Quartz Daily Brief—Putin-Merkel-Hollande, China’s near-miss default, US jobs, Tesla’s Apple-picking

Good morning, Quartz readers! What to watch for today Putin meets Merkel and Hollande. The leaders of Russia, Germany, and France will convene in the latest diplomatic push to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine, as the EU considers expanding sanctions against Russia next week. US jobs. Labor department figures are expected to show that the economy added 230,00 jobs last month, versus 252,000 in December. The January unemployment rate is expected to come in at 5.6%, a more-than-six year low. Petrobras chooses its new leaders. Brazil’s state-owned oil companylost its CEO and five top executives earlier this week due to a corruption scandal involving as much as $800 million in bribes and kickbacks. Today the company’s board meets to elect replacements. Will Mexico’s consumer confidence maintain its rise? Shoppers’ confidence rose in the final two months of 2014 to finish the year at their highest since Sep. 2013. Today’s data offers consumer sentiment for January. This weekend: SpaceX tries to stick the landing. On Sunday, Elon Musk’s rocket company will attempt to deliver a climate satellite into orbit and then land the rocket on a drone ship in the Atlantic. A similar attempt last month was described by Musk as “close, but no cigar.” While you were sleeping A Chinese property developer just avoided default. Shenzhen-based Kaisa Group narrowly made a $26 million bond payment after missing a payment due on Jan. 8, according to Bloomberg, after selling a 49% stake to another developer. The missed deadline sparked global concerns of defaults spreading through China’s property sector. Tate & Lyle’s results soured. The sweetener company said its full-year profits will be “modestly below” its previous projections, sending its shares down as much as 11%. The company blamed weaker EU sugar prices and US transport issues for its third profit warning in a year. Rocket Internet bought into food delivery. The German startup factory once known for copying other start-ups paid €496 million ($568 million) for a 30% stake in Delivery Hero, valuing the online food delivery aggregator at $1.9 billion. Denmark’s central bank went further into negative territory. The Danish National Bank’s fourth cut in three weeks lowered the bank’s benchmark rate to -0.75%, from -0.5%, in an attempt to keep the krone pegged to the euro. The ECB and Swiss central bank have also pushed rates into negative territory, which is having a strange effect on European bond markets. Germany’s industrial output failed to impress, rising just 0.1% in December from the previous month, compared with expectations of a 0.4% increase. Despite the malaise, low oil prices and a subdued euro are propping up German business sentiment. Australia lowered its growth outlook. The central bank reduced its GDP growth forecast for the year to June to 2.25%, from a range of 2-3% earlier. The bank also reduced its inflation outlook and warned that unemployment is likely to rise due to low demand for commodities. Quartz obsession interlude Mike Murphy on the roots of RadioShack’s demise. “In embracing mobile, RadioShack ensured its eventual demise. All that technology we once carried converged on one device, and RadioShack ran out of things to sell. The apps on an iPhone—camcorder, voice recorder, music player, portable TV—replaced many standalone products RadioShack sold.” Read more here. Matters of debate A former dictator can be more appealing than a failed president.Nigerian voters have a tough choice to make. Spotify isn’t the music industry’s main villain. That would be the record labels, who keep the bulk of streaming music payments. Websites are so over. All content will eventually come from communications apps, starting with Snapchat. Comcast’s Time Warner Cable deal is doomed. The FCC’s new rules make a tie-up look even more anti-competitive. Long commutes are holding women back. Women find getting to and from work four times more stressful than men. Surprising discoveries Surfing desks are the new standing desks. Standing on a wobble-board forces your body to constantly adjust. A UK company is guaranteeing sunny weather for weddings. For $150,000 it uses cloud-seeding technology to ensure blue skies. Tesla has been going Apple-picking. The electronic car company has poached 150 key employees from Cupertino. Shell is using a giant ship named after a notorious Nazi. The Pieter Schelte is the only vessel capable of lifting an entire oil platform. The pope is okay with parents spanking children. As long as it is done “with dignity”—and not in the face. Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, dignified spankings, and rainy day wedding plans tohi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter here for updates throughout the day.