Good morning. Quick Monday ask: If you find yourself enjoying the Brew, then share it with a friend or seven. Not to make this purely transactional but when you do share the newsletter, we send you free swag when you hit certain referral milestones, such as stickers (3), a mug (15), and the comfiest crewneck you will ever wear (100). Click here to get started. —Neal Freyman | | | |  | Nasdaq | 14,261.50 | | | | | S&P | 4,545.86 | | | | | Dow | 34,818.27 | | |  | 10-Year | 2.417% | | | | | Bitcoin | $45,953.10 | | | | | Oil | $99.57 | | | | *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 11:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: Investors will be zeroed in on comments from the Federal Reserve this week for clues on the speed and magnitude of future interest rate hikes. While Q1 was pretty terrible for the market, April has historically been the best month for US stocks since World War II, so…we got that going for us. And oil prices will remain top of mind after posting their biggest weekly drop in two years last week.
| | | | Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Western leaders pledged to ratchet up the economic pressure on Russia after shocking images of dead civilians spread across the internet this weekend. With Russian forces retreating from the region around Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, Ukrainian troops and Western journalists moved into the city's suburbs this weekend. In the town of Bucha, they found numerous people in civilian clothes who appeared to have been killed at close range, some with their hands tied behind their backs. Bucha's mayor told The Washington Post that 270 residents were found in mass graves. Appearing on CBS's Face the Nation yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said of Russia's invasion, "This is genocide." While not going that far, officials across the West said the images were "unbearable," and described the horror as "brutality against civilians we haven't seen in Europe for decades." In response to the reported atrocities committed in Bucha, the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, said that more sanctions were "on their way." So far, Europe has kicked some Russian banks off the SWIFT messaging service, blocked tech exports to Russia, and frozen the assets of oligarchs, among a laundry list of other actions. A major step the EU hasn't taken is to ban Russian oil and gas imports, over concerns that doing so would cause an energy crisis in its member countries. But some nations aren't waiting: On Saturday, Lithuania said it had stopped importing "toxic Russian gas," becoming the first EU country to take the step. The US, which has already determined that Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine, will likely take additional action "very soon," according to State Dept. spokesperson Ned Price. The state of the war: Today marks 40 days since Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. After failing to capture Kyiv, Russian forces appear to be relocating away from the capital and focusing more on the country's southeastern regions, as evidenced by missile attacks on the Black Sea port city of Odessa yesterday. Peace talks are progressing, but they are not yet to the point where Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky are ready to meet, Russia's top negotiator said. | | Ben Solomon/NCAA Photos via Getty Images  The Gamecocks are your national champions. The best team in the country all season, South Carolina, dominated UConn to win their second women's college basketball title. Over in the men's tournament, UNC ended Coach K's career with a victory over Duke, while Kansas easily handled Villanova. The two teams will play tonight in the championship game.
 Elon crushed it in Q1. Tesla delivered 310,000 vehicles last quarter, a big jump from last year's Q1 when it delivered 185,000. That growth is all the more impressive because legacy carmakers like GM and Toyota reported Q1 sales declines of 20% and 15%, respectively, with chip shortages still hampering production.
 Anger builds in locked down Shanghai. Residents of the Chinese business hub are increasingly frustrated with a strict lockdown implemented to combat the rise of Covid infections. On social media, they've shared images of young children separated from their families, and reported issues with the delivery of food and the accessibility of health care. Meanwhile, cases in Shanghai were still rising yesterday.
| | Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy The Grammy Awards were held last night, and, unlike the Oscars, the only thing that slapped was Jon Batiste's performance. The most memorable moment of the night, however, was not a song but a prerecorded speech from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who implored artists to "fill the silence with your music." The state of music: After the industry was wrecked by the internet in the 2000s, it's being revitalized by those same digital forces. Thanks to the sustained rise of streaming, the US recorded music business grew 24% to $15 billion last year, according to a recent report from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). - Streaming, which includes formats like paid subscriptions, Facebook licensing, and TikTok (included for the first time), accounts for 83% of industry revenue.
- But don't count out physical products, either. Vinyl sales grew for the 15th straight year and hit $1 billion in sales for the first time since 1986. In all, physical formats accounted for 11% of music industry revenue.
Bottom line: Sales of recorded music have grown every year since 2015—but artists are still struggling to monetize their work in the digital era. Compared to the peak of the industry in 1999, music sales are down almost 40% when adjusted for inflation. | | TOGETHER WITH THE MOTLEY FOOL | | Eat 5 fancy tacos (or, like, 17 cheap ones). See approximately 2 movies in NYC. Buy half a tank of gas. Invest in these five stocks that are all under $49. Simply put: You can take $50 and get mild-salsa heartburn, or you can get the chance to invest in a stock with the potential to become a big earner. The Motley Fool has been finding diamonds in the stock-market rough for years and years. They were some of the first to recommend Netflix to their members, for instance. (Ever heard of it?) And now, TMF has put together a list of 5 stocks under $49 that's all yours when you sign up. Sound better than some pork belly tacos? Thought so. All the info is right here. | | Stephen Brashear/Getty Images Stat: Howard Schultz grew Starbucks from 11 stores and 100 employees to 28,000 stores across 77 countries. He's returning to the CEO position today on an interim basis to replace Kevin Johnson, who is retiring after 13 years with Starbucks. Quote: "It's just time, it's time for us to do something right instead of having another moment of silence and then send thoughts and prayers." Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called for common sense gun laws after six people were killed in a mass shooting in downtown Sacramento early Sunday morning, close to the arena where the Warriors played the Kings yesterday. It's the second mass shooting in Sacramento in just the last five weeks. Read: How two best friends beat Amazon. (New York Times) | | Marco Bello/AFP via Getty Images Miami holds a bitcoin extravaganza. The crypto world will head to the 305 for the Bitcoin 2022 conference. Expect some buzzy announcements—after all, this was the event at which El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said his country would adopt bitcoin as legal tender last year. He'll be speaking again, along with Peter Thiel, Cathie Wood, and Aaron Rodgers. SCOTUS confirmation. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is expected to be confirmed as the first Black woman on the Supreme Court as soon as Thursday. She needs a simple majority in the Senate, and she's likely to get support from all Democratic senators and at least one Republican—Susan Collins of Maine. France heads to the polls. French President Emmanuel Macron is aiming to hold on for a second term, but he's warning supporters to take the campaign of far-right candidate Marine Le Pen very seriously. The first round of voting begins on Sunday. Everything else: - The Masters golf tournament begins Thursday. Tiger Woods said he's a "game-time decision."
- MLB's Opening Day is also on Thursday.
- Tuesday is National Deep Dish Pizza Day (Matty, our Chicago-based writer, made me put this in).
| | - Viktor Orban, Hungary's nationalist prime minister, declared victory in the country's election. It would be the Putin ally's fourth term in charge.
- Shein, the Chinese fash-fashion titan, is considering raising money at a $100 billion valuation, per Bloomberg.
- A German man allegedly received up to 90 Covid vaccine doses in a scheme to sell forged vaccination cards.
- Estelle Harris, the actor who memorably played George Costanza's mother on Seinfeld, died at 93.
| | Dive back into the week: Rad Reddit experiment: On r/place, Reddit users can change the color of a single pixel on an online canvas. See what the mosaic looks like now (and leave a tile yourself), or watch a time-lapse of its first 36 hours. Want one less thing to worry about? Take home security off your list with SimpliSafe. Over 4 million customers trust their comprehensive system of sensors and cameras, backed by 24/7 professional monitoring, to keep their home protected. Get started here.* Cheers to savoring the good times: What better drink to pair with great company than Stella Artois? Crafted with over 600 years of brewing heritage to remind you that the good life—aka The Life Artois—is never far away. Fill your chalice here.* *This is sponsored advertising content. | | Turntable: We're trying something new with Turntable this week, because #innovation. Instead of seeing how many words you can find over an indefinite period of time, you'll have to hit a points threshold in just three minutes of playing time. Try it out and let us know what you think of the faster-paced game. Franklin facts A new Ken Burns documentary on Benjamin Franklin drops on PBS today. Here are a few questions about the great American statesman, scientist, and philosopher. - Where was Franklin born?
- Which college in Lancaster, PA, was named after him?
- He was the first US ambassador to which country?
- On which form of US currency can you currently find Franklin's face?
- Which of the following inventions is not credited to Franklin: the lightning rod, the flush toilet, swimming fins, or bifocals?
| | - Boston
- Franklin & Marshall (originally called Franklin College)
- France
- $100 bill
- Franklin did not invent the flush toilet.
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