SOCIAL MEDIA

Parler was launched in 2018 as the self-declared "premier free speech platform."

Parler Games

This illustration picture shows the social media website from Parler displayed on a computer screen.

Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

Election 2020 winners: pizza delivery, headache hats, and conservative social network Parler. The two-year-old platform has experienced a surge in popularity this month as other social media companies cracked down on election misinformation.

Last week, it topped the download charts on Apple and Android devices, and its user base more than doubled to 10 million. Founder and CEO John Matze, who is just 27-years-old, told Fox News "people are tired" of Silicon Valley censorship.

A quick history

November 16, 2020

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TOGETHER WITH

Good morning. DeAndre Hopkins—if you're reading this, nice catch.

MARKETS YTD PERFORMANCE

NASDAQ

11,829.29

+ 31.84%

S&P

3,585.15

+ 10.97%

DJIA

29,479.81

+ 3.30%

GOLD

1,886.30

+ 24.10%

10-YR

0.895%

- 102.50 bps

OIL

40.46

- 33.90%

*As of market close

Markets: The S&P begins this week having closed at a record on Friday. Two things could be driving stock prices higher: 1) optimism about the arrival of an effective Covid-19 vaccine and 2) stronger than expected corporate earnings. Also, a reminder that the figures you see above are year-to-date changes.
Covid-19: The U.S. has now topped 11 million coronavirus cases. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced new restrictions last night, including the temporary closure of indoor dining, movie theaters, and casinos.

Parler was launched in 2018 as the self-declared "premier free speech platform." Its interface is similar to Twitter's, but with some key differences:

Parler collects little user data and shirks recommendation algorithms (posts are displayed in reverse-chronological order).
Users filter content they don't want to see, and volunteer "community jurors" enforce infrequent policy violations.

Parler was envisioned as a libertarian platform for conservatives who felt censored by social media platforms, and it gained high-profile users including Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo, talk show host Dan Bongino, and Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. Rebekah Mercer, daughter of hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, is one of the company's early financial backers.

No labeling here

On Thursday, the Anti-Defamation League said that while Parler is not an extremist platform, it's home to a growing extremist base that spreads conspiracy theories (like QAnon) and other false, racist, and antisemitic content.

And now, election misinformation. Facebook and Twitter have taken unprecedented steps to limit the spread of misinformation and label misleading posts with context. But less content moderation on Parler = more room for inaccurate or misleading election stories to move there, including unsubstantiated allegations of widespread voter fraud.

Big picture: Compared to Twitter's 187 million daily users and Facebook’s 1.8 billion across its platforms, Parler is still a small fish. And to turn its post-election "moment" into longer-term success, it'll need to poach big personalities from the preeminent social platforms—that'll be tough without an algorithmic feed showcasing top creators.

TRADE

The Free Trade Club Just Got a Little Less Exclusive

NHAC NGUYEN/AFP via Getty Images

On Sunday, 15 Asian-Pacific countries docusigned one of the largest free trade deals in history, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The goal of RCEP is to reduce trade barriers and boost activity after the coronavirus gave the global economy a buzzcut.

Why it matters: The pact will form the largest free-trade bloc in the world, encompassing about a third of all economic activity. Most importantly, it includes China—the largest economy in the region.

The U.S. didn't get the invite. Years ago, the Obama administration tried to push through an ambitious free trade deal in the Asia-Pacific region, the TPP. However, 2016 presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both opposed the deal, and it never saw the light of day.

Looking ahead...RCEP presents a challenge for President-elect Joe Biden, who will try and reassert U.S. influence in the Asia-Pacific region to counter China.

POLITICS

Biden Dresses for Transitional Weather

A photograph of Joe Biden speaking at a podium

Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

President-elect Joe Biden is technically still waiting to launch his official transition. But last week, he got the ball rolling and announced a diverse team of over 500 experts who'll lay the policy groundwork so he can hit the Resolute desk as soon as the inauguration champagne buzz clears up.

Over half the team is women and over 40% are from historically underrepresented groups, including racial minorities, people who identify as LGBTQ, and people with disabilities.
Black men and women lead over a quarter of "landing teams."

Why that matters: This summer's protests put a national spotlight on systemic racism. Within their economic transition teams, Biden and VP-elect Kamala Harris have tapped experts in racial inequality, including...

The Color of Money author Mehrsa Baradaran (Treasury Department transition)
Michigan State econ professor Lisa Cook (Fed, banking and securities regulation)
Greater Washington Black Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Tene Dolphin (Commerce Department)

Zoom out: Biden will become president in the middle of a pandemic and economic crisis. Read up on the economic advisors he's reportedly considering to steer the recovery.

Keep It Fresh

Trying to understand investing today can feel a bit like climbing Mt. Everest—without a sherpa.

So we teamed up with our friends at Fidelity to help guide us—and other young investors out there—on everything from investing trends to economic shifts to the pandemic’s effect on the market.

Introducing, Fresh Invest: What to Know When Investing Today—a limited podcast series hosted by our very own Alex Lieberman, CEO of Morning Brew (you know, the media company behind this here newsletter).

Each week, Alex and a guest from Fidelity will dig into an oh so fresh topic as it relates to investing today, and answer some of the biggest questions on the minds of young investors.

In this week’s episode, Alex and Konstantin Vrandopulo, a trading strategy desk representative for Fidelity, and Dan Nathan, principal of Risk Reversal Advisors, review the market shifts that occur in a post-election world.

Through an apolitical lens, Alex and his guests discuss how you may want to financially prepare post-election, what the effects are on markets, and how to decide what you may want to invest in and when.

Tune in right here.

ENTERTAINMENT

Crazy Anime Stats

Giphy

Here we were thinking everyone was watching The Queen's Gambit, but no—turns out chess content is just a blip compared to Japanese anime.

Anime is going from niche → mainstream faster than air fryers, according to the WSJ:

More than 100 million households around the world watched at least one anime title on Netflix in the year to September 2020.
Anime titles have appeared in Netflix's top 10 list in almost 100 countries this year.
Overseas revenues at Toei Animation, the Japanese studio behind the classic "Dragon Ball" franchise, have grown from 33% of the total to about 50% in the last four years.

Looking ahead...expect anime's global reach to keep expanding. Netflix has 16 projects currently in the works, and HBO Max recently added the catalog of Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli. Ghibli's films, such as Oscar-winner Spirited Away, have often served as a gateway to other anime content.

CALENDAR

Week Ahead: New Format, Who Dis

Heads up—we switched up the Week Ahead format this week. Why? Well, as Catch-22 and Christopher Nolan have shown, sometimes chronological order isn't the best way to present information.

So we're trying out a more "theme"-based approach, simply because we're convinced it'll be a better experience for you. Let us know what you think!

Earnings: We're just about ready to put Q3 earnings season in the rearview, but not before retailers including Walmart, Target, and Home Depot report their financials early this week.

Economic data: Retail is the main focus here, too. Retail sales for October will be released on Tuesday, which will tell us more about the strength of the American consumer. So far, consumer spending has bounced back significantly from pandemic lows.

Vaccine: Moderna could release data from its coronavirus vaccine's phase 3 trial as soon as this week, Dr. Fauci said. Fauci thinks the numbers will likely indicate positive results, considering Moderna's vaccine is similar in design to the one created by Pfizer and BioNTech, which appears to have greater than 90% efficacy.

Everything else: Barack Obama releases his new memoir Tuesday and the NBA Draft is on Wednesday.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

SpaceX launched four astronauts to the International Space Station in a milestone for the country's commercial space ambitions.
PNC is in talks to buy the U.S. arm of Spanish lender BBVA, per the WSJ.
Dustin Johnson won The Masters at -20, the tournament’s lowest score ever.
BioNTech’s CEO said the coronavirus vaccine his company co-developed with Pfizer could “bash the virus over the head.”
New Kim, a Belgian racing pigeon, was sold for a record $1.9 million at auction.