TOGETHER WITH
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Good morning and
happy 40th birthday to Harry Potter. Things could be better for our
favorite wizard—he’s growing a butterbeer belly and seeking more out of
life than just the Snitch. For further reading:
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Harry Potter and the High-Blood Pressure
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Ferrari
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of PTA Meetings
And...we'll stop there. Have a great weekend.
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NASDAQ
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10,587.81
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+ 0.43%
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S&P
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3,246.24
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- 0.37%
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DJIA
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26,313.65
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- 0.85%
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GOLD
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1,945.40
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- 0.41%
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10-YR
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0.549%
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- 2.80 bps
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OIL
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40.12
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- 2.79%
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*As of market close
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2020: President Trump floated the idea
of delaying the election, citing his unsubstantiated notion that
increased mail-in voting will lead to fraud. Both Republicans and
Democrats dismissed the delay outright.
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Markets: Despite strength from Big Tech, stocks closed lower after some record-setting (in a bad way) economic data.
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Francis Scialabba
Yesterday morning, the U.S. economy stepped outside, saw its shadow, and scurried back into hiding for a few more weeks.
GDP fell an annualized* 32.9% in Q2, the sharpest contraction in modern American history. In dollars, that's a nearly $2.2 trillion drop.
- *Annualized = calculated as an annual rate of return, which is usually better for comparison.
- But these aren't usual times, and annualized rates can be misleading in light of sudden and sharp economic swings.
Since
economists aren't expecting a Round 2 global economic shutdown, the
number many are focusing on is the nonannualized 9.5% contraction in GDP
in Q2.
Not as bad as 33%...but the situation is still, as IHS Markit Chief Economist Nariman Behravesh delicately put it, "horrific."
It’s not just us. European economic powerhouse Germany reported a record 10.1% quarterly drop in GDP yesterday.
Looking ahead
U.S. economic activity began improving in May, and unemployment fell from nearly 15% in April to 11% in June. But recent surges in COVID-19 cases are threatening that momentum.
- Yesterday, the Labor Department reported more than 1.4 million first-time jobless claims—the second weekly rise.
While the
CARES Act offset some of the hardest impacts of the shutdown, the relief
bill's $600/week in extra unemployment benefits formally expires today
for around 20 million Americans.
Congress is still figuring out what's next
Negotiations over a third COVID-19 relief bill stalled this week, with those $600 payments being the main point of disagreement.
- Democrats want benefits
to continue as is, while Senate Republicans want to cut them to
$200/week until states make plans to replace 70% of workers' lost
wages.
- There are also
disagreements about an eviction moratorium extension, aid for
state/local governments, and liability protections for businesses,
schools, and healthcare providers.
Big picture: The
GOP's plan costs $1 trillion, which makes it unpopular even among some
of its own members. But with their own $3 trillion proposal, Democrats
are trying to coax them even higher.
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YouTube
Yesterday,
the Silicon Valley titans who spent Wednesday being virtually grilled by
members of Congress reported earnings for the previous quarter. In
short? Those members of Congress were interrupting some of 2020’s most
successful execs.
Apple: It blew expectations out of the water despite store closures. Revenue, up 11% annually, was the highest it's ever been
in Apple's third quarter. Apple also announced a 4–1 stock split to
make its shares more accessible to a "broader base of investors."
Google: For the first time as a public company, parent Alphabet reported a drop
in sales, which fell 2% from last year as COVID dragged down ad
revenue. The company still beat expectations with help from YouTube and
other units.
Amazon: The company spent over $4 billion on safety, PPE, extra cleaning, and what it calls “thank you bonuses” for workers but still managed to bring in $5.8 billion in profits last quarter. Revenue grew 40% annually.
Facebook: It also reported
a sound beat on revenue, earnings, and user growth, indicating the
downturn in ad spend during the pandemic wasn't much of an obstacle. But
FB did cite July's advertiser boycott as one reason why it projects
slightly lower revenue in the current quarter.
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Giphy
Your impulse to scrub every corner of your apartment after the latest CDC update has benefited household goods companies handsomely.
P&G, the consumer goods giant and owner of Tide and Charmin, said organic sales jumped 6% higher for the fiscal year ended June 30.
- The company’s fabric and home-care unit (which includes Swiffer, Mr. Clean, and Dawn) grew 14%, its biggest-ever bump.
Why?
Two words: 1) the 2) pandemic. People who are suddenly cleaning their
doorknobs twice a day tend to buy more cleaning products.
An added
layer of P&G’s success? We kept buying its products even at premium
prices during an economic slowdown—P&G’s wares are generally a bit
steeper than rivals’.
Zoom out: The
crisis has also polished the reputations of cleaning-focused brands. In
an Axios/Harris poll of U.S. attitudes toward companies, P&G rival
Clorox got the best grades in “Ethics” and “Products & Services,”
and came in second in “Trust.”
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For
centuries, people have leveraged real estate for wealth creation. Heck,
it wouldn’t surprise us to learn cavemen were dabbling in this asset
class: “A completely gut-renovated cave with the addition of a woolly mammoth mural by the entryway—the latest in interior trends.”
But the real estate game has come a long way, and with DiversyFund, it’s never been easier to get involved.
A real
estate investment trust (REIT) is considered by many experts to be a
smart way to diversify your portfolio, since real estate has
historically beaten stock market fluctuations and volatility.
Plus DiversyFund makes it easy—simply sign up, meet the $500 minimum, and begin investing in fully-vetted, multi-family real estate managed entirely by DiversyFund’s team of REIT specialists.
The fund is filling up fast, so grab your spot and grow your net worth like the 1% with DiversyFund today.
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Giphy
Rising seas plus high tides, storm surges, and breaking waves. Yesterday, a new study published in Scientific Reports indicated we're heading for a meteorological cocktail of all four and the economy won’t be spared.
- We've known about sea level rise since we've known about global warming. But this report homed in on the oceanic quirks that worsen the situation.
- It found that only
one-third of flooding risk comes from rising seas. The other two-thirds
is created by high tides, storm surges, and breaking waves.
That puts a lot of people in harm's way. The
report said that, in a scenario of moderate emissions, up to 204
million people currently living in coastal areas could face flooding
risks by 2050, and up to 253 million by 2100.
...and it also racks up a staggering bill: up to $14.2 trillion in infrastructure damage, which doesn’t even include things like roads and factories.
Where you might want to drop the timeshare:
The most vulnerable regions include northwestern Europe, southeastern
and east Asia, northern Australia, and the northeastern U.S.  .
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See if you can use approximately zero magic but still ace our news quiz. 5/5 is what you're aiming for: Give it a shot.
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Herman Cain, a former GOP presidential candidate and restaurant executive, died from the coronavirus at 74.
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Coca-Cola
is planning on selling hard seltzer under its Topo Chico brand in the
U.S. in 2021, its first domestic alcoholic beverage line since the
1980s.
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Dunkin' plans on permanently closing around 800 stores, roughly 8% of its U.S. locations, this year.
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NBA players and staff kneeled during the national anthem on the league's first night of games since the pandemic shut down play.
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Comcast’s Peacock streaming service has signed up 10 million users since April.
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Walmart has reportedly cut hundreds of corporate jobs and is consolidating its online and physical store divisions.
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We’ll take our burger medium robot. Flippy
is the flippin’ cool robot who cooks food at quick-serve restaurants,
helping businesses increase margins by about 300%. Don’t flip out, but
you can invest in this cash cow of a robot here.*
Remembering John Lewis: The civil rights icon wrote an essay he requested to be published on the day of his funeral, which was yesterday. Here's the essay.
Follow Friday: Learn more via these Twitter accounts on the last day of Disability Pride Month.
*This is sponsored advertising content
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Have two minutes? If so, give us a helping hand and take a quick survey about your wellness/fitness habits. It won't add to your step count, but it will allow us to make the Brew even better for you. Take the survey here.
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Today's puzzle comes to us via NPR:
Think of an eight-letter word for something we all crave now. It consists of three consecutive men's nicknames. What are they?
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From Brew swag like t-shirts and coffee mugs to exclusive content, we've
got something for everyone in our premier rewards program.
Hit the button below to start sharing the Brew.
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Norm + Al + Cy = Normalcy
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| Americans flocking to New Zealand immigration webs |
| Fri, 31 Jul 2020 10:32:14 +0000 |
| PatriotsNews |
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| Fauci to testify before House committee investigating Trump's coronavirus response |
| Read More |
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| Joe Biden Declared War on Coal. But His Son Got Rich off Chinese Coal. |
| Read More |
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| St. Louis’ Top Prosecutor: No Charges Against Police Officer Who Killed Michael Brown |
| Read More |
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| U.S. Attorney Sets Record Straight: Federal Agents Doing Same Things As ‘Years Ago When My Bosses Were Holder and Obama’ |
| Read More |
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| DNC Reaps What They Sow As Hundreds Of Police Departments Back Out Of Securing The Event |
| Read More |
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| The Brief Podcast: Ep. 2 – Live Free or Die |
| Read More |
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| Ferguson, MO Officer Will Not Be Charged For Murder In 2014 Killing of Michael Brown |
| Darren Wilson, the white police officer who fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in August of 20 [...] |
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| FEATURED EVENT
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| 1971
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| Lunar Roving Vehicle first used on the Moon
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| FEATURED BIOGRAPHY
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| Milton Friedman
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July 31
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SEE ALL BIOS ON THIS DAY
| MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY
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| 1921: Whitney M. Young, Jr.,
who spearheaded the drive for equal opportunity for African Americans
in industry and U.S. government service while he was head of the National Urban League
(1961–71), was born in Lincoln Ridge, Kentucky.
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