Good morning. If you asked Alexa to “play Adele” this weekend, you were a part of history. Adele's new single “Easy on Me” received the most first-day Alexa song requests ever, Amazon Music said.
Her first album in six years arrives in just over a month. But with all due respect to Adele, if it’s not Christmas music it’s going to have to wait until Jan. 2 for me.
—Neal Freyman
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Nasdaq
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14,897.34
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S&P
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4,471.37
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Dow
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35,294.76
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10-Year
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1.577%
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Bitcoin
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$62,271.69
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Oil
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$83.41
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*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 10:00pm ET.
Here's what these numbers mean.
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Markets: Typically spooky October has been anything but for stocks—the Dow is on track for its best month since March, and the S&P is within 1.5% of its record high, proving that investors are shrugging off worries about inflation and supply chain bottlenecks.
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Economy: White House staffers are reportedly dropping a key piece of President Biden’s climate agenda—a plan to replace coal and gas-fired power plants with renewable energy—after Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia told the administration he was opposed to it.
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Francis Scialabba
In 2013, the Winklevoss twins filed the first application for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Eight years and countless rejections later, the first bitcoin-based ETF could begin trading as soon as today.
The ETF, launched by the fund manager ProShares, will give virtually any investor with a brokerage account the ability to gain exposure to the world’s largest crypto.
- We didn’t say “buy the crypto,” because that’s not what’s happening. The bitcoin ETF is based on futures contracts, which allow investors to bet on the price swings of an underlying asset without owning it outright.
The SEC, Wall Street’s top sheriff, is much more comfortable allowing a futures-based bitcoin ETF to proceed than one that directly buys the tokens. Bitcoin futures have been trading on the regulated Chicago Mercantile Exchange since 2017. Bitcoin itself, meanwhile, is bought and sold on many different exchanges that are outside the gaze of the SEC.
It’s unclear whether the ETF will be a hit
The first mutual fund based on bitcoin futures, which launched in July, had only $15 million in assets under management two months later—basically negligible when put in the context of the $21.3 trillion US mutual fund industry.
And the ETF news was received by some crypto professionals with a big “meh.” A bitcoin futures ETF may not reliably track bitcoin prices, while many investors are comfortable with the current options available for buying bitcoin. When asked by CNBC whether he would be investing in the ETF, bitcoin bull Mark Cuban said, “No. I can buy BTC directly.”
Looking ahead…bitcoin’s price could be volatile in the next few weeks as four different bitcoin futures ETFs may begin trading this month.
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A Long March 5 rocket carrying China's Chang'e-5 lunar probe launches last November (STR/AFP via Getty Images)
China launched a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August that sped around the globe in low-Earth orbit before striking a target, according to the Financial Times.
If a “nuclear-capable hypersonic missile” sounds kinda scary to you, well...it sounds even scarier to US intelligence officials, who were completely taken off guard by China’s advancement in hypersonic weapons. “We have no idea how they did this,” one source told the FT.
What is a hypersonic missile? It’s a weapon that flies at 5x the speed of sound. That’s slower than a ballistic missile travels, but what makes hypersonic weapons more dangerous is that they can be manuevered during their flight—whereas ballistic missiles travel on a fixed parabola. Therefore, China could evade the US’ current defense systems and “execute a nuclear strike on any target on earth with near-impunity and very little warning,” according to The War Zone.
Zoom out: China’s hypersonic flex is the latest sign of its growing military ambitions. Tensions are building near Taiwan after China sent about 150 aircraft into the democratically ruled island’s defense zone earlier this month.
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Vienna Tourism
We usually save the world’s weirdest news stories for our Thursday game, but some headlines from this weekend were so wild we need to give you instant gratification.
1. New OnlyFans account: And it’s not who you think. Vienna’s tourism board has created an account on OnlyFans to display nude artwork, since other platforms like TikTok and Instagram block all depictions of nudity. In 2018, Facebook took down a photograph of a nude figurine that is 25,000 years old.
2. Illegal toppings: In what’s being dubbed “Sprinklegate,” a British bakery was forced to pull its bestselling cookies off of the market after being informed its sprinkles contained a coloring that’s not allowed to be used for sprinkles.
3. An eye-opening author reveal: A popular Spanish author who goes by the pen name Carmen Mola was awarded the 1 million euro Planeta prize in literature. But when her name was called out during a ceremony on Friday, three men—TV script writers—revealed themselves as the actual authors behind Mola’s novels.
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Since literal goats in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert are the source of the world’s best cashmere, we’d say the acronym is fitting.
NAADAM would know; they work directly with their herders to make unbelievably soft, sustainable cashmere clothing at prices that are fair for herders and sweater wearers alike.
And it’s about to get real comfy up in here, because your favorite styles are back for fall 2021, including NAADAM’s Recycled Cashmere, made from 30% new cashmere and 70% recycled cashmere. It’s better for our planet, and gives that precious, leftover NAADAM yarn a second shot at keeping someone (hint hint: you) extra cozy.
From stylish sets to kid’s cashmere to sneakers, you’ll be saying “Hot dang, NAADAM, you’ve done it again.”
Use code MORNINGBREW20 for 20% off select items.
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Ray Tamarra/GC Images
Stat: The top 1% of households now hold a larger share of US wealth (27%) than the entire middle class (26.6%) as of June, according to Federal Reserve data. It's the lowest share of national wealth held by the middle class—defined as the middle 60% of US households by income—on record.
Quote: “This is a Hollywood ending.”
Matthew D. Loeb, the president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), celebrated a new deal that averted a strike by 60,000 backstage film employees.
Read: Can America cope with demographic decline? (National Review)
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New tech gadgets: Fresh off its iPhone 13 launch, Apple is expected to unveil new MacBook Pro models at an event today, and possibly AirPods 3. On Tuesday, Google will also introduce its new smartphone, the Pixel 6.
Earnings: Banks kicked off earnings season in style, and now it’s up to companies like Netflix, Tesla, Snap, IBM, J&J, and AT&T to keep the party going this week.
WeWork’s redemption: Everything collapsed for WeWork when it attempted to go public two years ago. It’ll try again this week in a SPAC deal that values it at $7.9 billion.
Everything else:
- Expect to hear a final decision from the FDA on boosters for Moderna’s and J&J’s vaccines, after a panel recommended them for certain populations last week.
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Wars will be fought over TVs across America when both the NBA and The Bachelorette seasons begin Tuesday night.
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Start reading the book now, because Dune is arriving in theaters on Friday.
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China's third-quarter GDP growth of 4.9% missed expectations.
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Netflix thinks Squid Game will generate $900 million in value, according to documents seen by Bloomberg.
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The Russian film crew that shot the first-ever scenes in space returned to Earth.
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Melbourne, Australia, will lift its lockdown orders this week. It’s spent more time under lockdown than any other place in the world during the pandemic.
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Hold the FOMO. Maybe you didn’t invest early in the Bezos boom when The Motley Fool recommended it in ‘97. But check this: The Fool’s average stock pick has returned 607% (as of 10/5/21), and their latest pick could be following Amazon’s footsteps. Learn more here.*
A sale that comes but once a year. Blu Dot offers modern, quality designs all year round, but their one Annual Sale happens in a flash. Get 20% off everything now through 10/24.*
What’s your brand’s purpose? And how do you convey that through marketing? We’ll dive into those thorny questions at next week’s Marketing Brew event. RSVP here.
Dive back into the week:
*This is sponsored advertising content
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Word Search: Can you spot a fast food logo from two miles away? This puzzle is for you.
The Shape of You
Can you guess the body of water from its shape?
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1. Mediterranean Sea 2. Lake Michigan 3. Black Sea 4. Hudson Bay 5. Lake Erie 6. Red Sea
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