With the euro at a 26-month low, the European Central Bank is readying new efforts to buy bonds and stimulate the eurozone’s languishing economy. The move comes as Fed prepares to phase out quantitative easing, and Japan announced its own stimulus efforts last week.
The announcement has quieted concerns over President Mario Draghi’s leadership, Reuters reported. Draghi said he’d like the ECB’s balance sheet to look the way it did in March 2012, which would mean buying about a trillion euros in bonds.
As we keep an eye trained on the eurozone, here are some other stories we’re reading — and numbers we’re watching — Thursday:
That’s how many days away we are from the 2016 election, and fundraising has already begun. The day after a resounding midterm victory for Republicans, Dreamworks executive Jeffrey Katzenberg is seeking donations for his Hilary Clinton-backing super PAC Priorities USA Action, the Washington Post reported. The group had a big impact on the 2012 election and political strategist Andy Spahn said he expects donors to “double down.” They certainly have time to.
The number of time Chinese Mac users downloaded apps infected with “Wirelurker.” The malware attaches itself to legitimate iOS apps to infect iPhones, Quartz reported. Wirelurker was discovered overnight Thursday, and it’s notable as the first malware able to crack iPhones that aren’t jailbroken or otherwise messed with by users. It’s limited to Chinese users, as the bug stems from third-party app stores known to be awash with viruses.
That’s how many “Frozen” role-play dresses Disney has sold in the year since the film came out, the Wall Street Journal reported. The mega-hit has pulled in nearly $1.3 billion at the global box office, and merchandise sales are expected to drive up Disney’s third quarter earnings, out Thursday. That number will get even hire over the holidays, as retailers are expected to carry double the “Frozen” products they did last year. For what it’s worth: customers prefer Elsa, whose merchandise outsells her sister Anna two-to-one.
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