The daily business briefing: October 24, 2019

1. House panel questions Zuckerberg on Facebook digital currency plan

Members of the House Financial Services Committee grilled Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday about his company's plans to create a digital currency and other matters, including privacy, hate speech, and misinformation on the social network. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the committee's chair, said the Libra digital currency and the Calibra digital wallet projects "raise many concerns relating to privacy, trading risks, discrimination ... national security, monetary policy, and the stability of the global financial system." Zuckerberg was on the defensive and acknowledged that the Libra project was "risky," but said it was the kind of innovation the U.S. needed. "While we debate these issues, the rest of the world isn't waiting," Zuckerberg said. "China is moving quickly to launch similar ideas in the coming months."

The Associated Press

2. Tesla shares jump as profit crushes expectations

Tesla shares surged by nearly 21 percent in after hours trading on Wednesday after the electric-car maker reported quarterly earnings that smashed expectations. Tesla said it made a profit of $1.86 per share, far beyond the 42 cents per share analysts had expected. The company reported record deliveries in the quarter, along with significant cost cuts. Last quarter the company lost $1.12 per share. The company also said its Model Y crossover was ahead of schedule and should be launched by next summer. Tesla also said it planned a limited run of its Tesla Semi next year.

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Reuters CNBC

3. PG&E cuts power in parts of California due to fire risk

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. cut power to the first of an expected 179,000 customers in 17 Northern and Central California counties on Wednesday due to the danger that high winds could knock trees into power lines and other equipment and cause wildfires. It is the utility's second intentional blackout in two weeks to prevent fires. PG&E started shutting down parts of the grid over objections from Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and other officials. The company said on its website that there was an "elevated" chance power would have to be cut to hundreds of thousands more customers through the weekend, but it also said it should be able to restore power to "the vast majority of customers within 48 hours after the weather has passed."

The Sacramento Bee

4. Stocks edge up before big earnings day

U.S. stock index futures inched higher several hours before the opening bell on Thursday ahead of a big day of corporate earnings reports. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were up by less than 0.1 percent, while those of the Nasdaq gained about 0.3 percent. Several major companies, including Comcast, American Airlines, and Twitter, will report earnings before the start of trading. Amazon, Intel, and Visa report after the market closes. The three main U.S. indexes all closed with modest gains on Wednesday despite disappointing earnings from Caterpillar and Boeing.

CNBC

5. Boeing sales, earnings plunge as 737 Max grounding continues

Boeing reported that its quarterly sales dropped by 21 percent compared to the same period last year as it faced ongoing fallout from two deadly crashes that resulted in the grounding of its 737 Max jets. Boeing has halted deliveries of the planes, once its most popular commercial jets. The aircraft maker's commercial airline deliveries fell by 67 percent. Boeing's earnings in the July to September period fell by 43 percent from the same period last year, to $1.26 billion. Costs related to Max production rose to $900 million. Indonesian investigators on Wednesday blamed mechanical and design problems for the 2018 Lion Air crash that killed 189 people. Boeing said it had developed software updates for a flight control system that contributed to the disasters.

The New York Times