Tuesday, July 5, 2022

☕ Gru up

Plus, a July Fourth tragedy in a Chicago suburb...
July 05, 2022 View Online | Sign Up | Shop

Morning Brew

Masterworks

Good morning and welcome back. Just checked the calendar, and looks like there are 62 days until the next three-day weekend, Labor Day. Let's not rush it, though.

Neal Freyman, Matty Merritt

MARKETS: YEAR-TO-DATE

Nasdaq

11,127.85

S&P

3,825.33

Dow

31,097.26

10-Year

2.894%

Bitcoin

$20,124.75

Nvidia

$145.23

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 12:00am ET. Here's what these numbers mean.

  • Markets: Stocks kick off the short week with one crucial industry sounding an alarm bell for the economy—chipmakers. Chip companies such as Micron, Intel, and Nvidia have warned that slowing sales of smartphones and PCs, combined with the downturn in cryptocurrency activity, have weakened their outlook for the rest of the year. A key semiconductor index is down 38% for the year.

NATION

6 killed at Chicago-area July Fourth parade

Empty lawn chairs Youngrae Kim/AFP via Getty Images

Residents of Highland Park, a Chicago suburb, were celebrating July Fourth just like many Americans around the country yesterday when a gunman opened fire on the town's parade, killing at least six people and injuring 30.

What happened: About three-quarters of the way through the parade, a man began shooting from a rooftop with a "high-powered" rifle, according to local authorities. Horrified paradegoers fled the area, leaving behind blankets, lawn chairs, and American flags.

A 21-year-old man from the area was taken into custody after a manhunt. With the suspect still at large hours after the shooting occurred, local officials in nearby towns such as Evanston, Deerfield, and Skokie canceled their Independence Day events. The Chicago White Sox still hosted their home baseball game, but scrapped the postgame fireworks show.

And this wasn't the only gun violence that occurred at public July Fourth festivities. Two police officers were shot near the Philadelphia Museum of Art at the end of that city's fireworks show, sending crowds scattering for safety.

Zoom out: A grocery store, an elementary school, and now holiday celebrations have all been sites of mass shootings in the US in just the past few months. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, said there was no better time to talk about gun regulation than after a mass shooting. "It is devastating that a celebration of America was ripped apart by our uniquely American plague," he said in a speech from Highland Park hours after the tragedy.

Over a week ago, President Biden signed a bipartisan bill that represents the most significant gun reform legislation in decades. Many Democrats believe it doesn't go far enough to curb the spate of mass shootings.—NF

        

WORLD

Tour de headlines

A plane flies over the Washington Memorial Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Air travel…wasn't a total disaster? About 1,500 flights were canceled at US airports Friday–Sunday, which isn't the major spike many travelers had feared—in fact, it was less severe than during recent holiday travel weekends. It's not because there wasn't a crush of people: Friday was the busiest day for US air travel since the pandemic began, according to the TSA.

🪧 State of emergency declared in Akron. Akron, OH, officials canceled a fireworks show and set a 9pm curfew for downtown following protests for Jayland Walker, a Black man who was shot and killed by police while unarmed. Body cam footage of the fatal June 27 shooting was released on Sunday, and a medical examiner report showed that Walker had sustained more than 60 wounds (though that does not necessarily mean he was shot 60 times). The eight officers who fired their weapons have been placed on administrative leave.

Bezos vs. the White House, Round Two. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos knocked President Biden for a tweet that called on gas station companies to bring down prices at the pump. "Ouch," Bezos wrote, "Inflation is far too important a problem for the White House to keep making statements like this," renewing his criticisms of Biden for what Bezos considers to be a misguided approach to battling inflation.

TOGETHER WITH MASTERWORKS

Inflation + rate hike + volatility = profit?

With yesterday's stock darlings tumbling and stagflation rearing its ugly head, the NYT declared one overlooked investment "bulletproof." Is it pet rocks? NFTs? NFTs of pet rocks? Try art.

The art market is up 32% in 2022—compared to 20% losses for the S&P—and the WSJ calls art "among the hottest markets on Earth." Here's why:

  • 14% annual appreciation (1995–2021)
  • Lowest correlation to equities of any asset class
  • Doesn't drop when you-know-who tweets

But who the heck has $20 million lying around to buy Basquiats and Banksys? Try Masterworks. They make investing in art easier than crushing a six-pack of seltzers by the pool. Plus, they've returned +30% to their investors (not once, not twice, but THREE years in a row…NBD).

The only problem? There's a huge waitlist for membership. But Morning Brew readers can skip to the front of the line with this special link.

See important regulation A disclosures

ENTERTAINMENT

It's a Minion's world; we're just living in it

Minions jumping up and down. Minions: The Rise of Gru/Universal

The yellow Tic Tac gremlins have won. The fifth installment of the Despicable Me franchise, Minions: The Rise of Gru, broke the July Fourth weekend box office record with a haul of more than $125 million. Those gangbuster numbers were fueled by the film's yearslong marketing campaign and Gen Z's addiction to chaos.

How Minions Gru their audience: Leading up to the release, Universal's marketers had the Minions collabing with the Tokyo Olympics, appearing on NBC shows like American Ninja Warrior and America's Got Talent, and even sporting their own IHOP menu.

Universal has also let knock-off minions flow freely around the internet and IRL, getting more eyeballs on the IP. Even the movie's soundtrack announcement went viral when musician Jack Antonoff posted on Instagram in May that he brought on a stacked lineup to help out with the songs.

Then Gen Z pulled up

And the #gentleminions trend was born. The joke started as photos of masculine characters wearing full suits with the caption "5 tickets to Minions: Rise of Gru" (which itself is a derivative of a 4chan meme). But then, groups of young men started wearing full formal suits to see the movie. They obviously recorded themselves for social media, and movie theaters are obviously starting to ban teens in suits for causing disruptions.

Big picture: Gru's success represents more than the power of memes. After Lightyear's lackluster performance last month, movie execs are breathing a sigh of relief that families are making their way back to theaters. Last weekend, for the first time since pre-Covid times, four movies (Elvis, Jurassic World: Dominion, The Black Phone, and Top Gun: Maverick) grossed over $20 million.

So far in 2022, the box office is still down about 33% compared to the same time in 2019. But Americans miss their stale nachos: 88% of moviegoers are currently "very or somewhat comfortable" going to in-person movies, relative to 59% last year around this time, according to the National Research Group.—MM

        

CALENDAR

The (short) week ahead

Sun Valley, ID Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

"Summer camp for billionaires": If you're wondering where the 0.000000001% are this week, they're in Idaho for the annual Sun Valley Conference. There could be some awkward conversations over the steak tartare—Elon Musk and the CEO of the company he's trying to acquire, Parag Agrawal of Twitter, will be there, as will former Disney CEO Bob Iger and his successor Bob Chapek. No Bezos this year, though.

Jobs report: People looking for signs of a recession probably won't see them in June's jobs report, which drops on Friday. US employers are expected to have decreased their pace of hiring last month, while still adding 273,000 jobs to the economy. A slightly cooler jobs report might even be considered a positive development in the Fed's fight against inflation.

Everything else:

  • Spirit will hold its shareholder meeting on Friday as it weighs competing merger offers from Frontier and JetBlue.
  • Wimbledon wraps up this weekend.
  • Thor: Love and Thunder hits theaters on Friday.

GRAB BAG

Key performance indicators

Joey Chestnut screaming after winning the hot dog eating contest Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Stat: Joey Chestnut not only consumed 63 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes to claim his 15th victory at the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, but he did so while suffering from a ruptured tendon in his leg and putting a protester who rushed the stage in a brief chokehold. Because of Chestnut's 20-dog margin of victory, one Twitter user observed that after hot dog No. 50, Chestnut likely realized that he was easily going to win but not break his record of 74 hot dogs, "So the final 13 Hot Dogs were just for the love of the game."

Quote: "I'm terrified I might be here forever."

Brittney Griner sent President Biden a letter from a Russian prison urging him not to forget about her and other American detainees. Griner's trial for drug smuggling charges began last week and restarts this Thursday.

Read: A plane of monkeys, a pandemic, and a botched deal: inside the science crisis you've never heard of. (Mother Jones)

BREW'S BETS

Dive back into the week:

"So long nerds": That's the title of a video written by Technoblade, the popular Minecraft YouTuber who died last week of cancer, and released posthumously by his dad. Watch it here.

Back at it (again). Jump-start your post-holiday routine with Sakara's plant-based, super-tasty super powder that curbs sugar cravings and boosts energy. Save 20% with code JULY22BREW.*

Level up your finances : Facet Wealth's financial planning meets you where you are—with flexible scheduling and virtual sessions. Come for the 95% customer satisfaction rating, stay for the personalized answers to all your money questions. Start here.*

*This is sponsored advertising content.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

  • Another one: Vauld, a crypto lender backed by Coinbase and Peter Thiel, paused withdrawals, trading, and deposits in order to survive Crypto Winter.
  • Three people were killed in a shooting at a shopping mall in Denmark. Authorities said the gunman's motives were not terror-related.
  • Turkey's annual inflation rate surged to 79%, the highest level in 24 years.
  • GoFundMe donations have topped $300,000 for a Burger King worker who, after never missing a day of work for 27 years, was given a drawstring backpack, a movie ticket, and a few other knicknacks as a thank-you present by management.

GAMES

The puzzle section

Brew mini: "Brightest planet in Earth's night sky" (5 letters) is your sample clue for today's puzzle. Play it here.

Airport trivia

There is only one US state currently without scheduled commercial airline service. Can you name it?

Don't miss out on more from the Brew

Don't miss out on more from the Brew

Join Morning Brew's Business Casual host Nora Ali for a deep dive into how individual creators can best prepare themselves for the long haul. She speaks with experts in monetization, marketing, strategy, and a successful longtime creator. Listen to or watch now.

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ANSWER

Delaware. Frontier ended its service between New Castle Airport and Orlando in early June, leaving Delaware as the only state that you can't fly to on a commercial jet.

✢ A Note From Masterworks

*Since inception, Masterworks has sold only three paintings from its collection. These sales are not an indication of Masterworks' overall performance. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The sale of paintings from the Masterworks collection is at the sole discretion of Masterworks and paintings may be held for up to 10 years or longer.

✤ 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. Two months free offer is only valid for an annual fee paid at the time of signing.

         

Written by Neal Freyman and Matty Merritt

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