BTFD 💸

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Per my last email, let's get into it.

By Allison Morrow

💸 THE DIP

A different kind of dip.

If I had to choose one catchphrase to sum up Wall Street's 2021, it might be – pardon the profanity — "buy the f---ing dip."

Buying the dip, or BTFD in trader parlance, is what investors do when they purchase an asset after a big drop because they think it will quickly bounce back. It's long been the mantra of the crypto congregants, and at least for the past couple of years it's been a sound bet for stocks, which have mostly climbed.

THE LATEST

If you think way back to a week ago, Wall Street was on the knife's edge. What's this Omicron thing? Is Papa Powell really going to take our allowance away? All of that fretting sparked a massive selloff. But why dwell in the past?

The selloff feels like ancient history as markets have recouped their losses and notched three straight sessions of gains this week. Thank the dip-buyers. And news from Pfizer and BioNTech that three doses of their Covid-19 vaccine can "neutralize" the Omicron variant may help boost sentiment even further.

The trouble, my colleague Paul R. La Monica writes, is that volatility is back in a big way.

FEAR'S HERE

The VIX, a volatility measure known as Wall Street's fear gauge, is up nearly 35% in the past month — and that includes a 20% drop Tuesday. The CNN Business Fear & Greed Index, which looks at the VIX and six other indicators of market sentiment, has swung wildly, too.

"This is still an extremely fragile market," said Craig Erlam, a senior market analyst with Oanda. The challenge with buying the dip is you need to have a sense of when the stock (or commodity, or crypto) will bottom out.

"Time will tell whether investors are getting ahead of themselves, but a couple of days without a negative Omicron headline has the dip buyers flooding back in," Erlam said.

Looking ahead: This Friday brings another market concern — yes, it's inflation — into sharp relief when the government releases its latest data on consumer prices. Prices were up 6.2% annually in October, the biggest spike in 30 years.

So perhaps BTFD should be amended to BTFD…BBSTDYIACALTSBOSMP – buy the f---ing dip but be sure to diversify your investments and craft a long-term strategy based on sound market principles? Eh, we'll workshop it.

#️⃣ NUMBER OF THE DAY

3.9%

Good news going into 2022: Base pay may increase by an average of 3.9% next year, the largest one-year projected hike since 2008. That estimate is based on The Conference Board's latest wage survey of 240 companies, the majority of which each employ more than 10,000 people. The 3.9% jump does not include any bonuses or other one-time payouts a company may offer.

💰 RICH GUY NEWS

Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is having a Johnny Rose moment.

The billionaire just bought the entire town of Mustang, Texas — a blip on the map off I-45, with a population of about 21 people. The reason, Cuban told the Dallas Morning News: A buddy needed to sell it.

"I don't know what if anything I will do with it," Cuban told the paper.

Should the famed entrepreneur find himself down on his luck a la "Schitt's Creek," though, it's nice to know he'll have his own hamlet and a zany group of townsfolk to take him in.

WHAT'S THERE?

Mustang is pretty much a 77-acre blank canvas.

The town was founded in the early 1970s, when it was known mostly as a local watering hole in an otherwise dry Navarro County, according to the paper.
These days, there's little more than a trailer park and a strip club, Wispers Cabaret, which is reportedly in disrepair. On Friday, Google Maps showed the name of the club had been edited to "Mark Cubaret."
There's a "resident alligator" in one its ponds, a Dallas real estate broker told the Morning News.
Nearby attractions? Well, you've got Dallas about 45 minutes north. And history buffs with a penchant for cult lore will be pleased to find that the city of Waco is just over an hour's drive southwest of Mustang. And just two miles from Wispers, there's "Navarro County's first and only vineyard and winery," Angelita (which honestly looks super cute).

It's not clear what Cuban paid for the town, but for someone with a net worth of nearly $6 billion, it was almost certainly a steal. Mustang was reportedly put up for sale in 2017 for $4 million, but it was overpriced, even when they slashed the listing price in half.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

📸Instagram head Adam Mosseri testified for the first time before a Senate subcommittee on Wednesday as lawmakers question the app's impact on the mental health of younger users.

👀 Three Better.com executives resigned after the company's CEO laid off 900 people over Zoom.

🛒Costco is ramping up its Costco Next program, an online perk for club members to save 20% on some brands.

⚖️ Elizabeth Holmes' defense rested its case Wednesday, shortly after the founder and former CEO of Theranos concluded her seventh day on the witness stand.

👟Nike will stop shoes through DSW, the latest retailer to get the ax as Nike refocuses on its own shops and websites.

⛽Gas prices are finally falling, and US officials estimate we could be averaging $2.88 a gallon next year.