🍋 Bull, Bear, or Rat Market

Together With

"I want tension in my business. Tension creates change. Change is necessary to evolve and prosper. I am never satisfied." — Ken Griffin

Good morning! Russia's stock market remained closed for the third straight day, the longest pause since 1998. Russian stocks listed on the exchange in London have lost $570 billion in value in two weeks. Natural gas prices in Europe have risen 60% this week with everyone freaking out about supply disruptions as 40% of the supply comes from Russia. The Kremlin has now concentrated their attacks on Ukraine's second city Kharkiv, leaving a civillian death toll at 2,000. Apple is joining a growing list of companies trying to do their part. Not only have they halted product sales in Russia, they've also limited Apple Pay and other services in the country. As a cherry on top, they plan on matching employee donations to certain organizations supporting Ukraine, 2:1.

For y'all looking to manage your deal-flow, check out today's sponsor, Affinity, and save time, work smarter, and close more deals.

1. Story of the Day: Bull, Bear, or Rat Market

A lot of different things have caused supply chain issues recently. The pandemic, increased consumer spending, and now in Arkansas, a rat infestation at a Family Dollar distribution center.

Family Dollar's owner Dollar Tree, reported on Wednesday that the infestation led to a widespread product recall, costing a whopping $34 million. Between March 29th and September 17th 2021, maintenance officials at the center captured more than 2,300 rodents according to the FDA. On top of that, over 1,100 dead rats were retrieved after the building was fumigated.

The FDA document, which reads more like an autopsy or a crime scene report, stated that there were "carcasses on the conveyer belt," along with feces "too numerous to count" by food products like Jell-O. More rats were found getting into pallets containing potato chip bags and scurrying across the floor.

Don't think the party stopped there though. The rats didn't just treat the distribution center as an all you can eat buffet. It was more like an all inclusive resort with "rodent nesting materials." Plenty of dead birds and ant hills were found too. (yes everyone was invited)

After the inspection, a recall was issued on February 18th, because as you can imagine, these little critters got into everything including drugs, medical devices, cosmetics, dietary supplements, and food. 

Dollar Tree said "The Company is taking this matter extremely seriously," and "is cooperating fully with the FDA." Multiple class action lawsuits have sprouted from this problem. Dollar Tree acknowledged that "reputational damage, lost sales" and additional lawsuits may hurt the company moving forward, on top of the current $34 million bill caused by inventory markdowns and related costs.

Short Squeez Takeaway: Have to admire these little hustlers for going full Ratatouille and trying to take over an entire store's distribution center. Does this one distribution center indicate greater problems at Family Dollar, or parent company Dollar Tree? GlobalData retail analyst Neil Saunders said, "Aside from the hygiene implications and negative consumer perception, we find the situation concerning as we think it points to a wider sloppiness in the Family Dollar operation and a willingness to cut corners – something that Dollar Tree never really seems to have got to grips with since it acquired the business."

Source: Axios

2. Markets Rundown

Stocks rallied yesterday after a tough start to the week based off renewed hope for Russia and Ukraine talks happening soon, and a peaceful ending to all this craziness. Fed Chair Powell's comments about the situation abroad, and continuing to proceed with a March rate hike as planned also gave investors a sense of calm.

Movers & Shakers

  • (+) Nordstrom ($JWN) +38% after posting a very positive fiscal Q4, and even stronger guidance.

  • (+) Arlo Technologies ($ARLO) +29% the cloud company also presented better than expected Q4 results and above analyst estimates for Q1.

  • (–) Karyopharm Therapeutics ($KPTI) -40% on news that the FDA said their current SIENDO study top-line results most likely won't support an approval.

3. Top Reads

  • Probably best to stay away from fast fashion, and buy fewer, better clothes (PS)

  • Should your spending habits change with inflation? (SC)

  • REI workers in New York are looking to unionize (NYT)

  • A JetBlue pilot removed from cockpit on suspicions of being drunk (NYT)

  • 225,000 Americans may have filed new jobless claims last week (Yahoo)

  • Ex-Peloton CEO sells $50 million in stock to firm associated with Michael Dell (BBG)

  • Russian Roman Abramovich plans to sell football club Chelsea (BBC)

  • Netflix pressing pause on future products in Russia (BBC)

  • Snowflake plunges almost 30% on slowing revenue growth (CNBC)

A Message from Affinity: The Relationship Intelligence Platform for Dealmakers

No deal-maker should have to spend half their week creating contacts or logging interactions in a CRM. 

Automation will instantly give you hours of your life back. Every contact, call, email, meeting, etc. is automatically logged and shared with your team.

But getting hours of your life back doesn't necessarily help you close deals. For that, Affinity has done something special with its CRM. Your team's automated interactions, combined with data enrichment from industry-leading sources, feed a relationship-intelligence engine that will help you master your outreach to external firms. You'll know who to contact and when to do it. The rest is up to you.

4. Book of the Day: The Unfair Advantage: How Startup Success Starts With You

What is the difference between a startup that makes it, and one that crashes and burns? Behind every story of success is an unfair advantage.

But an Unfair Advantage is not just about your parents' wealth or who you know: anyone can have one. An Unfair Advantage is the element that gives you an edge over your competition.

This ground-breaking book shows how to identify your own Unfair Advantages and apply them to any project. Drawing on over two decades of hands-on experience, including as the first Marketing Director of Just Eat (a startup worth over $4 billion), the authors offer a unique framework for assessing your external circumstances in addition to your internal strengths.

Hard work and grit aren't enough, so they explore the importance of money, intelligence, location, education, expertise, status and luck in the journey to success. From starting your company, to gaining traction, raising funds and growth hacking, The Unfair Advantage helps you look at yourself and find the ingredients you didn't realize you already had, to succeed in the cut-throat world of business.

“It's not about focusing on the negatives, it's about knowing the realities and leveraging the unfair advantages that we do have, to help us live our best lives.”

5. Short Squeez Picks

  • Want to break into tech? Skillful’s courses have helped hundreds of bankers land jobs at companies like Stripe and DoorDash. Sign up today*

  • Ever heard of "death cleaning?"

  • Morgan Housel and Maria Gallagher discuss the stock market

  • Hundreds of thousands of investors are automating their money with this fintech platform*

  • Here are some tips on how to be a smart consumer

6. Daily Visual: Make Bank Babysitting

The average hourly rate for one child according to figures from UrbanSitter

Source: Axios

7. Daily Acumen: Productivity 

“Work longer, get less done.

Parkinson's Law says that work expands to fill the time available for its completion.

When you establish fixed hours to your work, you find unproductive ways to fill it.

Work like a lion instead—sprint, rest, repeat.”

Source: Sahil Bloom

8. Crypto Corner

9. Memes of the Day

 

 

 

 

 *This is a sponsored post.

Join the conversation

or to participate.