Robinhood Snacks - 🤔 Worst week since '08

Taking Wall Street's temperature... The S&P 500 boils down the stock prices of the 500 "most valuable" publicly traded companies on American exchanges into a single number. That number helps us quickly answer the question: “How is the US stock market doing?” Here's how the S&P 500's "temperature" changed from February 19th to February 28th (last Friday):

• Feb 19th: 3,386 points.
• Feb 28th: 2,954 points.
• That's a 13% drop in just 7 days of trading.

This isn't the same as '08... Back then, a financial crisis was caused by deep internal problems with our economy (a housing market bubble and massive debt). The threat this time is external: COVID-19 (aka coronavirus) had already shut down big chunks of the Chinese economy — but last week, the economic disruption spread to Italy, South Korea, and Iran.

• There's no cure/vaccine yet: But the Fed's chairman Jerome Powell said Friday that he stands ready to dish out monetary medicine via the central bank's bazooka of cash.
• It's a correction, not a bear market: Since 1946, market corrections with declines of between 10% to 20% have happened 29 times (once every 2.5 years on average) according to Guggenheim Funds. A bear market means a fall of over 20% — hasn't happened (yet).
• The bull market is still bucking: The S&P 500 has more than quadrupled since hitting a bottom in March 2009 — in 11 years, it hasn't dipped more than 20%. That's the longest bull market tracked to date.

FOMO never felt so good... While coronavirus fears spread and WFH becomes the norm for many, stay-at-home stocks are cruising care-free. As stock prices were downgraded en masse last week, "no-contact" stocks actually rose: Peloton (up 9%) — work out without visiting a germy gym. Zoom (up 8%) — video conference your biz meetings instead of in-person. Netflix (up 3%) — entertain yourself without leaving the house.

What retail-apocalypse?... TJX, the discount retail giant behind TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Homegoods, reported a 6% quarterly sales surge (and a fashionable $985M in profit). Meanwhile, JCPenney hasn't posted growth since 2017, and Macy's sales fell 0.5% last quarter. While brick-and-mortar stores shutter, TJX's trio of treat-yo-self-without-going-broke stores are embracing the "affordable splurge" that low- and middle-income Americans are craving.

Losing "share of throat"... AB InBev — Earth's largest brewer. Its profits plummeted 75% last quarter. And its top labels are losing ground in its largest market (the US) as Americans snub Bud Lights for White Claws. Seltzers now make up 2.6% of all US alcohol sales — more than 3X growth since a year ago. Bud has intro'd 3 seltzers but is still lagging. The biggest disruptors — Boston Beer's Truly and Mark Anthony Brands' White Claw — are now too big to acquire.

Mosh pit cancelled indefinitely... Shares of Eventbrite dropped to an all-time low despite expectations-beating revenues — that's because it's seeing "early evidence" of virus-related event cancellations. Blame this statement: "We expect the outbreak will impact live events and attendance in the near-term.” Making shareholders even sicker — event rival Live Nation enjoyed a 10% jump last week, somehow immune so far to coronavirus concerns.