September 13, 2023

The Appetizer

“I’m sorry about the result today.”

• Novak Djokovic, winner of this year’s U.S. Open and his 24th career grand slam joking with his opponent, Daniil Medvedev, about letting him win had Djokovic known it was his wedding anniversary.

Now, on to the numbers. Drum roll, please …

• 44%: The percentage of retirement savers in their 20s and 30s that say they want to retire by 60, according to the World Economic Forum.
• $18,400: The median 401(k) balance among Americans in their 30s. The median retirement saver in their 20s has $5,400.
• 300 hours: The amount of togetherness needed to become best friends with someone, according to a study published in 2019.
• $30 million: The amount in domain registration fees that Anguilla is expected to earn for the .ai domain in 2023, up from $7.4 million in 2021. This represents a meaningful percentage of Anguilla’s GDP, which was $288 million in 2021.
• 110,000+: The number of sign-ups Lionel Messi brought to Apple TV+ through MLS Season Pass on his debut match with Inter Miami.
• 802.5 pounds: The weight of a recently captured alligator in Mississippi. It broke the state record for the longest alligator ever captured.

Dig In
Fantasy Football

It’s official. Fantasy football “draft night” has returned as the leading disruptor of date night (no need to crunch the numbers … it’s definitely true, right?).

For fantasy football rookies, here’s the lowdown: You select players for your fantasy team during your league draft then watch each week as your team hopefully beats the competition (i.e., has better stats than your buddies’, co-workers’, or complete strangers’ teams) over the next four months. Choose your team wisely though, and hope luck is on your side. Punishments for last place could include a new tattoo or a shaved head.

The NFL definitely isn’t complaining … weekly viewership is up by 64%, largely due to fantasy. Additionally, with sports gambling now legal in most states, more fans place wagers on games than ever before. According the American Gaming Association, 73 million Americans plan to bet on NFL games this year, up 60% over last year.

Even if you’re not gambling, be prepared to watch your wallet deflate faster than a football in New England (Kidding! Or are we?). Median fantasy draft party costs reached $653 for food, alcohol, and live entertainment … and that’s before the weekly meetups to watch the actual games!

Weekly Specials

Calling all Rolling Stones fans: A new album is on the way! The group plans to drop “Hackney Diamonds” in October, its first album of new music in 18 years. According to frontman Mick Jagger, the album title is slang for “what happens to windshields when someone gets rowdy on a night out.”

After a more than three-year pause, student loans began accruing interest again on September 1. Most borrowers restart payments in October, and all eyes are on how the additional monthly expense will affect consumer spending and saving. Delinquencies for other types of debt, such as credit cards and auto loans, have already risen due to higher prices and borrowing costs.

The U.S. Open wrapped up last week, and guess how many tennis balls they used? Try 100,000! Each year approximately 125 million tennis balls end up in American landfills. Unfortunately, they could sit there for more than 400 years before they break down. Work is underway to create new balls that play the same way, but are more environmentally friendly.

Labor Day weekend means two things: Summer is over, and so is earnings season. As we look back fondly on memories of warm summer breezes, cool ocean swims, and Barbenheimer parties, we note the increasingly positive earnings calls we heard compared to this time last year. Check out Sight|Lines for our breakdown of the second quarter earnings season.

Corporate Lunch

Retired for real this time, Tom Brady is now working with Delta Airlines as its “long-term strategic advisor.” Whether Delta adopts the slogan “DO YOUR JOB” is yet to be seen.

Toyota is rolling out the royal treatment with its Century vehicle, previously reserved for Japanese VIPs and CEOs, now available worldwide at a surprisingly humble $170,000.

Mercedes is planning to join the affordable luxury party with a smaller version of its iconic G-Class – meet “Little G.”

Chevron bought 60 football fields’ worth of land just outside of Houston in preparation for a new R&D campus.

Warner Bros. Discovery expects a $500 million hit to its bottom line amid strikes.

Elon Musk threatened a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League for causing a 60% decline in ad sales at X.

Novo Nordisk, the maker of Wegovy and Ozempic, is now Europe’s most valuable company.

CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart are introducing new care options that will turn your shopping trips into healthcare pit stops. Need to check for strep, flu, or RSV? Swing by the aisle next to the snacks.

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The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is a capitalization-weighted index that is generally considered representative of the U.S. large capitalization market.

Past performance is not indicative of future results.