☕️ Elon's brain chip

Stocks had their best August since 1986... August 29, 2020 [View Online]( | [Sign Up]( [Daily Brew]( TOGETHER WITH [Paycom]( Good morning. Horrible news late last night: Chadwick Boseman, the beloved actor who starred in films including Black Panther, Da 5 Bloods, and 42, died after a four-year fight with colon cancer. He was 43. Disney MARKETS NASDAQ 11,695.63 + 0.60% S&P 3,507.94 + 0.67% DJIA 28,653.32 + 0.57% GOLD 1,971.90 + 2.03% 10-YR 0.738% - 1.60 bps OIL 42.99 - 0.12% *As of market close - Nation: Thousands marched in Washington D.C. to demand criminal justice reform and [racial equality]( for Black Americans. Called the "Get Your Knee Off Our Necks" march, it was held on the 57th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech. - Economy: U.S. consumer spending [increased 1.9%]( in July, the third straight month it’s rebounded. Analysts say new relief measures are needed from Congress to keep Americans doing what they do best—shop. TECH [Open a Tesla With Your Brain]( [Neuralink slide] Screenshot from presentation Elon Musk continued his assault on the impossible last night, delivering a [rare update]( on the status of Neuralink, his neuroscience company with the long-term goal of facilitating symbiosis between humans and AI. Wait, Elon has a neuroscience company? Of course he does. Musk founded Neuralink four years ago, distilling the company's vision in a [2017 blog post](: “We are aiming to bring something to market that helps with certain severe brain injuries (stroke, cancer lesion, congenital) in about four years.” - The device it's developing utilizes tiny “threads,” about a third of the size of thin human hair, that are stitched into the brain by a “sewing machine-like” robot. - In the picture above, you can see what Neuralink has been up to the last year, reducing the length of the threads to just a few centimeters. Elon [described it last]( night as a “Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires.” As is usually the case with Elon, it’s not as far fetched as it sounds. Matt Nagle, a person with spinal cord paralysis, received a brain implant in 2006 that allowed him to [play Pong]( using just his mind. Since then, researchers have continued to explore ways computers could improve brain function. “Neuralink didn’t come out of nowhere, there’s a long history of academic research here,” Neuralink president Max Hodak said in 2019. Like last year's event, Elon emphasized that the purpose of this presentation was to [recruit people]( to work at Neuralink (no neuroscience experience required). But that didn’t stop him from speculating on what the device could eventually achieve. Musk touched on everything from quadriplegics playing video games to opening a Tesla with your mind (he said there’s a 100% chance this happens). But the first uses are still [medical in nature](. "I'm confident in the long term it'll be possible to restore somebody's full body motion," he said. Bottom line: Some analysts expected a human trial last night, but got pig demonstrations instead. People's brains are on the horizon, though—Musk announced that the FDA granted Neuralink "breakthrough device" designation, allowing the company to proceed on an accelerated timeline toward human trials. �  �  �  mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20Morning%20Brew!&body=Elon%20Musk%20Gives%20Second-Ever%20Presentation%20Demonstrating%20Neuralink's%20Brain%20Implant:%200A%0AWant%20more%20great%20content%3F%20Subscribe%20to%20Daily%20Brew%E2%80%94Delivering%20the%20latest%20business%20news%20from%20Wall%20St.%20to%20Silicon%20Valley,%20daily.%20 MARKETS [Shhhhhhhh—Don’t Tell Stocks There’s a Pandemic]( [Stock market doge meme with one big doge and one small doge] Toby Howell The S&P 500 had its best August since 1986, even while we had our worst August since DC's Suicide Squad came out. What happened? Big Tech happened. The de facto rulers of our world—Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft—account for almost a quarter of the S&P 500. And their share prices have skyrocketed (especially Apple) this summer while the pandemic pushed our lives further into the digital realm. Let this sink in: The market capitalization of U.S. tech stocks is [now greater]( than the value of the entire European stock market, according to Bank of America. - On Thursday, tech stocks hit $9.1 trillion in value; European stocks are worth $8.9 trillion. Life does exist outside of tech, though, and “reopening” stocks like Delta and cruise lines also jumped this month. The Dow, not known for its tech prowess, [erased its losses]( for the year yesterday. Bottom line: The economy was humming before the pandemic hit. Investors are betting that, with the Fed’s emergency measures and a vaccine in the works, we’ll eventually pick up where we left off. �  �  �  mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20Morning%20Brew!&body=S&P%20500%20Has%20Its%20Best%20August%20in%20Decades:%200A%0AWant%20more%20great%20content%3F%20Subscribe%20to%20Daily%20Brew%E2%80%94Delivering%20the%20latest%20business%20news%20from%20Wall%20St.%20to%20Silicon%20Valley,%20daily.%20 SPORTS [The NBA Returns]( [NBA players kneeling] Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images The NBA playoffs [will resume this afternoon]( after the players association and the league came to an agreement on issues concerning social justice and racial inequality yesterday. The backstory: The Milwaukee Bucks decided not to play in their playoff game on Wednesday to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, in Kenosha, WI. Many teams in other sports leagues [joined in](, culminating in a historic week of athlete activism. The nowstory: In a [joint statement](, the league and the players outlined three main initiatives: - Establish a social justice coalition made up of players, coaches, and team officials - Work with local governments to convert NBA arenas into safe voting locations for the 2020 election - Reserve ad spots during each playoff game to promote voter participation and education Bottom line: NBA players stopped the playoffs because they thought basketball was distracting the country from focusing on larger issues. With concrete reforms in hand, they're betting that resuming play will allow them to keep social justice issues top of mind as we head into the election. �  �  �  mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20Morning%20Brew!&body=The%20NBA%20Playoffs%20Return%20After%20Multi%20Day%20Strike%20Organized%20By%20the%20Players:%200A%0AWant%20more%20great%20content%3F%20Subscribe%20to%20Daily%20Brew%E2%80%94Delivering%20the%20latest%20business%20news%20from%20Wall%20St.%20to%20Silicon%20Valley,%20daily.%20 SPONSORED BY PAYCOM [Bust Out the HR Party Hats](#) [Paycom]( Nothing gets us more pumped than open enrollment and benefits administration season—and we know we’re not alone here. Right?! ...right? Fine, maybe we’re flying solo on that one. But [Paycom]( is here to make sure the whole thing is simple and easy for you, your business, and your HR department. [Paycom]( is the ultimate antidote to your open enrollment headaches. Their simple, yet comprehensive [HR tech]( allows employees to easily choose annual benefits right on their phone, tablet, or desktop whenever it's convenient for them. This not only cuts down on data-entry mistakes, it frees up time for everyone to focus on more important things for the business—like pointing at sales charts, fake-laughing at Greg’s jokes, and listening to Sue go on about KPIs. Make open enrollment season a thing worth celebrating. [Try Paycom today](. LOGISTICS [What Do Chunky Monkey and a COVID Vaccine Have in Common?]( [Elmo shivering in snow] Giphy They don’t work without a freezer. The backstory: As coronavirus vaccines enter late-stage clinical trials, logistics providers are [scrambling]( to build supply chains that effectively transport those vaccines, once they’re ready, from manufacturing facilities to your doctor’s office. But these vaccines are the worst kind of passenger—they need to be kept at very specific (and very cold) temperatures along their route, plus they’re always FaceTiming with someone. - One example: The vaccine being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech needs to be stored at -94° Fahrenheit. At standard refrigerated temps it would go bad in 24 hours (Pfizer claims it’s two days). This demand for cold storage has led to the Great Freezer Building Project of 2020, with companies like UPS and Lufthansa spawning huge “[freezer farms](” near airports so they can store vaccines properly, the WSJ reports. Zoom out: Even before the pandemic, cold storage was booming along with the growing needs of the pharmaceutical industry. Now, it has a higher calling. �  �  �  mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20Morning%20Brew!&body=The%20Race%20to%20Build%20Cold%20Storage%20Facilities%20for%20a%20COVID%20Vaccine%20Is%20On:%200A%0AWant%20more%20great%20content%3F%20Subscribe%20to%20Daily%20Brew%E2%80%94Delivering%20the%20latest%20business%20news%20from%20Wall%20St.%20to%20Silicon%20Valley,%20daily.%20 PEOPLE [How Is Warren Buffett Spending His Last Day of 89?]( [Warren Buffett] Scott Olson/Getty Images Since clubbing is out of the picture...maybe a game of bridge? To celebrate the Oracle of Omaha’s 90th birthday tomorrow, we're running down a few of Buffett's greatest hits over the years. 1942: At the age of 11, Buffett purchases his first stock: three shares of Cities Service preferred. Trust us, it was a lot harder without Robinhood. 1956: Instead of having a quarter-life crisis, the then-25-year-old forms a partnership with seven investors, putting down $100 of his own money. 1959: Buffett pens his [first letter to partners](. 1983: A single share of Berkshire Hathaway stock passes $1,000. 1991: Warren Buffett, then 60, meets Bill Gates, then 35. Much later, Buffett partners with the Gates Foundation to give away most of his wealth. 2006: A single share of Berkshire Hathaway stock hits $100,000. 2018: On cryptocurrency, Buffett [warns](, “Generally, I can say with almost certainty that they will come to a bad ending.” 2020: In his annual letter to shareholders, Buffett says, “Berkshire shareholders need not worry: Your company is 100% prepared for our departure.” Berkshire executives Ajit Jain and Greg Abel are [most likely]( to succeed him. �  �  �  mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20Morning%20Brew!&body=Warren%20Buffett%20Turns%2090%20on%20Sunday:%200A%0AWant%20more%20great%20content%3F%20Subscribe%20to%20Daily%20Brew%E2%80%94Delivering%20the%20latest%20business%20news%20from%20Wall%20St.%20to%20Silicon%20Valley,%20daily.%20 WHAT ELSE IS BREWING - [Apple]( removed Epic Games from the App Store, the latest escalation in the legal fight between the two tech companies. - [The U.S. IPO market]( had its busiest filing period in years this week. Big names registering to go public include Palantir, Snowflake, and Unity. - [MGM Resorts]( will lay off 18,000 workers who had previously been furloughed. - [Herbalife](, the nutritional supplement maker, agreed to pay $123 million to settle charges it conducted a bribery scheme in China. - [Shinzo Abe]( is stepping down as Japan’s prime minister over health reasons, but he leaves behind an important economic legacy. SPONSORED BY THE MOTLEY FOOL [The Motley Fool]( We care about how you care for yourself. But since we’re us, of course we’re talking about how you care for yourself financially. So we [put together an article with our friends at The Motley Fool]( to discuss all things financial self-care. We’ve got some simple, easy-to-follow things you can do to alleviate financial stress and increase your wallet well-being. [Take a look at our financial self-care guide right here](. BREW'S BETS Festival season: It was weird this year. Check out [some pictures]( from in-person festivals, then jam out to [Outside Lands]('s virtual festival (called Inside Lands) this weekend. Don't forget: Business Casual host Kinsey Grant's first column drops Sunday night. [Make sure you get the first edition](. Weekend conversation starters: - What's the better monetary policy jam: [This one]( from the Bank of Jamaica or this [WAP parody](? - Is Quibi still Quibi if [it hosts]( a feature-length drive-in movie premiere? - Overrated, underrated, or properly rated: Spam, The Office, ketchup on eggs. SATURDAY HEADLINES If Earth news isn't weird enough for you, wait until you see what space is serving up. Three of these zero-gravity headlines are 100% real, while one is too out-of-this-world to be true. Can you spot the fake? - "Oh, great: NASA says an asteroid is [headed our way]( right before Election Day" - "NASA finds active ['Star Wars' galaxy]( in deep space" - "Tesla vehicle launched into space slated to [reenter atmosphere]( within 50 miles of planned Austin gigafactory" - "Submarine [could explore]( seas of huge Saturn moon Titan" SHARE THE BREW It only takes 3 referrals to earn access to Light Roast, our exclusive Sunday newsletter. It’s the soothing, weighted blanket of newsletters that’ll fight off your scaries and prepare you for the week ahead. [Share your unique link]( to start racking up referrals. [Click here to get free swag.]( Hit the button below to start sharing the Brew. [Click to Share]( Or copy & paste your referral link to others: [morningbrew.com/daily/r/?kid=a905682a]( SATURDAY HEADLINES ANSWER A Tesla won't be falling on top of a gigafactory anytime soon, but if it did, we'd know the autopilot is working.             Written by [Toby Howell](, [Neal Freyman](, and [Jamie Wilde]( Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. WANT MORE BREW?  Retail newsletter → [Retail Brew](  Tech newsletter → [Emerging Tech Brew](  Marketing newsletter → [Marketing Brew](  Quarantine newsletter → [The Essentials](  Business podcast → [Business Casual]( [ADVERTISE]( // [CAREERS]( // [SHOP]( Update your email preferences or unsubscribe [here](. View our privacy policy [here](. Copyright ©2020 Morning Brew. All rights reserved. 40 Exchange Pl., Suite #300, New York, NY 10005