Chester County election workers process mail-in and absentee ballots for the 2020 general election in the United States at West Chester University, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, in West Chester, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Thursday, November 5, 2020:
WHERE THINGS STAND
As of this morning, Joe Biden has 264 electoral votes and President Trump has 214, according to the Associated Press, which has called Michigan and Wisconsin for Biden. Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina and Alaska have not yet been called. Should one of the first four go for Biden, he wins (also assuming that AP’s Arizona call holds). Biden has received more than 71 million votes, the most in history, surpassing Hillary Clinton’s popular vote by more than 5 million. Here’s an explanation of every race that the AP has called: READ IT
LEGAL BATTLE BEGINS
The Trump campaign says it will formally request a recount in Wisconsin. The campaign is suing to stop ballots from being counted in Michigan and Pennsylvania, and said it has also filed suit in Georgia to separate ballots that arrived after the voting deadline. At a convention center in Detroit where mail-in ballots were being tallied, police had to push back crowds as they demanded to be let in. AP
DEM DOWN-BALLOT DISAPPOINTMENT
Even though Joe Biden could very well become president-elect, Democrats had a very disappointing showing down-ballot. In the Senate, the party raised more than $300 million and ended up losing six of the biggest races. In the House, Dems are set to keep control but Republicans are on track to pick up at least seven seats. At the statehouse level, the National Conference of State Legislatures predicts that only four chambers in the whole country will flip -- two for Dems, two for the GOP -- the lowest number since 1946. NY TIMES
COVID-19: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
The UK has re-entered a national lockdown, with restaurants, bars and non-essential businesses closing for at least a month and households banned from mixing indoors. Italy is also instituting severe new restrictions via a “traffic-light” regional system. Four regions, including Milan and the surrounding area, are essentially quarantine zones, with no one allowed in or out. The restrictions will be reevaluated every two weeks. Denmark will kill its entire population of mink, culling all 15 million of the animals over fears that a mutated virus among the mink could jump to humans. The U.S. shattered its own single-day record of cases with a tally of more than 104,000 new infections on Wednesday. CNN
RELIEF RALLY
Is a divided government good for business? That may be the takeaway, judging by how the market reacted on the first day of trading post-election. The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq all surged in a classic “relief rally,” as investors appeared to like the idea of a Democratic White House and Republican Senate. While that all but ensures more gridlock in D.C., it also means it’s less likely that there will be legislation to strengthen regulation or hike corporate taxes. CHEDDAR
BIGGEST IPO ON HOLD
The Chinese fintech giant Ant Group was supposed to be going public today via a dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong that would have been the largest IPO in history. But in a shocking move, China’s ruling party stepped in at the last minute and yanked the listing. Beijing says Ant needs to fix some capital requirements if it wants to go public. The message is clear: the government can and will show it’s in charge of the economy, even if that means Chinese investors lose out. BLOOMBERG
NBA SEASON
Normally, the NBA would be in week two of its regular season by now. The league is reportedly close to an agreement with the players’ association on starting the 2020-21 season just before Christmas, on or around Dec. 22. If both sides agree, the plan on the table calls for a reduced 72-game season that would end just before the Summer Olympics next July. ESPN
SPOTTED...
...Michael J. Fox, opening up in a new interview about his struggle with Parkinson’s. Fox reveals that his “short-term memory is shot.” PEOPLE
AUNT BECKY IN JAIL
Lori Loughlin is said to be a “wreck” as she serves out her first week behind bars. The Full House actress reported to federal prison in California last Friday, where she is serving a two-month sentence for her role in the college admissions scandal. Loughlin is reportedly hoping to get released by Christmas. US WEEKLY
LEFTOVERS: BOOZE AND FRIES
It wasn’t just you. Google searches for “liquor stores near me” hit an all-time high as returns started coming in on Election Night. Google Trends reported that searches for “fries near me” also hit a new high. See what else people were Googling: SEARCH TRENDS
Listen to the N2K Podcast! Looking for more context and analysis on the big stories of the day? Check out our podcast! Hosts Jill and Carlo break down the headlines, every weekday morning Listen on Apple or Spotify, or watch on YouTube, and send us your feedback!
AT&T announced earlier today it is spinning off its media properties in WarnerMedia in a merger with Discovery in a $43 billion deal.Scott Rostan, founder and CEO at Training The Street, joined Cheddar to talk about what the unwinding of the telecom giant's Time Warner media properties means for investors. "I think the investor sentiment is they're digesting the new information, and they're looking into the dividend, especially the reduction of the dividend," said Rostan, noting the transaction allows AT&T to focus on its core telecommunications business.
A 2021 report from UK Research and Innovation found that the shipping industry makes up at least 2.5 percent of the world's total CO2 emissions. It's a problem that energy solutions company, Leclanché, is trying to solve. Founded in 1909, the company has been developing and producing batteries for more than 100 years. Today, Leclanché's lithium-ion battery is used to electrify not just ships, but also railroad locomotives, trucks, and specialty vehicles. Cheddar News spoke with Pierre Blanc, chief technology and industrial officer of Leclanché, to discuss.
Amazon is betting that ammonia could be the fuel of the future, participating in a Series A round for the Brooklyn-based company Amogy in December. Amogy aims to de-carbonize transportation with a clean energy system that uses ammonia as a renewable fuel. Amogy is partnering with Amazon on its first commercial product - an ammonia-powered cargo-shipping vessel. Amogy CEO Seonghoon Woo joins Cheddar Climate to discuss.
One of the world's largest transport companies is kicking off Black History Month with a new initiative aimed at the next generation of business leaders. Today, FedEx announced the launch of its Student Ambassador Program. Participants selected from eight historically black colleges and universities will receive career guidance from FedEx executives. The program is part of FedEx's ongoing commitment to HBCUs and will also help the company expand its pipeline for diverse talent. Cheddar News welcomes senior vice president at FedEx, Jenny Robertson, and Jerryl Briggs, President of Mississippi Valley State University, to discuss.
"Sing 2" has overthrown "Spider-Man: No Way Home" as the number one film at the UK box office. The animated sequel brought in $8.1 million, in just its two first weekends. However, "No Way Home" is still on track to beat "Avatar" as the number one grossing movie of all time.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has been a driving force for youth mentorship since 1904. The nonprofit organization is launching its annual Big Draft campaign this month in partnership with the NFL, and Artis Stevens, the first Black CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, joined Cheddar to discuss the push for adding more "Bigs" as mentors on his one-year anniversary leading the non-profit organization. "While the NFL is recruiting and drafting more players, they're also helping us to draft more mentors and, particularly, men all the way from across February to all the way to April of this year," Stevens explained.
The Supreme Court will reconsider race-based affirmative action in college admissions. The court will examine admissions policies at Harvard University and The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, which count the race of applicants as a factor in admissions. The court has upheld affirmative action policies in the past, saying it helps to create more diverse student bodies. However, the conservative Supreme Court could be skeptical and even possibly hostile to such policies. Nick Anderson, Higher Education Writer, Washington Post joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
The value of most cryptocurrencies have plummeted in recent months since reaching all-time highs in November, wiping out more than $1 trillion in value globally. The steep crash has some talking about the possibility of a crypto winter, a term referring to a prolonged bearish period where asset prices persistently fall over many months. This all comes as the Fed is expected to raise interest rates, and the Biden administration is working on an executive order to regulate Bitcoin and other assets. Josh Goodbody, COO of Qredo, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the crypto crash, and how the industry might recover from it.
Recent data reveals that streaming giants are struggling to retain subscribers in the months following a major release.
According to data from Antenna, subscriber trends show that users will subscribe to a given streaming service just to watch a particular show, and then cancel those subscriptions shortly after. This comes as the streaming space continues to heat up as new entrants crowd the space. Jon Christian, Founding Partner + Digital Supply Chain Leader at OnPrem joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
