ECONOMY

Fed vs. Treasury

It’s the rivalry no one asked for but we got because everything else is canceled. Here’s what happened:

Thursday afternoon, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin decided not to renew several emergency lending programs run by the Fed when they expire at the end of the year. Not only that—he asked the Fed to return all the money that hadn’t been used.

• Those programs were set up to prevent a credit freeze from crippling markets in March and April. They include corporate bond buying and loans to small- and medium-sized businesses.

The Fed, which wasn’t consulted in this decision, thinks it’s too soon to pull funding for these programs. Thursday night, the central bank said it would “prefer that the full suite of emergency facilities established during the coronavirus pandemic continue” to support the fragile economy, which is as close to a “come at me, bro” that the Fed can muster. 

Mnuchin: Nobody panic

Mnuchin tried to calm down investors by doing an interview with someone who’s known for calming down investors: Jim Cramer. In a chat with the CNBC host yesterday morning, Mnuchin said he was only doing Congress’s bidding...and there’s plenty of money available, should it be needed.

• “Markets should be very comfortable that we have plenty of capacity left,” he said. 

Zoom out: The duo of Mnuchin and Powell has earned praise for their all-hands-on-deck approach to steering the economy through the pandemic. But Thursday’s surprise announcement was one of the few times that politics may have weaseled into their relationship. (Mnuchin categorically denied it was a political move.)

Looking ahead...the focus turns to President-elect Biden, whose own Treasury Secretary will have to pick up where Mnuchin left off. And who might that be? We don’t know, but Biden does. He said he’s made his pick, one who will be accepted by “all elements of the Democratic Party.” Expect an announcement around Thanksgiving. 

PHARMA

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing on a Covid Vaccine

The light at the end of this impossibly dark tunnel just got a little bit brighter yesterday, when Pfizer officially asked the FDA to clear its Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use. 

• With vaccines, “emergency” is relative. The FDA is expected to take about three weeks to issue a decision.

But just getting to this point is a historic achievement. Pfizer’s vaccine, which was co-developed with Germany’s BioNTech, was proven to be 95% effective in a huge, late-stage trial. And, if approved, it would mark the West’s fastest vaccine development program ever, writes the WSJ.

• Important to note: Emergency use is not full approval. It’s reserved for public health emergencies and only allows for a limited number of doses to be distributed. 

Looking ahead...Moderna, which reported a 94.5% effective vaccine, will be next to file an application. If that’s approved, about 20 million Americans—likely healthcare workers and the elderly—could be immunized before the end of the year.

IPO

We Know Who’s Running the IPO Market

Mobile e-commerce marketplace Wish filed to go public yesterday after executing the “grow insanely fast during the pandemic” playbook to a T.  

• A playbook refresher: Shutdown of physical retail + increased time spent on our phones + gov. stimulus money =  32% year-over-year revenue growth in the past nine months and 100 million monthly active users for Wish. 

Wish isn’t the only one promoting its growth story

The personal lender Affirm and ultra-popular videogame platform Roblox also revealed their IPO paperwork this week.

• Affirm offers attractive financing options for big-ticket consumer items like furniture, mattresses, and, most lucratively, Peloton bikes. Crazy stat of the day: Affirm’s partnership with Peloton accounts for 30% of its total revenue.
• Roblox is also flexing some crazy stats. So far in 2020 it’s 1) earned $1.2 billion from selling virtual in-game currency and 2) overtaken videogame juggernaut Minecraft in monthly active users. 

Looking ahead...most of these offerings are set to occur in the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, per CNBC. 

SPONSORED BY CARIUMA

We Will NEVER Stop Talking About These Shoes

Our family, friends, significant others, and the guy who lives in apartment 4B have all heard an earful about our infatuation with CARIUMA sneakers. But we still aren’t done raving about Morning Brew’s favorite footwear. 

Some say we just don’t know when to shut up (this is true). Others say we have joined some kind of sustainable-sneaker-loving cult (this is partially true). 

You can say what you want, but you can’t say we’re wrong. Because there’s no better feeling in the world than strutting around in CARIUMA’s crazy comfortable IBI sneaks made from bamboo, sugarcane, organic mamona oil, and cork. 

Their lightweight, 100% vegan, and machine-washable sneaks had a 16K waitlist for a reason. Now they’re making a comeback in Fall Colorways—like stone grey, stone black, and a new hightop version. 

For a limited time, you can get 15% off the sneakers that will leave you 100% obsessed. 

So get your CARIUMA-on before they’re CARIUMA-gone.

ENTERTAINMENT

And That’s the Way the Popcorn Crumbles

If this week is any indication, the theatrical window is shrinking faster than wet cotton candy.

On Monday, Universal struck a landmark deal with theater chain Cinemark that allows it to debut a movie on premium streaming services just 31 days after it hits theaters. 

• The typical window had been 90 days...but given broad theater shutdowns and a resurgent virus, that now appears toast. After all, AMC agreed to a similar deal with Universal in July.

More worrying news for theaters?

WarnerMedia said it would simultaneously debut Wonder Woman 1984 in theaters and on HBO Max on Christmas Day. The company’s push for subscriber signups in lieu of a big opening weekend could be the result of seeing another movie, Tenet, underperform in U.S. theaters earlier this year.

Zoom out: Even in the Netflix-and-chill era, exclusive theater releases were key for blockbuster movies to generate blockbuster profits. But amid the pandemic, Hollywood is repositioning its financial calculus toward home theaters and away from theater theaters. 

COVID

The Lockdown That Wasn't

Yesterday, authorities in South Australia lifted an emergency six-day lockdown early, after it was revealed a guy who worked at a pizza shop deliberately misled contact tracers. 

The backstory: The worker said he contracted Covid-19 shortly after picking up a takeout pizza at a restaurant (not the one he worked at). That prompted Australian authorities to institute one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, banning outdoor exercise and even dog walking, fearing a new hyper-infectious strain of the virus had emerged. 

• What actually happened: The man had worked for prolonged periods of time next to an infected coworker but lied about it to authorities.  

Bottom line: In the time of Covid, a single person's actions can affect the daily lives of everyone in their region—in this case, 1.7 million people. 

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Hospitals in at least 25 states are short of critical staff as they deal with an influx of coronavirus patients, according to STAT.
• Vox lost a pair of top leaders: Cofounder Ezra Klein is leaving to join—where else—the New York Times as an opinion columnist. And editor-in-chief Lauren Williams is establishing a nonprofit news organization for Black audiences.
• A WHO panel recommended against the use of Gilead’s drug, remdesivir, to treat the coronavirus.
• The Toronto Raptors will begin the 2020–2021 NBA season playing their home games in Tampa, FL, due to Covid-19 restrictions.

SPONSORED BY THE MOTLEY FOOL

Let’s get disruptive. With our stock picks, we mean; we’re typically pretty mild mannered. Our investing friends at The Motley Fool offered up some more of their expertise to help us decide which innovative and disruptive companies may need places in our portfolio (hint: probably don’t invest in your buddy’s petri dish cheese company). Take a look at the article we put together and get disruptive with us—intelligently. Check it out here.

BREW'S BETS

The next Tesla? Check out the 100 best inventions of 2020. 

Leaders be leadin’: A list of politicians who got in trouble for breaking their own lockdown rules.

Weekend Conversation Starters: 

• Think up sentences that went from gibberish last year → completely sensical in 2020
• Settle an argument for the Brew Crew by voting yea or nay on Thanksgiving stuffing
• Why are there sidewalks in the Cars universe?

GAMES

Brew Crossword: VP Pun-dits

Selina Meyer would devour today's Brew Crossword, which is all about recent Veeps. 

Shoutout to Steven Zissere for writing this banger. Try it out here. 

+ Think you have what it takes to write your own? Spoiler: You do. Check out our tutorial then be sure to submit. If we select yours, we'll also send you the iconic Brewneck sweatshirt.