Hey Snackers,
If your Spotify Wrapped doesn’t include sea chanteys and playlists for plants, did you even Spotify? The streaming service recently revealed the weirdest music trends of the year, and apparently your ficus loves Frank Ocean.
Stocks closed higher to kick off the week as investors digested early data that suggests Omicron may be causing milder illness than initially feared. But it could take weeks for scientists to understand its effects.
Doesn’t roll off the tongue... “Omicron” is living rent-free in investors' minds. Markets have been on edge since the new Covid variant was identified in South Africa late last month. Omicron has since been detected in 20+ countries, including the US, which reported cases in at least 16 states. Some infected people were fully vaxxed. Experts said it would take weeks to assess Omicron’s severity, but here's what we do know:
Crank out the test tubes... Biden said he doesn’t expect to impose more lockdowns or vax mandates this winter, but he's working with vax makers on plans for Omicron-specific doses in case they're needed. BioNTech's founder said Omicron is unlikely to cause severe illness in vaxxed people, but Moderna’s CEO said it could make shots much less effective. How vax makers are prepping:
Better safe than sorry… Dr. Fauci said existing boosters would likely protect against a wide variety of variants. But there are still a number of unknowns. If Omicron is severe, it could slow economic recovery, depress markets, and exacerbate supply problems — as Delta did. Dozens of countries, including the US, have already imposed Omicron-fueled travel restrictions, while vax makers prep new shots. It’s better to be overly prepared when public health is at stake: US Covid deaths this year recently surpassed 2020's toll.
Anchoring your digital yacht… next to your virtual mansion. From virtual Gucci bags to digital plots of land, people have been pouring money into metaverse possessions. A meta-yacht sold for a record $650K last week, while a virtual developer bought a property from gaming company Atari for $4.3M. The market for real estate in digital worlds like Decentraland and Sandbox is growing: Some developers have even built and rented out digital malls. But experts warn the digital real-estate market is far riskier than actual real estate given crypto’s volatility.
No coal in the stocking… As if gas prices weren’t enough, coal prices have hit a 10-year high. That could make it hard for some to warm their homes this winter. While natural gas has replaced coal as the US’s main source of energy, demand for coal has held steady this year. As the world moves away from fossil fuels, nuclear energy — which provides 20% of the US’s juice — is gaining traction. A Bill Gates-backed startup, Commonwealth Fusion, just raised $1.8B. And the EU might allow certain nuclear investments to be labeled as “green.”
Sports-bra stand-off… Lockdowns may be over, but the leggings life isn’t. Lululemon’s sales soared 63% last quarter as shoppers visited Lulu’s digital and physical stores for stretchy tanks. Lulu’s on track to exceed its 2023 sales goals this year. But it's not all peace and vinyasa: Last week, Lulu sued Peloton over its “copycat” yogawear. And it has a fledgling revenue stream to grow: Lulu bought connected-fitness company Mirror for $500M. We’ll see whether the athleisure life is still revving when it reports on Thursday.
Just binged “Selling Sunset”… The housing market is still #thriving, with the median US home price hitting a record $360K last month. The boom has been good for the US’s largest homebuilders, including Lennar, Pulte Group, and Toll Brothers. US home sales are on track for their best year in more than a decade, and homes for sale just hit a new low. That translated into record income for Toll last quarter. But home building has cooled since peak pandemic, while rising costs for materials like lumber have pushed homebuilders to raise prices. We’ll see if that bruised Toll when it reports earnings tomorrow.
Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Amazon, Moderna, Pfizer, Twitter, Square, and Google
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