Taylor Swift is flexing her economic muscles again with the return of her tour and a new book

1. AWS CEO addresses Amazon’s new return-to-office policy. Matt Garman said nine out of 10 employees were “excited” to get back to the office as he explained the reasoning behind the five-day RTO mandate at an all-hands held Thursday. A transcript leaked to BI also shows he said there were days when his team “didn’t really accomplish anything” because of remote work.
2. Netflix beat earnings expectations again. The streamer added more than 5 million new subscribers and notched $9.83 billion in quarterly revenue, surpassing analysts’ predictions. Not very long ago, it was reasonable to wonder how Netflix would pay its bills. Not anymore.
3. Texas’ economy is on California’s heels. While California still has the highest GDP in the US, Texas is close behind. By wooing big companies and new residents, Texas has supercharged its economic growth — but in doing so, has left some residents fed up and priced out.

What’s happening today

• American Express and other companies report earnings.

The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Milan Sehmbi, fellow, in London. Amanda Yen, fellow, in New York.