Microsoft overtook Apple as the worldâs most valuable company...
January 12, 2024 [View Online]( | [Sign Up]( | [Shop]( [Morning Brew]( PRESENTED BY [SmartAsset]( Good morning. These are truly polarizing times. A cold snap is about to freeze much of the country with the lowest temps of the winter so far, with Chicago forecast to shiver at -10 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday. And for anyone headed to the ChiefsâDolphins playoff game in Kansas City tomorrow, hereâs one thing to keep in mind: layers. The windchill is expected to drop to -24 degrees by the end of the game. If youâre thinking, âNo way Miami can handle that,â youâd be correct. The Dolphins have lost 10 straight games when the temp at kickoff is 40 degrees or below. âMolly Liebergall, Matty Merritt, Cassandra Cassidy, Adam Epstein, Neal Freyman MARKETS Nasdaq 14,970.19 +0.00% S&P 4,780.24 -0.07% Dow 37,711.02 +0.04% 10-Year 3.977% -5.3 bps Bitcoin $46,392.94 -0.56% Netflix $492.23 +2.91% *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 11:00pm ET. [Here's what these numbers mean.]( - Markets: Stocks were [hardly changed]( yesterday as the market struggled to make sense of the recent lukewarm inflation data. The big news was spot bitcoin ETFs rising on their first day of trading, passing the initial test of investorsâ appetite for easy access to crypto. Meanwhile, Netflix ticked up thanks to momentum for its ad-supported tier. Â BIG TECH [For a hot second, Microsoft was bigger than Apple](
[Apple and Microsoft logos]( Francis Scialabba Microsoft unseated Apple yesterday as the worldâs most valuable publicly traded companyâ¦and then gave the throne right back. The AI-fueled stock rally that Microsoft has enjoyed for months finally buoyed the software companyâs market capitalization to $2.9 trillion Thursday morning, briefly edging past Appleâs $2.89 trillion. Apple had been the most valuable company in the world for a year and a half, and on-and-off for more than a decade. Apple was back on top by midday, but [Microsoftâs momentary reign]( fourth time itâs briefly overtaken Apple since 2018âindicates that the tables may be turning between these longtime rivals. From allies to enemies to cordial competitors Microsoft and Apple were simpatico in the earliest days of Big Tech, when desktops created by Steve Jobs used software developed by Bill Gates. Relations got rockier in the 1980s when Apple sued Microsoft for allegedly ripping off its Macintosh software (Apple lost), and in the 1990s when Jobs publicly trashed Microsoftâs products. But then Microsoft saved Apple. In 1997, Apple was near bankruptcy when Microsoft invested $150 million to keep the Mac-maker afloat. Jobs called Gates and personally thanked him for the lifeboat. Fast-forward to today Microsoft and Apple account for ~14% of the S&P 500. In the past year⦠- Microsoftâs early investment in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI came to fruition with its new Office AI tool, [Copilot]( for Microsoft 365, which [could generate]( $10 billion annually by 2026.
- Shares in Microsoft increased by 63%, compared with 39% for Apple, per the [Wall Street Journal](. Zoom out: Apple is facing slower demand for its iPhones, especially in China. While Microsoft boosts its business with AI, Apple will soon find out if it can do the same with mixed reality when the company [releases]( its Vision Pro device next month.âML Â Â PRESENTED BY SMARTASSET [Kick back + retire](
[SmartAsset]( This Princeton gradâs startup raised $161m to [help people plan for retirement](. If youâre one of the whopping 110m Americans over age 50âor a wise millennial planning aheadâSmartAssetâs no-cost tool makes it easy to find vetted financial advisors who serve your area. Research suggests that people who work with a financial advisor could end up with 15% more money to spend in retirement.* Kick-start your retirement plans today. Try SmartAssetâs [no-cost tool]( to get matched with up to three financial advisors serving your area, each legally bound to work in your best interest. Itâs never too late to work toward financial freedom. [Get your financial advisor matches today](. WORLD [Tour de headlines](#)
[Donald Trump at his civil fraud trial in New York]Peter Foley/Getty Images Trump gave his own closing argument after all. After Judge Arthur Engoron reconsidered allowing the former president to speak during closing arguments of his civil fraud trial in New York, Trump launched into a [five-minute monologue]( claiming all of his companyâs financial statements were âperfectâ and that the trial was a âpolitical witch hunt.â New York AG Letitia James is seeking $370 million in damages and to ban Trump from doing business in the state for allegedly inflating the value of his assets to get better loans, among other chicanery. With the trial over, Judge Engoronâwho was the victim of a âswattingâ incident [at his home]( on Thursdayâwill now decide the verdict himself, since thereâs no jury. The latest inflation data was mixed. US consumer prices increased by a slightly higher-than-expected 0.3% in December, mostly due to [rising shelter costs](. But with volatile food and fuel prices stripped out, the âcoreâ inflation measure came in at 3.9% in the year through December, down from 4% in 2022 and the first time that metricâs been below 4% since May 2021. The data suggests that despite a âmehâ December, inflation is still on track to cool down. Weâll find out soon if inflationâs chilled enough for Fed officials to cut interest rates this year. Googleâs the latest tech giant to conduct mass layoffs. A day after Amazon laid off hundreds of employees in its streaming divisions, Google cut about [a thousand roles]( across its Assistant and core engineering teams, The Verge reported. The company is also reportedly removing 17 [âunderutilizedâ]( features from its voice-activated Google Assistant software, which launched in 2016 to compete with Appleâs Siri and Amazonâs Alexa. Google announced last year that it would integrate its generative AI chatbot, Bard, into Assistant. AUTO [Hertz has some EVs to offload](
[Tesla with âFor Saleâ sign on windshield.]( Francis Scialabba Hertz is wondering if youâd be down to justâ¦buy that Tesla you rented? The rental car company said yesterday itâs [selling]( 20,000 electric vehicles from its US EV fleet of around 50,000, and will use some of the money to buy some old-fashioned gas-powered cars. A strategy 180 so hard it left skid marks. In 2021, Hertz snagged media attention after it emerged from bankruptcy and said it would go all-in on EVs and buy 100,000 Teslas for its fleet by the end of 2022. But as of October 2023, Hertz had only bought about 35,000 Teslas. - The company also announced in 2022 that it would buy a combined 240,000 EVs from Polestar and GM over the next five years. Hertz didnât comment on how the sell-off would affect the GM or Polestar deals. What happened? Hertz claims the demand for EVs has declined, and they are much pricier to maintain and repair. Selling off the vehicles means the company is set to lose about $245 million because of depreciation tied to Tesla lowering vehicle prices. Hertz isnât the only one feeling itâ¦demand for EVs has seen its speed drop from Autobahn to residential over the last year, causing several automakers to [walk back]( plans to go big on EVs.âMM   TOGETHER WITH BABBEL
[Babbel]( New for 2024: Your life in up to 14 different languages. [Babbel]( app-based lessons, games, podcasts, videos, and live virtual classes are designed to get you speaking a new language in as little as three weeks. Enrich your 2024 travel plans with Babbelâand for a limited time, [get up to 60% off your subscription](. SPORTS [Belichickâs reign comes to an end](
[Photo of Bill Belichick]( Maddie Meyer/Getty Images Cutoff Patriots sweatshirts are about to become collectorâs items. Bill Belichick announced yesterday that he is stepping down as New England Patriots head coach after 24 years. Belichick had a legendary [tenure]( which included six Super Bowl titles in nine appearances with the Pats, a record 31 postseason wins, and multiple years as the highest-paid coach in US professional sports. Between 2001 and 2019, Belichick and QB Tom Brady made magic together: The Patriots won 76% of regular season games, transforming from a struggling franchise into one of the greatest sports [dynasties]( of all time. Butâ¦stars canât shine forever. Belichick finished the 2023 season with a 4â13 record, garnering criticism for some of his player personnel decisions. Like a startup CEO tasked with talking to investors and interviewing interns in wrinkled blazers, Belichick was stretched too thin as the head coach and de facto general manager, critics said. If he coaches another team, itâs unlikely heâll have that much autonomy again. It was apparently the week to call it quits: Belichickâs former coworker Nick Saban announced he was leaving the University of Alabama after 17 seasons leading the Tide, while longtime Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll is out after 14 years in the Emerald City. All three were among the 10 highest-paid [coaches]( in US sports.âCC   GRAB BAG [Key performance indicators](#)
[Mean Girls]Mean Girls/Paramount Pictures Quote: âRefer to your app as a spatial computing app. Donât describe your app experience as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), extended reality (XR), or mixed reality (MR).â Apple needs the world to know that its upcoming $3.5k Vision Pro is not a VR headsetâitâs a âspatial computingâ device. Get it right, folks. The tech giant went as far as to scold ask app developers to [refer to it as such](. The company doesnât want developers calling it a headset, either. In case the new vocab was unclear, Apple used the word âspatialâ 20 times in a separate Vision Pro [press release](. âThe era of spatial computing has arrived,â insisted CEO Tim Cook in the release. Stat: When you think of the words âHigh Noon,â do you imagine Gary Cooper winning a gunfight in the Wild West or frat stars guzzling alcohol at a tailgate? For many people, itâs probably the latter, as High Noonâthe ready-to-drink hard seltzer brandâis now the [No. 1 spirit in the US](. It sold 21.4 million cases last year, up 30% from the year before and well ahead of famous brands like Titoâs Vodka (12 million) and Jack Danielâs (6.5 million). Alongside White Claw, High Noon helped the ready-to-drink market explode from 10 million cases sold in 2019 to 60 million last year. Read: Federal regulators want state transportation officials to stop writing funny highway signs. ([WSJ]( QUIZ [Weâre on to the quiz](
[New Friday quiz image]( The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brewâs Weekly News Quiz has been compared to going to the movies by yourself. Itâs that satisfying. [Ace the quiz](. NEWS [What else is brewing](#) - [Goldman Sachs]( reportedly shut down its diversity investment program after fulfilling its $1 billion pledge.
- [Fruit Stripe]( gum was discontinued after 50 years in a blow to nostalgic chewers everywhere.
- [Sperry]( was sold to Authentic Brands Group, the brand management firm that owns Reebok, for $130 million.
- [Iran]( seized an oil tanker bound for Turkey in the Gulf of Oman in retaliation for the US confiscating the same ship and its oil last year.
- [Jewish students at Harvard]( sued the school, arguing that it didnât do enough to punish antisemitic protesters and faculty. RECS
[Friday to-do list] Watch: [The trailer]( for the 12th and final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which debuts on Feb. 4. Rev up the Weedwacker: This lawn in Sweden was named the [ugliest in the world](. Send it: The first piece of mail to be sent [with a prepaid stamp]( could be worth as much as $2.5 million at auction. Master your money: Get a grip on your finances with Money with Katieâs [2024 Wealth Planner](. Good vibes only: Rock both your worlds with [Tenuto 2]( the only doctor-recommended FDA Class II vibrator clinically proven to combat EDâand designed for powerful, two-person pleasure. [Save 25% when you buy today]( *A message from our sponsor. GAMES [The puzzle section](#) Jigsaw: Want to escape to where itâs peak summer? Sureâhereâs a [jigsaw puzzle of Antarctica](. Friday puzzle Below, you will find five sports with the letters scrambled. As you unscramble the letters to find each sport, you will find two extra letters in each. Once youâve unscrambled each sport, take the remaining 10 letters to find one last sport. - CAKESHYO
- TLTKASEBBIAL
- GLASYBALEB
- LTCAOSFBOL
- RMOCNESC 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. Weâre saying weâll 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]( ANSWER - Hockey
- Basketball
- Baseball
- Football
- Soccer And with the remaining letters: Gymnastics. [Source](. Word of the Day Todayâs Word of the Day is: chicanery, meaning âthe use of trickery to achieve a political, financial, or legal purpose.â Thanks to Haley from Richmond, VA, and many others for the honestly excellent suggestion. Submit another [Word of the Day here](. ⢠A Note From SmartAsset DISCLAIMER: [âThe Journal of Retirementâ]( (Winter 2020). The projections or other information regarding the likelihood of various investment outcomes are hypothetical in nature, do not reflect actual investment results, and are not guarantees of your future results. Please follow the link to see the methodologies employed in The Journal of Retirement study. Written by [Adam Epstein]( [Neal Freyman]( [Molly Liebergall]( [Matty Merritt]( and [Cassandra Cassidy]( Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. Interested in podcasts? - Check out ours [here]( [ADVERTISE]( // [CAREERS]( // [SHOP]( // [FAQ]( Update your email preferences or unsubscribe [here](.
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