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Why the US is so mad about the oil production cut... October 06, 2022 [View Online]( | [Sign Up]( | [Shop]( [Morning Brew]( TOGETHER WITH [The Ascent]( Good morning. The first edition of the Brew’s crypto newsletter, Incrypto, hits inboxes later today. If you want to be there when it all began, like seeing The Beatles in Hamburg or Bruce at The Stone Pony, you’ll want to sign up ASAP. [Subscribe here]( to get the first edition. —Neal Freyman, Matty Merritt MARKETS Nasdaq 11,148.64 -0.25% S&P 3,783.28 -0.20% Dow 30,273.87 -0.14% 10-Year 3.753% +11.6 bps Bitcoin $20,156.89 -0.05% Oil $87.76 +1.40% *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 3:00am ET. [Here's what these numbers mean.]( - Markets: Wall Street’s two-day surge [came to an end]( yesterday, as all three major indexes closed slightly lower. Stocks had been riding a wave of giddiness after the number of job openings in the US plunged in August, showing that the Fed’s efforts to cool the labor market were starting to pay off. Oil prices rose to a three-week high on a blockbuster day for energy news. More on that in 3…2…1… ENERGY [Oil cut boosts Russia, bruises the US]( [An OPEC oil drum spilling into the shape of the US]( Francis Scialabba Yesterday a group of countries got together and said, “You know what? Oil prices are too low right now, and we want them to go higher.” And because they are a cartel and collectively produce more than half of the world’s oil, they hatched a plan to [do just that](—with far-reaching consequences for inflation and the Russia–Ukraine war. What happened: The group of oil-producing countries, known as OPEC+, agreed to slash production by 2 million barrels per day, which is its biggest cut since the world shut down in April 2020. The idea is that less oil sloshing around the world will prop up prices, which many of these countries rely on for revenue. And where do prices stand now? The international benchmark Brent crude is hovering around $93, but it’s had a dizzying year. Its price shot up above $120 a barrel during the early part of the war in Ukraine, but recently plunged to about $81 as fears of a global recession grew. OPEC+ is tapping into these economic anxieties to justify the production cut. The White House bashed it as “shortsighted” Because a production cut [may result]( in higher gas prices in the US, the Biden administration is both mad and disappointed. American officials had been working the phones this week to get OPEC+ to back off this cut. But it didn’t appear to work—and it only worsens already rocky relations between the US and Saudi Arabia, the group’s most powerful member. A second reason why OPEC+ didn’t make any new international friends yesterday: This cut is a huge assist to Russia (also a member of OPEC+). The West has been trying to prevent Russia from making money from its oil exports, which it uses to fund its invasion of Ukraine. Higher oil prices would give Vladimir Putin a flusher piggy bank to spend on his military, and also presents a [fresh obstacle]( for an EU plan to cap the price of Russian oil.—NF �  �  �  mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20Morning%20Brew%21&body=Oil%20cut%20boosts%20Russia%2C%20bruises%20the%20US%3A%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.morningbrew.com%2Fdaily%2Fstories%2F2022%2F10%2F05%2Fopec-oil-cut-boosts-russia-bruises-the-us%3Futm_campaign%3Dmb%26utm_medium%3Dnewsletter%26utm_source%3Dmorning_brew%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%20daily.%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.morningbrew.com%2Fdaily%2Fr%2F%3Fkid%3Da905682a%26utm_source%3Demail_share%0A TOGETHER WITH THE ASCENT [Zero interest for the long haul]( [The Ascent]( That’s what you get with [this credit card](, which offers one of the longest intro 0% interest periods ever: up to 21 months. Along with no interest for a looooong time, the perks on [this card]( include: - no annual fee - special offers on shopping, dining, and experiences - cell phone protection—the underrated perk you didn’t know you needed until now We’re not the only ones who love this card. It won two awards from the experts at The Ascent this year: Best 0% Intro APR Credit Card and Best Balance Transfer Credit Card. [Apply for this card here](. WORLD [Tour de headlines](#) [Alec {NAME}]MEGA/Getty Images Alec {NAME}, Rust producers reach a settlement. The actor and the family of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer who was killed when {NAME} fired a prop gun on set last year, [have agreed to a settlement](. Hutchins’s husband, Matthew, said “All of us believe Halyna’s death was a terrible accident.” In unexpected news, the film will restart production in January with Matthew in an executive producer role. Biden traveled to Florida to survey Hurricane Ian damage. The president met with FL GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential 2024 rival, and the two said they were putting aside politics to help Floridians [recover]( from Hurricane Ian. More than one week after Ian made landfall as the fifth-strongest hurricane to hit the US, many residents are still without power and struggling to get food and water. At least 75 people were killed in Florida as a result of the hurricane. History was made on yesterday’s SpaceX launch. NASA astronaut Nicole Mann became the first Native American woman to go to space, joining [three others]( on a trip to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicle. It was SpaceX’s sixth crewed mission to the ISS for NASA since 2020. TECH [Musk has great Xpectations for Twitter]( [Chemical X image from the Powerpuff Girls]( The Powerpuff Girls/Warner Bros. With Elon Musk and Twitter just maybe close to ending their legal battle, we can turn our attention to Musk’s plans for Twitter once he owns it—specifically, how he aims to hit his wildly ambitious goals of quintupling revenues to $26.4 billion and reaching 104 million *paying* users by 2028. (Twitter has just 217 million free users currently.) Musk [hinted]( at his vision on Tuesday, tweeting that his purchase of Twitter would accelerate the creation of an “everything app” called X. An “everything app” isn’t a new concept. Better known as a “superapp,” these apps integrate pretty much everything you need into your life, including social media, payments, gaming, and the most necessary, food delivery. WeChat in China is commonly cited as the world’s foremost superapp, with an estimated 900+ million daily active users, but others, like Singapore-based Grab, have also reached superapp status. Musk has signaled his intentions of building a WeChat clone before, telling Twitter’s staff this summer that if they can recreate WeChat with Twitter, “we’ll be a great success.” Bottom line: Building a superapp in 2022 might be [downright impossible](, Bloomberg argues, given that Americans use mobile payments far less than Chinese people and that WeChat’s success is directly tied to the moment in time (2011) that it launched. But that probably won’t stop Musk from trying. One last thing: The Twitter deal hasn’t closed just yet, and the judge presiding over the trial is still prepping for a potential Oct. 17 start date.—NF �  �  �  mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20Morning%20Brew%21&body=Musk%20has%20great%20Xpectations%20for%20Twitter%3A%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.morningbrew.com%2Fdaily%2Fstories%2F2022%2F10%2F05%2Fmusk-has-great-xpectations-for-twitter%3Futm_campaign%3Dmb%26utm_medium%3Dnewsletter%26utm_source%3Dmorning_brew%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%20daily.%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.morningbrew.com%2Fdaily%2Fr%2F%3Fkid%3Da905682a%26utm_source%3Demail_share%0A ENTERTAINMENT [Approaching its 100th birthday, the Hollywood sign gets a bath](#) [L from Hollywood sign being painted.]David Livingston/Getty Images Workers kicked off the Hollywood sign’s [makeover]( this week ahead of its 100th birthday in 2023, using 250 gallons of paint and primer to cover up all the dirt and shattered Midwestern dreams. This American landmark has a pretty fascinating history. The original sign, which read “Hollywoodland,” was erected in 1923 by Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler to promote his real estate development. By 1944 the sign became property of the city after the development went bust, but the only real upkeep the city did on the sign was to remove the “land” part. Some of LA’s more prominent residents weren’t happy about their beloved sign turning into an eyesore, so they pushed the city to build a new one. And In 1978, the biggest push came from Hugh Hefner, who hosted a fundraiser at the Playboy Mansion to raise the quarter of a million dollars needed to replace the old, decrepit sign with the more Insta-worthy one you see today. Here’s what the sign looked like in 1924, before the city was flooded with green juice.—MM [1924 photo of car approaching "Hollywoodland" sign"]Underwood Archives/Getty Images TOGETHER WITH KIMPTON HOTELS [Kimpton Hotels]( Let your wanderlust run wild. [Kimpton Hotels’ Annual Sale]( (their biggest of the year!) kicks off October 11, so here’s a friendly heads-up: You’ll have 3 days to score major savings for bookings from October 14, 2022–April 30, 2023. Follow [@Kimpton]( to check out their 75+ destinations, because that trip you’ve been dreaming of? It’s never been closer. So, where to? �  �  �  GRAB BAG [Key performance indicators](#) [A meme of Usain Bolt and other runners depicting them as fast food restaurants]Dianna “Mick” McDougall; Photo: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images Stat: For the third year in a row, Chick-fil-A was the restaurant with the [fastest]( drive-thru line when considering the number of cars in line, according to Intouch Insight's Annual Drive-Thru Study. The fast food restaurant clucked in an average wait time of 107.41 seconds (about 1 minute and 47 seconds) topping No. 2 McDonald’s and No. 3 Taco Bell. Across US restaurants, the average wait time spent in a drive-thru lane was 6 minutes and 13 seconds, and 9 minutes if some TikToker was harassing the worker for content. Quote: “This person’s on a mission.” Officials in Stockton, CA, have [linked seven shootings](, six of them fatal, to a potential serial killer. Police have no workable leads, but have released security camera footage of an unidentified person they believe is the attacker, who has been ambushing victims late at night in the Stockton area since April 2021. Read: How Bella Hadid’s spray-on dress was made. ([The Cut]() WHAT ELSE IS BREWING - [North Korea]( fired two ballistic missiles in response to the US redeploying an aircraft carrier in the area…in response to North Korea’s missile launch over Japan. - [Ford]( again jacked up the starting price for its electric F-150 Lightning. - [US intelligence agencies]( believe that the Ukrainian government authorized the fatal August car bombing of Daria Dugina, the daughter of a nationalist Russian philosopher. - [A pumpkin]( weighing in at 2,554 pounds set the record for the heaviest pumpkin ever recorded in the US. BREW'S BETS Words against strangers: The [word game]( that allows you to beat someone you’ve never met. Looking for a remote-friendly job? This thread has [19 websites]( to help you find one. Morning beverage matchup: The [coffee vs. tea smackdown](. GAMES [The puzzle section](#) Brew Mini: Today’s puzzle observes the rule of threes. [Play it here](. Three headlines and a lie First, a correction: In yesterday’s trivia, we incorrectly wrote that cable No. 5 was a Mini USB when it was actually a Micro USB. Sorry we’re not [IT Brew](. Now, onto today’s quiz. Three of these headlines are real, and one is faker than people’s excitement when someone suggests a group Power Rangers Halloween costume. Can you spot the odd one out? - [Climate for kids](: Cartoon uses animals to address ins and outs of climate change - English soccer player [sidelined]( after getting injured playing Xbox - Living plant [controls]( a machete through an industrial robot arm - No one’s talking about Gucci’s cheeseburger fashion week [stunt]( If you love Three Headlines and a Lie, [play along]( on The Refresh from Insider and dive deeper into these weird headlines. AROUND THE BREW [How to become a millionaire in 10 years (or under)]( [How to become a millionaire in years (or under)]( How to become a millionaire quickly: be born into a rich family. So easy! Just kidding. [Listen to]( or [watch]( the latest Money with Katie Show episode to learn how much you’d need to earn, spend, and invest to become a millionaire in 10 years. 🛍 The 2022 Wealth Planner is your one-stop shop for all things personal finance, and it’s on sale now for 25% off. [Get it before it’s gone](. [Learn]( how author and career executive Daphne E. Jones overcame adversity in the workplace on the latest episode of Imposters with Alex Lieberman. 🎟 The Brief is the can’t-miss event for every modern marketer. Experience a powerhouse panel of speakers from the world’s most recognized brands. [Claim your ticket now](. SHARE THE BREW [Share Morning Brew]( with your friends, acquire free Brew swag, and then acquire more friends as a result of your fresh Brew swag. We’re saying we’ll give you free stuff and more friends if you share a link. One link. Your referral count: 0 [Click to Share]( Or copy & paste your referral link to others: [morningbrew.com/daily/r/?kid=a905682a]( ANSWER No one’s talking about the Gucci cheeseburger…because we made it up. � � � � � Written by [Neal Freyman]( and [Matty Merritt]( Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. WANT MORE BREW? 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