From tech to toilet paper

MARKETS

• Durable goods: Orders for those long-lasting and expensive items (think machinery for factories) declined 4.4% in October, their biggest drop in 15 months. That's not what economists were looking for.
• Energy: Oil prices clawed back gains after hitting their lowest level in months this week. What's got traders in the holiday spirit? New data showing strong demand for refined fuel.

STOCKS

Clorox, You Never Looked So Good

"Goodbye iPhones and Facebook feed. Hello power plants and bleach."

That's the hook for yesterday's AP story on investors reshuffling funds during the stock market's latest episode of turbulence.

And, hey, with a start like that...the rest of the story has to be pretty good, too. So let's dive in.

As tech slumps, safer bets are becoming more popular

Amazon and Apple went bull (market) riding all the way up to $1 trillion market caps, but fears of slower growth and potential regulation knocked hundreds of billions off big tech companies' collective market values.

So where is that money going? Well, some of it's heading toward those rock-steady, never-gonna-let-you-down utility stocks.

• Last week, $1.47 billion was invested in ETFs focused on utilities.
• As of yesterday, Duke Energy, American Electric Power, and Xcel Energy shares were all up over 9% since the S&P took a turn for the worse on Sept. 20, says the AP.

Utilities aren't the only stocks getting more love

Other sectors considered more stable bets (like consumer staples) are seeing inflows, too. Investors poured $1.3 billion into "low-volatility" ETFs last week.

It's like going to an amusement park and ditching Wicked Twister for the lazy river. The ride might not be a thrill, but at least you won't throw up afterwards.

There's a lesson to be learned here, says the NYT's Neil Irwin. While "bad things happen all the time in the economy, and in markets...usually, the damage is localized to the industries directly affected."

HOSPITALITY

Airbnb Wades Into Conflict in the Middle East

Some in the Israeli government are calling for a boycott of the vacation rental service, and others are encouraging legal action.

Why the backlash? Because on Monday, Airbnb said it would delist 200 properties in Israeli settlements in the West Bank "at the core of the dispute between the Israelis and Palestinians." Israel considers the territory in the West Bank disputed, while most of the world considers the settlements illegal.

• Israel says Airbnb made a "discriminatory decision" to remove these listings, and "surrendered" to pressure from groups seeking to boycott the country—a movement known as BDS. FYI, 25 U.S. states have laws prohibiting the boycott of Israeli goods and services.
• Palestinian authorities, human rights groups, and anti-settlement advocates applauded Airbnb's decision. One Palestinian official called it "an initial, positive step."

Zoom out: Israeli newspaper Haaretz notes that Airbnb might have a difficult time enforcing its policy. It relies on Google Maps, which "makes no clear distinction between Jewish settlements and Palestinian communities in the West Bank."

INTERNATIONAL

They Like Shopping Around the World, Too

The Brew is partnering with the infographic wizards at Statista to visualize the most interesting stories happening in business and the economy.

Americans—next time someone from another country teases you for your shallow, materialistic ways...just show them this chart. Because, as it turns out, having a massive turkey hangover is not a prerequisite for spending lots of money on Black Friday.

It's quite the international phenomenon...

PAYMENTS

Amazon Pay: (Potentially) Coming to a Retailer Near You

Amazon's (+1.42%) attitude this season? Take no prisoners. It's reportedly lobbying brick-and-mortar retailers to start accepting its Amazon Pay digital wallet, per the WSJ. The move would expand a service that has primarily lived online into physical retail.

Quick vocab break: Digital wallet, (n.)—An electronic account to which consumers upload credit/debit card information. Can be used for online payments and in brick-and-mortar retail using a phone's wireless connection at a tap-and-go terminal.

• Pro tip: Do a couple tap-and-go test runs at your local CVS before taking your talents to Target on Black Friday. We don't want any Brew readers getting verbally abused for holding up the line.

Here's a question, Bezos: When you run e-commerce, the cloud, etc., why get into digital wallets? After all, fewer than 1% of all U.S. card transactions last year used them. Well, Amazon's thinking the best time to get some skin in the game is when the competition is slim.

And who's the competition? Mostly PayPal, Visa Checkout, and Apple Pay (which was accepted in-store at more than 5 million U.S. locations as of May), but the field's growing.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Amazon told some customers it exposed their names and emails in a "technical error."
• Mark Zuckerberg said he plans on keeping his role as the chairman of Facebook's (+1.80%) board, despite recent questions re: his leadership capabilities.
• Ikea will cut thousands of jobs (but create even more new ones) in a broad restructuring.
• An Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund has sued Goldman Sachs (+0.66%) for playing a "central role" and enabling bribery in the 1MDB corruption scandal.
• GameStop shares jumped 11.6% after it announced it'll sell its Spring Mobile business for $700 million.
• Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson's pay-per-view golf match tomorrow will be a big test for AT&T's WarnerMedia.

BREAKROOM

From the Crew
We have a correction to make. But first, some advice: Don't mess with the cosmos. In yesterday's "busiest travel days of the year" section, we wrote that yesterday was November 20. But for Nov. 20 to occur yesterday as well as Tuesday, the earth would have had to take 48 hours to make one rotation, which is not how it works.

Anyway, that's just a confusing way of saying we wrote the wrong date. We apologize for the error and hope everyone made the most of their November 21.

Business Trivia
We're big fans of the show Jeopardy!, so we're going to ask you this Final Jeopardy question from earlier this year: Promising “value," which partly gives it its name, this PA-based retailer did $7,400 in sales on its opening day in 1986. Note: You must phrase your response in the form of a question (even if it's just in your head).

(Answer located at bottom of newsletter)

Breakroom Answers