Today’s customers are constantly bombarded with ads and brand messaging. When it comes to high-end products like cosmetics, liquor or consumer electronics, premium packaging is not just nice to have — it’s an expectation.

Want to have access to an online teaching platform that actually works for music? Online Studio might be the solution for you.

Later today, Wednesday, 13 November, we get the US consumer inflation data for October 2024

• due at 1330 GMT, which is 0830 US Eastern time

Previews posted already:

• US CPI to be released tomorrow at 8:30 AM. Expectations are for 0.2% MoM

• US CPI data due Wednesday - possible upside surprise.
• US inflation data this week expected to show core CPI moving sideways - risk ahead higher

OK, what to expect. This snapshot from the ForexLive economic data calendar, access it here.

Taking a look at the range of expectations compared to the median consensus (the 'expected' in the screenshot above) for the key data points:

CPI Headline y/y, expected 2.6% with the range showing:

• 2.3% - 2.7%

CPI Headline m/m expected 0.2% with the range showing:

• 0.1 to 0.3%

CPI excluding food and energy (the core rate of inflation) y/y expected 3.3% with the range showing:

• 3.2 - 3.4%

CPI excluding food and energy (the core rate of inflation) m/m expected 0.3% with the range showing:

• 0.2 to 0.4%

***

Why is knowledge of such ranges important?

Data results that fall outside of market low and high expectations tend to move markets more significantly for several reasons:

• Surprise Factor: Markets often price in expectations based on forecasts and previous trends. When data significantly deviates from these expectations, it creates a surprise effect. This can lead to rapid revaluation of assets as investors and traders reassess their positions based on the new information.

• Psychological Impact: Investors and traders are influenced by psychological factors. Extreme data points can evoke strong emotional reactions, leading to overreactions in the market. This can amplify market movements, especially in the short term.

• Risk Reassessment: Unexpected data can lead to a reassessment of risk. If data significantly underperforms or outperforms expectations, it can change the perceived risk of certain investments. For instance, better-than-expected economic data may reduce the perceived risk of investing in equities, leading to a market rally.

• Triggering of Automated Trading: In today’s markets, a significant portion of trading is done by algorithms. These automated systems often have pre-set conditions or thresholds that, when triggered by unexpected data, can lead to large-scale buying or selling.

• Impact on Monetary and Fiscal Policies: Data that is significantly off from expectations can influence the policies of central banks and governments. For example, in the case of the inflation data due today, weaker than expected will fuel speculation of nearer and larger Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) rate cuts. A stronger (i.e. higher) CPI report will diminish such expectations. the December meeting is in focus right now.

• Liquidity and Market Depth: In some cases, extreme data points can affect market liquidity. If the data is unexpected enough, it might lead to a temporary imbalance in buyers and sellers, causing larger market moves until a new equilibrium is found.

• Chain Reactions and Correlations: Financial markets are interconnected. A significant move in one market or asset class due to unexpected data can lead to correlated moves in other markets, amplifying the overall market impact.

Check out the Spanish translation of this article here! We recently added Stephen Street‘s Urtext Edition of Bottesini’s Concerto di Bravura to our Sheet Music Store, prompting a common question: Why is Bottesini’s music written down an octave? The issue at hand is that Bottesini wrote all his solo bass music at sounding pitch rather […]

American inventor Thomas Edison, once said, “Hell, there are no rules here. We're trying to accomplish something.” What we hope to accomplish with this episode of the Groundbreaker Podcast is an exploration of the idea that the evolution in today’s architectures makes it advantageous, perhaps even necessary, to challenge some long-established concepts that have achieved “golden rule” status as they apply to the use of databases.

View the complete show notes.

If you listened to our previous episode -- and of course you did! -- you heard a panel discussion of the ins and outs of low code development. In this episode we expand on that initial conversation to bring you a discussion that compares and contrasts low code with cloud native development. 

Returning for this discussion is Joel Kallman, who heads the Oracle development team behind Oracle APEX. Joel is in Columbus, Ohio. Also returning is Oracle ACE Director and Groundbreaker Ambassador Martin Giffy D’Souza. Martin is Director of Innovation at Insum Solutions, and lives in Alberta, Canada. Joining the panel is Oracle ACE Director and Groundbreaker Ambassador Roel Hartman. Roel lives in the Netherlands, where he is Director & Senior APEX Developer at APEX Consulting. Also on the panel is Oracle ACE Director Niels de Bruijn. Niels is Business Unit Manager at MT AG in Cologne, Germany. 

See the complete program show notes.

Emilio Estevez shot to fame in the 1980s as a member of the Brat Pack, but then virtually disappeared from Hollywood movies.

Bond investors have sent Treasury yields significantly higher in recent weeks even as the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates.

DeSantis’ war with Disney has some fellow Republicans questioning why he’s spending so much time battling Florida’s biggest name in tourism.

Wall Street firms are expected to pay heftier bonuses for this year, the first increase since a bumper year in 2021, according to a report by compensation consultancy Johnson Associates.

Payouts will probably rise after financiers benefited from several factors in recent months: a recovery in dealmaking, the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates and equity markets surging to record highs, said the consultancy’s founder, Alan Johnson.

“This year has been surprisingly good, and the industry is quite optimistic about 2025, especially with the potential of announcing more M&A deals,” he said, referring to mergers and acquisitions.

While bonuses will be more generous, they will remain below the record levels from 2021, when revenue and compensation were “abnormally good,” Johnson said.

Investment bankers in debt underwriting are projected to receive the biggest surge in bonuses of 25% to 35% for 2024, the estimates showed, buoyed by a resurgence of activity. Their counterparts in equity capital markets will likely get boosts of 15% to 25%.

Meanwhile, a slower recovery for M&A will result in more modest bonus increases of 5% to 10% for bankers advising on transactions.

Traders will also reap a windfall from more volatility and rising equities, the report showed. Equity sales and trading professionals can expect their bonuses to climb about 15% to 20%, while in fixed income, payouts will probably rise 5% to 10%.

But not all bankers will share in the recovery, the consultant said. Bonuses for retail and commercial bankers will probably decline or stay flat for the year.

—Tatiana Bautzer, Reuters

Southwest Airlines is offering buyouts and extended leaves of absence to airport workers to avoid what it calls “overstaffing in certain locations,” which it blames on a shortage of new planes from Boeing.

The move on Monday comes as a hedge fund presses Southwest to increase profits and boost the stock price, which has fallen sharply since early 2021.

A Southwest spokesperson said the offers of “voluntary separation” are limited to 18 airports. The company declined to identify the airports or say how many jobs it hopes to eliminate.

All the targeted jobs are in ground operations, including customer service agents, baggage handlers and cargo workers. Pilots and flight attendants are not included in the buyout offer, the spokesperson said.

Southwest officials have said that the Dallas-based airline plans to end this year with 2,000 fewer workers than it started. That is after Southwest grew from 66,600 to nearly 75,000 employees last year. The figures count part-timers as one-half.

“Southwest has reduced overall capacity to meet demand with a constrained fleet due to aircraft delivery delays,” the company said in a statement. “Offering voluntary separation and extended time off to contract and noncontract employees, along with continued slowed hiring, will help us avert overstaffing in certain locations.”

Southwest had originally expected about 85 new Boeing 737 jets this year but has cut that number to 20 because of production problems at Boeing that began after a panel blew out of the side of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max during a flight in January.

The Southwest fleet consists solely of Boeing 737s, including the Max and older versions of the plane.

Starting in June, hedge fund Elliott Investment Management built an 11% stake in Southwest and pressed the airline to improve its financial performance. The two sides reached a truce last month to avoid a proxy fight, but Elliott won several seats on the Southwest board, which it can use to keep pressure on CEO Robert Jordan and other executives.

Even before Elliott, Southwest limited hiring and stopped flying to several airports to save money. It also announced plans to target premium travelers.

Southwest shares rose 3% Monday and are up 13% this year. That is far behind the 117% jump at Delta Air Lines and the 58% gain at United Airlines.

—David Koenig, AP Airlines Writer

Hi, my name is Gilad Gressel and I’d like to tell you about my new course: Deep Learning with Python. Deep learning is an old technology that has recently been sweeping through the field of machine learning and artificial intelligence. Deep learning powers many of the cutting edge technologies that appear to be “magic” in [...]

Workhuman’s Susana Rojero on how she ended up in product design and why communication skills are just as important as technical skills.

Read more: Why empathy is key to this product designer’s work

Committing to company DEI measures takes time and effort, so why should modern employees get involved?

Read more: Putting the I in DEI: Why you should get involved with workplace diversity

Smart energy communities could be a ‘game-changer’ in the transition to renewables, says SETU’s Sean Lyons.

Read more: Why small energy parks are a smart piece of the clean-energy puzzle

Marine Institute’s Dr Niall McDonough talks about the upcoming Ocean Knowledge 2030 Conference and a new national marine strategy.

Read more: Why knowledge is vital for securing Ireland’s ocean economy

New data from LinkedIn on the most in-demand jobs on the platform in the third quarter of this year reveals that software engineering is in second place. Just pipped to the post by sales roles, it is clear that software engineering and development pros are in high demand. Additionally, full stack engineers and application developers feature in the top ten in-demand roles at places eight and ten respectively. Software roles are in such high prominence because software powers pretty much everything. According to McKinsey, these days, “Every company is a software company.” Traditional bricks and mortar businesses are now increasingly…

This story continues at The Next Web

Avoiding a bad situation is always better than trying to get out of one, so make sure you’re up-to-date on your rights and legal options. 

By practicing situational awareness every day, contractors can keep themselves and others safe while on the job.

Job descriptions go well beyond helping you hire the right person. They can help with evaluation, overtime, and safety expectations.

A business owner cannot replace themselves (succession) until they can clearly envision their financial future (exit plan).

Do you want your roofing contractor firm to be considered attractive for an outside sale? Consider your personal and financial goals, and beware of one-off deals.

[New Times] If you're among the many people working remotely or travelling as a digital nomad, internet speed and affordability are likely at the top of your list when picking a destination.

Do you know your true cloud costs?

The post Why determining the cost of cloud services cuts across an entire agency first appeared on Federal News Network.

By Chris Jacob, Vice President, Threat Intelligence Engineering, ThreatQuotient.

In today’s modern digitised environment, the manufacturing industry faces multiple interwoven challenges that can have a serious impact on their overall performance and sustainability.

The aviation industry is vital to the health of world trade and logistics. Manufacturers rely on airlines daily to get their products and people where they need to be. Over the past few decades, there has been a significant shift in the use of security seals on aircrafts.

In recent times, there has been a greater focus on hygiene in the workplace, likely spurred on by the COVID pandemic. While some germs are completely harmless, others can cause unpleasant illnesses.

Rising inflation is expected to lead to a sizeable increase in Social Security’s annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for the year 2022

The post EXPLAINER: Why Social Security COLA will jump next year first appeared on Federal News Network.

Facebook profits off hate and that's why it won't change, says whistleblower Frances Haugen

What is the metaverse and why is Facebook betting big on it?

A CircleID post by Alexander Klimburg takes aim at my article, "The Power to Govern Ourselves," delivered at the Gig-Arts conference in June. That speech, available here on the blog, argued that: "Multistakeholder does not describe a governance model. It never has. It was always a compromised Public Relations concept," one that muddied the distinction between governance by state actors and non-state actors. What really made the Internet institutions unique was their break with sovereignty.

In this video I share the benefits of Managed Services over Break/Fix for a Computer Business.

Source: Why You Need To Start A Managed Services (MSP) Business in 2021 - Technibble.com

Leverage the Crowdstrike outage to position your MSP as a business continuity expert. Use timely, relevant content from our extensive MSP library to attract new clients.

Source: Why the Crowdstrike Outage is a Golden Opportunity for MSPs - Technibble.com

From boosting bone strength to balancing hormones, weight lifting offers powerful benefits that support our overall health and wellness.

Heavy equipment working near dry brush sparked a destructive wildfire near Riverside, Calif., in September 2024.

The speed of human perception is surprisingly slow, say neuroscientists. That has important implications for our understanding of cognition and for the limits of brain computer interfaces.

Learn what causes aggression for those living with dementia and find gentle ways to comfort your loved one during challenging times.

A controlled scary experience can leave you exhilarated and relaxed afterward.

[Originally published by Responsible Statecraft, the journal of the Quincy Institute]

How did this suddenly become the summer of “the draft”?

There are a number of proposals in the annual defense policy bill (National Defense Authorization Act, NDAA) that deal with the subject. There is one to expand Selective Service registration to women. Another that would make Selective Service registration for American men "automatic."

Still another proposed amendment to the NDAA, which has also been introduced as a freestanding bill, S. 4881, would repeal the Military Selective Service Act entirely. Meanwhile, the Center for a New American Security just published an exhaustive blueprint for modernizing mobilization, including readiness to activate conscription.

All this talk has compelled “fact checkers” to insist that no, the U.S. government isn’t suddenly "laying the groundwork" for a draft.

But saying the U.S. isn’t preparing for a draft is like saying it isn’t preparing for nuclear war. Just as the Department of Defense is tasked with maintaining readiness to initiate nuclear strikes whenever the Commander-In-Chief so orders, the Selective Service System has the sole mission of maintaining readiness to hold a draft lottery within five days and start selecting draftees and sending out notices to report for induction whenever Congress and the President so order.

As such, there are currently ten thousand draft board members who have been appointed and trained to adjudicate claims for deferment or exemption. As recently as this month, states have been openly seeking volunteers to fill empty slots. And both the SSS and hawkish think-tanks have been war-gaming the government’s contingency plans to activate a draft.

[Timeline for a draft, counting from “Mobilization Day” (M=0), from SSS Agency Response Plan (ARP) Workshop (September 7, 2023)]

There’s room for argument about how likely it is that the U.S. would launch nuclear missiles or activate a draft. But there’s no question that it’s planning and preparing for both, as it has been for decades. It would seem that after years of atrophy, the government is stepping up its attention to military mobilization and readiness for a draft.

Maybe it’s time to ask whether more easy and efficient ways of tapping into human capital for war make it easier to get into one and whether it is in our best interest to do so.

Location: Sciences Library Library- QH501.C376 2016

I’ve heard about Quick Steps before and see them on the Ribbon in Outlook but I’ve never used them before.

What exactly are Quick Steps and how can they help me with managing my emails?

There's something strange going on in hospitals. Cheap, common drugs that nurses use every day seem to be constantly hit by shortages. These are often generic drugs that don't seem super complicated to make, things like dextrose and saline (aka sugar water and salt water).

So what's going on? The answer, as with anything in healthcare, is complicated.

On today's show: why hospitals keep running out of generic drugs. The story behind these shortages tells us a lot about how these drugs are made, bought and sold–and, it shows us how these markets can falter without the proper care.

This episode was hosted by Sally Helm and Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi. It was produced by Willa Rubin, with help from James Sneed and Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Martina Castro. Fact-checking by Dania Suleman. Planet Money's executive producer is Alex Goldmark.

Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Dr. Nicole Cheek, a dentist in Washington, D.C., about the risks of getting dental veneers by a non-dentist.

As global warming continues and space technology improves, there is more and more talk about the growing possibility of a sci-fi future in which humans become a multiplanetary species. Specifically, that we could live on Mars. Biologist Kelly Weinersmith and cartoonist Zach Weinersmith have spent the last four years researching what this would look like if we did this anytime soon. In their new book A City On Mars, they get into all sorts of questions: How would we have babies in space? How would we have enough food? They join host Regina G. Barber and explain why it might be best to stay on Earth.

Kelly and Zach Weinersmith's book A City On Mars is out now.

Have another space story you want us to cover on a future episode? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we'd love to hear from you!

The Biology Of Why Coronavirus Is So Deadly

The NBA’s groveling to China has slipped from public view in recent months, but the Washington Wizards are doing what they can to remind everyone that the league is in bed with a genocidal regime.

Washington Examiner Commentary Editor Conn Carroll joins Investigations Editor Sarah Bedford to discuss how Washington, D.C., has been wrecked by crime and why the Wizards and Capitals are moving out of the district, as well as the border talks occurring in the Senate.