Monday, November 9, 2020

BREW WITH HEADLINES

 

Daily Brew

TOGETHER WITH

Fidelity

Good morning. We were so sad to hear that Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek died yesterday. 

Alex was an inspiration to us. Not only was he able to make learning cool, he did so in a way that brought people closer together. Jeopardy! memories are family memories. 

We’ll miss you, Alex. And thanks for teaching us that sometimes, the questions are more important than the answers.

MARKETS YTD PERFORMANCE


NASDAQ

11,895.23

+ 32.57%

S&P

3,509.44

+ 8.63%

DJIA

28,323.40

- 0.75%

GOLD

1,951.50

+ 28.39%

10-YR

0.815%

- 110.50 bps

OIL

37.49

- 38.75%

*As of market close

  • Covid-19 update: It’s getting worse. The seven-day average for new daily cases in the U.S. is now over 100,000, and hospitalizations are also increasing. Total cases topped 50 million globally after a ferocious spike in October—the worst month for the pandemic so far.
  • Markets: U.S. stocks had their best week since April despite rising concerns over Covid-19 and extremely late nights counting ballots. Investors are excited about the prospect of a stable yet divided government in D.C. 

Giphy

Now that Joe Biden won the presidential election, business leaders are asking the important questions about the upcoming regime change in D.C.: What’s in it for me? 

Here are the six things biz leaders want from Biden.

1. Peaceful transfer of power: Nothing makes execs antsy quite like a sitting president resisting a central component of the democratic process, so a smooth transition is priority numero uno for biz leaders; JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon urged President Trump to “honor the decision of the voters and support a peaceful transition of power,” while billionaire investor Bill Ackman called on the president to “concede graciously.” Trump has not yet conceded.

2. Stomp out the coronavirus: The pandemic sent a shockwave across the global economy this spring, and while conditions are slowly picking up, many businesses remain in a deep hole. Biden’s said he can’t end the pandemic by “flipping a switch,” but biz leaders hope a more hands-on approach compared to President Trump’s can lead to a quicker economic recovery. Biden is expected to announce his coronavirus task force today.

3. Improve trade relations: During his tenure as president, President Trump launched a trade war with China and got into bitter scuffles with longstanding economic partners like the EU. Biz leaders, who generally oppose trade barriers like tariffs because they mess with supply chains and raise prices, hope Biden will restore friendlier trade relations with other countries.

4. Boringness: Whereas President Trump’s policies fostered a mostly favorable corporate environment, it came with a lot of baggage. "Investors spent the last four years one tweet away from major market moves," Ed Mills, Washington policy analyst at Raymond James, told CNN. Corporate America is looking for more predictability under Biden. 

5. Access to high-skilled workers: Silicon Valley leaders will be hoping for a reversal of President Trump’s restrictions on H-1B visas, which tech companies use to bring in talented workers from abroad. Biden plans to increase the number of high-skilled visas.

6. No tax hike: Biden has pledged to raise the corporate tax rate, which businesses no-likey. Their only hope is a Republican controlled Senate blocking Biden’s tax agenda. 

        

ELECTION

Election Aftermath: What Else You Need to Know

Let’s keep the election coverage rolling with some more highlights from the weekend. 

The cabinet: The level of speculation over who Biden will tap for his cabinet posts rivals NBA free agency, and the Treasury could be the first and nastiest fight. Politico pegs Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard as the early frontrunner because she’s fairly uncontroversial. Other contenders include Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Co-CEO of Ariel Investments Mellody Hobson. 

Day 1: Here are a few stories explaining what Biden’s promised to do on his first day in office. Expect an avalanche of executive orders.

Geopolitics: Foreign leaders tweeted their congratulations to Joe Biden from all the time zones yesterday. Allies like Germany hope Biden will restore once-cozy ties, while rivals like Iran will be both a) relieved that the hawkish Trump administration is out the door and b) wary of how they’ll be treated by a President Biden. 

Photo galleries: Check out pics from a wild Saturday around the country. And here’s how newspapers all over the world reported the news.

        

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Even after Joe Biden’s wife, Dr. Jill Biden, moves into the White House, she plans to keep her current job as an English professor at Northern Virginia Community College. In doing so, she’d become the first FLOTUS in the position’s 231-year history to have a full-time job outside of her duties as First Lady.

  • Biden received a doctorate in education from the University of Delaware, and considers herself a “lifelong educator.” 

That means education is going to be at the top of her agenda. She told CBS she’d advocate for free community college tuition, more support for military families, and funding for cancer research. 

Bottom line: By working while FLOTUS-ing, “I want people to value teachers and know their contributions, and lift up the profession," Biden said. 

We should also mention Doug 

Doug Emhoff, to be specific—VP-elect Kamala Harris’s husband. He’ll be the first male spouse of any vice president or president. 

10-second bio: Emhoff is an entertainment lawyer who once defended an ad agency in a $42 million legal battle over the Taco Bell chihuahua.

        

SPONSORED BY FIDELITY

Keep It Fresh

Fidelity

Trying to understand investing today can feel a bit like climbing Mt. Everest—without a Sherpa. 

So we teamed up with our friends at Fidelity to help guide us—and other young investors out there—on everything from investing trends to economic shifts to the pandemic’s effect on the market. 

Introducing, Fresh Invest: What to Know When Investing Today—a limited podcast series hosted by our very own Alex Lieberman, CEO of Morning Brew (you know, the media company behind this here newsletter).  

Each week, Alex and a guest from Fidelity will dig into an oh so fresh topic as it relates to investing today, and answer some of the biggest questions on the minds of young investors. 

In our latest episode, Alex and John Gagliardi, a regional brokerage consultant for Fidelity, discuss what gold means as a unique asset class and why we should all be giving it our attention.

Everything from gold's position in the economy to the various ways people can invest in it will be examined in a discussion that is sure to be solid gold.

Tune in right here.

FINANCE

Why Ant’s IPO Got Squashed

Overshadowed by, you know, everything last week was the stunning collapse of Ant Group’s IPO. What exactly happened?

The backstory: Ant Group, a fintech leader and affiliate of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, was set to go public in Hong Kong and Shanghai as the world’s largest IPO.

  • With a valuation of $359 billion, it would’ve had a bigger market cap than the largest U.S. bank, JPMorgan. 

But Jack Ma decided to speak up. In an eyebrow-raising speech last month, the legendary Alibaba cofounder blasted Chinese financial regulators...in front of financial regulators. 

Days before the IPO, Ma was summoned to Beijing by officials and was told (not-so-politely) to expect some trouble. Then, the IPO was pulled under murky circumstances as the government handed down more restrictions on microlending.

Why it matters: Ma’s comments reflected the tense relationship between China’s growing fintech sector and the traditional financial system. Some experts speculate that the Chinese government wanted to use Ant to show that, just like LeBron doesn’t get every foul call, no private company is more powerful than the state.

        

CALENDAR

Week Ahead

An overflowing cornucopia

Getty Images

The nip in the air is telling us it's the official start to decorative gourd season. Dust those shellacked beauties off and start arranging.

Monday: Earnings (McDonald’s, SoftBank, Beyond Meat)

Tuesday: Microsoft launches the new Xbox; Apple’s “One More Thing” event 

Wednesday: Veterans Day; the country’s National Parks have free admission 

Thursday: Consumer price index inflation data; The Masters begins; Sony launches PlayStation 5; earnings (Palantir, Disney)  

Friday: the 13th

        

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

  • Berkshire Hathaway’s Q3 showed the pandemic continued to drag on its vast array of businesses. It’s never a bad time to own a truckload of Apple stock, though.
  • Private equity firms are looking to buy Reebok from parent Adidas, per the FT. 
  • Tropical Storm Eta is drenching South Florida. It’s the 28th named storm in the Atlantic this season.
  • Turkey’s finance minister, the son-in-law of President Erdogan, is resigning as the lira falls to record lows. 

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I’ll take tear-jerkers for $1,000, please: Here are some of the most touching, hilarious, inspirational, and iconic Trebek moments ever. 

Three work tips: 1) watch Bill Gates answer typical job interview questions 2) why you shouldn’t work on vacation, and 3) rules for being a better manager. 

*This is sponsored advertising content

FROM THE CREW

Start Talking: Carbon Pricing

Every Monday, we curate a handful of balanced resources about a hot-button business issue and encourage you to discuss with friends, family, or coworkers. Well, maybe not at Coinbase. 

President-elect Joe Biden is expected to take aggressive action to combat climate change, and one thing he’ll need to decide on is carbon pricing, a method of cutting emissions using instruments like carbon taxes or cap-and-trade systems. Let's take the temperature of the debate. 

  • A simple overview of carbon pricing. (UN)
  • Go a little deeper on how it works...or doesn’t. (Vox)
  • The IMF thinks a carbon tax is the “single most powerful” tool for fighting climate change. (CNBC)
  • But, in recent years, a growing contingent of politicians have tried leaving it behind. (WBUR)
  • Why Joe Biden’s climate agenda may not include a carbon tax. (Axios)

GAMES

Final Jeopardy

To honor Alex Trebek, today's trivia takes the form of a Final Jeopardy clue. You must phrase your answer in the form of a question.

 

Toby Howell

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ANSWER

What is The Price Is Right? ;)

 ALERT: China's Push to Expand this "New World Money Order" May DESTROY the Dollar...

[JUST IN] - AOC's Worst Nightmare Just Happened....
confirmed >>

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November 09
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Dylan Thomas

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Berlin Wall opening
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MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY
2004: Swedish writer and activist Stieg Larsson died from a heart attack in Stockholm, a year before The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the first installment in his internationally acclaimed Millennium series, was published. [ Take our quiz about authors and poets.]
1985: Garry Kasparov, who was 22 years old, defeated Anatoly Karpov to become the youngest male world chess champion. [ Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about chess.]
1953: Cambodia became independent from France. [Test your knowledge of Asia.]
1923: Alice Coachman, the first African American woman to win an Olympic gold medal, was born. [Test your knowledge of Olympic history.]
1922: Albert Einstein was named the winner of the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect; the Nobel committee had delayed awarding the 1921 physics prize until 1922. [ Take our quiz about Albert Einstein.]
1922: American singer and film actress Dorothy Dandridge, the first Black woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for best actress, was born. [How much do you know about the Academy Awards?]
SEE ALL EVENTS ON THIS DAY
ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY
1934
Carl Sagan
American astronomer
1841
Edward VII
king of Great Britain and Ireland
1913
Hedy Lamarr
Austrian-born American actress
1877
Muhammad Iqbal
poet and philosopher
1918
Spiro Agnew
vice president of United States
1922
Dorothy Dandridge
American singer and actress
SEE ALL BIOS ON THIS DAY


 
 

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California Republican Darrell Issa headed back to Congress
Governor Noem: Trump Needs To Be Given His ‘Day In Court’ Just Like Al Gore Was Given In 2000     


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