Big news at the Brew

MARKETS

• Fed: Chair Jerome Powell is expected to celebrate our podcast launch by cutting interest rates for the second time since July. Then it’s off to the podium where he’ll explain the central bank’s decision in an afternoon press conference.
• More Fed: For the first time since 2008, the New York Federal Reserve plowed billions of dollars in cash into the U.S. financial system to tame surging short-term interest rates. It's planning to inject another $75 billion today.
• Oil: Prices dropped yesterday after the Saudi energy minister said oil output would recover to pre-attack levels by the end of the month.

MEDIA

New Fronts in the Streaming Wars

Comcast (+0.86%) cannonballed into the video streaming wars yesterday when it revealed the name of the streaming service it’s debuting in April 2020. The name’s “Peacock,” a nod to NBC’s logo. Our upcoming streaming service? “Chart Mug.”

Short on details, long on nostalgia: We don’t know the exact date or Peacock’s pricing (other than it's free for Comcast cable subscribers), but NBCUniversal is aiming to have a library of 15,000 hours of content at launch. Some of its new offerings:

• Saved by the Bell and Punky Brewster reboots
• A Battlestar Galactica adaptation
• A series based on Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World starring Demi Moore

But don’t call it a pivot to sci-fi—NBCUniversal has also pulled turn-it-on-while-folding-laundry classics from Netflix like The Office (costing $100 million/year) and Parks and Recreation when those shows’ current Netflix deals expire toward the end of 2020.

Netflix can’t seem to make ’em stay. Friends is headed to WarnerMedia's HBO Max for $425 million. Netflix hopes to fill the '90s New York sitcom hole with Seinfeld, whose rights it secured this week for over $500 million. And speaking of WarnerMedia...

Pricey Sheldon

Yesterday, HBO Max nabbed the exclusive rights to stream The Big Bang Theory domestically as part of a broader TV deal reportedly worth billions. Netflix still has the rights abroad.

• The series ended as broadcast’s No. 1 scripted half-hour series in the crucial “avocado toast and renting forever” demographic—adults ages 18–49.

What’s going on: As tech invades Hollywood, every company launching a streaming service is rushing to lock down your favorite series and produce original content.

The winner in all this? TV creators. So quit stalling and submit that pilot.

SHIPPING

We Have a FedEx Earnings Story for You

...but you weren’t home at 11:36am so you’ll have to pick it up at a local facility.

FedEx missed fiscal Q1 forecasts yesterday and lowered its outlook for fiscal 2020. Earnings per share came out to $3.05, well under analysts’ projected $3.16. Shares fell more than 9% after hours.

What’s going on, Mr. Boss Man Sir? “Our performance continues to be negatively impacted by a weakening global macro environment driven by increasing trade tensions and policy uncertainty,” Chairman and CEO Fred Smith said in a statement.

• In other words: This trade war is not great for our business.

But it’s not just the U.S.-China skirmish...

• In August, FedEx ended its ground shipping contract with Amazon, which has now become a logistics rival.
• FedEx is also working to smooth out a rocky integration of Dutch courier company TNT. Smith said the fruits of that acquisition wouldn’t come until summer 2021.

And...you might want to order your holiday gifts now. Earlier in the day, FedEx said it plans to increase rates on some consumer shipping services.

INTERNATIONAL

Sustainable Development Grades Are in, and Bill Is Not Pleased

The Gates Foundation just gave the world a C- for efforts to reduce poverty...but added there might be extra credit opportunities.

Yesterday, the foundation released its Goalkeepers report card, which benchmarks progress toward the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This year, the report spotlighted global inequality.

The backstory: Education, health, and child mortality are improving overall, but progress isn’t evenly distributed between countries or even across districts within a country.

Some numbers:

• More children die in Chad per day than in Finland per year.
• In India’s Kollam district, 1% of children die; in its Budaun district, 8% die.
• Women’s unpaid care work is estimated at $10 trillion annually.

What the foundation suggests: Prioritizing human capital investments for girls and the regions that have been left furthest behind.

Zoom out: Bill is happy to have some philanthropic work to point to right now. On Tuesday, he admitted to Axios that he wishes he’d never met with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

NATIONAL SECURITY

The DOJ Judges Snowden’s Book by Its Cover

We probably won’t add this one to the Pumpkin Spice Author Series.

On Tuesday, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden published his memoir, Permanent Record. Then, the U.S. government filed a civil lawsuit against Snowden and his publishers in district court.

The DOJ wasn’t just angry about a dedication snub. Intelligence employees and contractors have to submit books to their agencies for pre-publication review. Snowden and his team didn’t, so the government is calling foul on a nondisclosure agreement Snowden signed while working for intelligence agencies.

• Snowden is...not known for sticking to NDAs. This is the same guy who’s been hiding in Russia for six years after facilitating one of the U.S.’ largest leaks of classified government documents.
• Snowden’s lawyer claims the book wouldn’t have gotten a fair review.

The DOJ is not trying to stop the book from being released (that’s called a First Amendment violation). Rather, it’s hoping to recoup profits and royalties and to stop Snowden from talking about it.

WOW

Stats That Make You Go..."Wow"

1. The NYT podcast The Daily hit 1 billion total downloads last week, Executive Producer Theo Balcomb tells Axios. It also gets more than 2 million downloads per day on average. We’ll get there soon…
2. MIT researchers have created a material that is 10x blacker than any other material ever recorded. The foil captures at least 99.995% of incoming light.
3. More from MIT: Cement production accounts for about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. As a country, it would be the third-largest emitter.
4. Highclere Castle, the main filming location for Downton Abbey, is being listed on Airbnb for a one-night stay on Nov. 26. However, you must obey the “strictly one butler per person” rule.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Cokie Roberts, a pioneering female journalist, died yesterday from complications from breast cancer at 75.
• The Trump administration is expected today to revoke a rule that allows California to set stricter car emissions standards than the federal government.
• Juul said sales of its products have been paused on e-commerce sites in China. They just went on sale in the country last week.
• Amazon (+0.81%) announced a new tier of its Amazon Music streaming service to include tens of millions of songs with higher quality sound.

BREAKROOM

For the 'Gram
Your favorite hump day tradition: remembering why you flunked Mrs. Roy's 8th grade English class. The WSJ editors have provided four slightly incorrect sentences. Can you figure out the grammar error in each?

1. Warner, for example, is recreating its comedies “Miss Congeniality” and “Blended” through a production venture in China.
2. “There’s fiber in there, which is missing from peoples’ diets altogether,” Mr. Leonti said.
3. As a person with ties to public officials and money, Mr. Low’s account drew close scrutiny.
4. This sunk in while watching the sun set on Half Dome from a meadow.

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Breakroom Answers


For the 'Gram
1. Re-creating not recreating. That means to play.
2. People's not peoples'.
3. Beware of the dangler! An account is not a person.
4. Sank in.