Monday, April 12, 2021

BREW WITH HEADLINES

 

Daily Brew

TOGETHER WITH

Athletic Greens

Good morning. 60 years ago today, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to enter outer space. A few interesting facts about that feat:

  • He was just 27 years old.
  • 567 people have gone to outer space since. 

Here’s an interesting question: If 568 people have traveled to space in the last 60 years...how many will go in the next five? Our completely uneducated guess is ~500 additional people will go to space by 2026. 

MARKETS YTD PERFORMANCE


 

Nasdaq
+7.85%
13,900.19
S&P
+9.92%
4,128.80
Dow
+10.44%
33,800.60


Bitcoin
+107.27%
$60,111.01
10-Year
+74.1 bps
1.660%
ExxonMobil
+35.54%
$55.87

 

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 7:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean.

  • Markets: Stocks heated up in April and have posted meaty year-to-date gains, as you can see above. Energy and financials are having a big 2021 after getting clobbered by tech in 2020.
  • Covid: The US hit a daily record for vaccines administered on Saturday: 4.6 million!
  • Economy: On 60 Minutes last night, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the economy is at an “inflection point,” meaning if the US is able to defeat the virus in the coming months, we could see big job gains and growth ahead. 

SUPPLY CHAIN

Chips Wanted

Semiconductor chips disappearing

Francis Scialabba

We’ve faced a number of shortages over the past year—toilet paper, GrapeNuts, joy. But one shortage continues to stand above the rest in its ability to damage the global economy: semiconductors. 

Senior execs from almost 20 companies are heading to the White House today to discuss the current chip shortage and ensure more supply chain chaos doesn’t break out in the future.

  • The roster includes leaders of Ford, Intel, and Alphabet, highlighting how a tiny piece of technology is critical for the everyday operations of a wide range of industries. 

How did this start? 

As the world went into hibernation in spring 2020, manufacturers called up their chip suppliers and said, “Welp, looks like we won’t be needing much of your stuff in the near future.” 

But the economic crisis took a very different shape than originally projected, and demand, instead of dipping...spiked. People loaded up on electronics as they worked/studied/gamed at home. Flush with stimulus checks and wary of public transportation, Americans kept buying cars.

But because they dramatically lowered their chip orders, car manufacturers were stuck making jigsaw puzzles with a missing piece. 

  • You can’t put 100% of the blame on Covid. That wild weather in Texas and other factory hiccups also knocked out chip production, compounding the problem. 

But it’s a big problem

The chip shortage has affected “virtually every major car company in recent months,” according to the WSJ, forcing automakers to halt production of their most popular cars. 

  • Both GM and Ford said the shortage could knock profits by at least $2 billion. 
  • Sony said the chip shortage is the reason why there are so few PS5s available.

Looking ahead...don’t expect today’s WH meeting to conclude with a “mission accomplished” banner. Covid-19 exposed deeper, systemic issues within the semiconductor supply chain (over-reliance on China, simply not enough chipmakers). Those will take years and hundreds of billions worth of investments to resolve. 

        

Giphy

A new analysis from the Wall Street Journal found that chief executives’ median pay at 322 major public US companies rose to $13.7 million last year, up from $12.8 million in 2019. 206 of the 322 CEOs surveyed received a raise, with a median increase of nearly 15%.

It’s more than a simple pay bump. Salary accounts for less than 10% of most major CEOs' total comp, and many trimmed those salaries early in the pandemic to boot. Instead, CEOs are forming new money piles with equity and bonuses. 

Case in point: Paycom CEO Chad Richison

He’s the newly crowned highest-paid CEO in the S&P 500 with a total compensation of $211 million in 2020. And that package is covered with the human equivalent of catnip to keep Richison motivated: 1.61 million restricted shares that will vest if the company hits stock price targets. 

It’s not just CEOs securing the bag: Chris Cox was awarded about $69 million to take back his title of Chief Product Officer at Facebook in 2020, and will receive $4 million more on his one-year anniversary.

        

SPORTS

Sports Roundup

UCF Football

UCF Football on Twitter

It was a busy weekend in the wide world of sports biz. Cue the SportsCenter theme music. 

The future of college football? The University of Central Florida allowed its players to wear their social media handles on the backs of their jerseys during the spring game on Saturday. “This is a new age of personal branding. We’re going to embrace it,” said UCF coach and verified cool dad Gus Malzahn.  

The Timberwolves are getting new owners: Fresh off losing a bidding war for the NY Mets, baseball star-turned-businessman Alex Rodriguez is teaming up with e-commerce legend Marc Lore to buy the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves and the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx. The current owner of both teams, Glen Taylor, bought the Timberwolves in 1994 for $88 million...he’s selling it for $1.5 billion.

Golf history: With his victory at the Masters, Hideki Matsuyama became the first male Japanese golfer to win a major tournament. Japan is very into golf—it has as many courses as the UK + Ireland combined.

        

SPONSORED BY ATHLETIC GREENS

MAXIMUMMMMM NUTRITIONNNNN

Athletic Greens

Just reading about the 75 vitamins, minerals, and whole-food sourced ingredients in every scoop of Athletic Greens has us at our most efficient and dialed-in—we’re like marketing maestros over here.

Athletic Greens works to fill gaps in your nutrition, increase your energy and focus, aid your digestion, and even offer immune support all in one product

Which, like, usually we don’t just list a bunch of stuff, but there’s just SO. MUCH. STUFF.

That’s why Athletic Greens is one of the most nutrient dense nutritional beverages on Planet Earth (and Mars too, but the bar is low)—and they have the quality to match.

So if you’re like us and very busy and perpetually late, Athletic Greens is the one scoop to rule them all. 

Upgrade your nutrition routine and get a free year’s supply of Vitamin D and 5 free travel packs with your order.

GRAB BAG

Key Performance Indicators

Stat: Nearly 70% of US teens own AirPods, according to a new survey from Piper Jaffray. 88% have an iPhone. 

Quote: Chinese vaccines “don’t have very high protection rates.” 

Gao Fu, the director of the China Centers for Disease Control, admitted on Saturday that the country’s vaccines don’t exactly give Covid-19 a knockout blow. One study from Brazil found that the vaccine from the Chinese company Sinovac was 50.4% effective, compared to Pfizer’s 97%. Fu said the government is looking for ways to boost effectiveness.  

Read: America is about to go Botox wild. (The Atlantic)

        

CALENDAR

The Week Ahead

Coinbase at the New York Stock Exchange

Francis Scialabba

Economic data: The biggest report of the week is Tuesday’s Consumer Price Index, which will reveal how worried we should actually be about inflation. Retail sales (Thursday) and housing starts (Friday) are two other data points to watch.

Earnings: Earnings season is upon us—get hyped. Big banks including JPMorgan and Wells Fargo kick off the festivities on Wednesday; other companies reporting quarterly financials this week include PepsiCo and Delta Air Lines. Side note: Corporations have trounced analyst expectations for the past three quarters.

Everything else:

  • Coinbase will go public on Wednesday
  • Ramadan begins today
  • On Saturday, all US National Parks will be free to enter
        

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

  • More than 100 business leaders hopped on a Zoom call to talk about voicing more criticism of controversial voting bills, per the WaPo. 
  • Iran called a blackout at one of its nuclear sites "nuclear terrorism." We don't have many details, but experts are suggesting it may have been a cyberattack carried out by Israel.
  • The Chinese government fined Alibaba a record $2.8 billion as it ramps up antitrust oversight of its own tech giants. 
  • LG Energy and SK Innovation, two South Korean battery makers, agreed to settle a dispute that could have threatened the US’ electric vehicle ambitions.
  • Microsoft is in talks to buy AI company Nuance Communications for $16 billion, per Bloomberg. 
  • The WSJ is at a crossroads.

BREW'S BETS

We’ll take our burger medium robot. Flippy is the burger flippin’ robot set to revolutionize the QSR industry, helping businesses increase margins by about 300%. Don’t flip out, but you can invest in this cash cow of a robot here.*

Meet this free meat. ButcherBox delivers only the highest quality meat directly to your door. And now new members can get The Essentials Bundle—that’s 7 lbs of chicken breast, pork chops, and ground beef—for free with their first box. Get $10 off your box and The Essentials bundle here.*

Life hacks: Someone on Reddit asked about life hacks that seem fake but are actually real. Check out the answers.

Dive back into the week: 

*This is sponsored advertising content

GAMES

Logo Quiz

The company Blue Yonder just filed confidentially to go public. Can you guess what it does from its logo? 

 

 

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ANSWER

Supply chain software

 


Columnists
Letting Hunter Biden Off Is A Message To Us Peasants

Kurt Schlichter


To Save The Republic, Destroy Democrats

Derek Hunter


Why Biden is Erasing America

Kevin McCullough


Forced Masking Is Behavioral Science, Not Medical, And They’ve Been Playing Us The Whole Time

Scott Morefield


Is JD Vance a Future President?

John Mac Ghlionn



Black Crime: Facing Down the Elephant in the Room

Will Alexander


A Hero's Family is Forced to Wait

Thomas P. Kilgannon


Actually, Everything the DEMOCRATS do is Racist

Rachel Alexander


In Less than 3 Months, Joe Biden Has Turned America Into a Sitting Target for International Aggression

Julio Rivera


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INVESTING
Where Was COVID-19 The Deadliest For U.S. Seniors?


Tipsheet
Trump Had Some Choice Words For McConnell at GOP Fundraising Event

Leah Barkoukis


With Mixed Up Priorities of Boycotts, Biden Administration Fails to Protect Human Rights Abuse Victims

Rebecca Downs


Tensions High in Minnesota City Where Driver Shot Dead by Police

Rebecca Downs


Will the Supreme Court Take Up Abortion Case? It Depends, Says Pro-Life Author

Rebecca Downs


Charlie Kirk to Take Rush Limbaugh's Time Slot

Rebecca Downs


Meghan Markle Will Not Attend Prince Philip's Funeral

Rebecca Downs


'Fox News Sunday' Host Chris Wallace Did Not Mince Words Calling Out Sec. Buttigieg's Lies

Rebecca Downs


Rep. Clyburn Joins Biden in Comparing Georgia Voting Law to 'Jim Crow'

Reagan McCarthy


Now, It's Time to Stop Listening to Fauci...Even Liberals Are Calling Him Out

Matt Vespa


Flashback: Biden Vehemently Supported Keeping the Filibuster

Reagan McCarthy


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Political Cartoons
Bearing Arms
Gang Member's Arrest On Gun Charges A California Gun Control Fail | John Petrolino

WA State Carry Ban At Protests, Capitol Nears Final Approval | Tom Knighton

Anti-2A Politicians Defeated In Florida Lawsuit | John Petrolino

The "Common Sense" Argument For Prosecuting Hunter Biden | Tom Knighton

Gun Control Activist Apparently Confused About Job Of Senators | Cam Edwards

 

 April 12th, 2021

White Lives Matter Protesters Clash with Counter-Protesters in Huntington Beach
Huntington Beach police declared an unlawful assembly in Downtown Huntington Beach, California, Sunday afternoon following a "White Lives... Read More ›
Humiliate All Your Shooting Buddies At The Range!
Even if your vision isn't what it used to be this high tech piece of gear can DOUBLE your accuracy almost IMMEDIATELY! Today 60% off! Read More ›
Antifa Sets Fire to Portland ICE HQ With People Inside
On Saturday night, about 100 leftist protesters dressed in antifa’s signature black bloc set fire to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters in Portland, Ore., with people inside... Read More ›
Full Blown Crisis: Biden Admin to Begin Housing Migrants at Internment Camp
The Los Angeles County fairgrounds will soon house illegal immigrants.County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis said the Pomona Fairplex campus could... Read More ›
Trump Goes on a Tear, Rips ‘Dumb Son of a B****’ Mitch McConnell
Former President Donald Trump lashed out at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Saturday during a Republican National Committee event.Trump spoke for almost an hour during the event for the... Read More ›
Let the Gun Grab Begin
Ray Cardello. April 10, 2021The only thing missing in the Rose Garden on Thursday when President Joe Biden started his assault on the Second Amendment was Beto O’Rourke wearing a t-shirt proclaiming... Read More ›
1 Sugar That Fights Disease, Chronic Conditions & Weight Gain:
99% of other sweeteners are extremely dangerous, but your body burns this sugar differently than other sweeteners. And this isn't just some 'folk remedy' discredited by modern science either. Read More ›

Another State Prepares for Audit of Controversial Voting Machines

Matilda Cuomo: Your Sons Are Scostumati!

Liar Alert: Biden Orders Commission to Study How Dems Can Pack the Supreme Court

Hypocrisy: Days After Whitmer’s Travel Warning, Top Aide Posts Holiday Pictures

 

Trump in 2024? He Says Only That ‘a Republican’ Will Win

Trump in 2024? He Says Only That ‘a Republican’ Will Win

Here's What We Know >>

 NATIONAL STORIES

President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, March 25, 2021, in Washington.
President Biden's ambitious expansion of long-term care sparks debate »
President Joe Biden speaks after signing the PPP Extension Act of 2021, in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, March 30, 2021, in Washington.
President Biden's budget seeks more for schools, health care and housing »


In this image made from Windsor, (Va.) Police video, A police officer uses a spray agent on Caron Nazario on Dec. 20, 2020, in Windsor, Va.
Virginia governor calls for probe into traffic stop of Black Army officer »

In this Monday, Oct. 23, 2017 file photo, President Donald Trump speaks during a joint statement with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. Former President Donald Trump plans to affirm his commitment to the Republican Party — and raise the possibility that someone else will be the GOP's next presidential nominee — in a closed-door speech to donors Saturday night, April 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Trump in 2024? He says only that 'a Republican' will win »

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