Earnings Expectations | Bezos’ Prime Day Boost | Facebook's Latest U-Turn

Plus: America’s Richest Self-Made Women

Good morning.

Earnings season starts today but despite President Trump's obsession with stock market performance as a measure of economic health, Wall Street is looking back to the White House, the upcoming election, and the race for a vaccine as key indicators of the normalization of an economy sick with coronavirus.

The pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities and the most concerning statistics may not immediately make the headlines. Look for instance, at the recent growth in permanent layoffs. This affects certain industries more than others, with leisure and hospitality being among the hardest hit. Best Western Hotels CEO David Kong was the latest to warn of imminent collapse for his industry, urging the government to release more funding—but agreement on a new stimulus deal could still be a long way off.

What Else To Know Now

President Donald Trump returned to the campaigning trail starting with a packed, non-socially distanced airport rally in Florida in which he repeated claims that he is “immune” and proposed to “kiss” everyone in the audience. 

In what is possibly the first time a sitting Senator opens up about this issue, Michigan Democrat Gary Peters told Elle about his wife’s abortion in the late 1980s in an effort to highlight what is at stake with a Supreme Court majority able to overturn Roe v Wade. 

Top Take-Aways

Johnson & Johnson has become the latest Covid-19 vaccine frontrunner to put its trials on hold due to safety concerns after a participant reported an unexplained illness, following a similar move by AstraZeneca in September.

Hedge fund tycoon Leon Black reportedly transferred at least $50 million to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein between 2012 to 2017 in a professional relationship that ended in 2018 when the two men had a falling out over a “fee dispute.”

Excitement about the delayed Prime Day has seen Amazon shares surging, returning Jeff Bezos’ net worth north of $200 billion. Last week alone, Bezos and his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott added $8.8 billion and $3 billion respectively to their fortunes.

The longest tax filing season ever is coming to an end, as the extended federal income tax return filing deadline for individuals approaches on October 15. If you owe tax but cannot afford to pay it, file the tax return anyway and avoid making a costly mistake.   

Arrival, a U.K.-based electric vehicle startup backed by Hyundai and Kia that’s preparing to make electric delivery trucks for UPS, is building a small-scale “microfactory” in South Carolina that will be able to make as many as 1,000 battery-powered buses per year. 

Facebook took further steps in controlling information shared on its platform by adopting a zero-tolerance policy on content that “denies or distorts the Holocaust,” reversing a position previously held by CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

It’s Ada Lovelace Day, a commemoration of the woman whose genius paved the way for how computing works today—celebrate by highlighting the successes and innovations of women in tech.

Behind the scenes of much of meditation app Headspace’s recent growth has been CeCe Morken, who joined in April and is currently serving as president and COO. Six months into the job, she’s getting a promotion.

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