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TOGETHER WITH
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Good morning. Would
never have predicted that merchant marine folk songs, a 79-year-old
senator, and GameStop would dominate culture in January 2021...but here
we are.
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NASDAQ
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13,626.06
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- 0.07%
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S&P
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3,849.62
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- 0.15%
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DOW
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30,937.04
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- 0.07%
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GOLD
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1,849.60
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- 0.30%
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10-YR
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1.041%
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+ 0.80 bps
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OIL
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52.75
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- 0.04%
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*As of market close
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Covid-19 updates: In a day of milestones, the world topped 100 million confirmed coronavirus cases, and the UK surpassed
more than 100,000 deaths, the smallest country to hit the mark. The
Biden administration said it's ordering 200 million more vaccine doses
and speeding up shipments to states.
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Markets: The major indexes didn't
move a whole lot yesterday, but today's earnings slate of Facebook,
Tesla, and Apple could produce fireworks.
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Giphy
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If you
thought a little school outside Boston liked touting its acceptance rate
before...just wait for Class of 2025 stats. Applications for the
upcoming fall semester are soaring at elite institutions including Harvard (+42%), Yale (+38%), and NYU (+20%). Princeton is also up 15%.
We stan the confidence
Many schools
are waiving standardized test requirements, and with fewer campus
visits possible, students are gravitating toward trusted names. Plus,
more applications → more potential acceptances → more opportunity for
students to find the best price.
Zoom out: Undergrad
admissions fell 13% last fall when colleges were presented with a
different kind of contagious virus than they were used to. As vaccines
roll out, prospective freshmen are expecting more normalcy this fall.
- Submissions of the Common Application, a standardized app used by 900+ schools, were up 10% as of Friday.
Not everyone's feeling the love
Admissions are down for many regional or less-competitive schools. The State University of New York (SUNY) reported a 20% drop
in applications across its 64 campuses, particularly among its 30
community colleges. Applications across California's public university
system are down 5%.
Common App administrators have also sounded "alarm bells" for students from underrepresented populations.
- Financial
aid requests were down 11.4% as of Jan. 1, especially from high schools
with a higher proportion of low-income, Black, or Hispanic students.
- Applications from first-generation students are down 3%.
Is this a tipping point?
If you stare
in a mirror and say "college tuition is too high" three times, NYU
Prof. Scott Galloway will appear. Last spring, he predicted that, after a short-term dip, top-50 universities would undergo massive expansion...while the rest crumble.
S&P Global agrees. The financial data firm issued
its fourth consecutive negative outlook for higher ed and said Covid-19
has exacerbated long-running problems around enrollment and revenue. It
expects colleges that were previously struggling will fall further
behind.
Looking ahead...schools
will be dealing with Covid in some capacity this fall. President Biden
has called on federal agencies to set clearer guidance for reopening.
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Stephen Brashear/Getty Images
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Rosalind “Roz” Brewer is stepping down as the COO of Starbucks and stepping up
as the CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance. Her move is historic: Brewer
will be the only Black woman running an S&P 500 company.
- As Brewer comes aboard in the spring, Walgreens CEO Stefano Pessina will transition to executive chairman.
The CV: With Brewer, Walgreens is getting a retail vet with a reputation for investing in digital operations.
- She joined Starbucks after a five-year stint as the head of Walmart-owned Sam’s Club.
- Before that, Brewer worked at Kimberly-Clark, the consumer goods giant. Fun fact: She started there as a chemist.
Brewer is a big loss for Starbucks, which was also forced to replace its CFO this month.
Bottom line: Brewer
is entering a “plz fix” situation at Walgreens. With the coronavirus
taking a sledgehammer to profits, the drugstore chain’s stock fell 29.4% last year...even as the broader Dow index gained 7.3%.
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In his highly anticipated annual letter
to CEOs, BlackRock chief Larry Fink called on businesses to reach
net-zero emissions by 2050 and do their part to keep global warming in
check.
Fink can't
technically make companies do anything. But like a parent who controls
your allowance (in this case, almost $9 trillion in assets), he
effectively can. And he has before:
- In 2018, Fink wrote that profit isn't everything and companies need to think about their social impact.
- In 2020, he called for prioritizing sustainability and committed BlackRock to factoring climate risks into investment decisions.
Under the
latest directive, BlackRock will create a "temperature alignment metric"
to assess funds. Like calorie counts on a menu, the goal nudges
investors into (environmentally) healthier decisions, DealBook writes.
- If
companies don't take the carrot, they may meet Fink's stick. Last year,
BlackRock put 191 businesses on a watch list and voted against 64
directors and 69 companies for climate-related reasons.
But Fink
would argue there's a better reason to play along: "The more your firms
are seen to embrace the climate transition and the opportunities it
brings, the more the market will reward your firms with higher
valuations."
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The name of
the investment game is (and always has been) diversification. And one
tool in the investment-diversification toolbox is Fundrise.
Fundrise lets you invest in a low-cost, diversified portfolio of institutional-quality real estate. They combine state-of-the-art technology with in-house expertise to reduce fees and help maximize your long-term return potential.
Fundrise can
potentially help you take your investment portfolio to higher levels
than the high-rises and private real estate you’ll be investing in.
Their intuitive and easy-to-use platform enables you to closely monitor your investments and provides transparent communications around investment progress.
With Fundrise, you don’t have to be some ultra-wealthy investor to put your bucks into quality long-term diversified investments. You can access the same quality of investments as the fancy folks with just $500.
Get started with Fundrise today.
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Earnings szn
means two things: 1) a CEO's small talk skills being put to the test
and 2) offhand remarks that reveal a lot about the current state of the
business world. For example…
American Express CEO Stephen Squeri
is bullish on leisure travel: "...As we get into this summer season,
this June, July, August and September, you will see a rush for people to
travel, especially air travel."
Johnson & Johnson CFO Joseph Wolk on the vaccine
the company is developing: "The fact that we do not require significant
refrigeration beyond the norm, as well as being one shot, certainly
does play into the label that some outside the company have called it a
game-changer."
GE CEO Larry Culp defending
his potential $47 million payout (in a few years, and only if company
stock stays above $10 for at least 30 days): "I didn't take a salary
last year once Covid hit. I think we all sacrificed."
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on its blockbuster quarter
buoyed by growing demand for video games and cloud computing: "What we
have witnessed over the past year is the dawn of a second wave of
digital transformation sweeping every company and every industry."
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Francis Scialabba
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Every Wednesday, we’re going to take a reader-submitted question about business and the economy and do our best to answer it. Ask your question here.
From Miles in Little Rock: Why is the stock market at a record while the economy is tanking?
The Brew’s answer: Hi
Miles, it can definitely be disorienting to see the stock market
soaring to all-time highs while millions of Americans are out of work
because of the pandemic. Here are four possible explanations for the
split screen we’re seeing on Wall Street and Main Street.
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The stock market is future-looking. Stock
prices reflect investors’ expectations of how companies will perform
not now but later—for example, Tesla is worth more than many automakers combined because of its long-term growth potential. A roaring stock market means investors are betting on a healthy economic recovery.
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The stock market is dominated by huge companies. And many of these huge companies, such as Amazon, Walmart, and Microsoft, benefited financially from the pandemic.
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The economy isn’t as bad as we think. Some
sectors of the economy, such as manufacturing and the housing market,
are posting their best performances in more than a decade.
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The stock market could also be wrong. A
number of prominent investors say the stock market is all
discombobulated because of the historic stimulus measures deployed by
the government.
Hope that helps! And feel free to ask more questions here.
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The GameStop saga continues: The favorite stock of r/WallStreetBets jumped another
92% (and ~50% after hours), as billionaires including investor Chamath
Palihapitiya and Elon Musk tweeted excitedly about the company.
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President Biden signed executive actions around racial equity, including one that would end the DOJ's use of private prisons.
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Verizon Fios suffered major outages yesterday, leaving many East Coasters without internet.
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Beyond Meat stock jumped 18% after it announced a partnership with PepsiCo.
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The CEO
of a large Canadian casino company quit after it was discovered that he
and his wife traveled to a remote community in the Yukon territory,
disguised themselves as motel workers, and tried to get a coronavirus
vaccine. The community is home to a large indigenous population.
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As Biden’s
Cabinet goes through the confirmation process, it is our duty to make
sure you know the names of the people in charge of our country’s top
departments. How do we do that? With a little trivia.
Can you name Biden’s picks for the following positions?
- Treasury Secretary
- Secretary of State
- Secretary of Defense
- Secretary of Transportation
- Commerce Secretary
- Secretary of Housing & Urban Development
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When you share the Brew with your network, you earn free swag like our classic Morning Brew t-shirt.
Are
you one of those people who is always going places? Then you probably
need a shirt. Might as well be this bad boy with the Morning Brew logo
plastered across the chest.
Hit the button below to learn more and access your rewards hub.
Click to ShareOr copy & paste your referral link to others:
morningbrew.com/daily/r/?kid=a17a7110
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1. Treasury = Janet Yellen
2. State = Antony Blinken
3. Defense = Gen. Lloyd Austin
4. Transportation = Pete Buttigieg aka Mayor Pete
5. Commerce = Gina Raimondo
6. HUD = Marcia Fudge
Regards,
Breaking News: Donald and Melania Trump Drop Untold Bombshell Today
You Won't Believe This...
{Continue Reading}
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| ADVERTISEMENT |
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January 27
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| FEATURED BIOGRAPHY
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| Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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| FEATURED EVENT
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| 1973
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| Vietnam War ended
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SEE ALL BIOS ON THIS DAY
| MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY
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2018: Swedish entrepreneur
Ingvar Kamprad—who founded the home furnishings retailer IKEA, which was the world's largest seller of furniture in the early 21st century—died at age 91.
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Bill O’Reilly’s money message before it’s too late.
Donald Trump became the most vilified president in history because he stood foursquare in their way.
Folks, the risks to the Constitution are REAL!
Biden's New
Plan –
What No One is
Telling You
President Joe Biden made
headlines recently announcing his new $1.9
Trillion stimulus plan.
But whether you receive a
stimulus check... extended unemployment benefits... or new tax credits... as the
plan proposes...
Or if your business will have to
pay a higher minimum wage or expand paid leave (also part of the plan)...
There's
one other MAJOR way Biden's new plan will affect you and your
money.
No one in the media does a
better job of explaining all of this than our Founder, Porter Stansberry, who has
produced a new analysis to explain exactly what this all means for you and your
money.
We've posted Porter's new work
for free on
our website right here...
Sincerely,
Mike Palmer
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