T-Mobile Plans On No Longer Counting Data Used Playing ‘Pokemon Go’ Towards Your Data Cap, Starting Tuesday

“Microsoft’s reaction yesterday…”

“Ready to catch them all!? #TMobileTuesdays is giving you unlimited data use for #PokémonGo!” — John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile, in a recent tweet. Due to the fact players’ data usage has quadrupled, T-Mobile will no longer count Pokémon Go against data plans beginning Tuesday. What a relief.

Big Picture

  • U.S. markets continued their hot streak, led by the Dow’s fifth straight session in the green, as the U.K. hinted at increased stimulus

Alternatives to Watch

  • The pound made its largest post-Brexit gain yesterday after the Bank of England announced it would not cut interest rates (more on that later)

Market Movers

  • Line jumped more than 30% yesterday during its debut on the New York Stock Exchange, earning the title of biggest tech IPO of 2016

CORPORATE PRIMER

Microsoft Comes Out on Top

…Over none other than the Justice Department. Microsoft won a major legal battle yesterday after a federal appeals court ruled that U.S. agents can’t access data held on overseas computers. Microsoft’s victory marks a strikeout for the U.S. Government, fresh off of two lost cases involving Apple’s refusal to unlock iPhones earlier this year. The ruling might have serious ramifications, as it could influence where companies decide to store data. For now, we’ll chalk it up to a big win for privacy, and a tough loss for government.

Delta Hits Some Turbulence

…Even though fuel prices declined. The airline giant beat earnings estimates but had weak quarterly results, with revenues down. The culprit? Business travelers are booking their flights further in advance, denying Delta the extra bucks earned on those expensive last-minute fares. Tsk tsk tsk. And it only gets worse: the Atlanta-based airline doesn’t foresee sales growth next quarter, and even announced impending capacity cuts due to Brexit. The lone bright spot? Delta saved nearly $400 million year over year in fuel prices. We’ll take it.

Bayer Sweetens Its Offer

And beefs up its bid for Monsanto. After getting rejected in May, the German health and agriculture firm turned on the charm, upping its offer to buy Monsanto from $122 to $125 per share. For some perspective, that’s $65 billion in total value. The cherry on top? Bayer also offered to pay out $1.5 billion if the deal gets shut down by regulators. Now that’s dedication. Bayer has its heart set on forming the world’s largest agricultural supplier, and will do anything to make it happen.

WORLD MACRO

Bank of England Speaks

…And says “hold steady.” In yesterday’s policy meeting, the Bank of England voted 8-1 in favor of leaving interest rates unchanged, even in the wake of Brexit. The central bank’s move is quite the shocker, as markets predicted an 80% chance of a rate cut. Why the upset? Officials want to wait until August, when the impact of Brexit is more well-known. Fair enough. The BOE’s next policy decision will be on August 4, and officials have already said they are planning to launch fresh stimulus.

OTHER STORIES

ECONOMIC CALENDAR

DIVERSITY DILEMMA

It may be winning the social media race, but Facebook’s lagging when it comes to diversity. The social network’s most recent diversity report revealed that its employee demographics haven’t changed very much in the past two years—and its diversity report two years ago was not easy to look at. Let’s take a look anyway:

  • At around 2% and 4% respectively, African Americans and Hispanics still only make up a marginal fraction of Facebook’s U.S. workforce—and nope, these numbers haven’t changed since 2014.
  • Although it has supposedly made some progress on gender diversity, Facebook’s global workforce remains just under 70% male. Bigtime dudefest.
  • 52% of U.S. Facebook employees are white, while 38% are Asian. That’s a 3% decrease and 2% increase respectively since last year. Improvement, albeit slightly.
  • On a more positive note, the percentage of African Americans holding positions in senior leadership at Facebook has increased from 2% to 3%. Time to get with the times, FB.

INTERVIEW QUESTION OF THE DAY

From the perspective of the Bank of England, what role do interest rates play in an economy? For example, what might be the consequences of raising interest rates? (Answer)

BUSINESS TERM OF THE DAY

Spoofing — A type of scam where an intruder attempts to gain unauthorized access to a user’s system by pretending to be the user. The purpose of spoofing is to trick the user into relinquishing sensitive information in order to gain access to one’s personal life, such as a bank account or personal passwords.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Sapore will be flexing its catering muscle by preparing 210 tons of food a day during the Rio Olympic Games. Sapore hopes to win the gold by increasing name recognition among investors for an eventual expansion into the United States.