The daily business briefing: September 7, 2016

Apple CEO Tim Cook on stage at an Apple event

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1. Fox settles Gretchen Carlson's sexual harassment suit for $20 million
2. Apple expected to unveil iPhone 7
3. Leading for-profit education company shutters its schools
4. High-ranking Fed official makes case for rate hike
5. Ackman hedge fund acquires 9.9 percent stake in Chipotle

published 7 September 2016

1. Fox settles Gretchen Carlson's sexual harassment suit for $20 million

Fox News reportedly will pay $20 million to settle former anchor Gretchen Carlson's sexual harassment lawsuit. Her allegations against the conservative cable network's powerful longtime leader, Roger Ailes, got him forced out of the company in July. Fox News parent company 21st Century Fox also apologized to Carlson as part of the deal. Ailes denies the harassment. He has hired libel lawyer Charles Harder, who has represented Hulk Hogan and Melania Trump, to prepare for a possible defamation lawsuit against New York magazine over its coverage.

Apple is expected to unveil the next version of the iPhone and a new Apple Watch at its annual product launch in San Francisco on Wednesday. Analysts are saying the iPhone 7 will be Apple's fastest version of its popular smartphone yet. Few other details — but plenty of speculation — were available before the launch. Expectations for the iPhone 7 are "really low," said TIAA Global Asset Management managing director Stephanie Link on CNBC Tuesday afternoon. "I think more people are talking now about it being the bridge to the iPhone 8," she said. "That's really going to be the game changer."

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ITT Educational Services, one of the biggest for-profit educational companies in the U.S., closed nearly all of its more than 130 campuses on Tuesday. The move came after the company faced accusations of fraud and abuse. Thousands of students and employees suddenly found themselves with no school to return to at the start of the new academic year. The Department of Education had imposed tough new rules barring ITT from taking students receiving federal aid, a move the company called "inappropriate and unconstitutional."

San Francisco Fed President John Williams said Tuesday that, with job gains and other data showing economic improvement, it "makes sense to get back to a pace of gradual rate increases, preferably sooner rather than later." The comments came on a day when global stocks hit a one-year high thanks to falling expectations of a looming interest rate hike in the wake of Friday's surprisingly weak August jobs report. Williams said the economy was in "good shape" and he expected unemployment to edge down and inflation to inch up to the Fed's 2 percent target rate within two years.

The hedge fund of activist investor William Ackman has bought a 9.9 percent stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill, which is still struggling to recover from recent food safety issues. Ackman said the company's shares, which have been beaten down by its troubles, are now a bargain. He said he would push to bring in new management. Chipotle shares shot up by more than 5 percent Tuesday on the news, closing at $414.07.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.