Powell died of cardiac arrest Oct. 26 at her home in upstate New York, The New York Times reported. Her death was confirmed by Judy Clain, Powells email and editor in chief of Little, Brown.

She was a brilliant writer and a daring, original person and she will not be forgotten, Clain said in a statement. We are sending our deepest condolences to all who knew and loved Julie, whether personally or through the deep connections she forged with readers of her memoirs.

Powells 2005 book Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen became the hit, Nora Ephron-directed film Julie & Julia, with the author portrayed in the movie by Amy Adams and Meryl Streep as Child.

Her sophomore and last effort titled Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat and Obsession was a bit jarring in its honesty. Powell revealed she had an affair, the pain of loving two men at once, of her fondness for sadomasochism and even a bout of self-punishing sex with a stranger.

People coming from the movie Julie & Julia and picking up Cleaving are going to be in for some emotional whiplash, she told The Associated Press in 2009. I dont believe its going to be a Nora Ephron movie.

Powell began her affair in 2004 as she was putting the finishing touches on her first book, a time she writes when she was starry-eyed and vaguely discontented and had too much time on my hands.

By 2006, she had landed an apprenticeship at a butcher shop two hours north of New York City, which offered an escape from her crumbling marriage and a place to explore her childhood curiosity with butchers.

The way they held a knife in their hand was like an extension of themselves, she said. Im a very clumsy person. I dont play sports. That kind of physical skill is really foreign to me, and Im really envious of that.

The book explores the link between butchering and her own tortured romantic life. At one point, while cutting the connective tissue on a pigs leg, she writes: Its sad, but a relief as well, to know that two things so closely bound together can separate with so little violence, leaving smooth surfaces instead of bloody shreds.

Her book tapped into the growing interest in old school butchery and her experience slicing meat actually resulted in her eating less of it. She was an advocate for humanely raised and slaughtered animals.

People want to get their hands dirty. People want to participate in the process. People want to know where their food is coming from, Powell said. People dont want the mystery anymore.

She is survived by her husband, Eric.

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U.S. futures trading on Wall Street appeared to be in a holding pattern ahead of a decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve on an interest rate increase in its attempt to curb inflation.

Futures for the Dow Jones industrials were unchanged and the S&P 500 rose less than 0.1%.

The Fed is due to wrap up a two-day policy meeting Wednesday thats expected to yield its sixth interest rate increase of the year as the central bank fights the worst inflation in four decades. The widespread expectation is for the Fed to push through another increase triple the usual size, or three-quarters of a percentage point. It would be the fourth .75 percentage point increase this year.

The Labor Department reported that U.S. job openings rose unexpectedly in September, suggesting the labor market is not cooling as fast as the Fed hoped for as it tries to slow economic growth while trying not to ignite a recession.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell has warned that the central banks fight against inflation would likely come with some pain. Powell and his colleagues on the Feds policymaking committee want to see signs that the abundance of available jobs is steadily declining.

In September, Americas employers slowed their hiring but still added 263,000 jobs and the unemployment rate dropped from 3.7% to 3.5%, matching a half-century low. The October jobs report comes this Friday.

In Europe at midday, Frances CAC 40 lost 0.2%, Britains FTSE lost 0.3% and Germanys DAX was essentially flat.

Chinese shares extended gains, driven by speculation Beijing might be preparing to gradually relax stringent COVID-19 restrictions. Since that was not followed by any official confirmation, the enthusiasm could quickly fade.

The power of social media and retail investors was evident after stories circled on Chinas zero COVID policy and if Beijing is preparing to phase it out, Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

Despite new lockdowns being announced a China reopening is the biggest ticket in town, and its better to show up early rather than late to the reopening party, he said.

Bullish talk by Chinese regulators who addressed a conference of global financiers in Hong Kong also lifted sentiment.

Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, urged those attending the meeting to visit China to understand what is happening in the country and urged them not to bet against China and Hong Kong. He was among several senior Chinese officials who, speaking in prerecorded video addresses, downplayed risks to the economy due partly to a slump in the real estate sector.

Hong Kongs Hang Seng jumped 2.4% to 15,827.17, while the Shanghai Composite index added 1.2% to 3,003.37.

Japans benchmark Nikkei 225 was little changed, declining less than 0.1% to finish at 27,663.39. Australias S&P/ASX 200 added 0.1% to 6,986.70. South Koreas Kospi added nearly 0.1% to 2,336.87.

South Koreas export growth fell in October as demand from China fell. Consumer price inflation rose 5.7% on year in October, in line with the market consensus.

Sentiments in the Asia session could largely hold on to some wait-and-see as well, but eyes will remain on Chinese equities after their stellar performance yesterday, Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG in Singapore, said in a report.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude added 18 cents to $88.55 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 24 cents to $94.89 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar edged down to 147.05 Japanese yen from 148.23 yen. The euro cost 99 cents, up from 98.78 cents.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%. The Nasdaq composite dropped 0.9%, while the Russell 2000 rose 0.3%.

___

Kageyama reported from Tokyo; Ott reported from Washington.

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Its an exercise that for the most part, doesnt require any special equipment, can be done inside or out, and is available to people at almost all fitness levels. Its close enough to perfection that Dr. Thomas Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, called it the closest thing we have to a wonder drug.

Still, scientists have been digging deeper to see if weve mined the maximum benefit from this super exercise.

7,000 is the new 10,000 steps

When you don any kind of fitness watch or step counter, the default programmed daily step goal is typically 10,000. But where did that number come from? One recent study in The Lancet did a deep dive into the merits of 10,000 steps a day and found that 7,000 steps are closer to what people need for maintaining good health.

That 10,000 steps was never a peer reviewed number, says Dr. Howard Luks, orthopedic surgeon in New York and author of Longevity Simplified: Living A Longer, Healthier Life Shouldnt Be Complicated. Thereve been a lot of studies of late that show that we really only need 6,0007,000 steps a day to derive a pretty significant benefit.

And the older you are, the more you benefit from fewer steps a day, Luks says. The under-40 set can aim for the higher numbers, like 8,000 or above.

When youre setting a step goal for yourself, think first about your own personal improvement instead of an arbitrary number, says NiCole Keith, professor of kinesiology at Indiana UniversityPurdue University and immediate past president of the American College of Sports Medicine.

Ten thousand steps is a lot of steps, she says. If youre an active person and youre out walking all the time, or you work in a manual labor job and youre on your feet and youre carrying things and walking around like a box door or something, thats great. But if youre a receptionist and only getting 3,000, then make a goal to make it 3,500. Then see if you can push it up to 4,000.

Intervals and walking poles add extra perks

Certain methods of walking may have specific extra benefits. A 2017 study in the journal Cell Metabolism found that interval trainingpeppering your regular walking pace with faster spurtshelps reverse the breakdown of muscle cells and improve muscle power in people ages 65 to 80. Another recent study on walking while holding poles (Nordic walking) can improve your heart function faster than regular walking.

But while these particular modifications can bring certain perks, Keith advises not to let the quest for the perfect walking method prevent you from walking at all.

Its good to have these studies and to have people paying attention to them, but we dont want people to come away thinking they have to do it this way or no way, she says. The ultimate message is just to walk, to get out there and just do it whatever way is accessible to you.

The downstream effects of immobility and sedentary behavior are terrible, says Luks. Focus on moving your body regularly so the steps add up, and youll reap the benefits you need.

Theres no wrong way to walk, he says. I think its far too easy for people to find excuses not to do something if its too challenging. Is walking faster probably a little better? Sure. Is walking a little longer a little better? Sure. However, if at the end of the day, your watch or phone shows that you banked your total steps, youre good.

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The multitasking CEO faces yet another trial before the very Delaware judge who forced him to honor his contract with Twitters board to purchase the social media company. This time, however, its about something much more personal: his own pay. 

Starting Nov. 14, Elon Musk as well as present and former directors must stand before the states Court of Chancerys Kathaleen McCormick to defend a mammoth compensation package handed out in 2018 that entitled him to up to $55.8 billion in stock options. 

Unlike the Twitter case, it is expected this will not likely result in a prior settlement.

Plaintiff Richard Tornetta is arguing in a 96-page legal brief that the board failed to perform its fiduciary duty to minority investors by green-lighting the largest compensation grant in human historyeven though the grant was put to a shareholder vote and approved.

At its heart is the issue whether Elon Musk can be considered a controlling shareholder on both sides of the transactionas chairman of the board owning a 22% stake at the time, as well as the beneficiary of the package. If he were, the deal would be considered a conflicted transaction subject to different governance rules. 

Close ties

Musks problem is that he has close ties to a lot of directors, said Tulane University law professor Ann Lipton. If you are deemed to be a controller, conflicted transactions cannot be cleansed with a shareholder vote alone. You also need a disinterested and independent board committee, and a more formalized process, which wasnt followed here.

Toretta argues Musk was furthermore not truly incentivized, since the milestone payments set out also happened to align with goals already baked into the companys projected business plan. 

While a ruling rests on decisions that took place four years ago, recent events at Twitter could play a role. Musk has commandeered a staff of reportedly 50 Tesla employees including senior managers like Ashok Elluswamy as his own personal aides-de-camp in restructuring Twitters operations. 

According to CNBC, workers at the electric carmaker are pressured to help with projects at Musks other companies for no additional pay because it is seen as good for their careers or because the work is regarded as helping a related transaction or project.

While indicative of a complete lack of trust in Twitters personnel, it may also establish a pattern of behavior in which Musk can simply divert Tesla resources at whim and no one on Teslas supine board, as Tornetta calls it, will stand up to it.

It will help, argued Lipton. It just shows how conflicted he is.

Nevertheless the Tulane professor said she liked Musks chances on the case a lot better than when Twitter sued him, demanding he honor his contractual word to purchase the company for $44 billion.

The Tornetta trial arose after the courts vice chancellor, Joseph Slights, back in September 2019 ruled against Teslas attempt to dismiss the case and ordered it to proceed. 

He cited the sheer size of the pay package as well as the risk minority investors were railroaded by a pliant company board that feared retribution from Musk, a hungry 800-pound gorilla, if he did not get its way.

This has the potential to be a very important case from an executive compensation standpoint, University of Pennsylvania law professor Jill Fisch told Bloomberg.

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