I spy

MARKETS

• Rates: The Fed’s most recent meeting minutes suggest the whole “patient approach” thing is sticking around when it comes to tinkering with interest rates.
• Energy: Oil prices fell the most in almost three weeks thanks to fresh data-driven supply glut concerns and brow-furrowing over the demand impacts of the U.S.-China trade war.
• Infrastructure: Stocks that would benefit from increased infrastructure spending dropped after a meeting between President Trump and Democratic leaders ended just about how you expect it would.

TECH

No About Face for Amazon

Two longshot Amazon shareholder proposals aimed at stymying the company’s controversial future in facial recognition failed at its annual meeting yesterday.

Reading between the lips...Amazon (+0.12%) can continue to sell its facial recognition technology, Rekognition, to whomever it pleases—government and law enforcement included.

The two proposals:

• One would’ve barred Amazon from selling Rekognition to government entities without first ensuring it doesn’t infringe on civil liberties.
• The other proposed commissioning an independent study of potential privacy/human rights issues associated with widespread surveillance.

So what happened?

Amazon successfully persuaded shareholders of Rekognition’s “material benefits to both society and organizations.” Google and Microsoft might disagree—they’ve limited the applications of their respective surveillance tech.

Reality check: These measures had no chance in H-E-double hockey sticks of passing.

1. They were nonbinding, meaning Amazon didn't have to take action even if the measures passed.
2. Amazon’s board opposed the ideas. And when the board says “jump,” institutional investors with significant voting power typically say, “how high...can facial recognition take this stock price?”

Though the proposals were underdogs, their existence shows that Amazon will be defending the use of Rekognition for years to come.

• “The fact that there needed to be a vote on this...demonstrates shareholders do not have confidence that company executives are properly understanding or addressing the civil and human rights impacts of its role in facilitating pervasive government surveillance,” said the ACLU’s Shankar Narayan.

Zoom out: Amazon’s shareholders aren’t the first to critique surveillance tech as a tool of the “police state.” Remember when San Francisco banned police use of facial recognition? (You might, it was last week.)

+ Bonus: Also yesterday, the House Oversight Committee held a hearing on facial recognition. The verdict? Bipartisanship isn’t dead. Both parties’ leaders agreed it’s time to take a long, hard look at facial recognition tech—and potentially draft legislation to keep it in line.

AVIATION

When Will the 737 Max Take Off Again?

Two meetings today could chart the future of the grounded Boeing 737 Max, the plane involved in two separate (but seemingly linked) crashes that killed 346 people.

• In Montreal, global airline executives will talk 737 Max challenges at the invitation of the International Air Transport Association.
• In Fort Worth, TX, regulators from around the world will join the FAA to make plans for reintroducing the plane back into the skies.

Boeing’s pretty keen on that last part happening sooner rather than later. Yesterday, two more of China’s largest airlines demanded compensation for losses pegged to the 737 Max grounding.

Back at home, though, airline chiefs remain Boeing (-1.68%) cheerleaders.

• United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz said he’ll be on his company’s first flight of the 737 Max once regulators sign off.
• American Airlines CEO Doug Parker told NBC he’s confident there’s a fix that everyone’s comfortable with.

Zoom out: 737 Max issues notwithstanding, airlines look headed for a record summer. Trade group Airlines for America estimates 257 million passengers will travel on U.S. airlines this summer, up 3.4% annually.

TECH

Judge Burns Qualcomm’s Bread and Butter

On the outside, your phone exudes a calm, steely demeanor. But on the inside? A battle rages. A federal judge ruled Qualcomm (-10.86%) unlawfully used its dominance in smartphone chips to squash competitors and charge egregious royalties to manufacturers.

The backstory: Qualcomm is the leader in developing modem chips that link your phone to wireless networks and make life worth living. And it’s certainly used that tech prowess to its advantage—it brings in more profit from licensing its patents to other companies than actually selling its chips.

But the FTC—and the judge who sided with its antitrust suit—found those practices harmful to competition. Qualcomm will now have to...

• Renegotiate licensing agreements with its customers “in good faith.”
• License patents to its rivals at “fair” and “reasonable” prices.

It would rather not do any of that, which is why it’s seeking a stay and an appeal. Still, the decision, and the existential threat it poses to Qualcomm’s business model, will trickle through the entire smartphone industry.

TECH

Humans Are Mailing It in

You’ve heard of the last-mile problem for delivery...but what about the last-lawn problem? Ford (-2.64%) collaborated with startup Agility Robotics to use Digit, Agility's two-legged robot, to carry packages from a self-driving delivery vehicle to your front door.
You’ve heard of the last-mile problem for delivery...but what about the last-lawn problem? Ford (-2.64%) collaborated with startup Agility Robotics to use Digit, Agility's two-legged robot, to carry packages from a self-driving delivery vehicle to your front door.

• Pros: Digit helps solve the issue of getting deliveries from car → house when there’s no human driving the vehicle.
• Cons: It can’t be bribed to “lose” your jury duty summons.

Zoom out: Ford's announcement is just one of several recent developments showing mail, not humans, will be the guinea pig for autonomous driving tech.

On Tuesday, the USPS started shuttling mail between Dallas and Phoenix using self-driving trucks from startup TuSimple. The pilot program will last two weeks and include five round trips along busy freight corridors in the southwest U.S.
Why they’re hoping this works:

• The 22-hour overnight route had required two drivers to comply with regulations and I Spy rules. The problem? There’s a dire shortage of truck drivers.
• The USPS lost $3.9 billion last fiscal year. Cost cutting is the new stamp collecting.

CURRENCY

Delayed: Tubman on the Twenty

Harriet Tubman may not take Andrew Jackson’s place on the $20 bill after all.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said yesterday that the decision on the bill’s redesign “will most likely be another secretary’s down the road.” For Mnuchin, replacing Old Hickory gets the back burner treatment in favor of anti-counterfeiting measures.

The backstory: The Treasury said in 2016 that Tubman, who escaped slavery to become one of the most prominent abolitionist figures of the 19th century, would replace former President Jackson as the first woman on U.S. paper currency in more than a lifetime.

But you shouldn’t be surprised. President Trump called the Tubman redesign “pure political correctness” on the 2016 campaign trail. And Mnuchin’s argued that, given the wide circulation of the $20 bill, security features take precedence.

Looking ahead: The Tubman $20 was slated for a 2020 release to mark 100 years of women’s suffrage in the U.S. Now, Mnuchin says new $20 bill imagery (Tubman or not) probably won’t happen until 2028.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Target (+7.71%) topped forecasts on the top and bottom lines last quarter after traffic spiked and people spent more there.
• Lowe’s (-11.85%) reported mixed earnings as a parade of investments squeezed its bottom line. But the real kicker was its move to trim full-year guidance.
• Avon shares spiked about 9% following reports it’s in advanced talks to sell to Brazil’s Natura Cosmeticos in an all-stock deal.
• A federal judge ruled that Deutsche Bank and Capital One can hand over financial documents from President Trump’s businesses to lawmakers.
• England is banning plastic drink stirrers, plastic straws, and plastic-stemmed cotton swabs starting next spring. Plastic Hugh Grant figurines can stay.

BREAKROOM

Google Trending
What two-word Google search term spiked last Sunday?

Breakroom Answers