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TOGETHER WITH
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Nasdaq
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14,427.24
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S&P
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4,327.16
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Dow
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34,687.85
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Bitcoin
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$31,815.70
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10-Year
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1.294%
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Moderna
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$286.43
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*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 6:00pm ET.
Here's what these numbers mean.
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Markets: All three indexes posted weekly losses
for the first time this month as energy stocks, once the shining lights
of 2021’s stock market, fell into correction territory. Moderna surged
after it got the news it’s being added to the S&P 500.
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Economy: Some juicy data dropped yesterday. A report on consumer sentiment showed that Americans are increasingly worried about inflation, while retail sales for June posted a surprise gain of 0.6%.
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Warner Bros.
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This is not a review of the film Space Jam: A New Legacy, which opened in US theaters and on HBO Max yesterday. It is
a review of how Warner Bros. positioned the reboot to extract as much
value from its various franchises as possible, making the movie the
biggest marketing event of the summer.
Warner Bros. linked up with more than 200 partners
in its promotion of the film, per a Bloomberg tally. That includes
McDonald’s Happy Meals, BarkBox chew toys for pets, and, surely the most
expensive piece of co-branded merchandise, a $100,000 watch set from Swiss brand Kross Studio.
Of course, shameless commercialization is in Space Jam’s DNA. The original movie from 1996, starring Michael Jordan, was inspired by a Nike Super Bowl commercial
from three years earlier. While the first film made more than $230
million at the global box office, it generated more than 5x that ($1.2
billion) in merchandise revenue.
This time, Warner Bros. is going bigger
But it’s less about directly selling merchandise than giving viewers a tour of its various franchises. “Space Jam: A New Legacy
isn’t really a movie—it’s a crash course in vertical integration and
brand identity, a marketing slideshow with a two-hour running time,”
writes Polygon.
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The movie title says “Space Jam,” but in addition to star LeBron
James and the Looney Tunes, you’ll find cameos by Harry Potter, the Wizard of Oz cyclone, the Iron Giant, Pennywise the Clown, and even Rick's Café from Casablanca.
Zoom out: With
media companies building war chests of content to best each other in
the streaming wars, expect more crossover events like this one. As Jake
Harris writes in the Book and Film Globe, “Everyone’s got to have a cinematic universe these days, after all.”
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Someone
brought up the word “stablecoin” in the financial regulator group chat
and it’s been unmanageable ever since. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen
decided to take the convo live and said she’ll meet with prominent finance officials on Monday to discuss this version of cryptocurrency.
What is stablecoin?
It’s a coin that is—in theory—more stable than other cryptocurrencies
like bitcoin, ether, etc., because it’s tied to government-issued money
like the US dollar or assets like gold.
- US regulators are particularly unsure about USD backed crypto and the already $100+ billion in stablecoin flying around.
During next
week’s meeting, Secretary Yellen and other regulators will ask
themselves: If there is no oversight of these US dollar-backed coins,
what does that mean for the OG US dollar?
Big picture:
Finance chiefs have been discussing how to regulate what has until now
been the Wild West. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told Congress
this week that there is some incentive
for the US to launch its own central bank digital currency (CBDC) to
circumvent all other 11,000+ cryptos, but he’s undecided if the pros
outweigh the costs.
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DALE DE LA REY/AFP via Getty Images
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The US Departments of State, Commerce, Homeland Security, and Treasury warned
American companies of serious risks when operating in Hong Kong as the
Chinese government tightens its grip on the global financial hub.
“Beijing has
chipped away at Hong Kong’s reputation of accountable, transparent
governance and respect for individual freedoms, and has broken its
promise to leave Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy unchanged for 50
years,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
In a business advisory issued yesterday, the US government listed the threats US companies in Hong Kong might face:
- Electronic surveillance and compromised data security
- Risks regarding transparency and access to critical business information
- Deteriorating press freedom
- A new Chinese national security law that targets political dissidents
Looking ahead…the
advisory won’t demand specific actions from private companies. Instead
it aims to assist them in making “informed business decisions and
properly assessing risks.” But after a series of crackdowns on Hong Kong
by the Chinese government since 2019, many American businesses are
eyeing an exit.
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It’s finally beach picnic season. And SPF 5000 season. And #patioseason.
Which means
you have better things to do than spend time shopping for all your
summer essentials. Well lucky for you it’s ALWAYS Walmart+
season. It’s the membership that helps you save time and money with
free same-day delivery* on everything from sandwiches to sandcastle
shovels.
Just look at some of the cool savings that will help you stay chill this summer:
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You’ll save time, aka 78 hours per year
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PLUS you’ll save money, aka $816 per year by getting your weekly groceries with Walmart+ unlimited free delivery.
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PLUS, you can get select prescriptions for FREE**.
So start saving time and money with Walmart+ this summer, and then keep it going all year round.
Start your free 15-day trial here.
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Stat: Xiaomi, a Chinese manufacturer, leapt past Apple to become the second-largest smartphone vendor in the world last quarter, per Canalys. With 17% market share, it’s causing No. 1 Samsung (19%) to sweat.
Quote: “This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said that the Delta variant is spreading quickly
among unvaccinated people in the US. Cases are up 70%, hospitalizations
have increased 36%, and deaths are up 26% from the prior week, Walensky
said. 97% of people hospitalized due to Covid-19 are unvaccinated.
Read: Welcome 2 America: The oral history of Prince’s lost album. (Rolling Stone)
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In this
new Summer 2021 segment, the Brew’s personal finance writer Ryan Lasker
is nose-diving into our inbox to address your personal finance
questions. Submit your money woes here.
How many credit cards should I have, and is it OK to close one if I never used it and have no balance?—Eduardo from New York
The question isn’t how many
credit cards you should have, but rather how much of your total credit
limit you’re using. The goal is to keep your card balances below 30% of
their combined limit. If you have just one credit card with a $1,000
limit, stay sub-$300, even when you pay in full and on time.
It’s a
balancing act: You want enough credit to keep your utilization low, but
you don’t want so many cards that you’ll lose track of them or be
tempted to order shots for the whole bar.
Need more credit?
Request a limit increase on a current card or open a new card. Both
could trigger hard credit checks (bad for credit scores) so take six
months between asks.
But don’t
let me discourage you from opening a new card and using free points to
take a flight to Europe. Credit card rewards can pack a serious punch.
As for your second question, it’s fine to close credit cards you no longer use—especially if there’s an annual fee—unless it’s
your first. Credit scores factor in how long you’ve had credit, and
closing your oldest account could send your scores down the ski slope
with a slow chairlift back up.
P.S.: Later this summer, Ryan will be writing a twice-weekly personal finance newsletter to make you smarter about your money. Become one of the first subscribers.
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A federal judge
in Texas ruled that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program
(DACA) was illegal and blocked the government from approving new
applications.
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President Biden said platforms like Facebook are “killing people” by allowing the spread of Covid-19 vaccine misinformation.
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At least 125 people died when parts of Belgium and Germany experienced their worst flooding in decades following heavy rains.
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Lordstown Motors, an electric vehicle company that recently went public via SPAC, confirmed that the DOJ is investigating its business.
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D to the E to the L-I-T-E-F-U-L. That was an unusual way to tell you that Hendrick's Gin
is delightfully refreshing and unusually delicious. You might drink it
in a mill, but Hendrick’s is anything but your run-of-the-mill gin. Its distinctive cucumber-and-rose profile is uniquely made in the small seaside town of Girvan (read: Scotland). Experience the delight of Hendrick’s Gin today.
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Francis Scialabba
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Every other week, Brew’s Bookshelf brings you a few of our favorite, (usually) business-related reads.
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In Haben,
lawyer, disability activist, and the first deafblind graduate of
Harvard Law School Haben Girma shares the inspiring story of how she not
only succeeded in institutions that were never built for her, but also
created a more accessible and equitable path in her wake.
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Nicholas Schmidle’s Test Gods profiles the people who made Virgin Galactic's space launch possible.
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New words: Dictionary.com added more than 300 new words and definitions, from “long Covid” to “zaddy.” Check them out.
Weekend conversation starters:
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Would you ride in a driverless taxi?
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Which celebrity voice would you give to Amazon’s Alexa?
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Who would you be dating according to your teenage bedroom decor?
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Is the toilet paper meant to go over or under?
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July 16, 2021
 |
| How I Fixed My Acid Reflux |
|
Thousands of Men and Women Worldwide Have Been Successful With
Eliminating Their Heartburn Pain Within 2 Days, and Curing The Root
Cause Of Acid Reflux Permanently... Read More › |
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SATURDAY 7.17.2021
BREAKING NEWS
CRT Dena Simmons Says We Can’t ‘Let Whiteness Seep Into Us’
Dem Internal Polling Must Be Bad: Biden Says Communism is a Failed System (VIDEO)
BLM Marxists Blame US for ‘Undermining Cubans’ Right to Choose their Own Government
White House Brags About Colluding With Tech Oligarchs To Suppress Dissent
Judge
Orders End to DACA; Current Enrollees ‘Safe’ for Now
‘Woke’
Disney CANCELS Calif., Plans to Move 2,000 Jobs to Fla.
Health: These
Foods Destroy Memory [AVOID]
Biden
Admin Blames GOP for ‘Pandemic of the Unvaccinated’
Jenner’s
Resolve Questioned after Campaign-Trail Departure
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FEATURED BIOGRAPHY
Born On This Day
Adam Smith
Scottish philosopher
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FEATURED EVENT
1936
Beginning of the Spanish Civil War
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MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY
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2009: American journalist Walter Cronkite—who, as the longtime anchor of CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite (1962–81), became known as “the most trusted man in America”—died at age 92.
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SEE ALL BIOS ON THIS DAY
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