Friday Nov.27, 2020

📷 Pinterest does Zoom Experiences

_The economy and the stock market_
_The economy and the stock market_

Hey Snackers,

Don't worry: the snacks we're serving up are just for your mind (we know you're stuffed). Were you able to snag a coveted "small turkey" yesterday?

Stocks ticked down as weekly jobless claims increased more than expected from last week.

Pinning

Pinterest tests virtual events with "class communities" (it's a Zoom-Airbnb mashup)

First "Story Pins"... now this. Pinterest wants to be more than just an inspo board for your French chateau-style dream kitchen. It launched a Stories feature in September, copy-catting Snapchat (then again... who hasn't?). Now, it's getting into online events:

  • Pinterest is testing a new feature that lets people sign up for Zoom classes. It was discovered by reverse engineering pro Jane Manchun Wong (legend).
  • Creators can reportedly use "class boards" to organize course materials and chat with attendees. Think: latte art designs and mindfulness meditation how-tos.

A pandemic pinner... is a pandemic winner. E-learning isn't totally new territory for Pinterest. Since lockdowns hit, teachers have used it to organize remote learning resources, from lesson plans to activities. Wild stat: during a single weekend in March, Pinterest saw more global searches and saves than ever in its history. And it's still #pinning:

  • Pinterest's sales jumped 58% last quarter, and users grew 37% to 442M.
  • Pinterest stock has more than tripled in value this year.

Tech is taking over "Experiences"... From virtually rolling pasta with an Italian grandma to meditating with Buddhist monks from your couch — tech companies are uniquely poised to quench our pandemic thirst to do something. Airbnb has doubled down on the virtual "Experiences" side of its biz, and even managed to turn a profit last quarter. Amazon launched a copycat digital experiences product called "Amazon Explore" in September. And MasterClass raised $100M in May on the success of its virtual "Edu-tainment."

30K

The Dow hits 30K for the first time ever — we're talking stock market vs. economy

DowThirtyThow... On Tuesday, the Dow index surged above the 30K milestone for the 1st time. That's a nice glow-up from March, when it was trading below 19K.

  • The Dow is a super exclusive club with fewer members than your Econ discussion group — it's made up of 30 big, publicly-traded US companies.
  • "Blue-chip" status: Dow companies generally have long, profitable track records — aka: excellent reputations. Microsoft, Nike, and Walmart are members.

Not the only record-breaker... Stocks took a major plunge into the valley of the coronavirus back in March, but now the three major indexes are at record highs. Promising vaccine news, less political uncertainty, and renewed hopes for a second stimulus have all boosted the rally.

  • The Dow is up 2% from its pre-pandemic record high.
  • The S&P 500 is up 9% from its pre-pandemic high.
  • The tech-heavy Nasdaq is up a whopping 33% from its pre-pandemic record.

The stock market doesn't always mirror the economy... especially not the corona-conomy. While the unemployment rate is declining, more than 11M Americans are still unemployed. Last week, jobless claims posted their first back-to-back increases since July. Also: Americans' incomes and savings fell last month, and consumer confidence slipped more than expected this month.

What else we’re Snackin’

  • DM: Salesforce is in advanced talks to buy Slack, according to people familiar with the matter (#PFWTM).
  • Sad: Disney plans to lay off 32K more employees by March, mostly in its theme-park division (the hardest hit).
  • Ludicrous: Tesla recalls 9.5K Model X and Model Y cars over potentially faulty roofs and bolts.
  • Bookworm: ViacomCBS is selling its publishing company Simon & Schuster to Penguin Random House for over $2B.
  • Dashed: DoorDash reaches a $2.5M settlement over claims it misled users on driver tips.
  • Crunched: FedEx and UPS are experiencing delivery van shortages on the holiday package frenzy.

🍪 Thanks for Snacking with us! Want to share the Snacks? Invite your friends to sign up here.

Friday

  • Black Friday
  • Consumer sentiment index

Disclosure: Authors of this Snacks own shares of Amazon and Tesla

ID: 1428147

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