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-1.54 percent
Drop in the S&P 500 Thursday, the second largest one-day drop of the year for the index, and part of a broader slip in markets yesterday that was partially triggered by a rumor that the top economic advisor to the president and ex-Goldman Sachs exec Gary Cohn was resigning. That rumor was fueled by an inaccurate tweet from a breaking news Twitter account. Man, if that’s how markets handle Cohn not leaving the administration I’d hate to see how they’d handle it if he ever does. [Business Insider]
30 engineers
Creating a universally comfortable mattress takes a lot of brain power. Thirty engineers’ worth of brain power, to be exact. That’s how much thought and engineering goes into the research and design behind this mattress to ensure that you get your best night’s sleep. Sponsored by Casper
18 percent
India is seeing a huge media opportunity in an unlikely place: FM radio. Radio revenue in India increased 18 percent in 2016 to $416 million across 313 commercial FM radio stations and a state broadcaster. That revenue is small compared to the U.S. market, but the growth is explosive even compared to markets like Brazil and China (under 3 percent). Plus, the rights to 800 more stations are being auctioned off over the coming years. [The Wall Street Journal]
62 percent
Percentage of Americans in an August poll who considered North Korea a very serious threat, up from 48 percent in the same poll back in March. Meanwhile, a Marist University poll found only 19 percent of Americans have a great deal of confidence that President Donald Trump can lead the country through an international crisis. [FiveThirtyEight]
30,000 members
Number of members who left the American Civil Liberties Union over their legal defense of a neo-Nazi group in the late 1970s. The ACLU assiduously fights cases on first amendment law, and defending the rights of hate groups like the neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan to demonstrate and distribute fliers tend to be the provocative cases that skirt the edges of that kind of law. In light of the incidents in Charlottesville, Va. last weekend, the ACLU announced yesterday that it will no longer defend hate groups that attempt to incorporate firearms into their demonstrations. [The Wall Street Journal]
1.7 million
Number of elective plastic surgeries in the U.S. in 2016, of which more than 200,000 were nose jobs. The plastic surgery business is an interesting one with a fascinating gender gap: 75 percent of the people who got those rhinoplasties were women, but 85 percent of board certified plastic surgeons are men. [Racked]
7.5 million
Any discussion of jobs at risk of elimination tends to focus on the manufacturing sector, but it’s truly retail — the most common job in America — at the most profound risk. There are 7.5 million jobs in retail at high risk of computerization. Cashiers, who number 3.5 million, may be in the worst position of all. [The Guardian]
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