🌎 An upgrade for the grid

Plus: Home loans? Anyone? Was this newsletter forwarded to you? [Sign up here](%2F%2Fqz.com%2Femails%2Fdaily-brief%2F/1/0100018b47620b85-5d235b6d-8241-4470-972e-c32bfacf0ca2-000000/DqbBQc4jIOEw-eXUGpYLjwfe7j9wSyCuIII7nV-5-VU=323) [Quartz](%2F%2Fqz.com%2Femails%2Fdaily-brief%2F1850939710%2Fan-upgrade-for-the-grid%2F/1/0100018b47620b85-5d235b6d-8241-4470-972e-c32bfacf0ca2-000000/qEvOYCfn-7FcjrPaCdTq-mi4YyX-LUm5pHb_KTKs6JE=323) October 19, 2023 [View in browser](%2F%2Fqz.com%2Femails%2Fdaily-brief%2F1850939710%2Fan-upgrade-for-the-grid%2F/2/0100018b47620b85-5d235b6d-8241-4470-972e-c32bfacf0ca2-000000/cLosI-ny1_v5iVj28m_Ht2mkK0kayrL_2kNOXFRklnc=323) %2F%2Fqz.com%2Femails%2Fdaily-brief%2F1850939710%2Fan-upgrade-for-the-grid%2F/3/0100018b47620b85-5d235b6d-8241-4470-972e-c32bfacf0ca2-000000/GFSImmcBCB0arXb0STcxR__lk9UA_NMt9j3kGEja5J0=323 Photo: Reuters (Carlos Barria) Good morning, Quartz readers! Here’s what you need to know The US is spending $3.5 billion on the grid. The [enormous infrastructure initiative](%2F%2Fqz.com%2Fbiden-announces-3-5b-for-projects-nationwide-to-streng-1850939125%2F%3Futm_source=email%26utm_medium=Quartz_Daily_Brief_US%26utm_content=1850939710/1/0100018b47620b85-5d235b6d-8241-4470-972e-c32bfacf0ca2-000000/UH7URnT_yXq4HUs7nQbvoWiTSOiq1HVIZGwB1dgeuJQ=323) will go toward 58 projects nationwide to strengthen the electrical grid as [extreme weather events like wildfires](%2F%2Fqz.com%2Fwildfires-are-now-costing-the-us-up-to-900-billion-ann-1850933735%2F%3Futm_source=email%26utm_medium=Quartz_Daily_Brief_US%26utm_content=1850939710/1/0100018b47620b85-5d235b6d-8241-4470-972e-c32bfacf0ca2-000000/eqHcRA6INVPPi6btuJoLbQNO-d0p4X14Y6lVLqtIAKs=323) take a toll on a system badly in need of an upgrade. US president Joe Biden met with Israeli leaders. After [pledging his full support](%2F%2Fwww.bloomberg.com%2Fnews%2Farticles%2F2023-10-18%2Fbiden-s-israel-embrace-fails-to-calm-fears-of-wider-mideast-war/1/0100018b47620b85-5d235b6d-8241-4470-972e-c32bfacf0ca2-000000/tARsSAdDiFN3_b1G9SK076QLnZMIRGaHsNjREtT2m4Q=323), Biden left without meeting Arab leaders as planned, or assurance that relief supplies could enter Gaza. United Airlines is already feeling the effects of the conflict. A grim outlook due to rising jet fuel prices and the possibility that flights to Tel Aviv will continue to be suspended sent shares on the decline, [despite the airline beating expectations](%2F%2Fqz.com%2Fshares-of-united-airlines-plunge-on-sour-outlook-for-4q-1850937132%2F%3Futm_source=email%26utm_medium=Quartz_Daily_Brief_US%26utm_content=1850939710/1/0100018b47620b85-5d235b6d-8241-4470-972e-c32bfacf0ca2-000000/TSMnUuJTjAyIAGUF6fVM-H-7GBZh_Wuee5nZ7qGh5nE=323) for third quarter revenue. China is removing restrictions on foreign investment in the domestic manufacturing sector. It’s a [largely symbolic gesture](%2F%2Fqz.com%2Fchina-rolls-out-a-largely-symbolic-red-carpet-for-for-1850936541%2F%3Futm_source=email%26utm_medium=Quartz_Daily_Brief_US%26utm_content=1850939710/1/0100018b47620b85-5d235b6d-8241-4470-972e-c32bfacf0ca2-000000/5spKmuW42n296BnUpFSD5Gx0j7h8AGpxEw294q4bxPM=323) aimed at convincing more overseas businesses to expand their footprint in the country. Tesla’s still feeling the sting of price reductions. Sales are on the rise, but, as [its third quarter numbers showed](%2F%2Fqz.com%2Fteslas-net-income-slumped-44-in-the-3rd-quarter-as-low-1850939303%2F%3Futm_source=email%26utm_medium=Quartz_Daily_Brief_US%26utm_content=1850939710/1/0100018b47620b85-5d235b6d-8241-4470-972e-c32bfacf0ca2-000000/Qndl2XlIyMU-xsxFmtLQjVdtlJimw-q04zLDErP3jOQ=323), net income declined 44% from a year earlier. Does anyone want a home loan right now? New applications for mortgages in the US have fallen 6.9% from a week ago. That’s some low demand, down to the kind of levels not seen since 1995, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Applications for 30-year conventional mortgages are down 21% from the same time a year ago, and refinance applications are down too. What does it all mean? %2F%2Fqz.com%2Femails%2Fdaily-brief%2F1850939710%2Fan-upgrade-for-the-grid%2F/4/0100018b47620b85-5d235b6d-8241-4470-972e-c32bfacf0ca2-000000/W6LkM9LHViobjvPYvlqb3ZNA0kAnBk2U7zdxkPUn3ps=323 Graphic: (Clarisa Diaz) Higher rates are to blame, of course. But [it’s not the whole picture](%2F%2Fqz.com%2Fdemand-for-home-loans-in-the-us-hasnt-been-this-low-sin-1850938190%2F%3Futm_source=email%26utm_medium=Quartz_Daily_Brief_US%26utm_content=1850939710/1/0100018b47620b85-5d235b6d-8241-4470-972e-c32bfacf0ca2-000000/QVlUFYopvxQ3ZrDEkZ3vk4EDdFZCt5FnlLU9O2XzHtc=323). How Elon made Twitter all about him As of Tuesday, new, unverified X accounts in New Zealand and the Philippines are required to sign up for a $1 annual subscription to post and interact with other posts. The company says it’s a pilot program meant to defeat bots, but Quartz’s Ananya Bhattacharya points out that X sure could [use a profit driver](%2F%2Fqz.com%2Fx-is-piloting-a-program-where-humans-pay-1-to-prove-th-1850936587%2F%3Futm_source=email%26utm_medium=Quartz_Daily_Brief_US%26utm_content=1850939710/1/0100018b47620b85-5d235b6d-8241-4470-972e-c32bfacf0ca2-000000/hQ2_pymsp_pspfpkfqzyAxb-uhhC82cVuhSXP5YXr5o=323) right about now. Elon Musk’s ROI on his $44 billion investment into Twitter has been spiraling downward—the latest web traffic data from Similarweb, a traffic analytics firm, shows that global web traffic to [www.twitter.com](%2F%2Fwww.twitter.com/1/0100018b47620b85-5d235b6d-8241-4470-972e-c32bfacf0ca2-000000/A6494QoHbJrENPOBrypxA9DAlM_vv9ZpkKfiLMhoX2c=323) was down 14% in September compared to the year before. (To be fair, the downward trend is not unique to X; other social networks have seen drops in traffic as well. Not you, TikTok, you’re on the up and up.) But hey, Musk’s own X profile and posts got a massive 96% traffic jump over the same time period. Grete Suarez [takes a look at the other numbers—the declining ones](%2F%2Fqz.com%2Felon-musk-has-made-x-twitter-all-about-him-just-look-1850935423%2F%3Futm_source=email%26utm_medium=Quartz_Daily_Brief_US%26utm_content=1850939710/1/0100018b47620b85-5d235b6d-8241-4470-972e-c32bfacf0ca2-000000/XNZY69Iez2U-cwiQS_aC6R2jan5_3MwkZmS6YAipTWk=323). The other Detroit strike Like their counterparts in the auto industry, workers at the three major casinos in the Detroit area—MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity Casino, and Hollywood Casino at Greektown—are on the picket lines. Thousands of gaming industry workers are looking to their record-revenue-setting employers for pay increases, better healthcare and retirement provisions, and job security in the age of technology. As the digits show, letting the strike go on for long is [a bit of a gamble](%2F%2Fqz.com%2Fanother-group-of-detroit-workers-is-placing-their-bets-1850936546%2F%3Futm_source=email%26utm_medium=Quartz_Daily_Brief_US%26utm_content=1850939710/1/0100018b47620b85-5d235b6d-8241-4470-972e-c32bfacf0ca2-000000/ch72vJheJC9-dR_J33OudvhF_I8tdHx6Y5NE8Q5uQEY=323). $2.27 billion: Detroit casino industry’s record gaming revenue in 2022. $813 million: How much total gaming revenues for the three casino operators increased in 2022 versus 2019. 3%: Raises that Detroit’s casino workers have received since September 2020, while Detroit Casino Council unionizers say inflation in the city has risen 20%. $3.4 million: Casino operator revenues at risk for each day of the strike, as per DCC’s calculations. 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Vino is dead. Long live vin. (OK, it’s not dead, but climate change [wasn’t kind to Italy’s vineyards](%2F%2Fwww.bloomberg.com%2Fnews%2Farticles%2F2023-10-18%2Fwine-harvest-2023-heat-rot-in-italy-push-france-to-top-winemaking-spot/1/0100018b47620b85-5d235b6d-8241-4470-972e-c32bfacf0ca2-000000/ulYAh9HuTwO6pViZdmb1wxLjREX8hz9FjmFZ8uVSKX0=323).) Goldman Sachs’ DJ-ing CEO has hung up his turntables. DJ D-Sol’s antics were becoming [too much of a distraction](%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2023%2Foct%2F17%2Fgoldman-sachs-ceo-david-solomon-dj-gigs-d-sol/1/0100018b47620b85-5d235b6d-8241-4470-972e-c32bfacf0ca2-000000/J6aPBvrg5pIBNUx0oQf2kKMxlMH5noFban6brt_np-s=323), said the bank’s very, very unhip board. AI can turn words into music. Pitchfork let Google’s MusicLM put its reviewers’ money where [their mouths are](%2F%2Fpitchfork.com%2Ffeatures%2Fovertones%2Fgoogle-text-to-music%2F/1/0100018b47620b85-5d235b6d-8241-4470-972e-c32bfacf0ca2-000000/QC_RnhMizo9OKMlmZQNQ6QM2inffP9-sN5OA3H4h67c=323). Niche modeling helped unlock an ancient medical scroll about snake bites. The method used climate data from 6,000 years ago to deduce [which snake species were a menace](%2F%2Fwww.science.org%2Fcontent%2Farticle%2Fserpents-bit-ancient-egyptians-slither-focus/1/0100018b47620b85-5d235b6d-8241-4470-972e-c32bfacf0ca2-000000/76MgL80w4HvE02I2hswbuFRAXepuIZRwHsJnRXWGM6E=323). The inspiration for Ozempic came from Gila monster venom. The latest Quartz Weekly Obsession takes a look at diabetes drug Ozempic and its close cousin weight loss drug Wegovy, how they work, and the impact they might—or might not—have on the health of humans and markets. 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Send any news, comments, snake mysteries, and French wine to [talk@qz.com](mailto:talk@qz.com?cc=&subject=Daily%20Brief%20feedback%20&body=). Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Susan Howson. 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