Good morning. Here's a cautionary tale about NFTs. In March 2021, a crypto entrepreneur bought an NFT of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey's first tweet for $2.9 million. Last week he listed it for $48 million, promising to donate half of the proceeds to charity. But when the auction closed yesterday, the top bid was…$277. Thinking of auctioning off Morning Brew's first tweet for $278 just to say it was more valuable than Dorsey's. —Neal Freyman, Matty Merritt, Jamie Wilde | | | |  | Nasdaq | 13,643.59 | | | | | S&P | 4,446.59 | | | | | Dow | 34,564.59 | | |  | 10-Year | 2.701% | | | | | Bitcoin | $41,208.71 | | | | | Delta | $41.02 | | | | *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 12:00am ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: Stocks received a standing O as the curtain rose on earnings season. The S&P and Nasdaq snapped their three-day losing streaks, and airline shares boomed after Delta said it would report a Q2 profit. Big banks such as Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup will give closely watched updates about the economy today.
| | | | Herika Martinez/AFP via Getty Images Freight traffic has slowed to a trickle along a pivotal logistics route, threatening to disrupt billions of dollars in trade and weaken already fragile supply chains. No, it's not a Canadian protest over vaccine mandates, or Covid lockdowns in China, or a ship stuck in the Suez Canal, or port logjams in LA. Since Monday, Mexican truckers have been blockading crossings at the US–Mexico border in protest of a ramped-up inspection program that Texas's Republican Governor Greg Abbott introduced last week. The extra inspections are a part of Abbott's Operation Lone Star, a multibillion-dollar initiative intended to beef up border security and prevent cartels from smuggling contraband and people from Mexico into the US. Abbott predicted that the inspections would "dramatically slow traffic" along the border, but even his own agriculture commissioner said the policy was "turning a crisis into a catastrophe." Just how bad is the gridlock? - Wait times for commercial vehicles at one entry point jumped from 63 minutes to 320 minutes.
- At another, what had typically been a 26-minute wait soared to a peak of 300 minutes.
- Overall, trade traffic at four ports of entry are at ~33% of their normal levels, according to the (angry) Mexican foreign ministry.
This traffic jam jeopardizes the flow of critical goods, such as auto parts, tech components, and perishables, across the border. Mexico provides about two-thirds of the produce sold by Texas, but the refrigeration units it travels in only have enough fuel to last six-to-seven days, after which the contents will go bad. Up to 80% of perishable fruit and veggies haven't crossed the border since Friday, per an American industry group. Looking ahead…after getting blasted from business groups, the Mexican government, and US lawmakers (even from his own party), Abbott is easing up. Yesterday he announced a deal with a Mexican state to halt some inspections on the US side of the border, and he plans to speak to other Mexican officials to strike similar agreements.—NF | | Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images  The NYC subway shooting suspect was arrested. Frank R. James was taken into custody in Manhattan yesterday afternoon, more than 24 hours after a shooting on a Brooklyn subway train wounded 23 people. James was charged with a federal terrorism offense. "When you bring a smoke bomb, when you bring an automatic weapon, wear a gas mask, in a very methodical way, injure and attempt to harm innocent New Yorkers, that is terror," Mayor Eric Adams said.
 Peloton's new CEO is maybe even worse than its first, activist investor Blackwells Capital argued in a new presentation. Blackwells, which owns less than 5% of the fitness company, said that "shareholders are worse off now" than before current boss Barry McCarthy replaced John Foley two months ago. Peloton shares are down nearly 30% this year and have lost virtually all of their pandemic gains.
 Sweden and Finland are seriously thinking about joining NATO. The two Nordic countries that were previously not in the alliance took steps to join the club, showing how the war in Ukraine has brought about greater unity in Europe. Weakening NATO was one of Putin's main objectives in launching the war, so…at least in this sense, his invasion has completely backfired.
| | Photo Illustration: Dianna "Mick" McDougall, Photos: Getty Images You're going to have to put up with Biscoff crumbs in your KN95 for a couple more weeks. The CDC extended the federal transportation mask mandate through May 3, two weeks after it was set to expire (on Monday). So, despite most local masking rules being lifted in the US, planes, trains, and buses remain some of the only places where you'll be required to stay covered. Here's who's mad about it: Last month, 10 major airline execs and the union that represents flight attendants at Southwest Airlines sent letters to Biden telling him to Tear! Off! Those! Masks! And while the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents roughly 50,000 employees, hasn't made an official statement re: mask mandates, it did say that making flight attendants enforce them makes the job "harder and more dangerous." - Of the 5,981 unruly passenger reports in 2021, 72% were losing their heads over masks.
So why extend? The CDC cited the growing number of cases, primarily due to the fast-spreading BA.2 Omicron subvariant, for keeping the mandate around a little longer. BA.2 now makes up over 85% of new cases in the US.—MM | | State-owned news outlet RIA Novosti's TikTok In response to a Russian law that made posting "fake news" a criminal act last month, TikTok banned all new posting in the country and blocked citizens from seeing content posted outside of Russia. But the ban has a weak spot: Kremlin-controlled media outlets are still posting fresh propaganda promoting Russia's war in Ukraine, helping Putin enforce his narrative that Russia's invasion was justified. - From when the ban took effect to April 5, nearly 93.5% of all war-related TikToks in Russia were pro-war, and only 6.5% anti-war.
- Before the ban, sentiment was 42% against the war and 58% in favor, according to digital rights group Tracking Exposed.
TikTok's response: The company provided an update on how it's handling Russia on Tuesday, writing that it axed six networks and 204 accounts for attempting to influence the public's opinion. It also did a sweep to remove over 40,000 videos containing misinformation and label content that's distributed by the government as such. Zoom out: ByteDance-owned TikTok and Google's YouTube are the only major social media platforms still operating in Russia. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter were all banned last month.—JW | | Dianna "Mick" McDougall Stat: Despite the rising cost of high fructose corn syrup and aluminum, a 23-ounce can of AriZona iced tea remains 99 cents, the same price as when it first hit shelves three decades ago. Founder and Chairman Don Vultaggio told the LA Times that he's committed to 99 cents: "Consumers don't need another price increase from a guy like me." Quote: "I hope those things all disappear and go away; we have a soft landing and the war is resolved, okay. I just wouldn't bet on all of that." JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says he sees "storm clouds on the horizon" as strong currents such as the war in Ukraine, inflation, and the Fed's tightening monetary policy all collide. The bank's profit dropped 42% last quarter and it wrote down almost $1.5 billion in assets it linked to the war in Ukraine and inflation. Read: How Jack Dorsey quit Twitter to become bitcoin's spiritual leader. (Businessweek) Ask: Do you think the US economy will tip into a recession at some point over the next two years as the Fed tries to bring down inflation?  Yes
 No
| | - President Biden announced $800 million in new military aid to Ukraine, including helicopters, artillery systems, and armored vehicles.
- Jersey (not New Jersey, but the tax haven in the English Channel), froze more than $7 billion worth of assets linked to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.
- Meta's cut of sales of digital goods on its VR platform, Horizon Worlds, will be as high as 47.5%.
- A useful explainer on stock splits, and what Tesla's potential split means for you.
| | Frequencies and waves: This is a textbook example of something you could look at for an hour without getting bored. Dispatches from planet Earth: A wet owl, ants marching, a red panda encountering a stone, and an angry turtle. Free business workshop: Morning Brew co-founder Alex Lieberman will host an innovation case study and peer-group discussion as part of a free Morning Brew Accelerator Innovation Workshop taking place April 20 at 7pm ET. Register now for a taste of what you'd get in the full course.
| | Brew Mini: Clue of the day is "onion variety" (seven letters). Play the full puzzle here. Three headlines and a lie Three of these news headlines are real and one is faker than a Netflix dating show. Can you guess the odd one out? - Google sues a guy, alleging "puppy fraud"
- University of Washington acquires thousands of Joe Rogan's early voice memos
- A lake in Florida is suing to protect itself
- This $800k house in Fairfax will go quickly; it comes with a person in the basement
| | | We made up the Joe Rogan one, though it would be interesting to hear his early voice memos. | | | ✢ A Note From eToro Securities trading through eToro USA Securities, Inc. Member of FINRA and SIPC. Crypto Trading through eToro USA LLC, not FDIC insured. | | | Written by Neal Freyman, Matty Merritt, and Jamie Wilde 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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