- __[Flyer](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/3aWztqHlVK88aCAOHKHyt5/articles/615L4UeXRNrBv69BPlY4ep/):__ Design startup __Canva__ notched a $40B valuation, making it the world’s most valuable female-founded and female-led startup.
- __[Hike](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/6273N36MQkF8DmmFKWXxCz/articles/2ocN7ACZMnCJkI07wU92mq/):__ House Dems proposed a $2.9T tax hike for high earners and big businesses to pay for President Biden’s $3.5T social agenda.
- __[Juicy](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/3aWztqHlVK88aCAOHKHyt5/articles/4UO2q0R1L2P5z8jG1RFv1f/):__  __Rivian__ became the first to bring a fully electric pickup truck to the consumer market, beating __[Tesla](https://robinhood.com/stocks/TSLA)__, __[Ford](https://robinhood.com/stocks/F)__, and __[GM](https://robinhood.com/stocks/GM)__ — who merely unveiled prototypes.


ICYMI

Last week's highlights...

Snacks

Taser and body camera maker  reported much softer-than-expected Q3 earnings after the close of tradi...

Matt Phillips

Senior Markets Correspondent 

Markets

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J. Edward Moreno

Business Reporter

, which makes electronic gear and software and services used to connect, run, and monitor data cente...

, the dating app giant that owns Tinder and Hinge, reported quarterly earnings results that narrowly...

 reported third-quarter results that exceeded analysts’ expectations on the top and bottom lines, wi...

Luke Kawa

Markets Editor

 posted its third-quarter earnings results after the bell on Tuesday, and its final quarter with the...

Max Knoblauch

, a company that captured the attention of retail shareholders and surged to a valuation of more tha...

 just released results for its fiscal Q1, the three months ended September 30, and they’re a top- an...

The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 sank as stocks got speed checked by various factors, inclu...

Tasha Matsumoto

Editorial Operations Manager

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Anthropic’s Claude API business is doing so well with enterprise customers, the company is upping it...

Jon Keegan

Tech Reporter

Tech

The US may close parts of its airspace as early as next week if the government shutdown continues, a...

Power

 has sent a cease and desist letter to Perplexity AI, demanding that it stop letting its AI browser ...

Rani Molla

 is designing a new sub-$1,000 Mac laptop aimed at the education market, Bloomberg reports.   low-co...

A real-life mishmash of different Team Rocket wannabes is having a lot more success thieving “Pokémo...

Culture

Stability AI, the creator of image generation tool Stable Diffusion, largely defended itself from a ...

The crypto market is in a downturn, with bitcoin hitting its lowest price since June, and the animal...

Sage D. Young

Crypto Reporter

Crypto

 dove Tuesday as an outbreak of investor anxiety over sky-high valuations overshadowed an objectivel...

Power provider  said it has received preliminary approval from the Texas Commission on Environmental...

A whopping $1.4 billion in crypto positions have been liquidated in the past 24 hours, with $391 mil...

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

Contributing Reporter

Palantir is the poster child for a richly valued, retail darling, megacap momentum stock. It’s going...

__Self-absorbed shopping spree...__ Last week, __[Microsoft](https://robinhood.com/stocks/MSFT)__'s board [approved](https://www.wsj.com/articles/microsoft-plans-60-billion-share-buyback-program-raises-dividend-11631720770) a plan to buy back as much as $60B of the company's own stock — the software giant's largest share repurchase program *ever*. Stock buybacks are (kind of) like gifts to shareholders: by reabsorbing their own shares, companies can potentially improve their stock prices by reducing the number of available shares. 

- __When shares outstanding decrease,__ investors' ownership in the company pie can increase. Think: owning 1 share out of 10 total, vs. owning 1 out of 5. 
- __Slightly awk:__ Microsoft shares are already sitting near records, and have soared 38% this year. But it's *also* sitting on a $130B cash pile, so it has money to spend. 

__Takeout or delivery?...__ Corporations have different options when it comes to spending extra $$$. They can invest it back into the business (think: hiring, R&D, building factories) — *or*, they can return value to shareholders through dividends and stock buybacks. Microsoft has used its ginormous cash pile to fund acquisitions, boost dividends, *and* do buybacks. Many companies flush with excess cash are doubling down on buybacks, too. 

- __Spending on buybacks increased much faster__ than capital expenditures (think: buildings, equipment) in the first half of 2021.
- __S&P 500 companies spent *more* on buybacks__ than on capital expenditures in the first half 2021. Share repurchases hit $370B, up ~30% from the first half of 2020. 
- __For example:__ __[Lowe's](https://robinhood.com/stocks/LOW)__, which thrived on the DIY [House Hype](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/7Fl0kcKPHzNEVEVwnee0Zp/articles/3djXYQJYytx1qKMDTR9yG1/), spent $6B on share repurchases — compared with barely $850M on capital expenditures. __[Target](https://robinhood.com/stocks/TGT)__, another corona-conomy thriver, recently [announced](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/target-earnings-and-revenue-beat-expectations-11629283071#:~:text=Target's%20board%20has%20authorized%20a,end%20of%20the%20second%20quarter.) *$15B* in buybacks.


Back

__The Big Buyback relates to the Big Shortage...__ Many US businesses are cash-rich, thanks to low interest rates on debt and strong earnings fueled by economic recovery. The problem: supply and labor shortages are limiting *how much* companies can invest back into their businesses. But the Big Buyback, which could be contributing to soaring stock prices, could hit speed bumps ahead: Democratic senators just [proposed](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/09/10/a-2-tax-on-stock-buybacks-is-being-proposed-by-democratic-senators-to-offset-their-35-trillion-budget-plan/?sh=7424ec77270c) a 2% tax on corporate buybacks to help fund the $3.5T US budget bill.


The Big Buyback: Microsoft is splurging $60B on its own shares, and it’s not the only one

__To boost or not to boost...__ With 65% of US adults fully vaxxed and Delta cases surging, President Biden hoped to start distributing __[Pfizer](https://robinhood.com/stocks/PFE)__ booster shots *this week*. But on Friday, scientists overwhelmingly [advised](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/09/17/world/covid-delta-variant-vaccine) the FDA *not* to recommend boosters for the general public — only for people 65 and older, and those at high risk. Third shots are already controversial since many countries still don’t have *first* shots. The FDA’s final decision on boosters is expected this week, and it usually follows scientists’ counsel. 

__Nemo’s loving the WiFi...__ __[Google](https://robinhood.com/stocks/GOOGL)__ just [completed](https://www.cnet.com/tech/google-finishes-3900-mile-subsea-cable-connecting-us-to-uk-and-spain/) a 3.9K mile-long undersea internet cable between the US and Europe. Since [98%](https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/announcing-googles-grace-hopper-subsea-cable-system) of global web traffic flows through undersea cables, e-giants like __[Facebook](https://robinhood.com/stocks/FB)__, __[Amazon](https://robinhood.com/stocks/AMZN)__, __[Microsoft](https://robinhood.com/stocks/MSFT)__, and __Huawei__ pay big bucks for bandwidth on shared cables. But Google’s cable is Google-exclusive, and can handle more traffic than all existing cables *combined*. As the cloud computing boom continues, internet giants will either compete to buy more bandwidth — or to build it.


Zoom Out

Stories we're watching...


__The Chipotle of homebuilding__... Instead of BYOB, __[Lennar](https://robinhood.com/stocks/LEN)__ and __[KB Home](https://robinhood.com/stocks/KBH)__  help you build-your-own-home. The housing market has been [#thriving](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/3W8LX1jIAswA4HFNTbvVHO/articles/4Fw8bHVeO2Nn0unnSjroHO/) since millions of Americans ditched city-living for pandemic-friendly suburbia. Demand is still sky high, with housing inventory sitting at 40-year lows. But last month, home sales dropped for the first time in over a year. We’ll see if homes are still booming when Lennar and KB Home, two of America’s largest homebuilders, drop earnings this week.

__Limited breadsticks…__ As eager foodies return to indoor dining, restaurants are having a hard time keeping up with demand. Supply chain and labor shortages have forced some eateries to trim menu items and shorten hours. And many small restaurant owners have [seen](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/17/inflation-labor-and-delta-variant-hit-restaurant-owners-goldman-sachs-data-finds.html) a surge in operating costs due to rising prices (#din-flation). Last quarter, __[Cracker Barrel](https://robinhood.com/stocks/CBRL)__ and Olive Garden-owner __[Darden Restaurants](https://robinhood.com/stocks/DRI)__ said sales were almost back to pre-pandemic levels. We’ll see if the rebound continued when they serve up quarterly earnings. 


Events

Coming up this week...

Dow Jones

S&P 500

Nasdaq

Bitcoin

_Corporate card: would you like $60B buy back? [YuriArcurs/E+ via GettyImages]_

💰 Microsoft's big buyback

Last week's highlights...

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