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Suits don’t fit Zuck’s makeover |
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The Vatican unveiled an anime-style cartoon mascot for the Catholic Church. The blue-haired Luce was “created from the desire to enter into the world of pop culture, so beloved by our young people.” Call it pope culture.
Indexes rebounded on Friday, lifted by a 6% surge in Amazon as investors cheered its earnings beat. The US added 12K jobs in October, the lowest gain since 2020, amid hurricanes and strikes. Today, Boeing’s factory workers are set to vote again on whether to end their strike. On Thursday, the Fed’s expected to make a quarter-point rate cut.
🎙️ Fresh pod: Sherwood launched the “Sherwood Ten” podcast: 10 questions in 10 minutes with entrepreneurs, entertainers, and thought leaders. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. ☀️ Daylight-quizzing time: After that extra hour of sleep, your brain’s primed to ace the latest Snacks Seven quiz. So, remember which drink Starbucks discontinued? (Check your answer.)
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Controlling the flow… of election info. Google said it would block all election ads on its platforms (including YouTube) after the polls close tomorrow, repeating its 2020 policy. Meta’s been blocking new ads in the week leading up to Election Day. The ad giants are trying to control misinfo and prevent advertisers from questioning election results or prematurely claiming victory (something that Meta explicitly bans). Smaller players like X and Snap — which has leaned into political coverage — appear to have no plans for a blanket ad block. TikTok’s banned political ads since 2019.
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- Boost: Google reported last week that its Q3 ad sales jumped 10%, partly thanks to election ad spend (especially on YouTube).
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On mute: Meta’s ad sales jumped 19% in the same period, though execs didn’t mention the election during their earnings call.
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#BadMems… Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg has a reason for taking a first-date approach to politics: the Instagram parent faced the most scrutiny over past election misinfo. Russian operatives in 2016 weaponized ads across social media, reaching the most people by far on Facebook. (Congress later grilled the leaders of Facebook, Twitter, and Google.) And in 2020, Meta’s apps were accused of hosting misleading political and Covid-related ads. So after talking about elections in several earnings calls through 2021, Zuck kept mum this year. Meta said it tweaked its algorithms to deprioritize political content in its feeds in 2021, and this year said it would further downgrade it on Insta and Threads.
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- Skipped: While Google’s been dinged for questionable YouTube videos (think: content creators spreading misinfo), a study this year found that YouTube let fewer election-misinfo ads slip through than its rivals.
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Social platforms are town squares… Their ability to influence politics through the voices they amplify has come into focus, along with the echo chambers their algorithms create. But while Meta may want to hand in its megaphone, it may not want to pass up the $$. It’s expected to rake in over $569M in political ad spend this cycle. Though that’s a fraction of its $40B in quarterly revenue, it’s grown quickly. |
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Election Day bets… Prediction markets are popping off as folks bet on who’ll become the next POTUS. Election markets are going mainstream, with $150M+ legally wagered on Harris vs. Trump on prediction market Kalshi. On rival Polymarket (which doesn’t operate in the US), the betting pool’s in the billions — though there’ve been reports of inorganic trading. On those two platforms Trump has been leading, but polls show the race is essentially tied. Kalshi told Sherwood that a difference between prediction markets and polls is that markets “react instantly” to new info. Prediction markets aren’t polls, and there’s a debate about their accuracy.
Sharpies and honey packets... Starbucks just reported that its sales fell for a third straight quarter, with US transactions dropping 10%. New CEO Brian Niccol’s plan to froth up demand: a bunch of small changes. Niccol said Starbucks will return to its community-coffeeshop roots by bringing back the condiment bar, reviving handwritten names on cups, and serving java in ceramic mugs (plus: comfier chairs). The chain’s nixing its alt-milk surcharge and plans to freeze menu prices for the rest of its fiscal year. TBD whether it’ll be enough to heat up cold-brewed demand.
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Ozempi-copycats… Millennial-branded telehealth co Hims & Hers reports today as its weight-loss-drug biz stands on shaky ground. Huge demand for GLP-1s like Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug Ozempic and weight-loss shot Wegovy (each costs ~$1K/month) has led to shortages, so companies like Hims have profited by offering compounded dupes of the meds for ~$200/month. Now the FDA says all doses of Wegovy and Ozempic are available. That could end telehealth companies’ ability to sell copycats, and Hims stock plunged after the news.
Renting the “Beetlejuice” house… for next Halloween. Airbnb’s opening the door on its Q3 earnings on Thursday. In August, shares of the rental biz plunged after its profit dropped 15% to $555M. Still, Airbnb posted a Q2 record of 125M bookings for its core “Nights and Experiences” category, but said guests were booking less early in advance. After years of revenge-travel splurging, more folks are staying put. 42% of Americans in a survey said they’d skip summer travel this year as prices climbed. Wall Street expects an Airbn-beat, but on lower earnings.
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After nearly two decades, Reddit is breaking out into the mainstream. Read more. |
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- Nvidia will replace Intel as one of the 30 companies on the Dow Jones index after surging to a $3.3T (yes, trillion) market cap.
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Horror movies scare up $1B a year at the box office, with Blumhouse driving the spooky revival with hits like “M3GAN” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s.”
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A growing number of rich Americans said they’re looking into leaving the US after the election.
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- Monday: Earnings expected from Berkshire Hathaway, Constellation Energy, Marriott Hotels, New York Times, Yum China, Palantir, Hims & Hers, Wynn Resorts, AIG, and Goodyear
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Tuesday: Election Day in US. Earnings expected from Ferrari, DuPont, Yum Brands, Marathon Petroleum, Nintendo, and Thomson Reuters
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Wednesday: Earnings expected from Novo Nordisk, CVS, Toyota, Sunoco, Qualcomm, AMC, E.l.f., Duolingo, Take-Two, Lyft, Zillow, Coty, Bumble, McKesson, TripAdvisor, Upwork, Beyond Meat, ZipRecruiter, Marriott Vacations, Virgin Galactic, and Allbirds
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Thursday: Initial jobless claims. Fed’s interest-rate decision; Powell’s press conference. Consumer credit. Earnings expected from Moderna, Hershey, Warner Bros. Discovery, Papa John’s, Krispy Kreme, Oatly, Planet Fitness, Warby Parker, iHeartMedia, Ralph Lauren, Tempur Sealy, US Foods, Molson Coors, WK Kellogg, Yeti, DraftKings, Block, Rivian, Affirm, Airbnb, Pinterest, Sweetgreen, Lucid, Expedia, Dropbox, Getty Images, Grindr, GoPro, H&R Block, Yelp, and News Corp.
- Friday: Consumer sentiment. Earnings expected from Canopy Growth, Sony, and Paramount Global
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Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Alphabet, Amazon, Block, CVS, Moderna, Nvidia, Reddit, Snap, Starbucks, and Warner Bros. Discovery |
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Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... See more |
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