| Good morning. In exciting new guidelines released yesterday, the CDC said that people who've been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 can gather indoors with other fully vaccinated people sans masks (but they should still mask up when in public). Also, vaccinated grandparents can socialize without distancing or masks with their healthy children or grandchildren. Time to unleash that hug you've been prepping for a year. | | | |  | NASDAQ | 12,609.16 | - 2.41% | | | | S&P | 3,821.35 | - 0.54% | |  | DOW | 31,802.44 | + 0.97% | | | | GOLD | 1,680.80 | + 0.17% | | | | 10-YR | 1.599% | + 3.10 bps | | | | OIL | 64.84 | - 0.32% | | | *As of market close. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: Stocks are giving off that Palm Springs time loop vibe. Banks, industrials, and travel-related stocks continue to gain while tech continues to flop.
- Stimulus: The Biden administration said that a "large number" of Americans should receive another round of relief payments by the end of the month. Those checks are part of the $1.9 trillion Senate-approved stimulus plan the House may vote on as soon as today.
| |  Francis Scialabba | Unless you can see the future like the Three-Eyed Raven, chances are the last month has turned your brokerage account into an all-red Jackson Pollock painting. Tech stocks that defied gravity for the majority of the pandemic have been hit the hardest, knocking the Nasdaq to 11% below its record yesterday. And that's impacted one all-star stock picker more than most: Founder, CEO, and Chief Investment Officer of Ark Investments Cathie Wood. - Ark's five exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have all dropped over 20% since early February, and its flagship fund, Ark Innovation, has declined for three weeks in a row.
The backstory: Wood's philosophy is to invest in companies that are developing paradigm-changing technologies. Which means Ark has huge positions in companies, including Tesla, Square, and Roku, that absolutely crushed it last year. - In 2020, Ark Innovation became the largest actively managed ETF in the world, with $17 billion in assets under management.
- Ark's flagship fund returned more than 150%, and its other actively managed ETFs all at least doubled in value.
But it's not 2020 anymore 139 of the 164 stocks held across Ark's five funds are down over the past month. That level of underperformance has shaken investors' confidence in Wood—Ark experienced more than $1.8 billion in outflows between February 24 and March 1, its heftiest stretch of losses ever. Zoom out: Rising bond yields, fears of inflation, and a "return to normal" have been spooking tech investors this spring. And Ark is particularly sensitive to any moves away from higher-risk tech stocks because it has so much exposure to them. - One example: Tesla accounts for around 10% of Ark Innovation. That position made Wood look like a genius when Tesla gained almost 8x last year, but stocks don't always go up. Tesla has lost a third of its value since hitting an all-time high in January.
Bottom line: Following its otherworldly 2020, any dip in Ark's performance was going to set off alarm bells. But after another brutal day yesterday (Ark Innovation dropped nearly 6%), skeptics are on the prowl—short interest in Ark Innovation rose to its highest level ever last Thursday. | | | Today, the House is expected to clear the final legislative hurdle before President Biden can sign his $1.9 trillion stimulus plan. Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen got an early start on the victory lap with one especially exciting prediction: a return to "full employment" in 2022. - What's that? When everyone who is able and willing to work has a job.
Yellen is still soothing concerns that more stimulus will lead to inflation. "We had a 3.5% unemployment rate before the pandemic and there was no sign of inflation increasing," she told MSNBC. Goldman Sachs is also feeling optimistic about the job market, predicting 4.1% unemployment by the end of 2021 thanks to government stimulus and improvements in leisure/hospitality. For context, overall unemployment hit a record 14.8% last April. Zoom out: Also yesterday, Yellen discussed the need for more reforms like paid family leave and improved child care to boost women's employment. In the US, 2.5 million women left the labor force between February 2020 and January 2021, compared to 1.8 million men. | |  Giphy | Over the weekend, the North American box office pulled in an estimated $24 million, its best haul during Covid but a long way from $101+ million the same weekend last year. What's helping: With 45% of theaters now open, this was the first "normal" weekend since the pandemic started, per Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian. Last week, NYC and San Francisco reopened theaters with limited capacity. What's hurting: Raya and the Last Dragon and Tom & Jerry were 1) the biggest debuts and 2) also released on Disney+ and HBO Max, respectively. Both streaming platforms will continue to exclusively or simultaneously premiere films this year, keeping some people glued to their couches. Slow and steady Studios are betting that vaccinated consumers will want to head back to theaters. After a year with every release being pushed back, some studios are finally moving premieres up, including Godzilla v. Kong (now scheduled for March 31) and A Quiet Place II (May 28). Still, the return is uneven. Universal just delayed its newest Fast and Furious film again from May to June while it waits for more international markets to reopen. | |  | The name of the investment game is (and always has been) diversification. And one tool in the investment-diversification toolbox is Fundrise. Fundrise lets you invest in a low-cost, diversified portfolio of institutional-quality real estate. They combine state-of-the-art technology with in-house expertise to reduce fees and help maximize your long-term return potential. Fundrise can potentially help you take your investment portfolio to higher levels than the high-rises and private real estate you'll be investing in. Their intuitive and easy-to-use platform enables you to closely monitor your investments and provides transparent communications around investment progress. With Fundrise, you don't have to be some ultra-wealthy investor to put your bucks into quality long-term diversified investments. You can access the same quality of investments as the fancy folks with just $500. Get started with Fundrise today. | |  E.l.f. Cosmetics | Quote: "There is nothing tastier or prettier than the combination of burritos and makeup!" Kory Marchisotto, chief marketing officer of E.l.f. Beauty, stated the obvious when discussing his company's co-branded collection with Chipotle. The limited-edition makeup collection, which drops today, features an eyeshadow palette inspired by Chipotle ingredients (like pinto beans) and an avocado-shaped makeup sponge. Stat: The $4 billion in pandemic relief donated by MacKenzie Scott accounted for almost 75% of all Covid-related giving by high-net-worth individuals, according to a recent report from Candid and the Center for Disaster Philanthropy. Read: Inside the $156 billion SPAC bubble. (Bloomberg) | | ![Helga from]() Giphy | The WSJ dropped some juicy new numbers on a fast-growing company yesterday. Do you know what it is? - Revenue increased to $130 million in 2020 from $45 million in 2019
- It doubled its monthly user base to ~140 million
- It was valued at $7 billion in December after raising $100 million
We're better at writing newsletters than we are at keeping secrets so we'll tell you: It's Discord, the social network startup that has exploded in popularity during the pandemic. Started in 2015 as a place for friends to chat while playing video games, Discord has grown into a platform for more communities to connect. - For instance, there's a 400+ person Discord server called Parrot's Nest, which provides a forum for parrot owners.
How it makes money: Discord doesn't run ads like other social media companies. Instead, the free-to-use platform relies on subscription revenue from users who pay more for special perks like emojis or enhanced video resolution. Zoom out: Discord is a force in the amateur investing community. After the original Wall Street Bets Discord server was banned for hate speech during the height of meme stock mania in January, the new server has already amassed over 592,000 members. | | - GameStop stock shot up 42% after the company announced that Ryan Cohen, a major GameStop shareholder and the cofounder of Chewy, will lead a committee pushing the retailer toward e-commerce.
- 17.1 million viewers tuned in to CBS to watch Oprah's interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle—more than double the Golden Globes audience.
- Stitch Fix missed revenue projections for last quarter and lowered its revenue outlook, in part due to shipping delays. Its stock fell more than 20% after hours.
- Tesla is building a huge battery in Texas that links up to the state's energy grid, according to Bloomberg.
- Burger King UK's International Women's Day tweet did not go well.
| | | Who needs perfect genes when you can have super powder? Sakara's Metabolism Super Powder can help lower your metabolic age—i.e., how many calories your body burns at rest. Use code MARCHBREW for 20% off to start naturally looking and feeling your best.* Take these retail ranks to the bank. Sailthru's fourth annual Retail Personalization Index is live, giving you an inside look at how the world's top brands personalize their customer experience. Marketers, your next big money strategy lies somewhere on this list.* Investing is complicated: That's why we listen to the Investopedia Express podcast, which breaks down investing and global economics in easy-to-understand terms. Check it out. GPOAT: The first round of our Greatest Product of All Time tournament kicks off on Thursday. Get your official preview here, or, if you want to fill out a bracket and play with friends/coworkers, use this template to make it easy. Tech Tip Tuesday: After you've completed a workout or yoga class on YouTube, refresh the video, peep the change in total view count, and you'll know how many people just did it with you. *This is sponsored advertising content | | | Everything's bigger in Texas—that's indisputable. But today, we ask you: What's bigger than Texas. Below you'll find several countries/territories around the world; you have to decide whether they're bigger or smaller in area than Texas. - Greenland
- Colombia
- Japan
- Ethiopia
- France
- Iran
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morningbrew.com/daily/r/?kid=8386977e | | - Greenland is more than 3x the size of Texas
- Colombia is also much bigger than Texas
- Japan is significantly smaller than Texas
- Ethiopia is bigger than Texas
- France is slightly smaller than Texas
- Iran is much bigger than Texas
| | | ✢ A Note From Fundrise (Here's all the legal jargon we know you love reading.) | | |
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