đ Still talkinâ trade
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EU leaders met with US president Joe Biden at the White House. While progress was made on ongoing trade disputes, no deals were reached on disagreements in the energy, steel and aluminum sectors, and the Israel-Hamas war cast a shadow over talks.
The yen momentarily dipped below 150 against the dollar. That threshold puts investors on alert and could trigger action from financial authorities in Tokyo.
Foxconn was probed by Chinese tax authorities. The Apple supplier had its offices searched, according to state media, though details of the inspections remain sparse.
General Motors and Ford will have to answer strike questions during their earnings calls this week. Itâll be a tightrope walk for the US automakersâif earnings are solid, the United Auto Workers will have some ammo; if theyâre not, Wall Street will get anxious.
Jeff Bezos is on a quest to put the extra-terrestrial in e-commerce
Amazon is now the first tech giant to start operating computers in space. The company launched two prototype satellites for its Kuiper constellation on Oct. 6, and 10 days later, confirmed they had survived the trip to an orbit above the Earth.
Itâs not like Apple, Meta, and Google havenât mulled businesses based on satellites orbiting the Earthâtheyâve actually all tried, but never really figured it out. So what made Amazonâs investment in Kuiper, to the order of $10 billion and likely the companyâs second-largest ever behind Whole Foods, different?
As Quartzâs Tim Fernholz writes, founder Jeff Bezosâ familiarity and passion for space may have been part of the decision, but the ability to deploy that much money has always been part of Amazonâs secret sauceâthat and capitalizing on the work of its rivals.
Why are gas prices still falling in the US?
Oil prices are creeping up globally, with Brent crude crossing $92 a barrel last week, fueled by concerns that the Israel-Hamas war could spill over to oil-rich countries.
But motorists in the US arenât feeling the pinch yet. Gas prices at the pump are actually continuing their downward trend:
$3.56: The national average cost for a gallon of gas in the US
32 cents: How much lower the average gas price is now compared to when it peaked a month ago
$5: Average amount most US drivers are saving with each fill
So whatâs going on? Quartzâs Grete Suarez explains how the changing of seasons also changes gas prices.
AI firms are paying actors to lend emotions to avatars
As companies like Meta and Character.AI roll out bots that act like made-up characters or real people like Elon Musk or Kendall Jenner, they need the help of, well, real people.
Cue actors, who can convincingly express the wide range of emotions these companies want to mimic. Some AI companies are even paying professional actors up to $150 an hour to share their verbal and nonverbal emotions on camera.
The timing of such job postings, however, is questionable. As Quartzâs Michelle Cheng points out, itâs exactly the type of technology that Hollywood actors are off the clock to protest.
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Surprising discoveries
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce werenât in a small Connecticut townâit was their scarecrows. Seriously, this is getting pretty ridiculous.
A 96-year-old bottle of Scotch may be the most sought-after ever... The whisky is going up for auction next month for an estimated ÂŁ1.2 million ($1.4 million).
âŠwhile a bottle of urine marketed as an energy drink may be the most disgusting ever. A new documentary alleges it was able to be sold on Amazon.
AI identified people with Type 2 diabetes just by how they spoke. For men, vocal giveaways were centered on intensity and amplitude, while for women, they were determined by pitch variations.
Jupiter has a jet stream thatâs traveling at about 320 mph (515 kph). Its presence may indicate thereâs more to the planetâs insides than we thought.
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Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, Quartz scarecrows, and million-dollar whisky to [email protected]. Todayâs Daily Brief was brought to you by Morgan Haefner.