Good morning. Here are a few things on our radar this weekend: - Michael Strahan will become the first journalist to go to space today on a Blue Origin rocket scheduled to launch at 9:45am ET. We were booked to be the first, but that's simply too early on a Saturday morning.
- Formula One's season concludes in dramatic fashion at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday, with Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton tied at the top of the standings. Can't wait for next season of Drive to Survive.
- Matty's making these marbled shortbread cookies for a cookie swap.
—Neal Freyman, Matty Merritt | | | 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 | 15,630.60 | | | | | S&P | 4,712.02 | | | | | Dow | 35,970.99 | | |  | 10-Year | 1.486% | | | | | Bitcoin | $47,969.21 | | | | | Oracle | $102.63 | | | | *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: The S&P had its best week since February and closed at a record after a report showed November inflation came in high but mostly in line with expectations—suggesting to investors it may be nearing a peak. And Oracle had its second-best day in 20 years thanks to excitement around its cloud strategy.
| | Francis Scialabba It's never a great sign when economic data makes headlines, and that's certainly the case this morning: The US consumer price index, which measures price changes across a basket of goods, surged 6.8% in November, the Labor Department said yesterday. That's the fastest growth in 39 years. Let's dive in Gasoline prices increased the most of any good, jumping 58.1% over last year. Food prices also grew 6.1% annually. Because food and energy prices are volatile, economists often strip them out and look at what's known as "core CPI" to get better clarity into price increases in other sectors. Well, the picture there isn't much prettier. Core CPI jumped 4.9% from a year ago—its fastest pace since 1991. - Shelter costs gained 3.8% for the year, the fastest pace since 2007.
- Used cars and trucks, which have been major drivers of recent inflation, increased another 31.4%.
- Price hikes for airfares, apparel, and household furnishings also drove inflation higher last month.
What it means for you Some inflation is OK as long as your paystubs increase along with it. And workers are getting raises—companies are setting aside 3.9% of next year's total payroll for wage increases, the most in more than a decade. But so far during the pandemic, higher salaries haven't kept up with inflation. And some companies aren't prepared to hike pay by nearly 7%—Google told employees this week it wouldn't do a blanket salary adjustment for inflation, per CNBC. What it means for policymakers They're sweating. Fed Chair Jerome Powell had already walked back his description of inflation as "transitory" two weeks ago, and he'll continue to face pressure to wind down the central bank's stimulus measures next year. It also complicates President Biden's push to pass a $2 trillion social spending bill. His camp has stressed that the package won't send inflation higher, but some lawmakers who are integral to the bill's passage, like Sen. Joe Manchin, are concerned it will. Looking ahead...Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, predicts that this November CPI reading will be the worst of it, and inflation will gradually come down as supply chain kinks are resolved and the Delta wave recedes.—NF | | Elon Musk is a unique dude. But by selling off nearly $12 billion worth of his Tesla stock, he's become just one in a crowd. That's because company founders and executives are dumping their shares at a record pace this year, according to the WSJ. Take a gander: - 48 top execs have collected more than $200 million each from stock sales in 2021, almost 4x the average insider numbers from 2016 through 2020.
- Execs across the S&P 500 sold $63.5 billion in shares through November, up 50% from all of 2020.
And who are these folks? The kind you'd find on a business Mt. Rushmore: Walmart's Walton family, Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Michael Dell, and more. Because execs like to cash out when they believe their company's share price is riding (maybe too) high, investors can get jittery. After AMC CEO Adam Aron sold another $9.65 million in stock yesterday, shares dropped nearly 7%. Zoom out: Execs often schedule their stock sales ahead of time through what's known as 10b5-1 plans to avoid questions of insider trading. But regulators are considering tweaking those rules since they can be abused—for example by canceling scheduled stock sales or "scheduling" a sale that very day.—NF | | Giphy Warning: This story contains spoilers for And Just Like That… so if you don't want to see them, just keep scrolling. Peloton thought it could spend December relaxing in front of the TV after a rocky third quarter of slowing sales, but then the Sex and the City reboot on HBO Max decided to use its product as a murder weapon. A day after the unfortunate product placement in Thursday night's episode, Peloton's stock fell 5.4%, adding to its recent slump. In the first episode of And Just Like That… Mr. Big dies from a heart attack after completing his 1,000th Peloton ride. We won't get into Carrie's...less than helpful response, but the fitness company released a statement reminding viewers that it was more likely that Mr. Big's extravagant lifestyle, not the workout class, killed John. (Yeah, we finally find out his real name!) - The company also told BuzzFeed it wasn't aware of the plotline, just that Jess King—a real instructor at the company—would be playing a fictional Peleton instructor in the show.
Big (sorry) picture: No company has ever lost out on sales because it killed a fictional hottie, but as analysts at BMO Capital Markets wrote, it calls into question "whether PTON is losing degrees of control over its storytelling." Peloton's stock has plunged 73% this year as investors wonder whether living room lunges were just a pandemic fad.—MM | | | Holiday shopping just got a whole lot merrier for your wallet, thanks to Affirm. Affirm is a simple, transparent alternative to credit cards that gives savvy shoppers like yourself the option to gift now, then pay at your own pace. Available at over 100,000 merchants in the US including Walmart, Expedia, StockX, DICK'S Sporting Goods, Dyson, and West Elm, Affirm shows eligible customers exactly what they'll pay upfront. Payments are then split into manageable bites, with no hidden or late fees. Customers can even check eligibility in seconds without impacting their credit score. There are no tricks hidden in tiny fine print, and no complex calculations. Affirm simply wants to give shoppers the budgeting flexibility to buy what they want and need. Yep, they're definitely on the Nice List. Start with Affirm here. | | Mario Tama/Getty Images Stat: We know we've said that demand for goods has soared during the pandemic, but this number really drives it home: This year, the ports of LA and Long Beach handled 21% more import containers between Jan. and Sept. than the same period in 2019...and there's still a line of nearly 90 ships waiting to unload their cargoes in Southern California. Quote: "Thinking of quitting my jobs & becoming an influencer full-time wdyt." Like everyone else, Elon Musk is contemplating joining the Great Resignation, per his Thursday tweet. Elon, your memes aren't that good—don't do it. Read: Kanye West's publicist pressed Georgia election worker to confess to bogus fraud charges. (Reuters) | | - The US Supreme Court allowed Texas's restrictive abortion law to remain in place, but also said abortion clinics in the state can challenge it.
- GM will reportedly invest more than $3 billion into EV production in Michigan.
- Better.com CEO Vishal Garg is taking some time off after his infamous bungling of a Zoom call in which he laid off 900 employees.
- Instacart's president Carolyn Everson said she's stepping down just three months after joining the company.
- It finally snowed in Denver! It was the latest first snowfall of the season since 1934.
| | | All in a morning's work. Building the Brew you know and love didn't happen overnight. For cofounder and executive chairman Alex Lieberman, it's all about dialing in the right morning routine. We partnered with Braun to give you a glimpse into the morning habits of a guy who launched a media company from his dorm room and never looked back. Check out the article here. | | Video of the week: It's not how you fall, it's how you get back up. Weekend Conversation Starters: | | | Written by Neal Freyman, Matty Merritt, and Max Knoblauch Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. WANT MORE BREW? Industry news, with a sense of humor → - Emerging Tech Brew: AI, crypto, space, autonomous vehicles, and more
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