Snap Back

Good Morning. Want to feel old? Well, here's a fun fact: Daniel Radcliffe, famous for playing a beloved childhood character, turns 30 today.

Snap Back

Shares of Snap (owners of Snapchat) fell steeply after the company reported slowing revenue growth in Q2. While revenue grew by 17% compared to Q2 of 2019, it was a big fall from the 44% growth it enjoyed in Q1.

More bad news for Snap coming out of the report:

Net losses for the quarter rose by 28% to $326M
Daily users rose by 4%, but the company missed its target by 1 million users
Revenue growth is going to have to pick up quite a bit to hit Snap's goal of 32% year over year revenue growth

It's not all doom and gloom, though. Some of the punishment Snap is taking in the markets may be due more to the fact that it's share price has risen by 50% since the start of the year, and is trading at a premium compared to its social media rivals.

One Less Competitor?

Snap may also benefit from growing momentum to ban Tik Tok in the United States. The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to ban the app on Federal government phones, citing security risks.

A top Trump White House officials has said it will be "weeks, not months" before broader action is taken against TikTok.

We wonder if a TikTok ban will coincide with the roll out of Facebook's clone, Instagram Reels, in the U.S.?

Europe's Big Deal

EU leaders finally have a deal on COVID economic relief after a marathon negotiating session. Here are the key details:

The deal is worth 750 Euros, which is over $1.1 trillion CAD.
More than half of that sum will be directed to states with weaker economies (generally those in southern Europe).
This marks the biggest effort in Europe to date to deal with COVID reconstruction.

Dissent in the ranks

Not everyone was on board for the relief package, though. Angela Merkel (Germany) and Emmanuel Macron (France) were the chief proponents of the deal, while a group of northern nations — the so-called "frugal five" — including Finland, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden, opposed letting the EU borrow to fund the relief programs.

While the package shows the possibility for European cooperation still exists to some extent, the negotiations required to achieve it suggest deep divisions on the continent.

Busting Tech Trusts

The 90s are back, baby: Microsoft is once again facing antitrust scrutiny from regulators, largely due to a complaint made by Slack with the European Commission.

Slack alleges that Microsoft is illegally bundling its chat product (and Slack competitor) with the rest of its Office programs. Slack argues Microsoft should have to sell its chat product as a standalone and for a "fair price".

If the Commission agrees that Microsoft is using its market power to crush competitors in a way that hurts consumers, that could cause problems for Microsoft.

Why it matters: Tech giants are facing increasing pressure from regulators on a variety of issues, antitrust being one of the biggest.

Amazon is being investigated over its treatment of third-party sellers on its platform.
Alphabet has been slapped with $9.4B in fines over the past few years by the EU.
Now the EU's top antitrust enforcer wants greater powers than fines, including the ability to breakup companies and force them to offer consumers alternatives to their products.

Ballin' In The Bubble

Am I dreaming, or is the NBA really back?

Well, sort of. A series of scrimmage games started yesterday, and I have to tell you, seeing live sports again — even in a scrimmage format — is prett-ay, prett-ay nice.

And if basketball isn't your thing, baseball returns tonight with the Yankees taking on the Nationals at 7PM EST.

Plus: hockey is just a week away.

Go inside the bubble: the breakout start of the NBA restart has to be Matisse Thybulle, whose YouTube videos documenting life inside the bubble have earned him almost 300,000 subscribers.

Leftovers

International Students: Looks like international students are out of luck this year: Canada has told most of the 650,000 international students that they will not be able to enter the country in September.

Crypto: Execs from the Toronto cryptocurrency exchange Coinsquare just got slapped with $2 million in fines by the Ontario Securities Commission for artificially inflating trading volumes on its platform.

China/US Conflict: The U.S. has asked to China to close its consulate in Houston. Tensions between the two powers just keep rising.

Peak Picks

Justice Served? Remember "Chair Girl"? She just got sentenced with a fine and 2 years probation for her little stunt. But Mayor John Tory thinks she should've been locked up.

COVID Costumes: Would you wear a giant bubble to a restaurant to stay safe from COVID? How about a 6 foot wide hoop skirt? Some people apparently would, as they look for creative costumes to keep the virus at bay.

I'll have what he's having: You've heard of boxed wine. Perhaps you've even sampled it. How about boxed negronis? A Brooklyn company is now selling 1.75L boxes so you can have negronis on tap in your house. Unfortunately not yet available in Canada.

TSX	16171.06	0.05%
S&P 500	3276.02	0.57%
DOW	27005.84	0.62%
NASDAQ	10706.13	0.24%
Gold	1870.80	1.46%
Oil	41.89	0.07%
Dollar	0.75	-0.3717%

July 22, 2020

Snap Back

Markets

Snap Back

One Less Competitor?

Europe's Big Deal

Dissent in the ranks

Busting Tech Trusts

Ballin' In The Bubble

Leftovers

Peak Picks

Share this with your network

Get smarter in just 5 minutes.