🏦 Crypto's big-money believers

Once bitten… still not shy. Crypto's going through a rough patch, but that hasn't slowed down major investment firms. Out of 180+ active crypto exchange-traded products (like funds that track cryptocurrencies), more than half launched after the crypto market peaked late last year. So as retail investors ran for the sidelines, Big Money kept playing ball despite crypto winter's chill:

• Blockpain: Bitcoin's down 70% from its high of almost $69K last year, and ether's down over 70%.
• Crypt d'oh: 95% of active exchange-traded products (ETPs) focus on bitcoin and ether.

Team crypto hasn't shrunk… it's just traded players. While the public's interest in crypto has declined, big banks and tech titans are filling the void. Last week BNY Mellon said it's getting into the crypto-custody biz, following a similar announcement from Nasdaq last month. Meanwhile, Mastercard said it'll help banks offer their clients crypto trading, and Google signed a deal with Coinbase to facilitate crypto cloud payments (picture: cloud-storage bills paid in doge).

Hashbrowns and hot doughnuts… a match made in drive-thru heaven. Krispy Kreme is teaming up with McDonald’s to bring its iconic glazed doughnuts to the Golden Arches. This month McD’s will start selling three Krispy flavors at nine locations. Krispy Kreme investors had a sweet tooth, boosting the stock yesterday by as much as 7%. For both chains it’s a rare move:

• McD’s usually doesn’t feature other foodies on its Mc-filled menu. It did partner with Beyond Meat to offer a McPlant burger, but some locations have pulled the option from menus as demand fizzles.
• Krispy Kreme uses its 245 shops to bake doughnuts for grocery stores and gas stations, but not restaurants. Teaming up with even a fraction of McD’s 13K+ locations could help it reach its goal of being in 10K locations.

Sweet ’n’ salty… From Wingstop to Taco Bell, fast-food chains are testing new items and promos to attract inflation-fatigued diners. In August, average menu prices were up 8% from last year, and McDonald’s says its customers with lower incomes are spending less at the burger chain. On the flip side: Krispy Kreme’s sales jumped nearly 8% last quarter as Americans kept shelling out for dollar-doughnut delights.

• Flex: Netflix shares surged 14% after it reported that it added 2.4M subscribers last quarter, its first gain of the year. The return to growth is promising ahead of Netflix’s ad-tier launch next month.
• Sad.gif: The G is hard. Meta said it would sell GIF platform Giphy, which it bought in 2020 for $315M, after losing a fight with UK regulators concerned over competition. Global antitrust scrutiny is hot.
• Off: Microsoft became the latest tech stalwart to lay off workers yesterday, Axios reported. It’s struggling with slowing cloud and gaming sales, plus lower international revenue (blame: a strong USD).
• 007: Rolls-Royce says it has 300+ US orders for its $413K “Spectre” electric car (looks like something out of a Bond movie). GM also unveiled a $300K EV this week to attract sustainability-minded luxury buyers.
• Gold: Goldman Sachs shares rose after the banking big shot reported better-than-feared earnings thanks to booming bond trading (but profit was still down 43%). Now it’s combining its trading and i-banking units.

• Earnings expected from Tesla, Procter & Gamble, Abbott Labs, IBM, Prologis, Equifax, and Las Vegas Sands

Authors of this Snacks own: bitcoin and ethereum and shares of Microsoft, Tesla, Netflix, Google, Rolls-Royce, and GM

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