🐤 Streaming dreams

🏦 Markets: We’re not out of the woods yet, but it looks like the worst of the banking crisis might be behind us. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen offered some reassurances on Tuesday that clearly left investors feeling a bit more bullish than they have in recent weeks.

Combined with anticipation about the upcoming Federal Reserve decision regarding interest rates, Wall Street saw its second straight day of substantial gains.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both added more than 1% to their respective values and the Dow Jones closed just a hair below that threshold.

🇯🇵 It’s final: Japan took on Team USA in one of the most-watched baseball games in history, ultimately winning Tuesday’s World Baseball Classic final. The Japanese team had attracted plenty of attention throughout the series, attracting 62.5 million viewers — 8 million more than the most-watched World Series game — in its previous win against Italy.

✍️ A stroke of the pen: Joe Biden executed the first veto of his presidency this week, striking down a bill aimed at preventing retirement fund managers from taking certain factors into consideration when forming investment plans. Conservatives oppose “environmental, social, and governance” strategies over fears that politics could influence retirement funds, but Biden said they “can have a material impact on markets, industries, and businesses.”

🕷️ Eight-legged giant: Australia might be known for its crazy wildlife, but scientists recently found a spider that surprised even them. It’s called the giant trapdoor spider and, like related species, it was found living under a “trapdoor” made of silk and soil. Although its size makes it unique and intimidating, experts say that its bite isn’t especially dangerous — unlike some other animals in the land down under.

🏒 Switching partners: After several years of producing uniforms and jerseys for the NHL, Adidas decided not to seek an extension of its contract. Starting in the 2024-25 season, Fanatics will enter into a 10-year contract as the league’s official outfitter. The company has been affiliated with pro hockey for about two decades, but the new partnership will be the first time official player uniforms include the Fanatics logo.

In the current era of Hollywood, everything seems to be a sequel, spin-off, or reboot of something that already has a built-in core audience.

That certainly makes sense from a marketing standpoint since people who are already invested in a franchise are likely to tune in for any future installments. But while we’ve gotten used to these “cinematic universes” that keep expanding, streaming platforms haven’t been as quick to adopt the concept.

Netflix appears poised to change that.

Investing in “The Electric State”

Not only is Netflix sinking somewhere north of $200 million on its new film “The Electric State,” but the company seems to be signaling that it’ll be just the first in a string of releases building on the same story.

Here’s what we know so far:

• The first film will star Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown.
• It’s on pace to be one of Netflix’s most expensive original movies.
• A TV spinoff, video games, or other products are likely to follow.

While $200 million+ sounds like a lot (and it is), it’s just a drop in the bucket compared to the $17 billion Netflix spends on content each year. Nevertheless, the company is focused on prioritizing profits, so it’s becoming more selective about what projects get the green light.

Betting on winners and losers

There are many different metrics by which Netflix can determine if a particular show or movie is valuable, but one of the most useful allows execs to see what percentage of subscribers watch at least two minutes of a particular title.

Based on this and other forms of viewer data, expect Netflix to start churning out more sequels and spinoffs of popular titles in the future — like at least two more installments of the wildly popular whodunnit franchise “Knives Out.”

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While Jeff Bezos is still generally seen as the face of the behemoth tech company he founded, he hasn’t been Amazon’s CEO for almost two years. Andy Jassy, best known for launching the immensely successful Amazon Web Services, is now in charge.

It might seem as if Jassy was destined for a smooth ride at the helm, but his time as the chief has been anything but.

A big promise

When Bezos first announced he’d be handing over the reins to Jassy, he did so with an overtly optimistic message.

“Amazon couldn’t be better positioned for the future,” he told employees. “We are firing on all cylinders, just as the world needs us to. We have things in the pipeline that will continue to astonish.”

In one sense, he was correct … many people inside and outside of the company are indeed astonished by the downward trajectory that has defined Jassy’s tenure as CEO.

The end of an era

For much of Amazon’s existence, the company seemed to be increasing by every measure available. From the number of items it sold to the speed at which it sold them to the various other aspects of the economy (streaming content, smart devices, etc.) that it continued to dominate, it seemed as if there was no stopping its growth.

Unfortunately, whether due to economic concerns, the new chief’s approach to the job, or some combination thereof, the Jassy era has seemingly reversed Amazon’s promising trend.

Last year marked its slowest rate of growth since it became a publicly traded company and its stock price is down a staggering 44% since Jassy took over as CEO.

The result? Layoffs that have cost roughly 27,000 jobs this year alone and cost-cutting measures that mean many Amazon-owned stores will be shut down.

Whether it’s a parent who sacrificed everything to provide for you or a spouse who’s been by your side for decades, you know that when the time comes to provide senior care that quality is what matters most.

At the same time, budgets are tight for millions of families these days and the cost of providing that care is only getting higher with each passing year. So how do you make ends meet? Unfortunately, too many people in this situation simply have no good options.

Making the least bad choice

News stories and anecdotes from across the United States describe elderly folks giving up on retirement plans or family members putting their lives on hold to help care for aging loved ones. With more baby boomers entering old age, the issue is becoming even more pronounced as the economy barrels toward an uncertain future.

There are some options out there, but each one has some potential downsides that could make them deal-breakers for families in various situations.

Staying at home can mean constant care from family, friends, or neighbors, which might not be feasible. A live-in caregiver might be an option for those who can afford it, but that’s not sufficient for some people.

Assisted living facilities can cost a massive amount and most seniors are understandably wary about moving into a nursing home. Without Medicaid coverage, any of these options can quickly become unaffordable.

There’s hope on the horizon

If there’s a bright spot to the current situation it’s that elected officials and advocates across the country are pushing for change and introducing concepts that should help fix the root problems.

A program in Washington will allocate a small portion of payroll taxes to provide long-term care coverage and similar efforts are underway in California and Michigan.