Good morning and welcome to the best week of the year (not debatable). To make sure you don't make the same mistake I did last Thanksgiving, keep an eye on your frozen turkey. You should allow at least 1 day of thawing for every 4 pounds of turkey, which means for many of you that bird should head into the refrigerator today. The countdown is on. —Neal Freyman | | | READ THIS TO REMAIN A SUBSCRIBER Want to keep receiving Morning Brew? Clicking on newsletter links is the only way for us to know you are reading (and enjoying) Morning Brew. If you don't click by next month, you will stop receiving this newsletter. Click here to let us know that you're still an active subscriber. Thanks! | | | |  | Nasdaq | 16,057.44 | | | | | S&P | 4,697.96 | | | | | Dow | 35,601.98 | | | | | 10-Year | 1.564% | | | | | Bitcoin | $58,155.56 | | | | | Netflix | $678.80 | | | | *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 9:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: The recent market rally (the S&P closed at a record for the 66th time this year on Friday) has been a true team effort, with a variety of sectors contributing to the gains. Everyone from Estee Lauder to Netflix to Home Depot all scored all-time highs last week, per the WSJ.
- Nation: At least five people were killed and 40 were injured after an SUV sped into a Christmas parade in Waukesha, WI, yesterday afternoon. Police say they have a person of interest in custody.
| | | Leon Neal/Getty Images In the fast-changing world of payments, Visa is beginning to feel as left out as those of us who didn't get invited to a Friendsgiving. Last week, Amazon said it would stop accepting Visa-branded credit cards from UK customers beginning next year. That move follows another snipe in Australia and Singapore, where Amazon slapped a small fee on customers who pay using Visa credit cards there. And to put a cherry on top, Amazon also said it was considering switching its own co-branded card from Visa to Mastercard. Why is Amazon doing this? The company cited Visa's high processing fees, though data shows that Mastercard's and Visa's fees are pretty much the same in the UK. "I find it quite odd that they're claiming they did this because of the high cost of acceptance of these in the UK," Visa CEO Al Kelly told the FT. Payments analysts say Amazon's ditching of Visa is a negotiating tactic to secure lower processing fees from the company. And they don't expect it to hurt Visa's bottom line in any tangible way. But it's definitely a worrying sign for credit card networks Visa and Mastercard have worked for decades to build the "railways" upon which global payments travel, and they've been extremely successful. Both Visa and Mastercard are among the companies with the highest margins in the S&P 500, at 65.6% and 53.3%, respectively. But retailers have never been happy with an arrangement that forces them to pay a fee every time you swipe a credit card at the counter. Merchants forked over $110 billion in credit card processing fees just last year. And thanks to fintech innovations, there are more options available than ever to bypass these credit card railroads for hyperloops. Buy now, pay later services like Affirm are surging in popularity, as are direct bank-to-bank transfers. Bottom line: Growth in digital payments and alternative payment methods is threatening to disrupt the Visa–Mastercard duopoly. | | | NICK OTTO/AFP via Getty Images Elizabeth Holmes. The founder of the biotech startup Theranos surprised everyone when she took the stand on Friday in the blockbuster fraud trial over her company's epic blowup in 2018. Most criminal defendants do not testify in white-collar cases, experts say, because one misstep could be easily exploited by the prosecution. The backstory: Holmes faces 11 counts of wire fraud and conspiracy (each carries a max sentence of 20 years in prison) for allegedly swindling investors out of nearly $1 billion with bogus claims about the effectiveness of her company's tech. Since the trial began in September, government prosecutors have argued that Holmes's actions (lying to investors about a military contract, for example) amounted to criminal fraud. They rested after 11 weeks of arguments on Friday to make way for the defense. Holmes's team will argue that she tried her darndest to make Theranos work, but came up short. And the only thing she did wrong was put her faith in her then-boyfriend and business partner, Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani. Looking ahead…Holmes talked for just an hour on Friday, mainly about the early days of Theranos. She'll continue testifying today and tomorrow. | | | MARVIN RECINOS/AFP via Getty Images El Salvador will build a Bitcoin City powered by geothermal energy from a nearby volcano, President Nayib Bukele said (not on SNL) this weekend. The city will be circular in shape to resemble a bitcoin, and residents will encounter tributes to the crypto in the city's museums, shops, restaurants, and even the local soccer team, the Bitcoin City Shiba Inus. Here's where it gets interesting. The government will help finance Bitcoin City by issuing $1 billion in sovereign bonds backed by bitcoin, with half of the proceeds going to infrastructure and the other half going toward (what else?) buying more bitcoin. - Blockstream, the crypto company that developed the bond, predicts the price of bitcoin will go to $1 million within five years, giving the bond an annual yield of 146% in a decade.
Bitcoin City would be another high-profile move into the crypto space by El Salvador. The Central American country already became the first to make bitcoin legal tender in September. Big picture: As the crypto industry grows, governments are increasingly leveraging bitcoin's brand as a means of attracting investment. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and NYC Mayor-elect Eric Adams have been locked in a friendly Twitter competition over whose city has more bitcoin street cred. | | TOGETHER WITH THE MOTLEY FOOL | | Dwelling on the massive tech stocks you should have invested in early? Hold your FOMO, because The Motley Fool would like a word. The Motley Fool has an impressive record of identifying potentially massive tech trends right before they take off (see: Netflix, Amazon), and folks, they believe they've found it again in 5G. Here's why: Apple is making all of their iPhones 5G compatible. As 5G nears a pivotal inflection point, this means it could be poised to explode with opportunity, making 5G a potentially great place to invest $1K right now. And if you're eyeballing obvious stocks like Apple, The Motley Fool has gone further and identified a small company that makes an essential component that Apple is expected to include in every single new iPhone they make. Want their pick? Get its name, plus their investor's guide to 5G here. | | | Scott Olson/Getty Images Stat: Must be something in the corn. Nebraska's unemployment rate of 1.9% last month was the lowest of any US state on record since 1976. But that doesn't mean its labor market is fully healthy—Nebraska companies are struggling to find qualified workers to fill open positions and grow their operations. Quote: "Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended." Adele wants people to experience albums in their proper order, and Spotify listened. Following the singer's request, the streaming service hid the shuffle button as the default option for her newest album, tweeting, "anything for you." Watch: The best punctuation marks in film. (Vimeo) | | | Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images Fed pick: President Biden will make his pick for Fed chair before Thanksgiving to spare business journalists from a gravy-splattered writing assignment. He's reportedly deciding between renominating Jerome Powell for another four years or going with Fed Governor Lael Brainard. Earnings: After big-box stores blew out earnings last week, several smaller retailers, including Dick's, Nordstrom, and Gap, will report this week. Market schedule: The stock market will be closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving and open for a half-day on Friday. FYI, stocks have historically gained during the short Thanksgiving week. Everything else: - Ridley Scott's House of Gucci hits theaters Wednesday.
- Holiday overload: Chanukah begins Sunday night.
- Saturday is Small Business Saturday, so get out to your local Main Street and shop local.
| | - US Covid-19 deaths in 2021 have surpassed the total in 2020, according to the WSJ.
- Disney World paused its vaccination mandate for its workers after Florida banned such requirements last week.
- TSA screened 2.24 million people at airport security on Friday, the highest number since the pandemic began.
- Peng Shuai, the Chinese tennis player who hadn't been seen since Nov. 2, said she was safe and well in a video chat with Olympic officials.
| | Eye makeup that's got over 15K five-star reviews. Yes, really. This holiday season, treat yourself to a mascara that'll make your lashes look so long, your friends will swear you got extensions. Brew readers get 15% off the entire brand.* How high can innovation take the aviation industry? That's just one of the questions we're going to ask our partners at General Electric, who we're teaming up with for another Twitter Spaces event on 12/8. But before then, check out the GE Brief newsletter to stay informed on all things smart.* Bite-sized games: Of course we're not above playing the occasional mind-numbing addicting internet game. This site has a bunch of them. Dive back into the week: *This is sponsored advertising content | | | Upgrade your morning with the Founder's Journal podcast and get smarter, faster for free. Start with some of our favorite episodes: This editorial content is supported by American Express. | | Turntable: In this game, we'll give you seven letters and your job is to form as many words as you can from them. Sound easy? Give it a try here. The Measure of Things What is the most common term for the following measurements? - 220 yards
- 8 pints
- 2.471 acres
- 767 mph
- 128 cubic feet of wood
| | - Furlong
- Gallon
- Hectare
- Mach 1, or the speed of sound
- Cord
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