Hey Snackers,
Bye, reindeers: capybaras are the holiday seasonâs new âitâ animal. The worldâs largest rodent has inspired a slew of plushies, T-shirts, and even a meme coin. Capy slay.
Stocks calmed down yesterday after Wednesdayâs big sell-off, with the S&P 500 closing out the day barely changed. After the close, Nike unboxed sales and profit declines that werenât as bad as expected during its first quarter under its new CEO.
đ Merry quizmas: Give yourself the gift of biz-news trivia and take our new Snacks Seven Quiz. Hereâs the first q:
Which company that owns Toys âRâ Us and Bonobos just said itâs buying Vera Wang? (Check your answer.)
The DOJ accused CVS of unlawfully filling opioid scripts as the drug crisis continues
âMassive quantitiesâ... The Justice Department filed a complaint against CVS, accusing the USâs largest pharmacy chain of dispensing wrongfully prescribed opioids. The DOJ said that CVS knowingly filled thousands of prescriptions from âpill mills,â operations that issue a large number of controlled substance scripts without any legitimate medical reason. The agency also claimed CVS wrongfully sought federal reimbursement for those prescriptions. The pharmacy chain said it strongly disagrees with the complaint and its âfalse narrative.â
If itâs found liable, CVS could face fines and penalties for every unlawful prescription it filled and each federal reimbursement it received. CVS stock is down 46% this year.
Held accountable⌠Prosecutors are still probing companies that mayâve been involved in the mass production and distribution of opioids. The crisis started with addictive prescription drugs like oxycodone in the â90s and has expanded to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. 82K Americans died from opioid-related overdoses in 2022. Last week, McKinsey settled a federal suit for $650M that claimed the consulting firm advised drug-maker Purdue Pharma on how to âturbochargeâ sales of OxyContin. The company at the center of it all is still in court:
The Supreme Court this year threw out a $6B settlement by Purdue that couldâve shielded the family that owns the company, the Sacklers, from lawsuits.
Purdue previously pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to downplaying OxyContinâs addictiveness.
Itâs an ongoing crisis⌠and efforts to contain it are intensifying. In the last decade, Big Pharma has agreed to pay more than $50B in govât settlements, money that will mostly be used to fight the epidemic. Legislation led to a clamp down on opioid prescriptions, and Trump has said his proposed tariffs are meant to pressure China, Mexico, and Canada to curb flows of fentanyl into the US.
Could FAA-approved Swarm Drones Revolutionize Agriculture?
đ¨ Meet Hylio, the ag-tech pioneer hoping to transform farming with cutting-edge drone technology. With over $23M in lifetime revenue1, this is your chance to invest in a company with a mission of reshaping how the world grows food.
đĄ A $556B Market Opportunity. By 2030, Hylioâs total addressable market across multiple industries is estimated to reach $556B. Hylio aims to lead this market with scalable, U.S.-built drone solutions.
đ¤ Trusted By USDA and Other Industry Leaders. Hylioâs FAA-approved swarm technology is used by USDA, Nutrien, and King Ranch, automating crop treatment with speed and precision.
đ Invest in the Future of Farming. Hylioâs drones have treated 1M+ acres, showing their potential to scale globally. Join the revolution aimed at transforming one of the worldâs most vital industries.2
1 Lifetime revenues are for 9 years.
The UAW quietly reached a deal with Rivian that could speed up EV-industry unionization
Freshly charged⌠The United Auto Workers could be uniting some more autoworkers soon. The 400K-member union is said to have struck a deal with EV-maker Rivian thatâd make unionizing the companyâs workforce less difficult. FYI: the NLRB is investigating Rivian over allegations of union busting. Bloomberg reported that Rivian agreed to take a neutral stance in future organization efforts, as long as they happen once the company reaches profitability.
Could be a minute: Rivian has never reported a quarterly adjusted profit. Last quarter, the electric SUV and truck maker lost $39K per car sold (up about $7K from the previous q). In October, it slashed its annual production target by 10K vehicles.
Greasing the wheel: The neutrality agreement is said to have helped Rivian secure a conditional $6.6B loan from the US govât to build a new factory in Georgia.
Lane change⌠The agreement signals a shift in the relationship between Rivian and the UAW, which has had its sights set outside the Big 3 carmakers for years. After securing contracts with Ford, GM, and Stellantis last year, UAW President Shawn Fain announced a $40M campaign to unionize workers at automakers including EV biggies Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid. A handful of battery plants, co-owned by big carmakers, have already moved to unionize.
Musk be watching: After the UAWâs big contract win, Tesla boosted its factory pay in an apparent effort to combat union wage arguments.
EV unionization needs a jump⌠Because EV motors are simpler to produce than their gas-powered counterparts and EV factories are largely located in the nonunion South, the UAW has been worried that the electric transition could lead to lower wages and fewer union jobs. As EV ownership grows, successfully organizing the industry will be vital for the unionâs future.
The 20 biggest US stocks are just one trade away
The 20 largest U.S. stocks represent $23.1 trillion in market cap â close to the total of the 480 other stocks in the S&P 500 ($27.8T).3
Through iShares Top 20 U.S. Stocks ETF (TOPT), investors can access some of the largest companies by market capitalization in the U.S â all in a single trade.4
3 Standard & Poor's indices for market cap as of Nov. 30 2024.
The Crypto Catch-UpâŚ
đŞ Coins⌠The prices of bitcoin, ethereum, and Solana sank this week after the Fed suggested itâd only cut rates twice next year. Plus, Fed Chair Powellâs comment that the central bank is ânot allowedâ to own BTC didnât do the crypto any favors.
đ¤šââď¸ Quirky⌠The latest meme coin gassing up the crypto charts is âfartcoin,â a solana-based token thatâs grown to a nearly $1B market cap. Fartcoin has zero utility, but transacting with the coin creates digital fart sounds, so thatâs something.
đ Policy⌠El Salvador said itâd get rid of its official bitcoin app, Chivo, as the country looks to make nice with the IMF after making BTC legal tender in 2021. The moveâs part of a $1.4B loan deal which required El Salvador to slow its crypto roll.
What else weâre Snackinâ
Olive Garden parent Darden saw its stock surge 20% yesterday after reporting expectation beating growth at its breadstick-slinging chain.
Amazon warehouse workers at seven US facilities went on strike ahead of the holiday shopping crunch as the Teamsters union pushes for a new contract.Â
Freezer-aisle fry maker Lamb Weston crinkle cut its sales forecast and said itâd swap CEOs as higher restaurant prices sapped appetite for frozen potatoes.
Grubhubâs set to deliver a $25M settlement after the FTC accused it of misrepresenting costs to customers and deceiving driversâ on pay.
Folks are rushing to buy up big ticket items (think: washers, computers, cars) ahead of the Trump adminâs expected tariffs that economists say could spike prices.
Invest in Hylio: The ag-tech pioneer with $23M+ in lifetime revenue1 and FAA-approved swarm drones trusted by USDA, Nutrien, and King Ranch. Positioned to lead an estimated $556B market, Hylio is aiming to transform global farming.²
Snack Fact of the Day
The USâs most-watched show this year was Disneyâs âBlueyâ
Friday
Personal consumption expenditures
Consumer sentiment
Earnings expected from Winnebago
Authors of this Snacks own bitcoin and ethereum and shares of: Amazon, CVS, GM, Disney, and Tesla
Advertiser's disclosures:
² This is a paid advertisement for Hylioâs Regulation CF Offering. This Reg CF offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC. Please read the offering circular and related risks at https://www.startengine.com/offering/hylio.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investing in private company securities is not suitable for all investors because it is highly speculative and involves a high degree of risk. It should only be considered a long-term investment. You must be prepared to withstand a total loss of your investment. Private company securities are also highly illiquid, and there is no guarantee that a market will develop for such securities.
This was a paid for ad. Sherwood Media has been compensated for this ad by the Hylio Reg CF Campaign hosted on StartEngine.
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