The daily business briefing: October 9, 2018

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1. Alphabet shutting down Google+
2. Fox hires former White House aide Hope Hicks as communications director
3. Trump to unveil plan to permit more ethanol in gas
4. Google holds 10 events around the world to unveil new Pixel phones
5. IMF lowers estimate for global growth, rattling stocks

published 9 October 2018

1. Alphabet shutting down Google+

Google parent Alphabet is shutting down its Google+ social network to consumers after data from up to 500,000 users appeared to have been exposed to external developers due to a bug, the company announced in a blog on Monday. Google said it detected the problem and patched the leak in March. The company also said there was no evidence that any developers misused user data or exploited the vulnerability. Still, shares of Alphabet dropped by more than 1 percent on the news of the latest privacy glitch to affect a major tech company. The company reportedly plans to "wind down" Google+, which has "very low usage" among consumers anyway, by August 2019. It will be kept alive for businesses.

New Fox, the successor to Fox News parent company 21st Century Fox, on Monday named President Trump's former White House communications director, Hope Hicks, as its head of corporate communications. Hicks, 29, will run communications for a company overseeing Fox News, the Fox broadcasting network, and other outlets under the control of Rupert Murdoch. Hicks' hiring is the latest in a series of moves linking Fox News personnel and the White House. Bill Shine, the network's former co-president, became White House deputy chief of staff for communications, effectively replacing Hicks. New Fox is the company emerging from 21st Century Fox's sale of many assets to Walt Disney Co.

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President Trump plans Tuesday to issue a directive allowing the year-round sale of gasoline containing more ethanol, up to 15 percent, in a move to keep a campaign promise to farmers, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a senior White House official. Gasoline with 15 percent ethanol, known as E15, currently is banned in summer to cut smog. The change is intended to help expand the use of biofuels, but could escalate tensions with the oil industry. As a concession, Trump also is expected to propose changes to a program letting oil refiners buy and sell credits for using ethanol. After the announcement, Trump will travel to leading corn and ethanol producing state Iowa for a political rally, the White House official said.

Alphabet's Google on Tuesday is unveiling the third edition of its Pixel smartphone. The company is holding 10 media events across the world in a sign that it will expand distribution of the devices in a bid to take on Apple's popular iPhone. Most of the world's smartphones operate on Google's free Android software, and the company has been pushing into the hardware business over the last three years hoping to increase its control over revenue from its apps. Google has been successful selling lower-priced smart speakers, but it shipped just 2.5 million Pixel 2 and 2 XL devices in the nine months that ended on June 30, giving it less than 1 percent of the global smartphone market.

The International Monetary Fund on Monday downgraded its outlook for the world economy due to rising interest rates and trade tensions. The IMF forecast 3.7 percent growth for the global economy in 2018, down from a July estimate of 3.9 percent growth. European and Asian stocks were mixed on Tuesday after the news. In the U.S., stock-index futures edged down. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 0.2 percent early Tuesday, while those of the S&P 500 were down by 0.3 percent. U.S. stocks pared early losses on Monday, with the Dow eking out a narrow gain and the S&P 500 closing nearly flat, while the Nasdaq Composite fell by 0.7 percent.

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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.