| Good morning and Happy Friday the 13th. If you're feeling superstitious today, you aren't alone. We asked around the virtual office to find out our colleagues' most bizarre superstitions. - Becky, intern: "Whenever I take an exam I need to wear a long sleeve shirt and have at least 3 pencils"
- Isaac, account manager: "I won't take my phone off airplane mode until we're stopped."
- Henry, copywriter: "I always make sure my hands are greased with Hellmann's mayonnaise before milking a cow."
Stay vigilant today. | | | |  | NASDAQ | 11,709.59 | - 0.65% | | | | S&P | 3,537.01 | - 1.00% | | | | DJIA | 29,080.17 | - 1.08% | |  | GOLD | 1,875.20 | + 0.73% | | | | 10-YR | 0.878% | - 10.10 bps | | | | OIL | 40.98 | - 1.13% | | | *As of market close | - Budget: New fiscal year, new red ink record. In October, the U.S. posted a budget deficit of $284 billion, an 111% increase over last year. The rise can be linked to increased spending for Covid-19 but less tax revenue.
- Markets: Stocks drooped as rising new Covid cases threaten to stall the economic recovery. Bitcoin, on the other hand, passed $16,000.
| |  Cars line up for Covid-19 testing at LA's Dodger Stadium. | Robert Gauthier via Getty Images | Still riding high from Monday's vaccine news? Don't get too ahead of yourself, because "with the virus now spreading, the next few months could be challenging," Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned at a European Central Bank event yesterday. There have been positive updates: Yesterday, we learned that jobless claims were down for the fourth straight week to 709,000, and unemployment fell to 6.9% in October—signs that workers are being called back or finding new roles. And Pfizer's big vaccine reveal (90% effectiveness in late-stage clinical trials) was a boon for value stocks and industries hit hard by the pandemic, like travel. But first, we gotta deal with this New cases and hospitalizations have risen in almost all 50 states, and Texas just became the first to pass 1 million confirmed cases. Parts of the economy are steadily recovering, but as a growing number of state and local governments reimpose restrictions on business activity and social life, "people may lose confidence that it is safe to go out," Powell said. - Yesterday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot asked residents to go virtual this Thanksgiving and only venture out for essential needs. NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said if the positivity rate reaches 3%, schools will go remote.
- In Europe, several governments have reinstituted lockdowns. Early data in Germany, France, Belgium, and Spain shows they're reducing transmission.
Flattening the curve is made even harder by widespread pandemic fatigue. Many people are reluctant to go through lockdowns again and are relaxing health safeguards, GZERO Media writes. Can a vaccine fix things? "Certainly it's not going to be a pandemic for a lot longer, because I believe the vaccines are going to turn that around," Dr. Anthony Fauci said this week. In addition to Pfizer's big update, Moderna is expected to post good news about its mRNA vaccine in the coming days. But...it could still take weeks to get approval and months to manufacture and distribute it. And even longer to inoculate most of the population. In the meantime, health officials are stressing the continued need to wear masks and social distance. | |  Francis Scialabba | This year's social distancing mandates have made employees much more familiar with each other's living rooms. But according to a poll shared exclusively with Morning Brew, they've also helped us turn our own lifestyle knobs to "Healthy." A Morning Brew/Harris poll conducted last weekend found that… - Two-thirds (67%) of remote workers say their lifestyle has gotten healthier since working from home.
- About two in five remote workers (41%) say that since working from home, they've been eating healthier snacks throughout the day. About the same amount (38%) say they've been taking time to cook their meals.
Plus, U.S. remote workers are enjoying a more flexible routine. The top three things employed Americans said they'd miss about working remotely, if they had to return to an office, were: - Saving money by spending less on on gas and lunches each week (41%)
- Extra time in the mornings (40%)
- Being at home with their family (39%)
Zoom out: While convenient for those who can partake, remote work isn't available to everyone. Deutsche Bank Research released a report yesterday recommending a tax on remote employers to support those who can't work from home. | |  Francis Scialabba | Chipotle's first "ghost kitchen," announced on Wednesday, opens tomorrow in Highland Falls, NY. What's a ghost kitchen? A food prep location that only operates for delivery—no ordering on premises. Chipotle's version offers pickup as well. How it works: Customers place orders on Chipotle's website, app, or a third-party delivery platform. Big picture: Covid-19 has been devastating the restaurant biz. With the industry expected to lose $240 billion in sales by the end of 2020, pivoting to digital delivery and pickup with ghost kitchens could be a lifeboat for struggling chains. - In Q3, Chipotle's digital sales soared over 200% yearly to $776 million.
Another benefit of ghost kitchens? They give operators like Chipotle more flexibility to enter urban areas where full-size restaurants are tougher to squeeze in. Looking ahead...as Covid cases in the U.S. climb past records, restaurants are bracing for another round of restrictions on in-person dining. | | SPONSORED BY HERMAN MILLER |  | Forget gifting everyone a mug with your face on it or painting a watercolor of the family dog for your parents. This year, you're going to win the holidays with some help from the delightful design experts, Herman Miller. You see, everyone loves a good seat, and Herman Miller makes the best of 'em. Take their iconic office chair, The Aeron, for example. It's always the talk of "best office chair" lists, plus it's super ergonomic so you can get away with drinking eggnog and still feel pretty dang healthy about things. Every chair by Herman Miller is of the highest quality: crafted with care, built to last, and backed by a 12-year warranty. Plus, they're having a holiday sale where you can get 15% off and free shipping until December 1. We'll cheers chairs to that. | |  Giphy | Airbnb, DoorDash, Roblox, and Wish are all aiming to go public between Thanksgiving and New Year's, reports CNBC. Big picture: As bad as this year has been for procuring dumbbells, it's been quite hospitable to companies going public. In the last wave of IPOs this fall, hyped tech companies Snowflake, Unity, Asana, and Palantir raised billions to capitalize on 2020's embrace of all things digital. So who's in the newest IPO class? - Wish is an e-commerce app that sells ridiculously cheap items.
- Airbnb is the home rental giant that managed to survive the pandemic. It would be one of the biggest U.S. IPOs of the year.
- Roblox is the incredibly popular gaming platform that your kid is probably using instead of doing her homework.
- DoorDash is a food delivery company that scored a big policy win last week when Prop 22 passed in California.
Looking ahead...the companies are expected to make their IPO filings public by next week, so prepare yourself for some Mel Kiper-esque financial scouting. | |  | The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brew's Weekly News Quiz has been compared to waking up five minutes before your alarm. It's that satisfying. Ace the quiz. | | - A passenger on the first cruise ship to sail in the Caribbean since the pandemic started has tested positive for Covid-19.
- Disney+ had more than 73 million subscribers as of October, the company revealed yesterday.
- Here are the top contenders to lead Biden's financial agencies, such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
- Instagram launched a new home screen to promote its Reels and Shop tabs.
- Apple released its macOS 11 Big Sur to the public yesterday.
- The Weeknd will headline the Super Bowl halftime show. The Bills should have it wrapped up by then.
| | | Black Friday never looked so green. Sakara's only sale of the year is back, and Brew readers get first dibs. Enjoy 25% off site-wide, including Sakara's signature nutrition program and their best-selling Metabolism Super Powder. Shop the sale before it's over.* Redefine your career path. The CMA® (Certified Management Accountant) certification is the global benchmark for finance and accounting pros that can help you master 12 critical practice areas. Learn about the CMA difference here.* Plan ahead: This list has every Friday the 13th from 1801 to 2199. By the way, it's a great day for a tattoo discount. Here are some parlor deals in San Antonio and Los Angeles. The 13th floor: How numeric superstitions affect infrastructure design and real estate prices. Follow Friday: We highly recommend you check out this new content creator making waves on social media. Then, head over to r/ShowerThoughts or r/BananasForScale for gems like this PlayStation 5-banana comparison. *This is sponsored advertising content | |  | With a long pandemic winter approaching, you're going to need entertainment options other than Saturday night at Trader Joe's. Morning Brew to the rescue Considering a) we do trivia every day in the newsletter and b) existing Zoom trivia is not good, we decided to create your all-in-one kit for hosting virtual trivia with family, friends, or coworkers. What will you find? - Six rounds of fun, challenging-but-not-too-challenging questions
- Blank team sheets
- An answer sheet with...answers
- Instructions so simple you barely have to think.
The best part? It only takes about an hour, so you can get back to grocery shopping. Learn how to run virtual Trivia Night here. | | | Kickin' it with some math this week. Can you figure out what number should be in that last spot? 2+3=8
3+7=27
4+5=32
5+8=60
6+7=72
7+8= ?? | | | When you share the Brew, you earn rewards. From Brew swag like t-shirts and coffee mugs to exclusive content, we've got something for everyone in our premier rewards program.  Hit the button below to start sharing the Brew. Click to ShareOr copy & paste your referral link to others:
morningbrew.com/daily/r/?kid=8386977e | | | 98. The pattern is (first number) * (first number + second number - 1). So for 2+3=8 ... 2*(5-1) = 8 For 7+8 = 98 ... 7*(15-1) = 98 | | |
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