🍟 McDonald’s app-y holidays

…and crypto vibes get complicated [Disclosures](   McFishing for deals (Rafael Henrique/Getty Images)   Yesterday’s Market Moves   Dow Jones 33,781 (+0.55%) S&P 500 3,964 (+0.75%) Nasdaq 11,082 (+1.13%) Bitcoin $17,218 (+2.24%) Dow Jones 33,781 (+0.55%) S&P 500 3,964 (+0.75%) Nasdaq 11,082 (+1.13%) Bitcoin $17,218 (+2.24%) Hey Snackers, Imagine you’re winding down for a relaxing Friday evening when [Apple]( sends you a notification: state-sponsored spies are snooping on your iPhone. Sounds like a Liam Neeson thriller, actually a new [iMessage alert]( for users who face “extraordinary digital threats.” US stocks snapped a five-day losing streak yesterday (the S&P 500’s longest since October). Investors have eyes on next week’s Fed rate meeting and November inflation numbers. McDeal McDonald's serves up beefy holiday promos to drive app traffic (and ease drive-thru guilt) 50-cent Big Macs… for life. As inflation bites into budgets, fast-food giants are unwrapping deals to lure customers. This week [McDonald’s]( kicked off its holiday promos, [offering]( three weeks of perks for its app loyalty members. Last season, McD’s teamed up with Christmas queen Mariah Carey to promo 12 days of freebies for app users. This year the McFlurry icon is offering deals like $0.50 Big Macs and a chance to win free food for life. It’s a tasty strategy: - McDonald’s loyalty program has 25M+ US members, despite launching just last year. For reference: [Chipotle]( has 30M loyalty members and [Starbucks]( has 28M. - Nearly two-thirds of McD’s US members had used the app in the three months leading up to September. Last quarter, digital transactions made up half of McDonald’s sales. The (loyal) consumer combo… From IHOP to Taco Bell to Panera, fast-casual brands are turning to loyalty programs to drive app downloads and court new customers. Digital orders make up a third of total US restaurant sales, up from less than a quarter prepandemic. 57% of restaurants offer some sort of loyalty club, and 41% of consumers say those programs encourage them to spend. A sweet bonus for brands: they can use customer app data to personalize offers. THE TAKEAWAY Rewards are guilt soothers… Nabbing a free drink at Starbucks makes it easier to swallow the $30 you spent on lattes that month, and hitting the McDonald’s drive-thru rather than eating in is easier when you feel like you’re getting a deal. Like many businesses, McDonald’s has hiked prices to offset rising costs. Now it’s leveraging loyalty to keep customers hungry. Coined Americans start souring on crypto while institutional investors like Goldman go shopping Taking a temp check… when the situation's already heated. A new [survey]( suggests that Americans are increasingly skeptical of crypto. Only 8% of respondents had a positive view (down from 19% in March), while 43% had a negative view (up from 25%). The timing of the survey, conducted late last month, may have something to do with those #s. Earlier in November FTX collapsed spectacularly, and the ensuing [contagion]( likely made some investors crypto-phobic. But the cold symptoms started earlier: - Market slap: A late-spring selloff, ignited by the collapse of the terraUSD algo stablecoin, ended with crypto's market cap down $2T from its high last year. - Blockpain: A [study]( published last month estimated that, between 2015 and 2022, 80% of retail investors lost money on [bitcoin](. (FYI: the study used crypto app downloads, most of which happened when BTC was over $20K.) When the going gets tough… big money goes shopping. While some institutional investors (like Canada’s biggest pension fund) are said to be stepping back from crypto, others are whipping out their checkbooks. This week [Goldman Sachs]( said it plans to spend tens of millions investing in, or outright buying, crypto companies. And at least one crypto exchange, Bitstamp, said it saw a 57% increase in November in institutional registrations over the previous month. THE TAKEAWAY It's easy to be "crypto curious" when times are good… Last year, more than 60% of US adults said they were planning on buying crypto or wanted to learn more. Crypto's no longer at its high, and the economy’s not doing so hot either. The performance of public crypto-first cos like [Coinbase]( — which recently said it expected annual revenue to be down 50% from last year — could provide insight into whether America’s dim view of crypto is sticking. Party The Crypto Catch-Up… - 📸 Flashy… Crypto's faithful [descended]( on Miami for Art Basel, and even FTX's collapse couldn’t sour the mood (too much). Attendees collected discarded FTX swag as souvenirs (picture: T-shirts in trash bags) and partied to a Grimes DJ set. - 🤖 Techy… The September [merge]( promised to cut [ethereum]( energy usage by more than 99%. A [new study]( suggests it succeeded — reducing the blockchain's energy consumption by an Ireland-sized amount (thanks, proof of stake). - 🪙 Coins… A judge ordered bankrupt crypto lender Celsius to return $44M to its customers. For now, only crypto held in custody accounts (read: not yield-bearing) falls under the order. Celsius still owes its customers billions. What else we're Snackin' - [Game]( Call of regulatory duty? The FTC sued [Microsoft]( to block its $75B plan to buy “Call of Duty” maker [Activision]( and prevent it from “gaining control over a leading independent game studio and using it to harm competition.” - [iAsk]( Foxconn, the world’s largest iPhone assembler, helped persuade Chinese leaders to loosen strict Covid policies, a WSJ report said. Foxconn’s revenue sagged last quarter after lockdowns on its factory. - [Tight]( The legging-palooza may be winding down: [Lululemon]( shares fell yesterday after the athleisure star gave an underwhelming forecast for this quarter, despite reporting better-than-expected growth. - [Share]( All’s well that ends shared? The Pentagon awarded its JEDI cloud contract (which could total $9B) to [Google]( [Amazon]( [Oracle]( and Microsoft. Microsoft originally won, but rivals challenged the decision. - [Media]( [BuzzFeed]( plans to cut 180 staffers to help it “weather an economic downturn” as other news companies like CNN and [Gannett]( lay off hundreds. Meanwhile, [NYT]( journalists staged a historic strike yesterday. 🍪 Thanks for Snacking with us! Want to share the Snacks? Invite your friends to sign up [here](. Snack Fact Of the Day Last month the median rent for a Manhattan apartment hit $4K [Read more]( Friday - Earnings expected from Johnson Outdoors Authors of this Snacks own: bitcoin and ethereum and shares of Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Starbucks ID: 2632067 Robinhood Snacks newsletters reflect the opinions of only the authors who are associated persons of Robinhood Financial LLC (Member [SIPC]( and do not reflect the views of Robinhood Markets, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. They are for informational purposes only, and are not a recommendation of an investment strategy or to buy or sell any security, digital asset (cryptocurrency, etc) in any account. They are also not research reports and are not intended to serve as the basis for any investment decision. Any third-party information provided therein does not reflect the views of Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, or any of their subsidiaries or affiliates. 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