Axios

Qualtrics, a Utah-based maker of enterprise survey software, has filed to go public, on Friday filed for a $200 million IPO.

Why it matters: Qualtrics has long been rumored to be an IPO candidate, with expectations intensifying after rival SurveyMonkey's listing last month.

Michael Cohen, President Trump's former personal attorney who recently changed his party registration from Republican to Democrat, has a message for voters:

"Grab your family, grab your friends, grab your neighbors, and get to the poll[s], because if not, you are going to have another two or another six years of this craziness."

The big picture: These are Cohen's first on-camera comments since his guilty plea, and they underscore his pattern of publicly breaking from Trump — the man for whom he once said he’d take “a bullet.”

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is still planning on participating in an anti-terror finance meeting with Saudi Arabian officials later this month, despite a flood of reporting supporting claims that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was gruesomely murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, reports The Washington Post. The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

Why it matters: The meeting with Saudi security officials and their Middle Eastern counterparts in Riyadh later this month is different from the Saudi Future Investment Initiative (FII), which Mnuchin and several other high-profile companies and individuals have withdrawn from. However, according to the Post, the meeting Mnuchin plans to attend at the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center would include participation by Saudi security services that are being linked to Khashoggi’s disappearance.

The U.S. has a competitive advantage in the development of self-driving cars, but risks squandering it by disrupting global markets with tariffs on imported vehicles, according to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a science and technology policy think tank.

Why it matters: After decades of decline, the U.S. auto industry stands to re-emerge as a global leader by leveraging America’s competitive advantage in IT hardware and software. But trade policies intended to protect American workers could trigger reciprocal actions, cutting off markets for U.S. vehicles, ITIF says.

A Turkish official says investigators are assessing the possibility that the remains of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi were taken to a forest on the outskirts of Istanbul or to Yalova, a city 60 miles away, AP reports.

The details: The official said police have established that two vehicles belonging to the Saudi consulate left the building on Oct. 2 — the day Khashoggi vanished. One vehicle went to the Belgrade Forest, while the other traveled to Yalova.

Corporate earnings have been strong so far, with 84% of companies reporting better earnings than analysts expected — higher than the 64% average at this point in earnings season, per Refinitiv. But the companies that have disappointed are blaming tensions around the world for the less than stellar results.

Why it matters: The trade war with China will probably get worse — with a tariff escalation looming in January — and Brexit negotiations have reached a standstill. Yet companies aren't saying how they are planning for a more permanent tense global environment.

You're living through history: This is the 18th time that the four major sports leagues (NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB) are in action on the same day, Sports Internet's Kendall Baker notes.

• Bonus: Major League Soccer and college football are also on air tonight.

The big picture: More than ever, America's past-times are (sometimes) serving as a respite from our charged politics, and today offers something for everyone.

Fox Business has officially pulled out of Saudi Arabia's Future Investment Initiative.

The big picture: The network was the last remaining American media sponsor of "Davos in the Desert," with CNN, CNBC and Bloomberg all previously withdrawing over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo had been scheduled to speak at the conference, but she will no longer attend unless an "unrestricted interview" with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is offered, Axios has learned.

Sinclair Broadcast Group CEO Chris Ripley said at the NAB Show New York that his company’s rumored ad-supported streaming service, Stirr, will launch soon.

Why it matters: Sinclair is trying to grab a piece of the cord-cutting population, and will compete with dozens of local and national networks. CBS News already has an ad-supported news streaming service. This year, Fox News announced its own subscription service Fox Nation.

Less than three months after President Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker agreed to negotiate a trade deal, talks between the two parties have stalled, mainly over the issue of "non-auto industrial goods," reports the WSJ.

The big picture: A European official told Axios' Jonathan Swan that in Trump’s private discussions at the United Nations, it became clear to his European interlocutors that Trump was still very much preoccupied by the U.S. trade deficit with the EU. They also got the impression that Trump remained fixated on automobile imports and thought this was his strongest point of leverage over his negotiating partners. The lack of progress in trade talks and the looming risk that Trump will introduce auto tariffs threatens to disrupt the world’s largest commercial partnership.

The $220 billion U.S. advertising industry is facing an unprecedented wave of scandal and controversy, causing frustration amongst marketers, consumers and lawmakers.

Why it matters: Advertising was supposed to become more transparent in the digital era, but instead it's gotten murkier, leading to more fraud, shady business practices, discrimination, and even national security issues.

Democratic candidates running for Congress this year have raised more than $1 billion, while Republicans took in $709 million through September, according to a Washington Post analysis by Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Anu Narayanswamy.

Why it matters: Democrats' record-shattering sum "highlights the party’s zeal to retake the House and Senate and underscores the enormous amount of money flowing into the midterm races."

Commercial buildings account for nearly one third of U.S. total energy use. Roughly 25% of that third comes from air cooling, making it one of the main contributors to utility grid stress, especially in hot temperatures at peak times of the day.

Yes, but: Air cooling is also one of the easier electrical loads to shift to off-peak demand times. Thermal Energy Storage (TES) is an established technology that reduces grid stress by shifting cooling-energy use from high-peak periods, when demand and rates are highest, to off-peak periods, when rates are lower, and is becoming increasingly prevalent.