Buckle up, Wall Street, we’re just getting started

On Mar 4, 2021

Tonight: Sands is leaving Las Vegas; Texas is being, well, Texas; and now that we’re thinking about traveling this year … Moon trip 2023? Who’s in?

Remember last week, when Wall Street threw a fit because Treasury rates went up? Well one former New York Fed chief has a message for Wall Street: buckle up, kiddos, we’re just getting started.

When inflation worries sent the 10-year Treasury up to 1.6%, that unnerved investors, who have become accustomed to rock-bottom rates that make stocks look attractive by comparison. Worried the economy was overheating, investors panicked, triggering a sell-off.

But former New York Fed President Bill Dudley says that temper tantrum is just the beginning.

“They want the economy to overheat,” Dudley told CNN Business’ Matt Egan, referring to the Fed. “And my personal opinion is, I wouldn’t sell them short. I think they are going to be successful.”

Stocks are going to have much more competition from boring bonds in the months and years ahead. “Moving to 1.6%, that’s nothing,” said Dudley. He predicted Treasury rates will eventually climb to between 3% and 4% — or higher.

WHY THAT’S A BIG DEAL

Risk-free Treasuries are the yardstick by which all other investments are valued. Just as ultra-low rates make stocks look attractive, higher rates would steal serious thunder from stocks, Matt explains.

And to be clear, talk of inflation and an overheating economy is a welcome change, especially given where we were almost a year ago when the pandemic hit. Worries about inflation means there’s growing confidence in the recovery, especially as the vaccine rollout accelerates and Congress moves closer to enacting a $1.9 trillion relief package.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I have seen thousands of TikTok videos of smaller people in a bathing suit or in the same type of outfit that I would be wearing, and they’re not flagged for nudity. Yet me as a plus sized person, I am flagged.”

— Maddie Touma, TikTok influencer

TikTok has helped fuel a body-positive movement. But some curvier influencers say their posts are being unfairly targeted for content violations. It’s not clear why. CNN Business’ Rachel Metz and Kaya Yurieff dive into the power of algorithms and human moderators to shape how we communicate and whose bodies get to be seen online.

TO THE MOON

A high-rolling Japanese fashion mogul named Yusaku Maezawa is calling on artists around the world to apply for eight open seats on his six-day lunar mission called “Dear Moon.” And no, that’s not a line from a Haruki Murakami novel.

Maezawa, who announced plans for the trip in 2018, said in a video announcing the open seats that he’d expanded his definition of an “artist” to include not only painters, dancers, singers and the like, but anyone who views themselves as an artist. (Even … pithy newsletter writers?)

There will be two main criteria for selection: Applicants should be seeking to “push the envelope” in their field of work (I mean, I like to think of Nightcap as pretty revolutionary), and they should be willing to support their fellow crew members during the journey (what monster wouldn’t help her crew?)

The eight candidates will join Maezawa and at least one other person, possibly the “life partner” Maezawa said last year that he’s longing for (no word on the criteria for that one on the website — I checked, obviously)

WHY A MOON MISSION?

Eccentric wealthy people just love space. Maezawa’s mission will rely on a rocket being built by SpaceX, the civilian rocket company founded by the king of uber rich eccentricities Elon Musk. Another billionaire, Shift4 payment platform CEO Jared Isaacman, is also searching for a member of the public to join him on a trip to orbit.

Dear Moon is slated for 2023, and if successful the crew would be the first-ever group of private citizens to venture beyond low-Earth orbit.

NUMBER OF THE DAY

$6.25 billion

Las Vegas Sands is leaving Las Vegas. The upscale resort and casino company founded by the late Sheldon Adelson is selling its two Nevada properties in a $6.25 billion deal, including the Venetian. The company is shortening its name to Sands — a “bittersweet” change the company said will help it focus on faster growing markets.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

Texas had to be all Texas about this and lift mask mandates before the pandemic is, like, over. But major businesses are saying not so fast — the mask stays on at their stores and offices.

Wendy’s went all in on it breakfast marketing, and it’s paid off.

Microsoft said a sophisticated group of hackers linked to China has exploited its Exchange email service.

A Wall Street investment firm is launching a new ETF to focus on ‘meme stocks’ that are being hyped on social media.

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