The daily business briefing: October 8, 2018
Two Americans win the Nobel Prize in economics, Venom has a massive debut despite bad reviews, and more
- 1. 2 Americans win Nobel economics prize
- 2. Venom and A Star Is Born combine for record October weekend
- 3. Apple to Congress: No sign of China hacking attack
- 4. China moves to offset effects of trade war and slowing consumer spending
- 5. Stock futures point to lower open on continuing interest-rate concerns
1. 2 Americans win Nobel economics prize
American researchers William Nordhaus and Paul Romer have won the Nobel Prize for economics for their work examining the interplay of climate change and technological innovation, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Monday. Nordhaus, of Yale University, was the first economist to create a quantitative model that "describes the global interplay between the economy and the climate," showing that "the most efficient remedy for problems caused by greenhouse gases is a global scheme of universally imposed carbon taxes," the academy said. Romer, of New York University's Stern School of Business, helped provide the research that led to the endogenous growth theory, and has shed light on how economic forces steer companies' willingness to produce new ideas and innovations.
2. Venom and A Star Is Born combine for record October weekend
The comic-book movie Venom shattered the October box-office record with an $80 million debut weekend, despite bad reviews. Bradley Cooper's A Star Is Born was lifted to a $41.3 million haul by Oscar buzz and a wave of positive publicity. The film marks Cooper's directorial debut and Lady Gaga's first leading performance on the big screen. "We knew we had a hit," said Warner Bros. distribution chief Jeffrey Goldstein of A Star Is Born. "We also knew that every time people saw the movie, they felt it, they cried, they loved it. People just like the movie." The two hits contributed to a total of $174.5 million in ticket sales, easily the best October weekend ever.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
3. Apple to Congress: No sign of China hacking attack
Apple's vice president for information security, George Stathakopoulos, wrote in a letter to Congress on Sunday that the company had found no evidence of a sophisticated attack on its supply chain. The statement to the Senate and House commerce committees came after a Thursday report by Bloomberg BusinessWeek that China had used tiny chips inside servers sold to Apple by Super Micro Computer for spying purposes. "Apple's proprietary security tools are continuously scanning for precisely this kind of outbound traffic, as it indicates the existence of malware or other malicious activity. Nothing was ever found," Stathakopoulos wrote in the letter, obtained by Reuters.
4. China moves to offset effects of trade war and slowing consumer spending
China's central bank on Sunday moved to pump $174 billion into the economy. The move is intended to help small and medium-sized businesses that are struggling and having trouble getting loans. The move by the People's Bank of China suggests that the world's No. 2 economy "is really not doing well," Chen Shouhong, the founder of the investment information platform Gelonghui, wrote on the Chinese social media service WeChat. China is facing powerful financial headwinds, including its trade war with the Trump administration, slowing consumer spending and wage growth, slowing infrastructure spending, and rising corporate bond defaults.
5. Stock futures point to lower open on continuing interest-rate concerns
U.S. stock-index futures fell on Monday, pointing to a lower open as rising interest rates continued to weigh on markets despite optimism about coming corporate results. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down by 0.4 percent, while those of the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 dropped by 0.3 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively. All three of the main U.S. benchmarks are looking at what could be their third straight day of losses. The Nasdaq saw its worst weekly decline since March as Treasury rates surged to their highest level since 2011. Bond prices drop as yields go up. The bond market is closed Monday for Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
-
'The House under GOP rule has become a hostile workplace'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
The Shohei Ohtani gambling scandal is about more than bad bets
In The Spotlight The firestorm surrounding one of baseball's biggest stars threatens to upend a generational legacy and professional sports at large
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Feds raid Diddy homes in alleged sex trafficking case
Speed Read Homeland Security raided the properties of hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The daily business briefing: January 24, 2024
Business Briefing The S&P 500 sets a third straight record, Netflix adds more subscribers than expected, and more
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
The daily business briefing: January 23, 2024
Business Briefing The Dow and S&P 500 set fresh records, Bitcoin falls as ETF enthusiasm fades, and more
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
The daily business briefing: January 22, 2024
Business Briefing FAA recommends inspections of a second Boeing 737 model, Macy's rejects Arkhouse bid, and more
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Geopolitics and the economy in 2024
Talking Point The West is banking on a year of falling inflation. Don't rule out a shock
By The Week UK Published
-
The daily business briefing: January 19, 2024
Business Briefing Macy's to cut 2,350 jobs, Congress averts a government shutdown, and more
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
The daily business briefing: January 18, 2024
Business Briefing Shell suspends shipments in the Red Sea, December retail sales beat expectations, and more
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
The daily business briefing: January 17, 2024
Business Briefing Judge blocks JetBlue-Spirit merger plan, Goldman Sachs beats expectations with wealth-management boost, and more
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
The daily business briefing: January 16, 2024
Business Briefing Boeing steps up inspections on 737 Max 9 jets, Zelenskyy fights for world leaders' attention at Davos, and more
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published