The top political spenders on Google's ad platforms since the end of May include President Trump's political committee as well as individual candidates in competitive races, according to data the company released for the first time on Wednesday.
The big picture: New ad transparency initiatives on the part of major web platforms allow the public to see, to varying degrees, how online advertisers are trying to influence their votes.
A record percentage of small business owners are optimistic about current business conditions, according to the latest CNBC/SurveyMonkey Confidence Index.
Why it matters: The index, which calculates sentiment among more than 2,000 business owners, returned to a record high of 62/100 in Q3 2018 after concerns over the Trump administration's trade policy and imposition of tariffs caused a 1-point dip in Q2 2018.
Sinclair Broadcasting’s failed effort to buy Tribune Media may soon become more than just a costly embarrassment. It could result in the company ultimately losing its broadcast licenses.
Bottom line: The conservative broadcaster has been accused of lying to the FCC, and of acting in bad faith with Tribune.
Prices for U.S. agricultural exports plummeted 5.3% in July, driven primarily by a 14.1% decline in soybean prices, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Why it matters: In 2016, soybeans accounted for 12% of U.S. exports to China, prompting American farmers to ramp up their production. China is now attempting to curb its consumption of soybeans as part of its escalating trade war against the U.S., helping drive the largest single-month drop in farm export prices since October 2011.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan doubled tariffs to 140% on American alcohol and 120% on American cars, while also raising duties on U.S. goods like leaf tobacco, cosmetics, rice and coal, reports Reuters.
The big picture: The lira continued its rebound against the dollar Wednesday, despite Erdogan's move to further escalate trade tensions. The recovery is likely a result of steps taken by the country's banking regulator, which has restricted international access to the lira to prevent foreigners from shorting the currency, per CNBC.
Cryptocurrency market value has dropped 70% from its peak in January, the Wall Street Journal reports, falling under $200 billion this week for the first time since November.
Why it matters: Per the WSJ, many are taking the "plunging cryptocurrency prices" to mean "the apparent failure of bitcoin, ether and other popular units." Chief global strategist and managing director for B. Riley FBR Inc., Mark Grant, told the WSJ that people "are starting to realize that they drove this stuff up in a feeding frenzy, and they're starting to realize just how dangerous it is."
Elon Musk has been active on Twitter over the last week and has twice tweeted out misinformation about Tesla and its financial state.
Why it matters: Tesla was already under the microscope following a subpar second quarter, and Musk's latest tweets are not relieving any pressure for the company. Since sending the tweets, he has been charged with securities fraud in a class-action lawsuit and continues to be investigated by federal securities regulators.
Although soybeans — which are almost exclusively produced by farmers in Trump country — have been a prime target for Chinese tariffs, the politically-charged debate in the president's escalating trade war has politicians from both parties making false assessments on the consequences soybeans farmers are currently facing, a Washington Post analysis found.
The big picture: Both a red-state Democrat and President Trump have tweeted false information on the heated matter. As the Post notes, "The agricultural commodities market is a complicated balance of supply and demand that politicians seem intent on glossing over."
Kroger is teaming up with Alibaba to sell groceries on the Chinese e-commerce giant's platform, the company announced Tuesday.
The big picture: The battle between American retailers is heating up overseas, with iconic U.S. brands all vying for massive — and rapidly growing — foreign markets. The Chinese market is the biggest of them all, and while few American companies have been able to crack it, many are partnering with China's domestic titans to try.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters on Tuesday afternoon that she "can't guarantee" that the president has never used the N-word, but said that she has never heard him say it.
Key quotes: Sandersaccused Omarosa of trying "to tear this entire place down," and blamed the press for providing "a large platform to someone they know not to have a lot of credibility." She did not reveal whether or not she had signed an NDA, but pointed out that the practice is "common in a lot of places," especially for government jobs for employees with a security clearance. Sanders defended the president in explaining that calling Omarosa a "dog" did not have anything to do with race.
The founders of dating app Tinder filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the app's owner, IAC, and its subsidiary Match Group, CNBC reports.
The details: The lawsuit alleges that the two "robbed Tinder employees by manipulating financial information, undermining Tinder's valuation and unlawfully stripping away their Tinder stock options," per CNBC. Current executives at the company, and early employees, filed the suit along with founders Sean Rad, Jonathan Badeen, and Justin Mateen.
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn will no longer try to get shareholders to vote against Cigna's pending takeover of Express Scripts.
Why it matters: So much for that brief spat. Icahn didn't think the battle was worth fighting any more after the two major proxy advisory firms recommended shareholders approve the deal. Icahn's retreat makes it a lot more likely investors will vote for the acquisition, but federal and state antitrust reviews are still pending.
Bustle Digital Group (BDG) will announce today the acquisition of Flavorpill Media Inc., an online publisher and experiential brand focused on events. Terms will not be disclosed.
Why it matters: The acquisition gives BDG an entrance into the large-scale experiential events business, which is a massive growth point for some of BDG's biggest competitors in the millennial, female-focused digital media industry, like Refinery29 and PopSugar.
On October 23, 2017, Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement removed an entire webpage that contained detailed contact information for 22 different staffers, including ORR Director Scott Lloyd, according to a Web Integrity Project investigation and confirmed by HHS.
Why it matters: ORR is the agency that is responsible for caring for the separated migrant children following the implementation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions' "zero-tolerance" policy, which sparked international outrage. Although HHS claims there is no correlation, family separations began as early as October 2017, according to the New York Times — around the time the website was modified.
