Oct 13, 2021 Sign Up

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"Forty hour workweeks are a relic of the Industrial Age. Knowledge workers function like athletes — train and sprint, then rest and reassess." ― Naval Ravikant

Good morning! Everyone these days is either an investor or in the process of becoming an investor. Latest to jump on the bandwagon is the (royal?) couple Prince Harry & Meghan Markle, who're joining a $1.3 billion ESG fund, Ethic, based in NYC, as "impact partners." LBO gurus, Henry Kravis and George Roberts, stepped down from KKR on Monday and passed the baton to Joe Bae and Scott Nuttall, who received a cool $75 million each as part of their promotions to co-chief executive officers.

As promised, please find the Excel & PowerPoint tricks 2-pager here.

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1. Story of the Day: The JPEG Hype

The JPEG hype is real. Wait, I mean NFTs. NFT investing has become one of the hottest market trends of this year. NFTs are one-of-a-kind digital assets designed to represent ownership of online items like rare art or collectible trading cards. They aren’t fungible, meaning you can’t exchange one NFT for another like you could with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Sales of such NFTs have boomed this year. The NFT market topped $10 billion in transaction volume in the third quarter of 2021. Notable purchases include the $70 million someone shelled out for a digital collage made by artist Beeple, and the nearly $3 million another person paid for Jack Dorsey's first-ever tweet.

Naturally everyone wants in on the action, from celebrities such as Tom Brady to Reese Witherspoon, everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. 

Coinbase announced it is also launching a marketplace for NFTs. Users can sign up to a waitlist for early access to the feature. It would pit it against the largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea, that recently admitted to insider trading.

Short Squeez Takeaway: The NFT market might only be heating up. Daily sales peaked at around $268 million on Aug. 28. It could also bode good news for Coinbase stock, which has struggled since it IPO'd in April, down ~30% from its all-time high of $342. NFTs will allow it to diversify its revenue that is currently heavily reliant on exchange fees.  

Source: CNBC, Bloomberg

2. Markets Rundown

• US stocks were wavering on Tuesday as commodity prices had risen again, which could put a damper on corporate profit margins.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) MGM Resorts ($MGM) +10% after Credit Suisse upgraded the casino stock to outperform from neutral.
• (+) Sunrun ($RUN) +9% amid global worries about an energy shortage.
• (+) Airbnb ($ABNB) +4% after Cowen upgraded the stock to outperform from market perform.
• (–) CureVac ($CVAC) -5% after it withdrew its Covid-19 vaccine application in Europe.

3. Top Reads

A Message from Masterworks: Top 3 Ways to Become a Millionaire

1. Build a Real Estate Empire

2. Win the Lottery 

3. Invest in Iconic Paintings by World-Famous Artists

The first two might be a bit of stretch. But there’s a reason why 61% of ultra wealthy individuals invest in art. 

On average, contemporary artworks appreciate in value by 14% per year, which is significantly higher than the S&P 500’s 9.5% average real returns.

Thanks to Masterworks.io, the $1 billion start-up from Silicon Alley, investing in multi-million dollar paintings has never been easier. 

By securitizing iconic works by artists like Warhol, Banksy, and Basquiat, everyone can be a bona fide art investor.

Hundreds of investors already cashed in an annualized 32% return from a Banksy painting so don’t wait.

The best part? Short Squeez Subscribers get priority access with this special link*

4. Medium of the Day: 1440 Media Newsletter

Sick of biased news stories? 1440’s got you covered.

Check out 1440 — the fastest way to an impartial point of view on the news of the day. The team at 1440 scours over 100 news sources, ranging from culture and science to sports and politics, to create one email that gets you caught up on the day’s events in five minutes. According to Gallup, 51% of Americans can’t think of a news source that reports the news objectively. 

Join the more than 1 million people reading it here.

5. Short Squeez Picks

• The Happiness Expert That Made 51 Million People Happier
• Jim O'Shaughnessy talks with Kevin Zatloukal about the basics of machine learning Podcast
• Ana de Armas hitchhiked to school
  

6. Daily Visual: Biggest Movie Franchises at the US Box Office
US domestic box office revenue by movie franchise (in billion USD)

Source: Statista

7.  Daily Acumen: Propaganda

“There once was an old German education professor who also happened to be a magician. He would sometimes entertain students with an unexpected magic trick during class, like pulling a coin from a sleepy student’s ear.

If a student happened to compliment him on his ability, he'd mumble, "Keine Hexerei, nur Behändigskraft." Which means: "No magic, just craftsmanship." The craft he spoke of entails engaging the viewer in a visceral way to create a new reality and this "fantasy" reality then promotes a stronger emotional bond to the subject by diluting any detachment the viewer may have had previously.

Much like the master illusionist, the propagandist works in the same way, swaying and influencing public opinion by means of creating a disassociation between public opinion and personal opinion. In so doing he utilizes the natural confusion that results from humanity’s need to translate their beliefs into reality and creates or manipulates a supposed desire for action.

Simply put, propaganda tells you an idea is true, and then reinforces its assertion by fooling you into believing you came to the conclusion independently - or even better, that you had held the belief all along.”

Source: Owl Cation

8. Memes of the Day

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