks. Earlier this month the US recalled more than half of its diplomatic personnel from Havana, saying the attacks caused in them hearing loss, dizziness, and cognitive issues. Donald Trump said last week he believed Havana was responsible.

QUARTZ OBSESSION INTERLUDE

Dan Kopf on why you should stop making charts and start using tables. “Charts can give data an undeserved patina of authority because it shows you have done some additional processing of the information. ‘Graphs are gimmicks, substituting fancy displays for careful analysis and rigorous reasoning,’ wrote the influential Columbia University statistician Andrew Gelman. ‘It is basically a trade-off: the snazzier your display, the more you can get away with a crappy underlying analysis.’” Read more here.

MATTERS OF DEBATE

Trash-talking your competitors can boost employee morale.But insults can promote unethical behavior and disrupt focus.

Eastern Europe’s economies are having a “Goldilocks moment.” High economic growth, low unemployment, and manageable inflation put Poland, Romania, and the Czech Republicahead of their Western neighbors.

The US monopoly problem is causing a general malaise. Giant tech firms and globalized corporations mean fewer choices and less control.

MESSAGE FROM OUR PARTNER

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SURPRISING DISCOVERIES

Sony’s new robot dog will love you and your appliances. Thesuccessor to the Aibo (paywall) is expected to learn new tricks and communicate with smart appliances.

The oldest known astrolabe was discovered in an Indian Ocean shipwreck. The navigational tool was made around 1500and accompanied a Portuguese explorer to his watery grave.

Scientists say the universe should not actually exist. New data on matter and antimatter suggest they should cancel each other out.

This tiny worm hasn’t had sex in 18 million years. Diploscapter pachys doesn’t seem to mind the dry spell—it’s been producingnear-perfect clones for millennia.

Colombians are finally drinking good coffee. The country has produced quality beans for export since the 1950s, but high-end beans are just starting to find customers at home. (paywall)

Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, existential quandaries, and Colombian coffee tohi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android.

Bespoke Brunch Reads: 10/22/17

Good Morning!
Below is our “Bespoke Brunch Reads” linkfest featuring some of our favorite articles from the past week.

E-Commerce

Amazon and Big Apartment Landlords Strike Deals on Package Delivery by Laura Kusisto (WSJ)

In the latest round of innovation and experimentation from Amazon, large apartment complexes are introducing “hubs”; lockers for pick-up of goods shipped by the online giant. [Link; paywall]

The War To Sell You A Mattress Is An Internet Nightmare by David Zax (Fast Company)

Online mattress sales are booming, fueled by marketing tactics that range from the extremely aggressive to the absolutely absurd. [Link]

Brave New World

Stunning AI Breakthrough Takes Us One Step Closer to the Singularity by George Dvorsky (Gizmodo)

The complexity of Go was long thought to be a refuge for the human intellect, but the AI program which first beat a human grand master of the game has now gotten completely demolished by a much stronger version of the program. [Link]

This Is What A 21st-Century Police State Really Looks Like by Megha Rajagopalan (Buzzfeed)

A harrowing review of the crackdown on personal freedoms being suffered by the residents of Tianjian, China’s westernmost province with a large Muslim minority population. [Link]

Key Reinstallation Attacks (Krack Attacks)

This week, security researchers unveiled the troubling finding that wifi networks are much, much less secure than previously assumed. [Link]

Feeding the Hungry

After Maria, José Andrés and his team have prepared more hot meals in Puerto Rico than the Red Cross by Tim Carman (WaPo)

Since late September, chef José Andrés and his charity World Central Kitchen have served one million hot meals to Puerto Ricans. [Link; soft paywall]

A Philando Castile Memorial Fund Has Wiped Out All Student Lunch Debt in St. Paul by Rafi Schwartz (Splinter)

After the tragic killing of cafeteria supervisor Philando Castille, a charity set up in his memory started paying off lunch debts. It’s now cleared the slate of every school child in arrears for the whole city. [Link]

Crypto

Special Report: Backroom battle imperils $230 million cryptocurrency venture by Anna Irrera, Steve Stecklow, and Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi (Reuters)

In a tale as old as mediums of exchange, the huge no-strings-attached fundraising of the Tezos ICO created an incredible amount of human drama. [Link]

An Evening in Wonderland by Josh Brown (The Reformed Broker)

A good summary of the optimistic side of the crptocurrency world, where the sky is the limit and anything is possible (hypothetically, anyways). [Link]

China

Zhou Warns China Should Defend Against Threat of ‘Minsky Moment’ (Bloomberg)

Remarkably forthright and contingently negative commentary from a sitting PBoC official suggests that Chinese policymakers are well aware of what to avoid. [Link; auto-playing video]

Coming of age in an era of prosperity: Meet China’s ‘bubble generation’ by John Ruwitch and Anita Li (Reuters)

While the generation currently in power in China can remember the hardships of the pre-development system, their children don’t and will soon begin to take the reins. [Link]

Markets

Top Three Reasons the Corporate Loan Market Is Slumping in 2017 by Jacqueline Poh (Bloomberg)

Weak M&A activity, non-bank lending is ramping up, and corporate balance sheets are loaded with cash, making it hard for banks to find willing borrowers. [Link]

Volatility and the Alchemy of Risk (Artemis Capital Management)

We don’t necessarily agree with all the points made in this long, comprehensive market summary and outlook, but it does have some interesting data and makes for a unique read. [Link; 19 page PDF]

Fake Science News

Here’s How A Controversial Study About Kids And Cookies Turned Out To Be Wrong — And Wrong Again by Stephanie M. Lee (Buzzfeed)

Cornell professor Brian Wansink has once again been caught up falsifying data, this time misrepresenting the ages of subjects in studies related to making healthy food choices. [Link]

UK Politics

People Keep Trying To Start Pro-EU British Centrist Movements On Twitter by Mark Di Stefano & Jim Waterson (Buzzfeed)

In a weird episode this week, an Economist journalist accidentally started a political party. [Link]

Missives

This is the handwriting of Nepalese Yr 8 student Prakriti Malla which was recognised as the most beautiful handwriting in the world #writing by Dr Kirstin Ferguson (Twitter)

We’re blown away by the precision, intricacy, and aesthetic of this script. [Link]

The Lost Art of the Unsent Angry Letter by Maria Konnikova (NYT)

An ode to fiery script and penned vitriol written but never delivered, as has been the practice of Presidents, Prime Ministers, and other notables throughout history. [Link; soft paywall]

Economic Development

Can Sub-Saharan Africa Be a Manufacturing Destination? by Vijaya Ramachandran (Center for Global Development)

While Sub-Saharan Africa has extremely low GDP per capita, its labor costs relative to GDP are extremely high; that could be a huge hurdle for the growth of the African manufacturing sector. [Link]

Baseball

Expansion Could Trigger Realignment, Longer Postseason by Tracy Ringolsby (Baseball America)

The addition of big league teams to Portland and Montreal could bring about a 32 team league, with 4 divisions of 8 teams, more rest for players, and a wider postseason slate. [Link]

Apple

The iPhone 7 is reportedly outselling the iPhone 8 by Gordon Gottsegen (CNet)

With a staggered release of two phones, Apple appears to have pushed off consumer demand for the iPhone X, whose release is still pending. [Link]

Helpful Carrion

The Crowbar (Crowded Cities)

A remarkable project that seeks to train crows to fetch cigarette butts. [Link]

Food

Everything bagel seasoning is now on everything by Nicole Levy (AM New York)

The story of where the New York essential came from, or at least, where one man claims to have invented it. [Link]

 

Have a great Sunday!

Weekend edition—Cloaking devices, Twitter’s apathy, going to the mattresses

Good morning, Quartz readers!

Machines judged a beauty contest last year and the winners, chosen from photographs women had submitted, were overwhelmingly white. Meanwhile, a Microsoft chatbot went from wide-eyed naïf to misogynist Nazi sympathizer after just a day among trolls on Twitter.

It’s clear that artificial intelligence can learn to be racist or sexist from human interactions. And of course AI doesn’t just receive bias, but can even propagate it by recreating tradition gender roles in service-oriented software, for example.

It’s worth thinking about this in the context of the recent #MeToo campaign, where people shared their experiences and thoughts on sexual harassment and assault.

Perhaps because of the way social feeds work, it can appear that men have kept relatively silent in the conversations that have followed the allegations of decades of sexual harassment and assault by Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein (a spokeswoman for Weinstein has said he unequivocally denies allegations of nonconsensual sex). It can be scary to think of joining in a conversation that in some way seems to be “not about you,” or when you fear being told what you think and feel is wrong. Some men say they’ve been motivated not to keep quiet and listen by the idea that men dominate conversations in real life (and in pop culture).

But think of the traces those decisions leave—or rather don’t leave. We think of “big data” as something amorphous and separate from humans. But data is formed by millions of our daily interactions. For example, in the future, some algorithms may allow artificial intelligence to group together a bunch of tweets under the label “sexual abuse,” while other algorithms allow it to understand that the Twitter handles attached to these tweets largely includes names considered “female.” What will the machine make of that?

Communication may be still a human endeavor, but we live in a world that is increasingly shaped by machine intelligence, and it’s worth thinking about what machines may learn about humanity by what we say—and the gaps they may fill in by what we don’t.—Tripti Lahiri

#METOO

Perhaps the only positive thing to come out of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s not-so-secret life as a sexual harasser being split open is the multiple conversations that have burst forth as a result. Quartz writers dove into that conversation: Lianna Brinded reflected on the true meaning of being “woke,” Leah Fessler offered some practical yet tough advice for men, while Thomas McBee considered the systemic “toxic masculinity” that has made sexual aggression so ubiquitous.

FIVE THINGS ON QUARTZ WE ESPECIALLY LIKED

The art of making an ethical decision. Most of us have strong gut instincts about what’s right and wrong. But history shows that common sense can often lead us astray. Olivia Goldhill’s profile of Oxford philosopher and longtime vegetarian Jeff McMahan explores how one man goes about weighing his intuition and rational thinking—particularly when it comes to the question of whether it’s OK to eat meat.

Five ways science could make you invisible, ranked by the inventor of a real-life invisibility cloak. From H.G. Wells’s The Invisible Man to cloaking devices in Star Trek, science fiction has long found ways to make people and spaceships disappear. And that might be closer to reality than you think. Metamaterialist Dr. David R. Smith of Duke University created the world’s first invisibility cloak, andhe takes us through the physics behind each, from nonsense to near-reality.

We used to kowtow to corporations. Now they kneel down to us. We’re in the midst of a profound shift in consumer culture, Marc Bain writes. Corporations were once king, but “influencers” and viral videos—like the one of the United Airlines passenger-dragging incident that shaved $1 billion off the company’s valuation—have shifted the balance of power. A new report examines how US buying behavior will change as a result.

Touring a secret vault for bitcoin millionaires. Bitcoin may be a revolutionary digital asset, but keeping a stash of it safe requires protections that look very much like banks of yore. Joon Ian Wong was granted access to an ultra-secure bitcoin vault belonging to the firm Xapo, located in a decommissioned Swiss military bunker near Zürich. Read about the paranoiac levels of security built into this facility, including nuclear bomb-proof vault doors.

Mozambique’s forgotten “East Germans”. Thirty years ago, 20,000 young Mozambicans were encouraged to leave home for work in factories across the former East Germany. They hoped to acquire skills and return to help their newly independent, Communist-supported country. But it turns out they were being used. Sami Kent met some of the now middle aged men who protest every week in downtown Maputo over unpaid salaries from a country that no longer exists.

FIVE THINGS ELSEWHERE THAT MADE US SMARTER

The high cost of being wrong in social science. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy gained international fame for her research on the beneficial effects of “power poses.” Then her colleaguesbegan to criticize her methodology, and she became the poster child for psychology’s replication crisis. Writing for the New York Times Magazine, Susan Dominus takes a sympathetic look at how Cuddy was caught in the crossfire at a time when the standards in her field were changing—and asks what it means when professional critiques get personal.

Twitter’s apathy over its India harassment problem. Violent hashtags and high-profile abuse incidents have become frighteningly normal for users in Twitter’s fastest-growing market. Buzzfeed’s Pranav Dixit uncovers the shocking extent of this harassment and details how the platform’s inaction epitomizes how western companies with global ambitions tend stumble in international territories.

Don’t sleep on the mattress wars. More than $1 billion of the $14 billion US mattress market is expected to end up online this year, up from just $300 million two years ago. That shift has been led by companies like Casper, which is now suing mattress bloggers over their middling reviews of its product, claiming false advertising. In Fast Company, David Zax investigates this Wild West, where the mattresses are firm but the rules aren’t.

If you like your heads of state well-read, unflappable, and millennial, France has the man for you. Emmanuel Macron shakes hands like no one else. He winks a lot. He doesn’t sweat through his tastefully expensive shirts. In speeches, he references Hegel and Spinoza. But for French people, writes Emmanuel Carrèrefor the Guardian, “this Prince Charming effect is dissipating.” There’s a growing suspicion that there’s little substance beneath the shiny veneer. Carrère spent a week with Macron and concludes—well, there is no conclusion with Macron. He both is and isn’t. And that’s the problem.

The moral case against having kids. In perhaps the ultimate antithesis, David Benatar paints a bleak view of the world in which life is simply not worth living for most people, and therefore having children is immoral. His essay in Aeon explores the history and philosophical roots of “anti-natalist” theory, which posits that “even if life isn’t pure suffering, coming into existence can still be sufficiently harmful to render procreation wrong.”

Our best wishes for a relaxing but thought-filled weekend. Please send any news, comments, lightly-tested mattresses, and ultra-secure bitcoin vaults to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter herefor updates throughout the day, or download our apps for iPhone andAndroid.