Good morning. We thought Wordle would be a thing for two, three days tops, but it's cruised past ShantyTok in longevity and now our company even has a Slack channel for it. The lesson? 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 produces a surprising amount of dopamine. —Neal Freyman, Max Knoblauch, Jamie Wilde | | | |  | Nasdaq | 13,539.30 | | | | | S&P | 4,356.45 | | | | | Dow | 34,297.73 | | |  | 10-Year | 1.776% | | | | | Bitcoin | $36,916.36 | | | | | AmEx | $173.11 | | | | *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 7:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: US stocks are officially a second half team, staging a big afternoon comeback for the second day in a row…but not big enough to close in the green. American Express was the top performer in both the S&P and the Dow after the company reported its highest billings volume ever in Q4.
- Economy: The weight of the financial world is squarely on Jerome Powell's shoulders today. The Fed chair will provide an update on the central bank's views on sky-high inflation and its plan for interest rate hikes this year (though none are expected until March).
| | Francis Scialabba One year ago today, shares of a struggling video game retailer by the name of GameStop shot up 90%, and another 60% in extended trading. It marked the onset of "meme stock mania," a period of a few weeks where individual investors piled into stocks that had been written off or heavily shorted by professional investors. Some observers predicted that, with the rise of meme culture on social media, increased access to the stock market through no-fee platforms like Robinhood, and greater animosity toward the Wall Street "suits," the world of investing would be forever changed. The reality? Maybe not. January 26, 2022, finds legendary meme stocks like GameStop and AMC looking more like MJ on the Wizards. Along with most other companies, GameStop and AMC shares have taken a beating in 2022, and both are down at least 35% year-to-date (though their share prices remain well above their pre-meme stock days). And despite a few crypto-related stunts that attempted to leverage their godlike status among individual traders, both meme stock darlings have had to confront real-world problems. AMC, for instance, is reportedly looking to refinance its high-interest debt with box office levels well below pre-pandemic times. Big picture: Enthusiasm over meme stocks more broadly appears to be dwindling. A number of financial products were introduced last year to track meme-friendly stocks, such as the FOMO ETF. But the only thing that ETF is missing out on is…actual meme stocks. Its largest holding currently is energy giant Chevron, and 40% of the fund is in cash, Bloomberg reports. According to its own manager, the current strategy "puts me to sleep." Meanwhile, on the social media forum that started the craze—Reddit's WallStreetBets—power users have moved on to other stock forums and some complain that constructive feedback has been replaced by "cheerleading," per the WSJ. Last November, the average number of comments on the main WSB page hit ~27,000, down from 47,000 the previous November. Bottom line: Perhaps retail traders will once again band together to resurrect a zombie company. But probably not while the market is flirting with a correction.—NF + Further reading: Matt Levine wonders whether the memes are over. | | Like a restaurant's homemade ketchup, the global chip shortage is still on the table this year—even though everyone hates it. US companies have less than a five-day supply of semiconductors, according to a Commerce Department report published Tuesday. That's an "alarming" shortage, according to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who also said that at these levels, any production snags could destabilize supply chains. For context, pre-pandemic chip inventories were closer to average pantry mac & cheese levels: sitting at around 40 days. It was on the AP exam: The Commerce Department report, based on a survey of more than 150 companies that make and buy chips, found that while demand for semiconductors jumped 17% from 2019 to 2021, there was no proportionate increase in supply. The shortage has juiced up the price of cars, stoked inflation in other sectors, and made acquiring a PS5 a resume-addition-worthy skill. What's the solution? Raimondo urged Congress to pass legislation that would bolster American semiconductor production. One such bill, which would give $52 billion in subsidies to semiconductor makers who build factories in the US, passed in the Senate in June but has stalled in the House.—MK PS: For more analysis on the chip shortage and other tech industry updates, subscribe to Emerging Tech Brew. | | Francis Scialabba Pfizer and BioNTech started clinical trials for an Omicron-specific vaccine yesterday. The results will help the pharma partners decide whether to replace their current jab formula with one that targets the most dominant Covid variant. - The new vaccine is being tested both as a three-shot series for unvaccinated participants and as a booster for the already vaccinated.
The study's success won't just be evaluated on whether it produces antibodies that can beat back Omicron specifically, but also if those antibodies can fight off a wide range of variant riffraff. In that case, you wouldn't need to get jabbed with a new vaccine for future variants like getting a new Xbox to play the latest Halo. Zoom out: The current vaccine regimen has largely been effective at preventing severe Omicron outcomes, so it's not clear yet whether an O-specific shot is needed. But what the variant lacks in virulence, it makes up for in volume. On Monday, the seven-day average for Covid-19 deaths reached over 2,100 per day in the US, the highest in nearly a year. Epidemiologists warn that number likely hasn't hit its peak.—JW | | | Believe it or not, you can have both. Because with Fundrise, you'll invest in private-market real estate—the same asset class that professional investors have used for decades to generate long-term wealth *while* stabilizing their long-term portfolios. Boom. Fundrise is America's largest direct-to-investor real estate investment platform, with assets like apartment complexes, single-family rentals, and industrial facilities. Basically, Fundrise has revolutionized the process entirely, making high-end, private-market investing effortless and accessible for everyone, so you can bring stability to your portfolio without sacrificing growth. In less than five minutes and with as little as $10, you can join over 210,000 investors building a better portfolio with private real estate. So position yourself for the growth you want and stability you need. Sign up for Fundrise here. | | Stat: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry signed a $25 million podcast deal with Spotify…but didn't produce a single piece of content in 2021. With their only episode thus far being a 35-minute "holiday special" in December 2020, Spotify has reportedly hired in-house producers to give them a kick in the arse. The couple's no-show is just one in a long list of Spotify podcast announcements that have yet to generate content. Quote: "When it's grim, be the Grim Reaper." Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid revealed what he told QB Patrick Mahomes before Mahomes engineered a game-saving drive with 13 seconds left in Sunday's playoff game. Apparently reaping is popular: That game averaged 43 million viewers, making it the most watched TV broadcast since last year's Super Bowl. And at one point, 90% of all TVs in the Kansas City area were watching the game. Read: Cult classic Fight Club gets a very different ending in China. (Vice) | | Francois-Xavier Marit/AFP via Getty Images The upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing will be the first to rely completely on artificial snow for its ski and snowboard slopes. Why? Well, it never really snows in Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, the two sites set to host the events. So China is going full MacGruber, using up to 2 million cubic meters of water (which could fill 800 Olympic-sized swimming pools) to create fake snow and provide athletes with optimal shredding conditions. You might be thinking, "maybe this isn't the best place to host alpine sports," but turns out you don't necessarily need to be subject to the lake effect to host the Winter Olympics. The snow was ~80% artificial at the Sochi Olympics in 2014 and more than 90% fake at PyeongChang four years later. But fake snow can have real problems. Remember all that water that goes into making it? It's putting added strain on water supplies in an already arid region. In fact, nearly 10% of water consumed in one district of Zhangjiakou will be diverted to make the fake snow. Big picture: The massive investment in artificial snow is part of China's long-running (and controversial) attempts to modify the weather, which include bombarding clouds with rockets and shells to induce rain. | | - The SAT is getting shorter and will go fully online, in a major shift for standardized testing.
- GM is investing $7 billion into EV and battery production in Michigan—its largest single investment in history.
- Microsoft reported quarterly sales of more than $50 billion for the first time ever.
- David Ortiz was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, but Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, in their final year of eligibility, were left out.
| | Western down, horror up: Check out this chart of movie genre popularity from 1910 to 2021. Want to level up your financial life this year? Facet Wealth is how you do it. Their fresh approach brings together CFPⓇ professionals + proprietary tech to advise on your entire financial life (investments and so much more). To get started, visit Facet Wealth today.* Nourishment, ever heard of it? Daily Harvest delivers chef-crafted food built on sustainably sourced fruits & veggies. Try their Brussels Sprouts + Tahini Harvest Bowl or Acai + Cherry Smoothie. No fillers, preservatives, or artificial ingredients, and everything is ready to enjoy in minutes. Save up to $40 on your first delivery today.* The future will be…interesting: Watch Meta's first ad for its Horizon product and Jimmy Fallon and Paris Hilton talk about Bored Ape NFTs. Want to begin a creative project? We've got a few pod episodes to help you get started: 1) How to harness your creativity 2) one story of building a comedy empire and 3) why we procrastinate and how to stop it. *This is sponsored advertising content | | Word search: The title of today's Word Search: Puppy piles. Yeah, it's as cute as advertised. Map quest What do the yellow dots on this map represent?  OpenStreetMap | | | ✢ A Note From Fundrise *Terms and Conditions apply ✤ A Note From Facet Wealth Facet Wealth is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. This is not an offer to sell securities or the solicitation of an offer to purchase securities. This is not investment, financial, legal, or tax advice. | | | Written by Neal Freyman, Jamie Wilde, and Max Knoblauch Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. WANT MORE BREW? Industry news, with a sense of humor → - Emerging Tech Brew: AI, crypto, space, autonomous vehicles, and more
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