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TOGETHER WITH
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Good morning. Congrats
to Brew vet Jeff and Brew newbie Alice on winning laptops as part of
our MacBook Pro giveaway. You’re going to love the touch bar, you just
don’t know it yet.
On that
note, this giveaway is going into hibernation for a few months. Big
thanks to everyone who shared the Brew the past few days, and although
you didn’t win a computer, you might have earned some Morning Brew swag
in the process. And that’s just as coo—okay even we couldn’t type that
with a straight face.
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NASDAQ
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12,339.18
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- 1.94%
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S&P
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3,667.23
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- 0.95%
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DOW
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30,016.47
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- 0.52%
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GOLD
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1,836.20
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- 2.06%
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10-YR
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0.939%
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+ 2.10 bps
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OIL
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45.44
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- 0.35%
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*As of market close
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Covid-19 update: Things are getting worse in the U.S. More than 3,000 people died yesterday from the coronavirus and almost 107,000 were in hospitals—both records.
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Markets: Stocks fell as marathon negotiations for a coronavirus relief package hit that 23rd-mile hill.
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Brexit: Speaking of stalled
negotiations...EU and UK officials are continuing to work on a Brexit
deal, though “very large gaps remain.” They’ve set a deadline for Sunday.
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Giphy
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If this
week’s IPOs were a music festival, DoorDash would be the opener that
rocked so hard everyone started moshing. In its first day of trading,
shares shot up 86%, giving it a market cap of $72 billion.
Hope you have enough energy for today’s headliner: home rental platform Airbnb.
The backstory
We take
Airbnb for granted, but there was a time not too long ago when booking a
stay at a random person’s house in northern Finland was considered odd
behavior. The startup, founded in SF in 2008, completely upended the
hotel industry and fundamentally changed the way people travel by
tapping into our desire for “local” and “authentic” experiences.
The company
had a roller-coaster year. As the coronavirus spread across the globe,
bookings plummeted 72% in April, the company cut a quarter of its
workforce, and CEO Brian Chesky declared, “Travel as we knew it is over.”
And he was right. People didn’t stop traveling...they just started traveling differently. They flocked to mountain towns and rural areas over the summer, driving a surprising profit for Airbnb in Q3. It priced its shares at $68 a pop for a valuation of $47 billion.
What’s next?
Just because
you survived the travel industry’s worst downturn ever doesn’t mean you
can nap. As a public company, Airbnb will face a number of challenges,
including angry city officials, concerns over safety, and a rising
number of professional hosts who threaten Airbnb’s identity as a
platform that connects people with...people.
- Professional hosts accounted for nearly 30% of room nights booked at the end of last year.
- To swing the pendulum
back toward individuals, Airbnb is creating a host endowment fund
through its IPO to invest in the people who make its platform work.
Zoom out: If
it feels like we’ve been writing about IPOs a lot recently...we have.
Even before DoorDash went public yesterday, companies had raised more
than $160 billion in IPOs this year—a record. And there are plenty more to come (Affirm, Roblox, Wish) before the year’s out.
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Francis Scialabba
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Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission and 48 states and territories filed two separate lawsuits against Facebook for widespread antitrust violations.
The backstory:
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg’s seat has been kept sufficiently warm by
investigations from the FTC and state attorneys general since last year.
These probes touched on everything from Facebook’s handling of user
data to its competition-squashing acquire-or-copy approach.
Yesterday, the twin investigations emerged from their chrysalises into full-fledged lawsuits.
Government vs. Big Tech is getting real
The lawsuit from the FTC takes aim at Facebook’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp,
which could potentially lead to the breakup of Zuck’s three-headed
beast that around 2.5 billion people use monthly. And don’t
forget—Google is facing a similar antitrust suit from the Dept. of Justice.
Bottom line: These
lawsuits probably aren't the Jake Paul to Facebook’s Nate
Robinson...for now. The cases still have to crawl through the court
system, and they could be shaken up by Joe Biden's new appointees to the
FTC.
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AFP via Getty Images
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Believe it
or not, there is a world beyond the local Wawa. Let’s get an update from
our international correspondent, Carlisle Sanfrancisco. Carlisle?
India: Hundreds of thousands of farmers have blocked roads
and set up camps around the capital, New Delhi, to protest new
agricultural laws passed in September. The laws loosened some rules
around the pricing and storage of crops, and farmers argue the
deregulation will devastate their incomes. It’s a tense issue
considering more than 40% of India’s workforce is employed in
agriculture.
Brazil: Passengers
on a Gol Airlines flight from Sao Paulo to Porto Alegre were the first
in nearly two years to travel on a Boeing 737 Max, which returned to commercial service yesterday.
Canada: The country’s health regulator approved Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine, becoming the second nation after the UK to do so.
Singapore: A Royal Caribbean “cruise to nowhere” was cut short
by a day after a passenger was infected with the coronavirus. The other
1,679 passengers were given Covid-19 tests before departing from the
ship.
Japan: An official said the government will invest in AI matchmaking programs to boost the country’s flailing birth rate.
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Water is a
finite resource. A booming population, climate change, and a lack of
sufficient resources are exacerbating the global water crisis.
Today, there
are innovative companies around the world developing groundbreaking
technologies to make water more accessible to the global population by
creating efficiencies and improving infrastructure.
And it’s now easy to invest in the companies helping to combat the crisis with the Fidelity® Water Sustainability Fund. Backed by a global research team, Fidelity has identified the innovators in this important space and made them available to you in one fund.
To learn more and invest in the Fidelity® Water Sustainability Fund, click here.
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Giphy
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Cyberpunk 2077, the Pappy Van Winkle of videogames, is finally going on sale today after months of pandemic-related delays.
It’s gonna be yuge
Polish game maker CD Projekt is trying to follow up on the smash success of its first release, The Witcher 3, which has sold over 50 million copies since 2015.
- The WSJ forecasts Cyberpunk 2077
will sell between 18 million and 25 million copies in its first month
since a) it’s such a hyped game and b) it’s the only major title coming
out during the holiday season.
Cyberpunk 2077 inserts
players into the futuristic, dystopian Night City with a 10-hour
original score, hundred of hours of unique storylines, and a
hyper-realistic AI version of Keanu Reeves named Johnny Silverhand. For real.
Zoom out: Creating
something so massive while contending with a global pandemic was made
even more difficult by the next-gen console releases from Sony and
Microsoft. Including older machines, developers had to make Cyberpunk 2077 playable on nine different platforms, up from three for previous games.
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Francis Scialabba
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Yesterday, Google released its top trending searches of 2020, and it’s kind of like gaining special access into people’s minds. Maybe that’s why the company’s worth $1.2 trillion.
Anyway, here are some queries that saw high spikes in traffic in the U.S. over long periods of time:
News: 1) Election results 2) coronavirus 3) stimulus checks
People: 1) Joe Biden 2) Kim Jong Un 3) Kamala Harris
TV shows: 1) Tiger King 2) Cobra Kai 3) Ozark
How to make...1) Hand sanitizer 2) a face mask with fabric 3) whipped coffee
Why...1) Were chainsaws invented 2) is there a coin shortage 3) was George Floyd arrested
Where is...1) My stimulus money 2) my refunds 3) Kansas City
How to...1) Cut men’s hair at home 2) plop hair 3) color your hair at home
Lyrics: 1) WAP 
Definitions: 1) WAP
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Starbucks
named Mellody Hobson, co-CEO of Ariel Investments, as chair of its
board. She’ll become one of the most prominent Black directors in
corporate America. In other Starbucks news, it’s planning on adding more
than 20,000 locations in the next decade.
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A SpaceX Starship prototype burst into flames after a high-altitude flight, but CEO Elon Musk still called it a success.
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Hunter Biden, President-elect Joe Biden’s son, said his “tax affairs” were under federal investigation.
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YouTube will start removing videos that claim President Trump lost the election because of voter fraud or errors.
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GE will pay a $200 million penalty to the SEC to settle charges it misled investors.
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Cinemark said it’s sold more than 100,000 private watch party packages, which allow guests to rent an auditorium for $99+.
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Happy Hanukkah!
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Peak jean performance is here.
Revtown jeans combine the comfort and functionality of athletic wear
with the durability and style of designer denim, allowing you to move
freely and stylishly. Check out Revtown jeans right here.*
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Real estate fun: A collection of maps and charts of the most valuable housing markets in the U.S.
Remy Lloyd Webber: The Ratatouille musical that was crowdsourced on TikTok during the pandemic will become an actual musical streamed Jan. 1 to benefit The Actors Fund. Get a sneak peek here.
Holiday reads: Bill Gates listed five books he recommends reading next to the fireplace this year.
*This is sponsored advertising content
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When doing
research for today's international news segment, we came across some
headlines that required a double-take. Three of these news stories from
abroad are real, but one we made up. Can you spot the fake?
- “New Japanese KitKat has been aged in whisky barrels from Islay, Scotland”
- “Former Israeli space security chief says extraterrestrials exist, and Trump knows about it”
- “China and Nepal finally agree on Mount Everest's height after years of dispute”
- “Russian scientists misplace invisible dark matter particle: ‘Frankly, we’re embarrassed’”
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We made up the Russian scientist one.
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** A Note From Fidelity
Before
investing in any mutual fund, you should consider its investment
objectives, risks, charges, and expenses. Contact Fidelity for a
prospectus, an offering circular, or, if available, a summary prospectus
containing this information. Read it carefully.
Investing involves risk, including risk of loss.
Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC. © 2020 FMR LLC. All rights reserved. |
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