Your Evening Briefing
(Bloomberg) -- Want to receive this post in your inbox every afternoon? Sign up here.
The dystopian future will make you feel nostalgic. No, we're not talking U.S. politics. The Blade Runner 2049 sequel, out today, is jam packed with brands that either no longer exist now, let alone in 2049, or are a shadow of their former selves, with the film applying a liberal dose of movie magic to corporation chronicling. Atari, anyone?—Katie Robertson
Americans are pouring back into the workforce. They're coming off the labor market's sidelines at a pace that intensified in September, according to employment figures released Friday by the Labor Department. The number of people going from out-of-the-labor-market into jobs jumped to an all-time high last month. Payrolls fell for the first time since 2010, reflecting Hurricane Harvey's impact on Texas and Irma's fallout in Florida. At the same time, the unemployment rate dropped to 4.2%, a new 16-year low.
U.S. issues religious freedom memo. Elaborating on an executive order signed by President Trump in May, Attorney General Jeff Sessions advised federal agencies on Friday to follow 20 principles of religious freedom, including a recognition that religious employers can discriminate in hiring. Employers will also be able to opt out of providing health plans that cover birth control, rolling back an Obamacare requirement.
Tropical Storm Nate is on track to strike near New Orleans. The storm is forecast to make landfall overnight Saturday as a Category 1 hurricane with winds topping 74 miles an hour. Nate may cause close to $1 billion in damage across Central America and the U.S., regions already battered by the most powerful month of hurricanes on record.
Supersonic airlines are coming back while Elon Musk dreams of space. Long before Wall Street bigwigs get vaulted from New York to Asia in less than an hour on the Tesla founder's proposed hypersonic airline, the significantly slower supersonic jet travel first popularized by the Concorde may return. Several companies are working to develop new supersonic aircraft technologies, as is NASA.
There's a climate bomb under your feet. The accelerating catastrophe of global warming may have been fueled in part by warm dirt. That's according to a new study, which found as the Earth heats up, microbes in the soil speed up the breakdown of organic materials, each time releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Hudson Yards wants to be New York's new money hub. The largest private real estate development in U.S. history isn't just about new skyscrapers. A new financial hub is taking shape on the west side of Manhattan with big names like BlackRock, Third Point, and Point72 Asset Management relocating their offices there. It's largely thanks to KKR's Henry Kravis, who tipped Hudson Yards into the zeitgeist.
How Blade Runner 2049 rewrites business history. In the 1982 film Blade Runner, set in the distant future of 2019, various brands of the time are spotted around the streets of a seedy, gloomy Los Angeles. There's video game maker Atari and airline behemoth Pan Am. RCA makes a cameo, as does the Bell telephone company. As we approach 2019 in real life, many of those brands are gone or extremely diminished. Now, with the long-awaited sequel arriving in theaters Friday, Blade Runner is rewriting history and bringing dead brands into a future without Apple products.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Katie Robertson at krobertson21@bloomberg.net.
With assistance from Editorial Board
-
The Economic Imperative: Analysing The Material Driving Force Behind India-Canada Strategic Reset
This economic complementarity is further reinforced by deep institutional investment ties and talent mobility, which form the bedrock of the bilateral framework.
-
Medicine Pricing: Where Must Profit Stop?
India must confront excessive margins, hidden incentives and regulatory gaps that threaten the integrity of medicine.
-
Why Amazon And Flipkart Are Struggling To Beat Meesho In India's Smaller Cities
With 274 million users and lowest-cost logistics, Meesho is defending its value commerce crown against giants like Amazon and Flipkart.
-
High US Salaries, No Green Card Certainty: The Financial Calculation Facing Indian H-1B Families
The suspension of PERM processing at eight technology employers does not cancel existing H-1B visas. What it does is force a question many Indian families have been avoiding: is the US salary worth tying your career and family plans to one employer?
-
Swiggy vs Eternal: Food Delivery's Two Rivals Are No Longer In The Same Race
Eternal is building a private AI assistant, dark.ai. Swiggy is still working out how to make Instamart pay, with an operating loss of Rs 895 crore in the July-September quarter while Blinkit stayed profitable.
-
Where You Live Shapes How You Get To Work | The Reason Why
Two-wheelers are the most popular way to get to work in India, accounting for nearly 43% of workplace commutes.
-
Unhedged Position: Can India See An Indonesia-Style Time Correction?
The Nifty is trading below levels it first clocked in 2024. Is there, then, as I have suggested in the headline, potential that the current time correction drags on painfully for the next three-five, even ten years?
-
Navigating Friction And Energy Realities: An Analysis Of Marco Rubio's October Visit To India
Occurring at a critical juncture marked by stalled trade negotiations and escalating geopolitical pressures over global energy supplies, the visit offers a profound window into modern US-India relations.
-
India Exports Capital. Why Not Export Trusteeship?
The big question, then, is whether India can build an institution that global borrowers, investors, banks, and lawyers can trust, even without an Indian connection.
-
France's Economy & Politics Are In Crisis | The Reason Why
Let's look at how the French economy and politics evolved under Nicolas Sarkozy, Franois Hollande and Emmanuel Macron.