Good morning and happy birthday to Pete Davidson, Morning Brew's new boyfriend. —Matty Merritt, Max Knoblauch, Neal Freyman | | | READ THIS TO REMAIN A SUBSCRIBER Want to keep receiving Morning Brew? Clicking on newsletter links is the only way for us to know you are reading (and enjoying) Morning Brew. If you don't click by next month, you will stop receiving this newsletter. Click here to let us know that you're still an active subscriber. Thanks! | | | |  | Nasdaq | 15,853.85 | | | | | S&P | 4,682.80 | | | | | Dow | 36,087.45 | | |  | 10-Year | 1.622% | | | | | Bitcoin | $63,952.33 | | | | | Oatly | $9.36 | | | | *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 6:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: Stocks barely budged yesterday in the absence of market-moving news, but that could change today when Walmart and Home Depot report earnings. Investors did cry over spilled oat milk after Oatly warned production snags would slow growth.
- Economy: Potholes—you're officially on notice. President Biden signed the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill into law, which paves the way for historic federal investments into roads, transit, broadband, and much more during the next five years.
| | | Giphy The most dangerous thing in space right now isn't aliens or cowboy Bezos—it's more than 1,500 pieces of trash from a Russian satellite that was obliterated yesterday, which forced seven crew members on the International Space Station (ISS) to take shelter in space's version of a lifeboat. What happened: In an antisatellite (ASAT) missile test Monday morning, Russia blew up its own satellite, creating a cloud of space debris that careens by the ISS every 90 minutes. The US State Department called Russia's actions "dangerous, reckless, and irresponsible," and NASA said the explosion will "significantly increase the risk to astronauts and cosmonauts" aboard the space station. Some background: Antisatellite missile tests have been around since the dawn of the space race (the US launched the first one in 1959), but Russia, the US, China, and India have never used them against each other's satellites. Still, these tests are usually considered "political moves" for countries to show that they could mess up your satellite if they wanted to. In space, blowing things up doesn't make them go away There are currently millions of pieces of space debris—many from past missile tests—orbiting Earth at about 22,000 mph, and they pose significant risks for satellites that are critical for American military operations and a number of everyday commercial activities here on Earth, like banking and GPS. - According to NASA, a 1-centimeter paint fleck in space can do the damage of a 550-pound object traveling 60 mph on Earth.
Bottom line: As an increasing amount of economic activity relies on objects in orbit, space trash is bad for business.—MM | | | Lintao Zhang/Getty Images President Biden spoke face-to-face (well, virtually) with Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday for the first meeting between the leaders of the world's two largest economies. It went how most Zoom meetings go: lots of chitchat, few concrete action items. Which is disappointing for the two dozen business groups that have called on Biden to begin reducing tariffs on China. Why do they want that? Because of that nasty thing going around: inflation. Tariffs amount to a tax that raises prices for consumers, and the last thing the US economy needs is more inflationary pressure—prices rose at their fastest pace in 31 years in October. - The US still has tariffs dating back to the Trump administration on approximately $370 billion worth of Chinese-made goods, and Biden has signaled he's not ready to lift them, especially since China is behind on commitments it made in a deal that took effect in February 2020.
Bottom line: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen agrees that tariffs do contribute to inflation, and that both the US and China winding down tariffs in tandem "could be a desirable outcome."—NF | | | Mickey McDougall; Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images Like most of us during this time of the year, Casper is going back to bed. The mattress startup is being taken private by private equity firm Durational Capital Management after an exhausting, almost-two-year stint on the NYSE. Why exhausting? Well, the company debuted on the public markets at $14.50/share in February 2020. Last Friday, it closed at a paltry $3.55. The air mattress arc Founded in 2014, Casper was a pioneer of the direct-to-consumer model—and through its convenient "bed-in-a-box" distribution strategy and incessant advertising, it worked its way up to a $1.1 billion valuation, nabbing investments from celebs like Nas and Ashton Kutcher. But somewhere along the way of trying to become the "Nike of sleep," it tripped on a shoelace. Casper went public at just a $575 million valuation and continued to lose money, even as it opened retail stores and inked partnerships with Target and Mattress Warehouse. Not even a nap bar in Manhattan could help distinguish it from the competition. Big picture: Casper's departure from the stock exchange comes right after a flood of D2C superstars, such as Warby Parker and Allbirds, made their public debuts.—MM | | | | Each holiday season, these rascals manage to sneak away with delivered gifts resting on porches across America, and boy does it grind our gears. But you can do more than just assume these package snatchers are going on the Naughty List. You can protect your home and family from spiking holiday burglaries with robust, reliable home security from SimpliSafe. In a mere 30 minutes, you can blanket every room, window, and door with sensors and cameras that detect break-ins, fires, flooding, and more. Even connect your home to SimpliSafe's 24/7 monitoring service that dispatches help fast in an emergency. Professional monitoring services start at just $15 a month, with no hidden fees or long-term contracts. That's right; there's a new sheriff in town, porch pirates. Try SimpliSafe risk-free for 60 days, and for a limited time, get 50% off your system here. | | Stat: Beef—it's what's for dinner if you want to eat ramen for the rest of the week. Meat giant Tyson Foods said its average beef prices rose by nearly one-third over last year. Meanwhile, pork prices jumped 38% and chicken ~19%. "The inflation we incur needs to be passed on," Tyson's CFO said. Quote: "The only thing worse than being copied by Twitter and Facebook is not being copied by Twitter and Facebook." Substack CEO Chris Best told the FT he feels vindicated that the big social media platforms have launched their own newsletter products to rival his. Four years after its launch, Substack now has 1 million paying subscribers, the company announced yesterday. Read: How Succession makes wealth look miserable. (The Ringer) | | | PropertyShark Great news for heirs about to be bequeathed the estate of a wealthy, recently deceased relative: The most expensive zip codes in the US got even pricier this year. A new report from real estate data company Property Shark found that for the first time, every one of the 10 most expensive zip codes in the US had a median home sales price of at least $4 million. And the number of zip codes with median sale prices of $3+ million doubled from last year, to 30. The top 10: - 94207: Atherton, CA (home to Steph Curry)
- 02199: Boston, MA
- 11962: Sagaponack, NY
- 94957: Ross, CA
- 33109: Miami Beach, FL
- 90210: Beverly Hills, CA
- 93108: Santa Barbara, CA
- 90402: Santa Monica, CA
- 94022: Los Altos, CA
- 98039: Medina, WA
The 1% must be very neighborly: 92 of the 127 most expensive zip codes registered home-price gains this year, and 23 of those had price increases of over 25%. Pour one out for: NYC's Upper West Side, one of only 12 zip codes on the leaderboard to register a decrease in home sale prices this year, falling 39%. Must be those rowdy philharmonic concerts at Lincoln Center.—MK | | - Royal Dutch Shell, Europe's biggest energy company, is moving its HQ from the Netherlands to Britain and dropping "Royal Dutch" from its name.
- Alex Jones was found liable for damages in a ruling that hands a victory to the families of eight Sandy Hook shooting victims who sued Jones and his outlet Infowars for defamation.
- Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine generated the strongest immune response of four vaccines observed in a new study.
- The Lucid Air, EV startup Lucid's first model, was named MotorTrend's 2022 Car of the Year.
- Sesame Street is debuting its first Asian American muppet.
| | No pain, all gain. The HMBradley Credit Card maximizes rewards for you, so you automatically earn 3% cash back on your highest spend category—Every. Single. Month. No limits. Boom. Don't miss out; join the waitlist here.† We found everything you want—literally. Italic is a marketplace that offers high quality essentials made by the same manufacturers as top brands for 50-80% less. New customers get $30 off their purchase with code MORNINGBREW.* Let's talk sustainability: Consumers are factoring environmental concerns into their purchase decisions more than ever before. How should brands navigate this "green consumerism"? We'll chat about it this week at Marketing Brew's virtual event. Register here. Tech Tip Tuesday: Here's how to share your wifi password easily on your iPhone, on Android, or via a QR code. We guarantee it: You will watch this video more than once. *This is sponsored advertising content | | Brew Mini: Sopranos, Katy Perry, elite colleges...this crossword has it all. Solve it here. Useless Playing Card Trivia How well do you know your playing cards? Give these five questions a shuffle. - This is the only King without a mustache.
- Which is the only Queen that faces to the right?
- How many eyes are on face cards in a standard 52-card deck?
- What does the number 8.0658175e+67 represent?
- What is unique about the Jack of Clubs?
| | | 1. The King of Hearts doesn't have a mustache
2. Queen of Spades
3. 42
4. The number of different ways to arrange a single deck of 52 cards
5. It is the only Jack with a feather in its cap | | HOW WAS TODAY'S NEWSLETTER? | | | † A Note From HMBradley The HMBradley Credit Card is issued by Hatch Bank and is subject to approval. The HMBradley Deposit Account is provided by Hatch Bank, Member FDIC.Terms and conditions here. | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment