Hello friends and Fortune readers.
In case you didn’t know, last night was the MLB All-Star game, meaning today is one of the only days in the American calendar with no games scheduled in the Big 4 sports. There is Major League Soccer on, though, if you were hooked by the World Cup. Or, you know, you can enjoy being with your family. Anyway, here’s what to know in business for today:
1. Tech earnings are on the march.
First, Yahoo earnings dropped yesterday, and the news wasn’t good: the San Francisco company’s second quarter earnings dropped to $272.56 million from $335.01 million in the same quarter for 2013. Today, parade of earnings continues as we find out how well Ebay did last quarter after the close of the market today.
2. Beige Book comes out today.
The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book will be released this afternoon at around 2:00 pm ET. In case you don’t know, the Beige Book, in addition to being creatively titled, gives anecdotal information about the state of the economy in each of the Fed’s districts. Expect some chatter today about what the findings are.
3. Housing data to be released.
Continuing a big day for fun government reports, the NAHB Housing Market Index will be released this morning. In June, market did better than expected. Another good month in housing would obviously prove a boon to the economy.
4. Rupert Murdoch almost expanded his empire.
Rupert Murdoch’s media empire is already vast and overwhelming. Apparently, the Australian mogul tried to expand it recently by putting in a big bid to buy Time Warner. As part of the deal, Murdoch would then have sold CNN, since it competes with his Fox News. The New York Times notes that both CBS and ABC would likely have been interested in purchasing the news network. Alas, the bid was rebuffed, meaning that Bill O’Reilly and Wolf Blitzer will never be colleagues, not even for a few weeks.
5. Kim Kardashian game makes crazy bank.
Apparently Kim Kardashian has a iPhone game. Something where the reality star guides you through the steps of becoming an A-List celebrity just like her. And Business Insider reports that the game could make up to $200 million through in-app purchases. Not really a punchline to all this, that’s just the world we live in.
