☕️ Looking shaky

The housing boom isn't slowing down... November 20, 2020 [View Online]( | [Sign Up]( [Daily Brew]( TOGETHER WITH [The Ridge]( Good morning. According to a new report from [NordPass](, the most popular password of 2020 is..."123456." This from the same species that developed a coronavirus vaccine in less than a year . MARKETS NASDAQ 11,904.71 + 0.87% S&P 3,581.87 + 0.39% DOW 29,483.23 + 0.15% GOLD 1,864.60 - 0.50% 10-YR 0.835% - 3.80 bps OIL 41.76 - 0.14% *As of market close - Covid-19 update: The CDC [recommended]( that Americans avoid travel over Thanksgiving because of the health risks. The number of Covid hospitalizations in the U.S. has increased almost 50% in the last two weeks. - Economy: Leaders at the IMF and the Fed [warned]( the recent rise in Covid-19 cases could set back an economic recovery. That may already be happening in the labor market (today's second story). MEDIA [This Quiz Will Reveal If BuzzFeed Is Buying You]( [BuzzFeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti ] Christophe Morin/IP3/Getty Images Is your company named HuffPost? If so, then yes. Yesterday, splashy news site BuzzFeed [acquired]( splashy news site HuffPost in a stock deal. But the purchase is less like picking up your morning latte and more like striking an ongoing arrangement with the barista. - HuffPost owner Verizon Media will reportedly make a cash investment in BuzzFeed, plus nab a minority stake that values BuzzFeed at a reported $1.7 billion. - The two digital media brands will syndicate content and join forces in pursuing ad dollars. Add this to the list of accelerating trends The trend here being [consolidation in digital media](. In the 2000s, brands like BuzzFeed and The Huffington Post (HuffPost's initial name) attracted eyeballs aplenty—and with them, ad dollars. But in the past decade, tech giants have been siphoning off a growing chunk of that revenue. - Facebook and Google accounted for over half of U.S. digital ad spending last year, per eMarketer.  - Amazon has also dipped its baguette into the digital ad fondue pot, slurping up another ~10% of the U.S. market. That leaves upstarts competing for what's left...and merging with each other to stay alive. - Last year alone, Vox Media acquired New York Magazine's parent company, Vice Media acquired Refinery29, and Group Nine bought PopSugar. HuffPost owner Verizon Media has struggled to keep up In 2018, it [wrote down]( $4.5 billion on Oath, its ill-fated attempt to combine AOL and Yahoo and adapt the early internet stars for the modern internet era. Meanwhile, BuzzFeed has experimented with various strategies to diversify revenue, including affiliate partnerships and e-commerce. - One example of that: BuzzFeed [is launching]( a branded sex toy ahead of a new Sex and Love vertical, slated to arrive in Q1 of next year. Zoom out: BuzzFeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti is coming home, the WSJ writes. He cofounded The Huffington Post with Kenneth Lerer, Andrew Breitbart, and Arianna Huffington in 2005. And he’s not done shopping. BuzzFeed reportedly plans to keep buying media and commerce companies. �  �  �  mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20Morning%20Brew%21&body=BuzzFeed%20to%20Acquire%20HuffPost%20in%20Broader%20Partnership%20With%20Owner%20Verizon%20Media%3A%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.morningbrew.com%2Fdaily%2Fstories%2F2020%2F11%2F19%2Fbuzzfeed-acquire-huffpost-broader-partnership-owner-verizon-media%0A%0AWant%20more%20great%20content%3F%20Subscribe%20to%20Daily%20Brew%20%E2%80%94%20Delivering%20the%20latest%20business%20news%20from%20Wall%20St.%20to%20Silicon%20Valley%2C%20daily.%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.morningbrew.com%2Fdaily%2Fr%2F%3Fkid%3Da905682a%26utm_source%3Demail_share%0A ECONOMY [Job Market Looking Shaky]( [An illustration of the US map made up of broken shards of glass] Francis Scialabba Last week, applications for first-time unemployment benefits [rose]( to 742,000, the first increase since early October. Some more concerning numbers about the labor market: - 20.3 million: U.S. workers receiving unemployment benefits at the end of October - 10 million: jobs the economy has lost since the pandemic started - 35: consecutive weeks that initial jobless claims have been worse than at the peak of the Great Recession The context: New daily coronavirus infections have ballooned 80% the last two weeks, and states and cities are reimposing restrictions. Looking ahead...Congress missed the sentiment behind Boxing Day. On Dec. 26, two CARES Act programs that offer additional federal unemployment benefits [will expire](: - One expands eligibility to contract workers and the self-employed for the first time. - The other provides an additional 13 weeks of federal benefits after state ones run out. If these programs are allowed to expire, 12 million workers will go from receiving an average of $320 benefits/week to nothing, the Century Foundation estimates. Without that money, many could struggle to pay rent, buy food, and keep up with other necessities. �  �  �  mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20Morning%20Brew%21&body=Unemployment%20Claims%20Rise%20for%20First%20Time%20in%205%20Weeks%3A%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.morningbrew.com%2Fdaily%2Fstories%2F2020%2F11%2F19%2Funemployment-claims-rise-first-time-5-weeks%0A%0AWant%20more%20great%20content%3F%20Subscribe%20to%20Daily%20Brew%20%E2%80%94%20Delivering%20the%20latest%20business%20news%20from%20Wall%20St.%20to%20Silicon%20Valley%2C%20daily.%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.morningbrew.com%2Fdaily%2Fr%2F%3Fkid%3Da905682a%26utm_source%3Demail_share%0A AUTO [Us Trying to Keep Up With Electric Vehicle News]( [Mr. Krabs] Know Your Meme Highlights from a busy week in the electric vehicle (EV) market: Feeling confident about a potential [breakthrough]( in its electric battery tech, GM is upping planned investments in EVs and self-driving cars to $27 billion over the next five years and bringing 30 EVs to market instead of 20.  The U.K. is [moving]( a ban on sales of diesel and gas vehicles up to 2030 and investing $1.7 billion in charging infrastructure, PM Boris Johnson announced Tuesday.  - The news [propelled]( EV stocks, sending Tesla up 4.5% to a record high of $508.61. SPACs are back. Arrival, a commercial van and bus maker, is [going public]( on the Nasdaq by merging with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that belongs to the former CEO of Marvel Comics. The deal values the British EV startup at $5.4 billion. And Michigan's Electric Last Mile Solutions is [reportedly]( in talks to merge with Forum, another SPAC. Finally, [shares rose]( for Chinese EV makers Nio, Xpeng Motors, and Li Auto after they posted Q3 earnings this week. Nio recently became the seventh-largest automaker by market cap. �  �  �  mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20Morning%20Brew%21&body=Electric%20Vehicle%20Roundup%3A%20GM%20Ups%20Investments%2C%20UK%20Accelerates%20Gas%20Vehicle%20Ban%3A%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.morningbrew.com%2Fdaily%2Fstories%2F2020%2F11%2F19%2Felectric-vehicle-roundup-gm-ups-investments-uk-accelerates-gas-vehicle-ban%0A%0AWant%20more%20great%20content%3F%20Subscribe%20to%20Daily%20Brew%20%E2%80%94%20Delivering%20the%20latest%20business%20news%20from%20Wall%20St.%20to%20Silicon%20Valley%2C%20daily.%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.morningbrew.com%2Fdaily%2Fr%2F%3Fkid%3Da905682a%26utm_source%3Demail_share%0A SPONSORED BY THE RIDGE [A Beautiful (Not Booty-ful) Black Friday](#) [The Ridge]( When it comes to receiving wallets, we want one that is functional, yet stylish. A wallet with beauty, not booty (re: one that doesn’t give us a bulky behind). In other words, only a wallet created by [The Ridge]( will do. You may have already heard about their [minimalist, RFID-blocking, anti-butt-bulge wallets]( that use elastic to expand to hold up to 12 IDs and credit cards (pretty fancy). But besides creating the sleekest, most efficient wallet you’ve ever slid into your back (or front) pocket, The Ridge also has a line of other essentials—[like backpacks, keychains, and multi-use door openers](—all made to last and backed by a quality guarantee. Which is great news considering the holidays are around the corner, and The Ridge has [the perfect selection of gifts]( to officially secure your place as the Holiday Hero this year. Brew readers get an exclusive start on the savings plus [15% off your purchase]( with code EARLYACCESS. HOUSING [Closing Time]( [Housing market ] Francis Scialabba The number of Americans playing real-life Sims is about to crash the country's servers. Existing U.S. home sales [rose 4.3%]( in October, the fifth straight month of growth and the highest level in almost 15 years. A combo of factors is driving the housing boom: - Homes are the new offices, considering at least 21% of the labor force is working from home because of the pandemic. - With the Fed dropping interest rates, financing your home purchase has never been cheaper; the [average rate]( on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to a record 2.72% last week. The downside? Inventory is tight, so prices are shooting up. The median price of an existing home last month was $313,000, 15% higher than a year ago. Big picture: The urge to buy a house is so strong that "[Zillow surfing](" (when you fantasize about houses listed on Zillow) has become a popular pandemic pastime, the NYT reports. �  �  �  mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20Morning%20Brew%21&body=Housing%20Boom%20Continues%20to%20Expand%2C%20According%20to%20Existing%20Home%20Sales%20Data%3A%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.morningbrew.com%2Fdaily%2Fstories%2F2020%2F11%2F19%2Fhousing-boom-continues-expand-according-existing-home-sales-data%0A%0AWant%20more%20great%20content%3F%20Subscribe%20to%20Daily%20Brew%20%E2%80%94%20Delivering%20the%20latest%20business%20news%20from%20Wall%20St.%20to%20Silicon%20Valley%2C%20daily.%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.morningbrew.com%2Fdaily%2Fr%2F%3Fkid%3Da905682a%26utm_source%3Demail_share%0A QUIZ [The Quiz Gambit](#) [Weekly news quiz]( The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brew's Weekly News Quiz has been compared to receiving a compliment on your carefully curated bookshelf. It's that satisfying. [Ace the quiz](. WHAT ELSE IS BREWING - [Roblox](, a social gaming platform favored by younger users, filed to go public yesterday and reported a 91% annual increase in Q3 revenue. - [Macy's]( reported a 20% drop in same-store sales last quarter, and it's nervous about what rising Covid-19 cases mean for the crucial holiday shopping season. - [Tyson Foods]( hired former Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate allegations that managers at a pork plant in Iowa took bets on the number of workers who would become infected with the coronavirus. - [Facebook]( said it removed 265,000 pieces of content for violating its policies on election interference. - [China]( issued debt at a negative interest rate for the first time. - [Very Brexit](: High-level talks about Britain's exit from the EU were stopped when a top negotiator tested positive for the coronavirus. BREW'S BETS Now this is a healthy sale. Sakara only has one sale a year, and it’s now. Everything on site is 25% off, including their best-selling Metabolism Super Powder that has over 500 5-star reviews. [Sakara’s only sale is happening now](.* Hit pay dirt. With Good Earth Organics, you can get in on the literal dirt floor of the cannabis and hemp industry that’s projected to reach nearly $52 billion by 2025. [Invest in the finest dirt here](.* Virtual Thanksgiving: Zoom [has removed]( its 40-minute time limit for the holiday so family small talk can last as long as you want. Follow Friday: Embrace your inner raccoon by scrolling street furniture on so-called "stooping" accounts, inspired by [Stooping NYC](. Try searching for stooping + your city on Instagram, or follow [Stooping LA](, [Stooping Belgium](, [Stooping Philly](, and [Stooping Amsterdam]( to see trash-treasure from around the world. *This is sponsored advertising content FROM THE CREW [e-commerce] Francis Scialabba In the buzziest collab since McDonald’s and Travis Scott, Emerging Tech Brew and Retail Brew teamed up to explore one of the most important business stories of 2020: e-commerce. This [four-part guide]( follows a quarantine sweatsuit from the moment a shopper sees it on Instagram to the second it arrives on their doorstep. As you follow the journey, you’ll learn a ton about how hidden technologies have transformed the way we shop—from product discovery on social media to warehouse order fulfillment. We found it fascinating, and think you will too. [Dive in here](. GAMES [Friday Puzzle](#) Place a three-letter word in the dashes to complete a word on the left and begin another word on the right. Example: e a r _ _ _ m e = THY, because earthy and thyme. 1. f e a t _ _ _ o i c 2. c o u r _ _ _ n d a 3. d i s p _ _ _ o v e r 4. k e e _ _ _ s i s t 5. r u n _ _ _ i c e SHARE THE BREW When you share the Brew, you earn rewards. From Brew swag like t-shirts and coffee mugs to exclusive content, we've got something for everyone in our premier rewards program. [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]( ANSWER 1. featHER / HERoic 2. courAGE / AGEnda 3. dispLAY / LAYover 4. keePER / PERsist 5. runOFF / OFFice             Written by [Eliza Carter](, [Alex Hickey](, and [Neal Freyman]( Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. 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