Trade Like George Santos

Plus: You’re never too young for the metaverse. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

February 8, 2023

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TOGETHER WITH

Good morning.

DC is the new SF. Following a brutal season of layoffs in Silicon Valley, San Francisco is losing its crown as the hottest job market for software programmers and developers to the swamp, as folks outside the beltway unkindly refer to our nation’s capital. Some 3,815 tech jobs were listed in the Washington, D.C. region at the end of last year, according to workplace data firm Vertis AI, while San Francisco saw just 2,369 postings — meaning techies will soon be flocking some 2,400 miles across the country to chase new jobs.

Along the way, we’re sure at least a handful will think up a new, unnecessarily-convoluted business that purports to solve all the inefficiencies of U-Haul while inevitably creating an entirely new stack of thoroughly annoying problems.

Morning Brief

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Start trading like Nancy and Ted with these new ETFs.

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How do you do, fellow meta-kids.

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The NFL is throwing an international Hail Mary.

Stocks

ETFs Allow Investors to Follow Washington’s Stock Choices

Ever wanted to play the market like your favorite member of Congress? Well now you can!

Subversive Capital Advisor has partnered with Unusual Whales, an options flow service, to create two ETFs that mirror stock trades among Democratic and Republican members of Congress. They’ve been affectionately named NANC and KRUZ. We’ll let you guess which is which. The ETFs are intended to make a political statement — and earn you a tidy sum in the process, because somehow the gentlemen and gentlewomen of Congress manage to outperform the market year in and year out.

The House Always Wins

As the founders of the ETFs are quick to point out, it’s mind-boggling that Congressional members and their families are allowed to trade stocks at all. They’re elected legislators with a bevy of information unavailable to the public. Whenever lawmakers make bank on the market, they attribute it to “well-timed trades.” Voters and even plenty of fellow lawmakers are skeptical, feeling that having a desk in the capitol comes with a free pass to insider trading.

There is the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, but all that does is require members of Congress to report investments of more than $1,000 in 45 days. Subversive and Unusual Whales are looking to level the playing field with their new ETFs, which each contain about 400 holdings — as well as call attention to the curiously sharp investing acumen of our elected leaders. With many members of Congress consistently outperforming the stock market, the two groups are offering an “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” approach:

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A New York Times investigation found that in 2020, the wife of California Rep. Alan Lowenthal sold shares in Boeing. The next day, a house committee on which Lowenthal sat released damaging findings on two fatal 737 Max jet crashes. And even when the law does catch up to this kind of activity, there’s often little consequence, like when New York Rep. Chris Collins pleaded guilty to providing his son with insider information. He served two months in jail before being pardoned.

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For years, there’s been a bipartisan push from lawmakers to ban trading among its ranks. Members like Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia and Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas have been spearheading the TRUST in Congress Act, which would require serving lawmakers and their family members to put investment assets into a blind trust where they can’t influence how they are managed.

While Subversive Portfolio Manager Christian H. Cooper can applaud those efforts, he doesn’t have much faith in them. “The idea that Congress will come together and limit their own access to markets — certainly, that’s the hope — but the reality is they can’t even legalize weed, and that polls at, like, 70%,” he told The Daily Upside.

Bet it All on Red: The difference between Democrats and Republicans – when it comes to trading at least – is that liberals like ideas, while conservatives like more tangible products, according to Cooper. “Certainly Republicans (are playing the market better),” he said. “They’re all in energy, and Democrats are in tech. So if rates are going up, and there’s a war in Europe, energy is going to outperform tech.”

– Griffin Kelly

Tech

Meta Needs Teenagers To Save The Metaverse

(Photo Credit: TINCON/Flickr)

Zuck believes the children are our future — and the metaverse’s.

A memo obtained by The Wall Street Journal shows Meta is planning to throw the age gate wide open on its metaverse app Horizon Worlds and allow teenagers 13 and up to use the service, which until now was only available to people over the age of 18. The move echoes previous haphazard attempts by Meta to win the younger generation over to its social media products, whose user bases are aging Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade-style as time… TikToks away.

Broadening Horizon

Horizon is Meta’s first attempt to build a VR social network. Users interact with avatars and are allowed to build their own environments or “worlds.” It has received extremely mixed reactions from both reviewers and Meta’s own employees, with criticisms ranging from the entertainingly janky (one Wired writer chronicled a disastrous attempt at throwing a holiday party) to the predictably bleak, as within a week of Horizon World’s opening to the public a female researcher reported a groping incident.

Horizon has also struggled to hold on to the few users it has, and sources told the WSJ that user monthly retention rates sat at 11% in January, a number Meta wants to get up to 20% per the leaked memo. And that’s not all:

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Meta wants to get Horizon’s active user base up to 500,000 by the end of H1 and then 1 million by year-end. It currently has just over 200,000 users, sources told the WSJ.

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Key to drawing in more users of all ages will be developing more games and experiences inside Horizon to keep them entertained. For this Meta is relying on second-party studios — not surprising given the company recently gutted its workforce.

Child’s Play: Another tactic the company is using to bring more people to its embryonic metaverse: make it less… metaversey. The memo seen by the WSJ said Meta wants to make a 2D version of the metaverse to run on phones and desktops. So after spending billions to pioneer the next iteration of digital technology, the company is basically falling back on inventing The Sims.

– Isobel Asher Hamilton

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Sports Media

The NFL and DAZN Complete Deal to Bring Football to the World

Hey, Planet Earth, are you ready for some football? And no, not futbol, footy, or soccer. But good old-fashioned, pig-skinned, red-blooded, helmet-smashing, All-American football.

You better be. On Tuesday, ahead of its biggest weekend of the year, the NFL announced a deal with sports streaming service DAZN to distribute its games in most of the rest of the world. Somewhere deep inside the league offices on Park Avenue, Roger Gooddell, we presume, is doing the Griddy dance.

Outkicking Your Coverage

Despite its immense popularity stateside, the NFL has long failed to establish any sort of consistent ground game as a global cultural export. But doing so is practically pure luxury. Most Americans don’t even need to be in a confession booth to admit that football is their favorite Sunday ritual, and that undying devotion has easily propelled the NFL to claim the title of “world’s most lucrative sports league” by far. Last season the league generated some $18 billion (handily topping second-place MLB’s $11 billion), though achieving $1 billion in annual revenue from global sources remains one of the league’s goals.

The new partnership with DAZN, which will last 10 years starting next season, will deliver NFL games to the service’s 15 million majority-international subscriber base, in nearly every market excluding China. It’s the latest move from the NFL to make its product as accessible as possible:

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In December, YouTube and the NFL agreed on a seven-year, $2 billion-per-season partnership for the former to carry Sunday NFL Ticket — a popular subscription package, currently in its last season with DirecTV, that grants fans access to all out-of-market Sunday afternoon games.

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Amazon, meanwhile, just completed its first season as the exclusive home of Thursday Night Football, after reportedly agreeing to pay roughly $1.2 billion for 11 years. However, the transition from traditional TV to streaming saw ratings fall from around 16.4 million average TNF viewers to just 9.6 million, according to Nielsen — well below the almost 13 million Amazon had reportedly promised advertisers.

Bet on It: Of course, it wouldn’t be Super Bowl weekend without yet another new record set for cumulative bets placed. Over 50 million Americans are expected to place some $16 billion worth of legal and illegal wagers on Sunday’s big game, according to the American Gaming Association — far, far eclipsing last year’s $7.6 billion. If a presumably non-partisan viewer gets unusually heated at your watch party this weekend, it’s a safe bet that FanDuel is the reason why.

– Brian Boyle

Extra Upside

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Where does all that extra Super Bowl food from State Farm Stadium go?

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Cage match: It’s Maine lobstermen vs environmental groups in a fight over the fishing industry.

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Sound on.

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