Hey there weekday warriors,

You aren’t going to believe this, but apparently giving away unlimited shrimp is bad for business. According to Red Lobster’s CFO, the chain lost $11M on its Ultimate Endless Shrimp deal in Q3. Their solution? A 20% price hike…

Here’s what else we’re getting into…

• GM is back on its bullsh*t following that costly strike

• Cigna and Humana are thinking about merging

• Elon hates Bob Iger

Enjoy the next 4 minutes and 4 seconds of blue-chip news and commentary.

Keep on snapping necks and cashing checks,

- tyler

+ US stocks “gave up some gains to close flat Wednesday, though remained on track to post big November gains amid fresh optimism that the economy will avoid recession and ongoing optimism of Fed rate cuts of early next year." (Investing.com)

+ The 10-year Treasury yield “has fallen below 4.3% for the first time since September." (Yahoo! Finance)

+ Oil "rose sharply Wednesday, shrugging off an unexpected increase in U.S crude stockpiles amid further supply disruptions, just a day ahead of an OPEC+ meeting to decide on future output policy." (Reuters)

+ Bitcoin flirted with $38k for most of the day… again.

+ The three most talked about stocks on WallStreetBets in the past 24-hours were: 1) GameStop +20.46% 2) Visa +0.51% 3) Tesla -1.05%.

We back up

Mary Barra be like “best I can do is fat dividends and buybacks…”

GM is hoping to distract investors from the fallout of a 6-week strike with some shiny objects (read: straight cash homie). And it appears to be working. Shares rose nearly 10% yesterday.

Mary Barra and GM went full send, announcing $10B in buybacks and 33% increase to its dividend. Not to mention all the cost savings associated with (nearly) killing its Cruise driverless car program… after one of its cars (nearly) killed an actual human being.

How’d we get here?

It’s been a brutal year for GM… mostly because some dude in an Eat the Rich t-shirt and 46k of his fellow United Autoworkers made the carmaker their b*tch.

Don’t believe me? The company will take a nearly $1.1B hit to earnings directly related to the strike. And the new labor deal is expected to cost the company an additional $9.3B through 2028 when the deal expires… and the union asks for even more money. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s an extra ~$575 per vehicle.

I’ve got some good news…

And I’ve got some bad news. The good? On Wednesday, GM reinstated its guidance after pulling to amid the clusterf*ck of uncertainty that was the UAW strike. The bad news is finance ran the numbers, and, well, it wasn’t pretty.

Estimates went the way of Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt’s career (read: downward spiral).

+ Here’s what it would take for the Fed to start slashing interest rates in 2024 (Read)

+ Munger Became a Legendary Investor Because of This One Impeccable Skill (Read)

+ For years, institutional investors have used private credit as an insider tool to boost portfolio performance. And at long last, now you can too. Percent makes private credit investing available to all accredited investors for as little as $500. (Check it out now)*

+ ICYMI yesterday... 44 memorable Charlie Munger quotes about life and markets (Read)

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+ “Did we just become best friends?”

 Cigna and Humana are looking to combine in hopes of transforming two really inefficient, slow-moving health insurers into one even more inefficient health insurer. Cigna’s currently valued at $80B and Humana’s market cap sits around $60B… which means antitrust regulators would like to speak to the manager.

Those concerns might be the reason Cigna was looking to offload its Medicare Advantage biz. Turns out it wasn’t because management is a bunch of ageists. The hope is that offloading its Medicare sales could clear the way for government approval.

Shares of Cigna and Humana fell 8% and 5.5% respectively. The tribe has spoken… (Read)

+ Elon just f*cked around, and presumably, he’s about to find out…

At yesterday’s DealBook Summit (you know, the conference where Andrew Ross Sorkin let SBF plead his case to the public last year) Elon told advertisers “Go f*ck yourself. Go. F*ck. Yourself. Is that clear?”

He accused advertisers of blackmailing him by threatening to pull ads from X/Twitter following his antisemitic remarks. He even singled out Bob Iger (“Hi Bob"!”) who was in the audience (spoiler: Disney had paused spend on the social network). (Read)

+ GDP and football… that’s what America does. It wasn’t just our nation’s crippling debt load that grew in Q3. Gross domestic product rose 5.2% in the third quarter, higher than Uncle Sam’s initial reading (4.9%) and above economist’s expectations (5.0%). (Read)

+ “I, for one, am shocked.” - no one ever. In probably the least surprising news of the day, Microsoft has secured a seat on OpenAI’s board. Allow me to remind you that MSFT hired Sam Altman… then allowed him to return to OpenAI. One does not simply allow a once-in-a-generation talent to walk away and not make it worth its while. (Read)

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

+ Dell, Kroger, and Big Lots report

+ PCE inflation data drops, and you know J-Poww is keeping an eye on it…

+ OPEC holds a meeting to decide on output for next year

+ Tesla begins delivery of the Cybetruck

Yesterday I asked What channel was ESPN for you growing up?

I can’t believe you guys were all wrong. Not one person said channel 27.

Here’s today’s question…

It’s Spotify Wrapped szn, so…

What was your most listened-to song of the year?

Reply directly to this email and 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.