☕ Starship waiting in the sky

The Fox News libel trial could be one for the ages... April 17, 2023 [View Online]( | [Sign Up]( | [Shop]( [Morning Brew]( TOGETHER WITH [Facet]( Good morning. Unlike Netflix, we deliver our content right on time . —Neal Freyman MARKETS: YEAR-TO-DATE Nasdaq 12,123.47 +16.72% S&P 4,137.64 +8.20% Dow 33,886.47 +2.26% 10-Year 3.519% -36.1 bps Bitcoin $30,387.05 +83.64% Charles Schwab $50.77 -37.85% *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 3:00am ET. [Here's what these numbers mean.]( - Markets: Stocks have low-key put together a quality spring—the Dow has [gained]( for four straight weeks while the S&P and Nasdaq have gained in four of the past five. The wave of upcoming earnings reports could be either a buzzkill for markets or added jet fuel, depending on how companies performed last quarter. - Stock spotlight: While most stocks escaped the SVB implosion without a scratch, Charles Schwab got [banged up](. The US’ largest publicly traded brokerage is facing growing concern from investors because, like SVB, it stashed its cash in long-dated bonds and mortgage-backed securities, and the value of those assets has gotten hammered as the Fed has raised interest rates.  MEDIA [Plot twist in Fox News v. Dominion trial]( [Traffic on Sixth Avenue passes by advertisements featuring Fox News personalities, including Bret Baier, Martha MacCallum, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity]( Drew Angerer/Getty Images The libel trial of the century is scheduled to [kick off]( this week, and even with the hype having already reached max levels…the intrigue somehow keeps building. The showdown between Fox News and Dominion was supposed to begin this morning, but last night the Delaware Superior Court delayed the start until tomorrow without providing a reason. There does seem to be a reason, though: The delay was put in place to allow the two sides to discuss a possible [last-ditch settlement](, according to the Washington Post. What the case is about Dominion Voting Systems, which makes electronic voting machines, has sued Fox News for defamation, accusing the network of knowingly pushing baseless claims about the company after the 2020 presidential election—including that it rigged vote counts to tilt the election in Joe Biden’s favor. Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in damages. While that’s not an insignificant amount of money, this case is being called the “Super Bowl” of libel cases for nonfinancial reasons: It could have lasting consequences for Fox News as well as the media industry’s First Amendment rights. A Dominion win could spur a flurry of other defamation lawsuits against media orgs, while a Fox win could invite even more disinformation to spread and lead to the chipping away of protections afforded to journalists. Dominion has a high bar to clear It is very difficult to prove defamation in the US. Due to the precedent set in a 1964 Supreme Court case, Dominion has to demonstrate that Fox News acted with “actual malice” when reporting on it; in other words, that it recklessly disregarded the truth in its statements about Dominion. Fox News lawyers say the network is fully covered by its First Amendment rights—it was simply commenting on the election fraud claims made by former President Trump, which were newsworthy because he was the president of the US. However, court documents have revealed that Fox News hosts privately admitted they did not believe the fraud claims they were making on air. - Accusations of election fraud are “unbelievably offensive to me. Our viewers are good people and they believe it,” host Tucker Carlson texted to another host, Laura Ingraham. - “There is NO evidence of fraud,” chief political anchor Bret Baier wrote in another text. Looking ahead…the judge presiding over this case has already ruled that it was “CRYSTAL clear” that Fox News’s statements about Dominion’s role in the 2020 election were false. So, this case will hinge on whether a jury finds that those false statements meet the actual malice threshold—if it gets that far. �  �  TOGETHER WITH FACET [Who’s a better saver?]( [Facet]( According to YouGov.com, only 9% of men and 4.5% of women have $100k or more in savings.* Luckily, [Facet]( has the tools to bring those numbers up for everyone, and they’re adding a generous bonus to get you started. When you sign up for an annual [Facet membership](, you’ll get the highest level of financial planning services—and they’ll even waive the enrollment fee. This is a limited-time **offer that expires April 30, so don’t wait. Unlock your full financial potential with personalized financial advice and services [today](. WORLD Tour de headlines [Bing vs. Google]Hannah Minn Samsung could dump Google for Bing. In what would be a shocking move, Samsung [may ditch Google]( as the default search engine on its smartphones in favor of Microsoft’s AI-powered Bing, according to the New York Times. It certainly came as a shock to Google, which has launched an initiative to shield its $162 billion search business from rivals that are leveraging AI chatbot tech. Under a project called Magi, the company plans to eventually release an all-new search engine, and make AI-related tweaks to its current search product in the meantime, according to internal docs seen by the NYT. Progress made for cancer vaccine. An mRNA-powered cancer vaccine from Merck and Moderna, when combined with the immunotherapy Keytruda, kept more melanoma patients [from relapsing]( than when Keytruda was used alone, a midstage trial showed. While more data is needed from larger-scale trials before the vaccine has a chance of coming to market, researchers are cautiously optimistic that the results present a significant development for the use of cancer vaccines to keep patients in remission. Manufacturing investments surge in the US. Companies have made pledges to invest [more than $200 billion]( in US manufacturing projects since the government passed two pieces of legislation—the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS Act—that offer subsidies for certain manufacturing investments, the FT reported. The amount committed to clean tech and semiconductor projects is nearly double the commitments made to those sectors in 2021, and up almost 20x from 2019. SPACE [It’s a great day to launch a massive rocket]( [SpaceX's Starship]( SpaceX In remote Texas this morning, SpaceX will attempt the [first orbital launch]( of its towering Starship system, the reusable space vehicle CEO Elon Musk says will be the key that unlocks trips to the moon and Mars and eventually turns humanity into a “multi-planet species.” Before that happens, it needs to show it can reach orbit. Today at 8am ET, a two-and-a-half-hour launch window will open for Starship and the Super Heavy booster it’s mounted on. Everything about this launch [pushes the limits]( of conventional space flight: - Starship is made of stainless steel, which the space industry has typically shunned for its weight. - It’ll also be powered by methane instead of the traditional hydrogen. That could allow it to refuel on Mars, since the planet’s atmosphere contains trace amounts of the gas. - The Super Heavy booster uses a mind-boggling 33 Raptor engines to blast into space. Anyone who’s seen a “check engine” light in their car knows how fickle a single engine can be—let alone nearly three dozen. Musk has acknowledged this flight might not go as planned. Previous Starship test runs have ended in [fiery explosions](, and Musk has put the odds of Starship getting to orbit this morning at 50%. But the odds of a good time? 100%. “I’m not saying it will get to orbit, but I am guaranteeing excitement. It won’t be boring,” Musk said. �  �  TOGETHER WITH BELAY [BELAY]( Take a notif-vacation. If answering emails drains a good chunk of your workday, get out of the administrative weeds and delegate your inbox to a [BELAY Virtual Assistant](. BELAY’s modern staffing helps busy leaders reclaim their time with highly vetted, U.S.-based Virtual Assistants who step in to handle frequent, time-consuming tasks. [Get started](. CALENDAR The week ahead [The week ahead]The Boston Marathon course map. Boston Athletic Association Good luck to everyone running the Boston Marathon this morning—I’m going full standing desk today in solidarity. Here are the other big events you should know about this week… G-7 holds its annual summit in Japan. Ministers from the Group of Seven countries have arrived at a Japanese hot spring resort town for a rejuvenating soak and to discuss the world’s [most pressing geopolitical challenges](, such as China’s aggression toward Taiwan, the war in Ukraine, and climate change. Japan has ramped up security after an apparent smoke bomb was thrown at the prime minister on Saturday. More companies report earnings. Investors will be poring over reports from Tesla, Netflix, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, American Express, and dozens of other firms this week for clues on how corporate America is faring in these confusing economic times. Playoffs? Are you kidding me? Playoffs?! Flip to a sports channel any evening this week, and you’ll probably find an NHL or NBA first-round playoff game. Poor Billy Joel—his Madison Square Garden concert was rescheduled since the arena got booked solid with Rangers and Knicks games. Everything else… - Ramadan will end at sundown on Friday. - Earth Day is Saturday. - Thursday is 4/20. GRAB BAG Key performance indicators [Tide laundry detergent bottles with security locking system to prevent theft at CVS pharmacy, Queens, New York.]Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Stat: Just 327 people accounted for [almost one-third]( of shoplifting arrests in New York City last year, according to Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell. Without identifying these people, Sewell said they had been arrested and rearrested more than 6,000 times, which sparked an online debate around the solutions for, and root causes of, the rise in shoplifting. Theft of items worth less than $1,000 jumped 53% between 2019 and 2022 at major commercial spots in NYC, according to the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Quote: “I’m still stuck on November 21, 2021. I don’t know anything about the world.” On Friday, Spanish extreme athlete Beatriz Flamini [emerged from a cave]( she (voluntarily) stayed in for 500 days. While in the cave, she had no contact with the outside world—meaning she didn’t know that Russia invaded Ukraine or that everyone forgot about the metaverse. Flamini said the experience was “excellent, unbeatable” and that she lost track of time after about two months. Scientists had been observing Flamini throughout her darkness retreat, which her support team said was a world record for time spent in a cave. Read: How a small favor to deliver a violin turned into so much more. ([Latif Nasser]() NEWS What else is brewing - [Dozens of civilians]( have been killed in two days of fighting between Sudan’s military and a paramilitary group for control of the country. - [Four people](, including a high school football star, were fatally shot at a 16th birthday party held at a dance studio in Dadeville, Alabama, Saturday night. - [Evan Gershkovich](, the WSJ reporter detained in Russia, wrote a note to his parents saying that he is “not losing hope.” - [Someone stole $200,000]( worth of dimes (that’s 2 million dimes) from a truck parked at a mall in northeast Philly, police said. - [Spotify]( is dropping the Wordle-inspired audio game Heardle less than a year after acquiring it. RECS [Monday to-do list image] The catchiest song on the planet: “[If I Were a Fish](.” Important question: Which letter of the alphabet would [lead to the best apartment layout](? Final approach: This [random airport generator]( shows you runways around the world. Italian food “classics” like panettone and tiramisu? They’re recent inventions. Turns out, everything you thought you knew about Italian food [is wrong](. It’s a lifestyle: If you work in the healthcare industry, you know how fast news, policies, and trends can shift. To stay on top of the latest developments, [subscribe to Healthcare Brew](. Sow stability: Farmland investments historically sprout stable returns for investors, even during high inflation. AcreTrade helps you [grow your portfolio]( with diverse crop and geography offerings, without buying the whole farm. [Learn more](.* *This is sponsored advertising content. GAMES The puzzle section Turntable: “N” is the center of the solar system and six planets (letters) revolve around it in today’s Turntable. [Play it here](. Guess the person Which Englishman is the only person to have won BAFTA awards (British TV and film honors) in black and white, color, high-definition, and 3D- and 4K resolutions? This question might seem daunting at first, but give it some thought and you can get it. AROUND THE BREW [New managers: This course is for you]( [Still from the movie Boss Baby ]( The Boss Baby/DreamWorks Today is the last day to sign up for our New Manager Bootcamp, which will help you confidently approach any management challenge. Registration closes at 12pm ET, so [reserve your spot now](. Read why retailers [must incorporate DTC]( to have an effective omnichannel strategy. Keep your summer spending in check with Money Scoop, our free newsletter that gets you smarter about your money. [Check it out](. SHARE THE BREW [Share Morning Brew]( with your friends, acquire free Brew swag, and then acquire more friends as a result of your fresh Brew swag. We’re saying we’ll give you free stuff and more friends if you share a link. One link. Your referral count: 0 [Click to Share]( Or copy & paste your referral link to others: [morningbrew.com/daily/r/?kid=4904f90a]( ANSWER David Attenborough (best known as that narrator of Planet Earth) ✢ A Note From Facet Facet Wealth, Inc. (“Facet”) is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. This is not an offer to sell securities or the solicitation of an offer to purchase securities. This is not investment, financial, legal, or tax advice. **Offer expires April 30, 2023. Terms and Conditions apply. Source link: [( ✤ A Note From AcreTrader *Securities are offered through AcreTrader Financial, LLC, a broker-dealer registered with [FINRA]( and a member of [SIPC](. Past performance does not guarantee future results and there is no guarantee this trend will continue. � � � � � Written by [Neal Freyman]( Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. 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