| Good morning. Today, the UAE's Hope spacecraft will arrive at Mars after a seven-month journey spanning more than 290 million miles. That's actually insanely fast. Consider how long it would take to get to Mars using these other methods of transportation: - 1,191 years by getting a piggyback ride on Usain Bolt going his top sprinting speed.
- 441 years by driving 75 mph on a highway.
- 61 years by commercial jet (not counting the layover in Charlotte).
| | | |  | NASDAQ | 13,987.64 | + 0.95% | | | | S&P | 3,915.59 | + 0.74% | | | | DOW | 31,385.76 | + 0.76% | | | | GOLD | 1,831.40 | + 1.01% | |  | 10-YR | 1.167% | - 0.20 bps | | | | OIL | 58.08 | + 2.16% | | | *As of market close. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Government: Former President Trump's second impeachment trial kicks off today over his alleged role inciting the violent mob that attacked the Capitol just over a month ago. Two-thirds of the Senate (which is currently split 50-50 among Dems and Republicans) is required to convict Trump.
- Markets: Six straight days. That's the Dow and S&P's current winning streak, their longest since August. Only two more to catch the 1959–1966 Boston Celtics.
| |  Francis Scialabba | While Elon Musk has moved crypto markets before with a single meme, yesterday he sent the price of bitcoin soaring the old-fashioned way: buying a truckload of it. According to an SEC filing Monday, Tesla purchased $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin using its cash reserves. Tesla also announced it would accept payment for its products in bitcoin on a limited basis, becoming the first major automaker in the world to do so. - Musk's moves were the mentos to the cryptocurrency's Coca-Cola. The price of a single bitcoin gained as much as 15% on the day and briefly surpassed its record high of over $44,000.
Why did Tesla hop on the bitcoin train? Despite being a company that has struggled with profitability, Tesla actually has over $19 billion in cash and cash equivalents sitting around. In its SEC filing, the company stated the move was to "further diversify and maximize returns on our cash." In other words, it was looking to put some of that $19 billion to good use and Elon felt that sinking 8% of it into bitcoin was the best way to do that. - Tesla isn't the first: Jack Dorsey's fintech Square made a $50 million investment in bitcoin last October, and business analytics platform Microstrategy has accumulated over $3 billion worth of bitcoin using its excess cash reserves.
Tesla is by far the biggest fish in the corporate world to embrace bitcoin, but Elon's move may not have been a huge surprise to his 46.2 million Twitter followers. Musk added #bitcoin to his bio a few weeks ago, tweets about crypto more than Tesla, and mentioned he was a supporter of bitcoin during a conversation on the social media platform Clubhouse last week. Bottom line: Tesla's stock (+1.7%) hardly budged yesterday, a signal that Tesla's stamp of approval is a much bigger deal for crypto enthusiasts who have been advocating for widespread adoption than it is for the automaker's underlying business. | |  Francis Scialabba | People argue about the minimum wage more than the ideal thermostat temperature. Yesterday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) gave both sides some ammunition. - Proponents seized on CBO data that phasing in a $15 federal minimum wage by 2025 would lift 900,000 people out of poverty and boost pay for up to 27 million workers.
- What critics heard: Doubling the minimum wage could cost 1.4 million jobs and add $54 billion to the deficit.
The CBO ran a similar study in 2019, predicting increased pay for 27 million, 1.3 million lost jobs, and 1.3 million lifted from poverty. Why are they double checking their work? Against the backdrop of a pandemic-stricken economy, President Biden made $15/hour a key component of his proposed stimulus. He'll have trouble winning over Republicans and moderate Democrats, but some members of his party think they can use other means to get it passed. Zoom out: While some states have voluntarily increased their wage floor, the federal minimum hasn't budged from $7.25 in a dozen years, even as purchasing power has fallen. | |  Francis Scialabba | The Flying Dutchman just got demoted as KLM's signature cocktail. The Amsterdam-based airline said it successfully completed the first passenger flight powered by a synthetic fuel mixture last month. Why it matters: Jet fuel accounts for an estimated 5% of human-induced global warming. With demand for fuel expected to more than double by 2050, aircraft manufacturers and airlines are working on more efficient planes and sustainable fuels. - In 2019, EasyJet became the first major carrier to operate net-zero flights by purchasing emissions offsets.
- United Airlines is investing big in carbon capture.
KLM was the first to use plant-derived biofuels for commercial service in 2011—but while biofuels have since become more common, synthetic alternatives are taking longer to develop. Until the aviation industry turns futuristic dreams of electric- and hydrogen-powered planes into a commercial reality, those fuel alternatives are one of the most promising paths to tackle aviation emissions. Bottom line: KLM's sustainably produced kerosene substitute was still mixed with regular fuel, but it's a symbolic step for a gas-guzzling industry looking to ease its climate impact. | |  | Listen, the stock market can be great. Sometimes it's stable, everything's in the green, and you put "investing genius" in all your dating profiles. But the stock market can also be unpredictable. And when you wake up to see all your highly considered positions in the red, you should give yourself some peace of mind by diversifying your portfolio. Here's where Fundrise comes in. They make it easy to invest in private market real estate, an alternative to the stock market, but one that used to only be accessible to the ultra-wealthy. Fundrise has changed that. Now, with just a $500 minimum investment, you can access real estate's historically strong, consistent, and reliable returns. No need to feel all that stock market stress, reader. Start diversifying with Fundrise today. | | | Now that we've got your attention, let's talk about the bond market, where things are heating up: Long-term US bond yields hit their highest level in a year yesterday. Big picture: You score bond yields a little like golf—when prices go down, yields go up. And rising yields mean that investors are optimistic that more stimulus + vaccines will lead to economic growth. - But with economic growth comes the potential for more inflation (an increase in prices). Some economists, including former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, warn we're not taking the threat of inflation seriously enough.
The current Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen might have been flagged for a 15-yard taunting penalty with her response: "I've spent many years studying inflation and worrying about inflation. And I can tell you we have the tools to deal with that risk if it materializes." Bottom line: Stocks sell tickets, but bonds win championships. Investors always look to the bond market, in particular the yield curve, for clues on future economic growth. They like what they see: Goldman Sachs just raised its Q2 GDP forecast to 11% from 10%. | |  SoftBank | While some couples have struggled to make it through the pandemic, Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank's steamy relationship with amateurish slide decks is strong as ever. Slides from its investor presentation on Monday show that CEO Masayoshi Son's latest goal is to turn his company into a goose that lays golden eggs (i.e., makes smart investments in late-stage private companies). - It's actually been a solid strategy: SoftBank's Vision Fund brought in $25 billion in realized and paper gains last quarter, powered by a $5.2 billion gain in its Uber stake and an $11.2 billion return on DoorDash.
Zoom out: So far, the Vision Fund has returned just $15 billion of the $190 billion that SoftBank expects it to generate over its 12-year term. But Son isn't worried—the latest presentation outlines how the Vision Fund is entering the "harvest phase," when more golden eggs will materialize. + While we're here: Let's check out some other legendary slides from previous SoftBank presentations. 1. The "valley of coronavirus" 
SoftBank 2. WeWork's Magical Turnaround  SoftBank 3. A little lost here tbh  SoftBank | | - Reddit raised $250 million at a $6 billion valuation. That's double its valuation in February 2019.
- Update from yesterday's newsletter: Clubhouse is now blocked in China.
- Women's labor force participation rate in the US hit a 33-year low in January. Women accounted for almost 80% of workers age 20 and over who left the workforce last month.
- Facebook is getting tougher on Covid-19 vaccine misinformation.
- DoorDash bought the startup Chowbotics, which is known for its salad-making robot, Sally.
- Mark Cuban is cofounding Fireside, a podcast app that encourages live conversation, according to the Verge.
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