Media Edition: Epic disruption unfolding

BEFORE THE OPEN

Markets:

• Stock futures little changed in overnight trading.

• Dow futures down 0.06%, S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures slip 0.1% and 0.13%.

• Dow rises for sixth day, highest close of the year.

• S&P 500 jumps 0.39%, Nasdaq Composite up 0.93%.

• Utilities lead S&P sectors with 1.18% loss.

• AT&T hits lowest levels since 1993, down 6.7%.

• Earnings day: Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Bank of New York Mellon, PNC Financial, Lockheed Martin, J.B. Hunt.

• Inflation data supports soft-landing scenario.

EARNINGS

What we’re watching this week:

• Today: Bank of America (BAC), Charles Schwab (SCHW), Hasbro (HAS), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Morgan Stanley (MS)

• Wednesday: Netfilx (NFLX), Tesla (TSLA) - Discover Financial Services (DFS), Goldman Sachs (GS)

• Thursday: American Airlines (AAL), Blackstone (BX) Capital One Financial (COF), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Phillip Morris Int’l (PM)

• Friday: American Express (AXP)

• Full earnings calendar here

NEWS BRIEFING

:: Media Edition

Media In Turmoil, And That's Not
Changing Any Time Soon...

 Bob Iger Shifts From Building an
Empire to a Disney Yard Sale

• Prolonged Hollywood strikes could lead to ‘an absolute collapse,’ says IAC’s Barry Diller (more)

• It's the first time in 60 years both actors and writers’ unions are striking together. Here's why Hollywood is on strike:

  • Actors and writers seeking increases in base pay plus greater share of earnings from shows appearing on streaming services.

  • Both also seeking protections against studios using A.I. to replace their jobs.

  • Writers say pay has fallen over past decade; they’re seeking a minimum commitment of six writers and 13 weeks of work for each show, plus 5% increase in base pay and additional compensation for hit shows on streaming, which they say studios rejected in negotiations.

  • Additional demands by actors include compensation for auditions that they record themselves.

  • SAG President Fran Drescher said compensation from streaming is key issue as online video entertainment takes predominance over broadcast and cable TV.

• Moguls bask in Sun Valley luxury while industry shuts down (more)

• This was the week Hollywood elevated AI to Supervillain status (more)

• AI could make movies better? (more)

• Where have all the billion-dollar movies gone? Disney, other studios have come up short this year (more)

• Netflix shielded from Hollywood strike by global crew, strong pipeline (more)

News:

• Yellen does not see recession in U.S. (more)

• Elizabeth Warren urges SEC to investigate Tesla over Twitter ties, corporate governance (more)

• U.S. lawmakers extend social media investigation to Meta’s Threads (more)

• Teamsters leader tells Biden to butt out of labor talks with UPS as strike looms (more)

• Russia pulls out of Black Sea grain deal in blow to global food supplies (more)

• BlackRock names Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser to board (more)

• Ford Cuts Price on Electric Version of F-150 Truck by Up to 17% (more)

• An agricultural deal that guarantees food security for tens of millions is set to expire on Monday as Russia debates renewal (more)

• Microsoft, UK Antitrust Agency Ask Court for Pause to Consider Activision Tweaks (more)

• Microsoft signs agreement to keep Call of Duty on Playstation (more)

• Eli Lilly expects FDA decision on Alzheimer’s treatment donanemab by the end of the year (more)

• US home prices are nearing new record highs as inventory drops to all-time low (more)

• Forget ‘tipflation’: Restaurant surcharges are a ‘hidden tax’ (more)

DEALFLOW

• Black Knight-ICE merger hopes fueled by unit sale ahead of FTC fight (more)

• Boyu agrees to buy $600M medical device maker Quasar (more)

• Kingspan to buy majority stake in German building firm Steico (more)

• HyAxiom completes $150M private placement (more)

• Arrive Recommerce raises $16M in Series A funding (more)

• Herself Health raises $26M in Series A funding (more)

• Torch Dental Raises $28M in Funding (more)

• Runway raises $27.5M in Series A funding (more)

• Septerna raises $150M in Series B financing (more)

• Figure raises $9M equity investment from Intel Capital (more)

• ToolJet raises funding (more)

• SpeedyBrand secures $2.5M in funding (more)

• Westlake Village BioPartners closes $450M fund (more)

• Big Health acquires Limbix (more)

• OfColor receives investment from Financial Finesse Ventures (more)

• Bluesky raises $8M in Seed funding (more)

• Sound raises $20M in Series A funding (more)

• Phreesia buys MediFind (more)

• ProcessUnity and CyberGRX merge (more)

• BigScoots receives investment from Stone-Goff Partners (more)

• Shardeum closes $5.4M funding round (more)

• Botanica raises $9M in Series B funding (more)

• RealDefense acquires Support.com (more)

CRYPTO

• Jack Dorsey's Block is building a sci-fi style crypto wallet to keep Bitcoin safe (more)

• Celsius crypto fire sale is starting: $63M out of $160M sent to exchange (more)

• Ripple says U.S. banks will want to use XRP cryptocurrency after partial victory in SEC fight (more)

• Financial Stability Board Calls for Tougher Global Crypto Rules After Year of Turmoil (more)

BULLISH BITES

💎  From A Bankrupt Realtor To A $900M Empire: Three lessons learned breaking down Dave Ramsey’s business empire (read more)

🦈 You Shouldn’t ‘Have To Work Your Buns Off To Get Rich’: Barbara Corcoran says the thought never crossed her mind. The Shark Tank star doesn't subscribe to the belief that outworking the rest of the population is the only way to get ahead (read more)

SHARES

See you in the morning 😎 -mb