Six years and $3 trillion later, quantitative easing is coming to an end. The Federal Reserve is expected to make an announcement following a tw0-day meeting in Washington this week. The Washington Post has an interesting history of the bond-buying “experiment,” noting QE was originally intended as a one-time injection into the economy, but has been used to stimulate growth in many areas.
As we await official word from Fed Chair Janet Yellen on the policy, here are some other stories we’re reading — and numbers we’re watching — Tuesday:
That’s how many customers have had their Internet speed slowed down more than 25 million times by AT&T since fall 2011, according to a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission Tuesday. Many of these customers are heavy data users with unlimited plans, which AT&T no longer offers, Reuters reported. The FTC called the throttling “deceptive,” with some customers’ speeds slowed up to 90 percent.
The number of people using Alibaba’s payment system, Alipay. Alibaba founder Jack Ma, fresh off a massive IPO, is set to meet with Apple CEO Tim Cook this week to talk about potential partnerships, the Wall Street Journal reported. Apple just launched its own mobile payment system last week.
The number of times per second new RFID chips installed in NFL players’ shoulder pads transmit their location. The new sensors allow for near-real-time motion tracking and player data of unparalleled depth, the Verge reported. The league is experimenting with these “next-gen stats” in games this year, with an eye toward putting more sensors on all players and, eventually, the ball.
The number of movies Marvel Studios announced through 2019 at an event in Los Angeles Tuesday. It’s a shot across the bow at DC Comics’ similarly huge plan, announced earlier this month, for ten new films through 2020.
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