Hey there weekday warriors,

(Heads up, if you already know the yuge news about the future of The Water Coolest, you can skip this part...)

By now you've probably seen the headlines and the posts about some changes at Barstool. And, well, things are changing on my end too...

After nearly two years at Barstool, The Water Coolest is going independent (again). And I'll be in the driver's seat, which means not a damn thing is going to change (except, the logo and some legal language... obviously).

"So, do I have to do anything?" - you, probably

Yep. We'll be sending from thewatercoolest.com domain (again). So, to ensure you always get the emails, you should tell your email provider that you're cool with getting emails from [email protected].

Here's how to do it...

1. Add [email protected] to your address book/tell your email provider we're safe (here are instructions for every email provider).

2. That's it.

I appreciate you coming along for the ride. And if you have any questions, you can reach out directly at [email protected].

Keep on snapping necks and cashing checks,

Tyler

PS, Have some questions? Concerns? Been hoping to collab? Just want to chat? Drop me a note >

+ US stocks "fell Friday, pressured by a spike in oil prices and rising inflation expectations, as Wall Street wraps up a volatile week." (CNBC)

+ The 10-year Treasury yield "declined on Friday as investors digested this week’s economic data and assessed what it could mean for Federal Reserve interest rates." (CNBC)

+ Oil "leapt nearly 6% on Friday, with Brent posting its highest weekly gain since February, as investors priced in the possibility that the conflict in the Middle East could widen as Israel began ground raids inside the Gaza Strip." (Reuters)

+ Bitcoin was relatively flat over the weekend, hovering just below $27k. (Cointelegraph)

+ The three most talked about stocks on WallStreetBets in the past 24-hours were: 1) C3.ai -2.10% 2) Nvidia -2.01% 3) Tesla -1.70%.

Acquivisioned

A story as old as time... a ragtag bunch of Americans defeat an authority figure in the UK...

At long last, Microsoft's $69B (nice!) acquisition of Activision is a done deal. Microsoft and Activision cleared the final hurdle when the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (read: their carbon copy of the US' FTC) threw their hands up, said f it, and signed off on the deal.

Of course, MSFT helped its cause...

On Friday, it sold the cloud streaming rights for Activision's game to Ubisoft. It's worth noting that the divestiture won't include mobile games like Candy Crush, which are lucrative as f*ck. Still, the spinoff was enough to get the lads at the CMA to greenlight the acquisition...

Friendly reminder: the two tech giants had previously agreed to allow competitors like Sony and Nintendo access to Activision titles for the next 10 years.

How'd we get here?

Microsoft first announced its deal to buy the maker of Call of Duty in January 2022. And competition regulators across the globe freaked out soon thereafter.

First, the UK raised concerns about the deal. And the US followed suit. Literally. The FTC filed a lawsuit trying to halt the deal. And Microsoft and Activision proceeded to hand the fun police an L (something they've gotten used to lately). For what it's worth, the Federal Trade Commish is still appealing the case, but most analysts believe it's a wrap.

What does it mean?

It makes sense that Sony was losing its damn mind about the deal. It was leading the charge in pressuring regulators to block the deal. The PlayStation currently outsells the Xbox by a wide margin. This deal threatens Sony's roughly 70% market share.

Plus, Activision's stable of mobile games that your dad is obsessed will make MSFT a major player overnight. One analyst estimates a $3B bump in revenue the Windows Phone has entered the chat.

Shares of MSFT and ATVI were mostly unmoved, probably because this was two years in the making.

+ NY Times’ Paul Krugman says ‘inflation is over’ — if you exclude food, gas and rent (Read)

+ 56% of adults feel ‘behind’ on retirement savings, survey finds. Here’s how to tell if you are (Read)

+ It's about to get much easier for consumers to break up with their banks (Read)

+ ICYMI yesterday... Best 1-Year CD Rates for October 2023 (Read)

+ Do you smell that? It's the pungent aroma of Paul Krugman's sh*tty takes earnings season. As is tradition, earnings szn kicked off with big banks. JPMorgan, Citi and Wells Fargo were up first on Friday.

And things haven't been this good for too big to fail institutions since the regional banking system was on life support and money was flowing like wine into their coffers. All three beat on the top and bottom line, largely thanks to interest income (see: higher interest rates). Wells Fargo rose nearly 3% on the day, JPM jumped 1.5%, and Citi was down slightly.

Still, Jamie Dimon knew how to kill the mood. He dropped this in JPMorgan's report: "Now may be the most dangerous time the world has seen in decades." Oof. (Read)

What else?

+ More Travis Kelce Pfizer commercials inbound. The biggest pharma slashed its full year revenue forecast by 13%. Oh, and it's planning to cut $3.5B in costs (see: layoffs). So, what happened? The world decided that like 6 rona boi vaccines might be overkill. After raking in $56B from COVID vaccines and its antiviral Paxlovid last year (on its way to a $100B+ year), sales have collapsed. To put things in perspective, Pfizer now expects total revenue for the year to come in between $58B and $61B. Side effects included shares falling nearly 4% after hours on Friday. (Read)

+ How do you say "money printer go brrr" in Mandarin? China is reportedly considering a new stabilization fund to inject some confidence into its beat up equity markets. The US would never... (Read)

+ You guys aren't going to believe this, but Travis Kelce's girlfriend's movie (please don't kill me in my sleep, Swifties) is the highest-grossing domestic concert film ever (already). Yes, even more than the Spice Girls movie... I double-checked. Taylor Swift's Eras Tour movie made ~$97M in its opening weekend. More than 4.8M people saw the film. At least 2M of them were divorced dads sitting awkwardly in the back of the theater, cursing the fact that it was their weekend with the kids. (Read)

+ Annnd it's gone. Pharmacy chain Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy over the weekend, which wasn't exactly a surprise. It had been closing stores at breakneck speed after years of dealing with massive lawsuits stemming from its part in the opioid crisis. (Read​)

Here's what I'm keeping an eye on today...

+ Charles Schwab reports

+ The WSJ Tech Live event kicks off with guests like Sam Altman

+ The Philly Fed president speaks

Yesterday, I asked Is vaping (nicotine) still a thing?

I found out one thing from asking this question: Zyn is wildly popular.

Here's today's question...

Microsoft just closed on one of the biggest tech deals of all time, acquiring game maker Activision for $69B. So...

What is the greatest video game of all time?

Respond directly to this email and I'll share the best answers tomorrow.

Does this look like the face of a guy you should take financial advice from? No, it’s the face of a God-fearing family man with sh*t-for-brains. So, act accordingly...

This is not financial advice. Nothing in this newsletter is an investment recommendation. All content is created for entertainment, educational or informational purposes only. Do your own research, or do yourself a favor and hire a professional.