Good morning. For all the IT professionals reading this, it's going to be an especially good morning because we are launching IT Brew specifically for you. From cybersecurity and big data to software development and gaming, IT Brew will drop all the latest industry news, trends, and insights right into your inbox twice a week. Subscribe now to catch the very first issue later today. —Neal Freyman | | | |  | Nasdaq | 12,334.64 | | | | | S&P | 4,131.93 | | | | | Dow | 32,977.21 | | |  | 10-Year | 2.932% | | | | | Bitcoin | $38,481.93 | | | | | Amazon | $2,485.63 | | | | *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 9:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: Things went from bad to worse in the markets last week. With a 13.3% drop so far in 2022, the S&P is having its worst start to a year since 1939.
- Ukraine: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a surprise visit to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and show support for Ukraine. In Mariupol, evacuation efforts began to rescue civilians who had been hiding out in a steel plant in the besieged city.
| | | | Scott Olson/Getty Images In an investing world of air fryers, Warren Buffett is a slow cooker. The 91-year-old investing legend preached his "buy and hold" investing strategy before thousands of finance nerds at Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholders meeting this weekend. It's worked out pretty well this year. Berkshire Hathaway, a conglomerate with investments across corporate America, is up 10% so far in 2022, compared to the S&P's 13% drop-off. And Buffett's buying the dip Berkshire scooped up $51.1 billion of US stocks during the market sell-off in Q1. Of course, Buffett would never call it "buying the dip" because he doesn't believe in timing the market. Speaking of timing, Buffett said he and his BFF Charlie Munger "haven't the faintest idea what the stock market is gonna do when it opens on Monday." So what did he buy? - He's certainly bullish on the energy sector. In Q1, Berkshire acquired a big stake in Occidental Petroleum and juiced its stake in Chevron (which is now the company's fourth-largest holding).
- And…video games? It's unlikely that Buffett has ever touched an Xbox controller, but Berkshire Hathaway is now the largest shareholder of Activision Blizzard after amassing a 9.5% stake. Activision stock has jumped more than 15% after Microsoft agreed to acquire it in January.
The slow cooker's other hot takes Buffett said the influx of new traders buying and selling stocks during the pandemic has turned the market into "almost totally a casino" in which large American companies have become "poker chips." Munger lashed out at the trading app Robinhood specifically for promoting the gambling dynamic. Citing Robinhood stock's 86% plunge from its peak, the 98 year old said, "God is getting just." Buffett also chimed in on the state of the US economy, most notably the inflation that's soared to 40-year highs. Buffett said that inflation "swindles almost everybody" and was a result of the Fed's gargantuan stimulus measures to prop up the economy during the pandemic. But he still thinks the Fed did the right thing: "In my book, Jay Powell is a hero. It's very simple. He did what he had to do." | | TOGETHER WITH ROUNDHILL INVESTMENTS | | Listen up, bud. The brand-spankin'-new WEED ETF launched on 4/20/2022 ( ) is your one-stop-shop introduction to the exciting cannabis industry. With the WEED ETF, you can invest in multistate operators, foreign cannabis companies, and ancillary cannabis businesses. Think of it as a diverse, leafy umbrella of investments. Recreational cannabis may still be illegal at the federal level, but more than 37 states have okayed the product in some form. And with more than 2 in 3 Americans supporting cannabis legalization—and a projected market value of $61 billion by 2026—cannabis futures are looking verrrry promising. To learn more about the WEED ETF and investment opportunities in the cannabis sector, click right here. | | Malte Mueller/Getty Images  Airbnb's new remote work policy is super flexible. Gotta practice what you preach, we guess. The company will allow most of its workforce to live and work anywhere they want and, unlike some other tech giants, it won't change employees' pay when they move to a different location (in the same country). Airbnb has benefited significantly from the broader shift to remote work: 20% of nights booked on the platform in the second half of 2021 were for stays of at least one month.
 Covid cases are on the rise. In what appears to be the first significant "wave" of the coronavirus in the US since Omicron's peak in January, cases and hospitalizations are rising in the majority of states. The good news is that levels of severe illness are far lower than they were in previous waves.
🦧 The Bored Apes broke the blockchain. Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs raised $320 million in crypto when it sold off land parcels in its virtual world Saturday night—and demand was so wild that it caused disruptions across the Ethereum blockchain. Transaction fees to mint an Otherdeed NFT soared to about 2 ether, or $6,000, after the launch. | | Francis Scialabba On Wednesday, the Fed is expected to hike interest rates even higher to bring inflation back from levels we haven't seen in decades. It's a hugely consequential policy decision that will affect virtually everything in the economy. This week, we're going to carve out some space to explore interest rate hikes from a variety of angles. Today, that means answering the question: How does a rate hike actually work? Like, what are the mechanics? Because Fed Chair Jerome Powell doesn't just show up at your bank and tell them to raise their interest rates. Instead, the central bank adjusts what's known as the "federal funds rate," which is the average interest rate that banks pay each other for overnight loans. - What that is: Commercial banks borrow and lend money to each other so that they can meet liquidity requirements set by regulators before the business day begins. When a bank has excess cash on hand, it can loan it out to another one that needs it.
- By raising the cost of borrowing between banks, the Fed indirectly raises borrowing costs across the economy, because those higher rates eventually filter down to consumers and businesses.
You should also know that the Fed picks a range for the federal funds rate—not a specific number. In March, when the Fed hiked interest rates for the first time following the onset of the pandemic, it raised its target range from 0–25 basis points to 25–50. The banks lending to each other typically settle on an interest rate near the midpoint of the Fed's range. Bankrate has a good explanation if you want to learn more about this process. | | Tropicana Tropicana introduced Tropicana Crunch, a breakfast cereal that's made to be doused in OJ, not milk. "It may not be for everyone," Tropicana said, and they're certainly correct on that point. Big picture: Tropicana Crunch will be available this Wednesday, which (noncoincidentally) is also National Orange Juice Day. The beverage company launched a similar marketing stunt in November for National Brush Day, releasing a toothpaste that apparently doesn't make orange juice taste bad after you use it. | | Mike Coppola/Getty Images The Met Gala is tonight. The dress code for the fashion extravaganza? "Gilded Glamour." TBD whether a "Tax the Rich" dress falls under the theme. Rate hike bonanza: As we mentioned earlier, Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to announce a 50 basis-point increase of interest rates on Wednesday, which would be the biggest rate hike in two decades. But inflation isn't just an American problem—at least 12 other central banks will give their policy updates this week, many of which will likely include rate hikes. Earnings: It's a bit quieter on the earnings front after last week's tech extravaganza, but some reports to watch out for include Starbucks, Lyft, Uber, and Airbnb. Jobs report: April's employment report, due Friday, will probably show the labor market continued its roll last month. Employers are projected to have added ~400,000 jobs with the unemployment rate ticking down to 3.5% from 3.6%. Everything else: - In the sports world: The NHL playoffs begin this week, the NBA playoffs enter the second round, and the Kentucky Derby is on Saturday.
- In the holiday world: Cinco de Mayo is on Thursday and Mother's Day is on Sunday.
| | Jackie Molloy for The Washington Post via Getty Images Stat: We yearn for urns. In 2000, 27% of Americans who died were cremated. In 2020, that share jumped to 56%, and by 2040, 80% are expected to opt for cremation, the Cremation Association of North America and the National Funeral Directors Association said. The rise of cremation is the "the single greatest change in our funeral practices in our generation," longtime Michigan funeral director Thomas Lynch told The Washington Post. Quote: "The great chef José Andrés is joining us tonight. … Whenever there's a disaster anywhere in the world, Chef José is there. Which I guess is why he's sitting at the CNN table tonight." Trevor Noah became the first comedian to headline the annual White House Correspondents' dinner since Michelle Wolf in 2018. Watch the full thing here. Watch: How Tucker Carlson stoked white fear to conquer cable. (New York Times) | | Autocorrect explained: Here's an interesting look at the evolution of Apple's keyboard software. Dive back into the week. Cybersecurity's got it goin' on. Business is booming extra loud for 4 specific companies in this growing $155 billion industry. The Motley Fool breaks 'em all down in their latest cybersecurity report. Get your copy when you sign up for Stock Advisor.* Uh, what's an upfront? Glad you asked, because we've made a whole video explaining the past, present, and future of the upfront universe. PS: The digital age is changing how upfronts work, so if you need deets, best to get 'em now in our latest video.* *This is sponsored advertising content. | | - Votes will be tallied today in a union election at a second Amazon facility in Staten Island (in the first election, the union prevailed, but Amazon is challenging the vote).
- Country music star Naomi Judd died on Saturday at 76—just a day before her induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
- American homeowners have gained more than $6 trillion in housing wealth over the past two years.
- Italy and Greece relaxed some Covid-19 travel restrictions ahead of the pivotal summer tourist season.
| | Turntable: The only thing better than one Turntable is two. Click here for the timed version, and here for the untimed version. Morning at the museum In honor of the Met Gala tonight, let's do museum trivia. We'll give you the name of a famous object/artwork, and you have to identify which museum it's located in. - "The Starry Night"
- The Rosetta Stone
- The Dead Sea Scrolls
- Johnny Cash's Martin D-42JC guitar
- Momofuku's work shed
| | - Museum of Modern Art in NYC
- British Museum in London
- Most are at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, but some are at the Jordan Museum in Amman.
- Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville
- The CupNoodles Museum in Yokohama, Japan. Yes, there is an entire museum dedicated to instant noodles and their creator, Momofuku Ando.
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