Hey there weekday warriors,

You might have noticed that I’ve been building out the TWC blog over the past few weeks. Welp, I’ve spoken to the board (my 3-year-old and my dog) and we plan to take the blog to the moon in 2024.

So, if you can blog (bloggers, NOT journalists) about investing, business news and/or personal finance, I want to hear from you.

Fill out this form and I’ll be in touch.

Keep on snapping necks and cashing checks,

- tyler

+ US stocks closed higher on Friday. The S&P 500 “hit a new high for the year after the November jobs report and University of Michigan consumer survey data signaled a resilient economy and cooling inflation, fueling hopes for a so-called soft landing scenario." (CNBC)

+ The 10-year Treasury yield “jumped Friday after the November jobs report showed the unemployment rate unexpectedly fall, suggesting continued tightness in the labor market despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to cool the economy." (CNBC)

+ Oil "rallied Friday, as a stronger jobs report lifted optimism about a U.S. soft landing, but that wasn't enough to stave off a seventh-straight weekly plunge as fears about a global supply surplus continues to keep the bears in control." (Reuters)

+ Bitcoin broke the $44k level again over the weekend…

+ The three most talked about stocks on WallStreetBets in the past 24 hours were: 1) C3.ai +8.65% 2) US Steel -0.08% 3) Tesla +0.49%.

The future is now…

More than a decade after two nerds figured out how to use CRISPR technology to edit human DNA, big pharma has finally capitalized. It’s about damn time…

On Friday, the FDA approved the first-ever (and second-ever) gene editing treatment. Casgevy treats sickle cell, which sounds more painful than a paper cut to the genitals. According to WebMD (which also convinced me that I should get screened for a handful of cancers) sickle cell causes blood cells to become shaped like, well, sickles (read: curved). That restricts blood flow, which causes something called “pain crises.”

So, the companies that developed the drug went parabolic, right?

Nope. In fact, they fell. Casgevy was co-developed by Vertex Pharma and CRISPR Therapeutices… which dropped 1% and 8% respectively on the day.

But, before you go all “What in the actual f*ck?! These guys are about to give 100k sickle cell sufferers a new lease on life,” consider the following…

The treatment is, um, cost-prohibitive… which is being generous. It will cost $2.2M.

On the bright side, Casgevy is only administered once. But it’s not a pill or an injectable… it’s a lifestyle. The treatment takes months. It involves extracting blood cells, chemotherapy, and, finally, genetically modified cells being infused. The recovery period is months long.

It wasn’t the only gene therapy approved on Friday…

Bluebird Bio's Lyfgenia also got the green light from the FDA. And the stonk got absolutely crushed. Shares fell more than 40%.

Why? Well, the $3.1M price tag probably didn’t help. But it probably had something to do with the FDA approving the drug with a major asterisk. The drug was accompanied by the DEFCON 1 of the Administration’s safety warnings. That’s because two of the test subjects died of leukemia.

🔥Tyler’s take… Even Martin Shkreli would think these prices are outrageous…

+ How making student loan payments can help you save for retirement, starting next January (Read)

+ Household wealth grew 30% between 2019 and 2021—here’s who gained the most (Read)

+ Time to buy? Why the prices of Rolex and other luxury Swiss watches keep falling. (Read)

+ ICYMI yesterday... Taking this one extra step after a job interview can pay off—‘hardly anyone’ does it, says career coach (Read)

+ So, you guys remember how for most of 2023 markets wanted the US economy to stop adding jobs so that J-Poww would quit hiking rates? Welp, investors have flipped the script…

On Friday, the Labor Department reported that the US added 199k jobs, above the 190k consensus. And the unemployment rate fell to 3.7% (vs. 3.9% expected). If recent history is any indication, markets would melt down…

But now that investors are pretty convinced J-Poww is done hiking (and might even begin cutting rates by May 2024), they welcomed the news. Or at the very least were able to shrug it off. All three major US indices rose after the data dropped. (Read)

+ Or, perhaps it wasn’t the jobs data at all that had investors going from 6 to midnight on Friday. The University of Michigan dropped an absolute banger of a consumer sentiment survey.

According to a bunch of Average Joes surveyed by the University, inflation is expected to fall to 3.1% in the next year. That’s a yuge dropoff from last month’s expectations of 4.5%, and the lowest print since March 2021. (Read)

+ “Hard pass.” - Cigna to Humana

It appears that Cigna got cold feet, because it decided that things were moving a little too fast with Humana, and it’s just really not ready for a relationship right now.

The WSJ said Sunday that the proposed $140B merger between the two healthcare giants is off because they couldn’t see eye to eye on price. And honestly, if these two crazy kids can’t make it work, what hope is there for the rest of us? (Read)

+ Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital Management are looking to get into the Thanksgiving Day Parade game, apparently…

The two asset managers made Macy’s an offer it can’t refuse will almost certainly refuse. The $5.8B offer values Macy’s shares at ~$21 a piece. For context, they were changing hands at $17.39 on Friday.

There’s a very good chance Macy’s board will call bullsh*t, unless of course Arkhouse (which sounds like a Cathie Wood x Soho House mashup) and Brigade know something we don’t.

Rumor has it that Macy’s Herald Square location is worth as much as $4B alone. And the retailer’s total real estate portfolio is estimated to be valued at ~$8B. (Read)

Meanwhile, on The Water Coolest blog…

+ We finally know why Sam Altman was fired from OpenAI… (Read on the TWC Blog)

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

+ Oracle reports

+ The Fortune Brainstorm AI Conference gets underway

Yesterday I asked How do you grocery shop?

77.4% of you guys still shop in-store.

Here’s today’s question…

We’re barreling towards the end of the year. Which means it’s time to start thinking about your 2024 resolutions. But first…

What do you regret not doing/getting done in 2023?

Reply directly to this email. I’ll share the best answers tomorrow.

Oh, and one more thing…

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.