Daily Pulse: Apple Scorched by Prosecutors, Credit Card Debt Soars, Twitter Ups the Ante

Hype or Loop: Apple scheduled a press event for March 21, a day before the company fights a court order to help the FBI get the contents of that iPhone. Apple’s inscrutable clue this time is “Let us loop you in,” which despite the delicious timing almost certainly doesn’t mean Tim Cook will be revealing his legal strategy (Some says it's a ho-hum reference to the company's HQ, One Infinite Loop, where the event will be held this time). On the merits, tech pundits expect a smaller iPhone and a smaller version of the iPad Pro, and probably some Watch enhancements.

Wait — Don't Go: Twitter is amping up its benefits package to retain talent, Yoree Koh of The Wall Street Journal reports. The social media company has been doling out additional equity over the past month, per Koh’s sources, and “in an unusual move … has granted varying amounts of restricted stock depending on when the employees started working,” to address a share price that has fallen 60% in the past year. This, Koh says, is “a pressing move that may be followed by other tech companies with sinking stock prices.”

Vote of Confidence: Credit card debt ballooned $71 billion last year to $917.7 billion. Most of that ($52 billion) came in Q4 — the "largest pace since the Great Recession,” according to CardHub.com. What does this mean? "The willingness of an individual to increase their leverage is the ultimate vote of confidence in the economy," Steve Blitz, chief economist at ITG Investment Research, tells CNBC’s Fred Imbert.

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*Rate on main refinancing operations

Blast Off: Blue Origin’s Willy Wonka day for 11 reporters was supposed to be a feel-good moment for the secretive company and for Jeff Bezos, who doesn’t do much press. But as The Verge’s Loren Grush reports, while two women were invited (from the AP and Reuters) several prominent space reporters — like herself — didn’t get a Golden Ticket while men from some hyper-local publications did. Also, this happened on International Women’s Day (oops). “I don’t mean to suggest that Blue Origin purposefully excluded certain journalists because we are women,” writes Grush. “But its invitations do send an implied message: the company doesn’t value female voices.”

The Empire Strikes Back: With a court hearing in less than two weeks (see above), and Apple pressing the argument that helping the FBI bypass security on that iPhone is an existential choice between privacy and policing, the Justice Department filed a brief aiming to bring things down to earth. “Apple deliberately raised technological barriers that now stand between a lawful warrant and an iPhone containing evidence related to the terrorist mass murder of 14 Americans,” Justice argues. “Apple alone can remove those barriers so that the FBI can search the phone, and it can do so without undue burden.”

Apple's response? The DOJ has gotten "so desperate" that it has "thrown all decorum to the wind," Apple senior vice president and general counsel Bruce Sewell said Thursday. "The tone of the brief reads like an indictment."

Cover Art: Simona Halep of Romania holds an oversize likeness of her face at the WTA All-Access Hour during the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 9, 2016 in Indian Wells, California.

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What you may have missed — and really should read:

• Peyton Manning's retirement prompts endorsement question: is it better to build or buy?
• This is why Larry Wilmore says he hasn't worked in thirty years.
• Must-watch: our interview with economic wizard Mohamed El-Erian.
• We shouldn't forget today's workforce when we're planning for tomorrow,says Udemy's Dennis Yang.
• Here's why Jack Welch thinks you should talk about politics at work.

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Missed the last update? Catch up: Negative Interest Rates Get Deeper for the ECB, False Alarm for Burberry, AlphaGo Beats the Human—Again

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