☕ Respecting Aretha's wishes

Why every house you walk into looks the same... July 11, 2023 [View Online]( | [Sign Up]( | [Shop]( [Morning Brew]( TOGETHER WITH [SimpliSafe]( Good morning. It’s 7/11: Go get yourself a free Slurpee and a brain freeze. —Sam Klebanov, Molly Liebergall, Cassandra Cassidy, Abby Rubenstein, Neal Freyman [CLICK]( THIS TO REMAIN A SUBSCRIBER Clicking on newsletter links is the only way for us to know you are reading (and enjoying) Morning Brew. If you don't click by next month, you will stop receiving this newsletter. [Click here]( to let us know that you’re still an active subscriber. Thanks! MARKETS Nasdaq 13,685.48 +0.18% S&P 4,409.53 +0.24% Dow 33,944.40 +0.62% 10-Year 4.000% -6.8 bps Bitcoin $30,336.56 +0.45% Cava $44.00 +11.06% *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 4:00am ET. [Here's what these numbers mean.]( - Markets: Investors shook off last week’s post-holiday blues with all three major indexes [snapping]( three-day losing streaks, embracing a new outlook as they wait for more economic data and a new earnings season to start this week. Cava rose as analysts got their first chance to comment on the lunch spot since its IPO and were largely bullish on the bowl-maker—it’s already nearly doubled since its market debut last month.  FINANCE [Instant payments are coming to a bank near you]( [Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory ]( Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory/Paramount Picutres via Giphy The US banking system is about to get sped up like Barry Allen after the lightning struck, potentially eliminating those frustrating waiting days it can take for money to hit your account. The Fed [is launching]( its FedNow instant payment service later this month. The new system will enable banks to send each other cash instantly, 24/7, as an alternative to the existing system that runs only during regular business hours and often takes days to move money. FedNow could put America’s banking system on track to catch up to countries like India and Nigeria, where high-speed payments are as common as high-speed rail in Japan. The US does already have an instant payments system, but it’s private rather than government-backed, and it hasn’t been widely adopted. It’s mostly only used by big banks, and only 1.4% of US transactions happen in real time, according to payment systems company ACI Worldwide. FedNow-enabled services will soon likely appear at the 41 banks that have been certified to participate so far. - People moving money between banks or paying bills could complete their transactions in seconds without the need to plan payments days in advance. - Businesses will be able to access customer payments immediately and to send workers payments more frequently with instant direct deposit rather than the usual payroll cycle. Faster payments could mean faster bank runs Some experts worry that allowing people to drain their bank accounts instantaneously could make [SVB-style]( bank runs more likely. Smaller banks struggling with liquidity would have even less time to react to customer panic and get collateral for emergency government loans to cover fleeing cash. But there are safeguards built in. FedNow has a transaction limit of $500,000, and banks can set their own ceilings to ensure that customers don’t pull their deposits faster than they can say “Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.”—SK   TOGETHER WITH SIMPLISAFE [Security that never sleeps]( [SimpliSafe]( You know what they say: “Home is where the heart is.” Sappy clichés aside, your castle is everything. That’s why it’s important to defend your nest against break-ins, fires, floods, and other not-so-good stuff. [Enter SimpliSafe]( Home Security. They just launched the next gen of monitoring: 24/7 live guard protection. This round-the-clock watchdog is powered by an indoor security camera that can ward off intruders with a built-in siren and 2-way agent audio. That’s right. [SimpliSafe agents can actually see and speak to intruders]( in your home to help stop crime in real time. No wonder they’ve topped US News & World Report’s best home security list for 4 years straight. [Level up your defenses](. WORLD [Tour de headlines](#) [A road destroyed by flooding in New York]Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Floods in the Northeast threaten lives and destroy roads. Around 9 million people were under [flood warnings]( yesterday, and some areas experienced once-in-a-millennium levels of rainfall as storms that began on Sunday pummeled the Northeastern US. New York’s Hudson Valley, where at least one person died in the storm, and Vermont, where flash flood risks were high and rain fell at a rate of 1.5 inches per hour, were hit especially hard. Thousands of flights were canceled and delayed, and major roads were damaged and even washed away. Turkey to roll out the NATO welcome mat for Sweden at last. Turkey [agreed]( to give up its yearlong objection to the meatball-loving nation joining the military alliance yesterday, mere hours after saying it would only do so after Turkey is permitted to join the European Union (which...didn’t happen). Though there are still steps left before Sweden officially becomes a NATO member, with that issue largely resolved, the talk of today’s big NATO summit in Lithuania is likely to be about how to handle another country that’s eager to [join]( Ukraine. Ozempic and another weight-loss drug investigated for suicide risk. The EU’s drug regulator has [opened a probe]( into reports that Novo Nordisk’s drugs Ozempic and Saxenda, and others containing semaglutide or liraglutide, are linked to thoughts of suicide and self-harm based on three incidents in Iceland. The agency may also consider other drugs in the same class, which are among the most popular in the world and are also made by other pharma companies. In the US, Wegovy (another Novo semaglutide-based medicine) already carries a warning for suicidal behavior—even though clinical trials of the drug did not find it elevated the risk—because other weight-loss drugs did pose such a risk, according to Bloomberg. ENTERTAINMENT [Say a little prayer for Aretha Franklin’s sons]( [Aretha Franklin's sons have taken the fight over her estate to court.]( Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images The children of the Queen of Soul are duking it out in court to see who will take control of the late singer’s multimillion-dollar estate. Aretha Franklin did not leave behind a formal, typed-out will, but two handwritten versions were discovered in her home after she died in 2018. Yesterday, a [trial]( began in Michigan where lawyers for two of the singer’s four sons will argue that a 2014 handwritten note—signed with a smiley face and stuffed in a sofa—counts as her last will and testament. Another son favors a different notarized document from 2010. - Both documents split Franklin’s royalties among her children and require the three competing brothers to support her fourth son, who has a disability. - But the wills differ on who gets her personal property and who takes charge of the estate. Kecalf Franklin and Edward Franklin are [vying]( for the 2014 document, which names Kecalf as executor and leaves him with his mother’s house, cars, jewelry, and the fur coats she’d famously let slide off her shoulders onstage. Franklin’s third son, Ted White II, favors the 2010 will that names him as executor and bars Kecalf and Edward from their inheritances until they get business degrees or certificates.—ML   SPONSORED BY SIMPLISAFE [SimpliSafe]( Need day ’n night defense? Protect your home—and everyone in it—with [SimpliSafe’s 24/7 live guard protection](. Their top-notch indoor security camera can tell the difference between threats and pets to reduce false alarms, and it can instantly deter intruders with a built-in siren and 2-way agent audio to help stop crime in real time. [Secure your fort](. CULTURE [HGTV is influencing homeowners to be boring]( [Living room with a copy and paste icon ]( Illustration: Francis Scialabba, Photo: onurdongel/Getty Images Turns out that watching Hilary Farr call a perfectly normal living room “cringe” is not good for your relationship with your home. A new [study]( from the Journal of Consumer Research found home renovation media is responsible for a shift toward standardization, and its author told the Washington Post home improvement shows and design magazines make people feel “uneasy” about the choices they make for their homes. Meet the “market-reflected gaze.” That’s what the study dubbed the internalized idea that a future homebuyer can (and will) judge your decorating choices. In an effort to maintain the value of their home, people are ignoring their own idiosyncratic design choices in favor of mainstream elements like neutral finishes, stainless steel appliances, and Pinterest-popular decor. But although a beige open-plan living room might be good when it’s time to sell, it’s arguably bad for your soul: Some of the study’s 17 participants said that they wished they put more personalization into their home, with one likening her own bathroom to one in a hotel room. Bottom line: Design really does impact resale value. Even if you hate charcoal-gray kitchens, you should have one if you like money—it could increase the value of your home by $2,512, per a Zillow analysis.—CC   GRAB BAG [Key performance indicators](#) [A tweet showing Twitter's traffic tanking.]Twitter Stat: Twitter traffic dropped off in mid-2023 shortly after Elon Musk paid $44 billion for the platform, and dipped even lower this month amid unpopular changes—that’s according to Cloudflare’s CEO, who went viral this weekend for posting his company’s data on…Twitter. If you missed the tweet, it’s probably because you were over on Threads with everyone else, seeing what your favorite potato chip brand had to say. Meta’s Twitter clone hit 100 million users just five days after its launch, taking the crown for the fastest-growing platform ever from ChatGPT. Similarweb’s data shows Twitter’s traffic down 5% for the two days after the wide release of Threads, per CNBC. But Threads still has a ways to go to catch Twitter, which has ~250 million users arguing with one another. Quote: “For the wellbeing of gorilla troop, please refrain from showing them any videos or photos as some content can be upsetting and affect their relationships and behaviour within their family.” The Toronto Zoo is asking visitors to please stop showing content from [their phones]( to its gorillas. The zoo is particularly worried about teenage Nassir, who, just like a human whose parents are desperate to get them to touch grass, would do nothing all day but stare at a screen if allowed. Behavioral husbandry supervisor Hollie Ross told Canadian news outlets that Nassir should be “able to just hang out with his brother and be a gorilla” rather than tracking which #getreadywithme vids are trending. Read: Move over, Dubai. This tiny emirate wants to be the next haven for billionaires. ([Bloomberg]( NEWS [What else is brewing](#) - [Northwestern]( fired football coach Pat Fitzgerald, saying he failed to stop widespread hazing in the program. - [Vladimir Putin]( met with Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin after Prigozhin briefly turned his mercenary soldiers against Russia, the Kremlin said, making Prigozhin’s status following the mutiny even less clear. - [The New York Times]( is scrapping its sports desk and will instead rely on coverage from The Athletic, a website the paper bought for $550 million last year. - [Larry Nassar]( the sports doctor convicted of sexually abusing gymnasts, including Olympic medalists, was stabbed in prison, the Associated Press reports. - [A flight]( from Houston to Amsterdam had to be diverted to Chicago after a passenger became unruly, reportedly because his first choice of meal was not available. RECS [Tuesday To Do List] Sweet origins: Here’s the history behind the most popular [ice cream flavors](. Beyond a skyscraper: This is [how tall]( the 1 billion unused square feet of empty office space in the US would be if you put it all in one building. Time comes for us all: Never has a [bell pepper]( felt so poignant. Behind the swoops: Here’s how [RVs got their look](. Health fads: Healthcare Brew dives into what medical providers [need to know]( about Hollywood’s new “it” drug, Ozempic. Watchdog extraordinaire: Need A+ home security? [SimpliSafe’s 24/7 live guard protection]( can stop intruders dead in their tracks. [Stay safe]( *This is sponsored advertising content. GAMES [The puzzle section](#) Brew Mini: It’s very likely that the 1-Across clue in today’s Mini is a world first. [See what it is here](. 7-Eleven trivia Why are the stores named “7-Eleven”? There is a specific reason. 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=4904f90a]( AROUND THE BREW [Automated interviews: pause or play?]( [HR Brew graphic]( Interview evolution: The problems with automated interviews are real—here’s[what HR professionals need to know](. Our [New Manager Bootcamp course]( is now offered on-demand. Start when you choose with our self-paced course. Keeping up with the healthcare world is no easy task, but we’ve got something brewing just for you. [Find out more](. ANSWER In 1946, Tote’m Stores were renamed 7-Eleven to raise awareness of their new hours: 7am–11pm. Written by [Neal Freyman]( Sam Klebanov, [Molly Liebergall]( [Cassandra Cassidy]( and [Abigail Rubenstein]( Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. 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