The numbers for October 30, 2014
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The numbers for October 30, 2014
The U.S. gross domestic product grew 3.5 percent in the third quarter, the Commerce Department announced Thursday, beating expectations and showing healthy growth after a wildly uneven first half of the year. Stocks rallied Thursday afternoon following the news, and the faster-than-expected growth stoked speculation about an interest rate hike.
Here are other stories we’re reading, and numbers we’re watching, Thursday:
That’s when Blackberry’s popular Bold line of smartphones first debuted. In the tech world, five years old qualifies as “Classic,” and that’s how Blackberry has branded a new line of phones with the tactile keyboards and trackpads that have defined the brand, the Wall Street Journal reported. Blackberry has struggled to adapt to the “black touchscreen slab” smartphone market, and the company hopes a return to its roots will draw customers back.
The portion of gay, lesbian and bisexual people who hide aspects of their identity at work, according to a report cited by the New York Times’ Upshot. Apple CEO Tim Cook joined an extremely small group of openly gay executives by penning an op-ed for Bloomberg Businessweek. “We pave the sunlit path toward justice together, brick by brick,” Cook wrote. “This is my brick.”
That’s how much a Pfizer political action committee donated to Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, the New York Times reported in an investigation published Wednesday, donations that may have prompted the state to settle with the company in a fraud case for much less than other states. The PAC also reportedly invited Koster to speak at a breakfast days before the settlement. The attorney general is now facing an investigation by state lawmakers over the Pfizer case, and Koster’s treatment of other campaign contributors.
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