Start The Clock

U.S. Government Avoids Shutdown

The Senate voted 84-10 to pass a spending bill late Wednesday to avoid a partial government shutdown set for midnight. The House already passed the bill in a 359-57 vote last week. President Trump later signed the measure ahead of the deadline.

Mandalay Bay Settlement Reached

A judge approved an $800M payout from MGM Resorts International - owner of the Mandalay Bay resort - and its insurers to more than 4,400 relatives and victims following the 2017 shooting at an outdoor concert that killed 58 people. MGM Resorts - which acknowledged no liability in the situation - agreed to pay $49M while its insurers will pay the remaining $751M.

Commission Proposes New Debate Rules

In the wake of Tuesday’s first presidential debate, the Commission on Presidential Debates said they intend to use additional “tools to maintain order” in subsequent debates. Per CBS News, the commission’s new rules will include, among other things, a mute button for microphones to reduce interruptions.

Worth Noting: Seagram’s heiress Clare Bronfman was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison for her role in the Nxivm sex cult.

📝 Intelligence Report Card…  in a report released yesterday, the House Intelligence Committee detailed how American intelligence agencies have been unable to effectively adapt to the growing threat of the Chinese Communist Party. Read the unclassified report.

Market Watch

Yesterday marked the last day of Q3. All three major U.S. stock indexes finalized significant gains over the past three months. The Dow (+7.6% for the quarter) and S&P 500 (+8.5%) capped their best two-quarter performance since 2009, while the Nasdaq (+11.0%) notched its biggest two-quarter gain since 2000.

More: The Fed maintained prohibitions on share buybacks and a cap on dividend payments by 33 large banks for at least another three months, a measure aimed at ensuring economic stability.

Palantir Appears Palatable

Palantir Technologies debuted on the NYSE via a direct listing on Wednesday. Its share price opened at $10 and traded as high as $11.42 before closing at $9.50, valuing the company at ~$21B. Many Palantir employees and insiders reported difficulty executing trades during the day due to a software glitch.

More: A direct listing allows employees and early investors to cash out stock on the first day, unlike a traditional IPO, which typically mandates a length of time before existing shareholders can sell stock. Dig deeper.

Cyber Optics

A Microsoft report published yesterday found that cybercriminal activity has rapidly increased in sophistication and volume over the past year. The company said roughly 70% of recent hacking efforts are phishing-related, making the hacks “harder to spot.” Microsoft emphasized the importance of cybersecurity in a time where large numbers of people are working from home.

✈️ Up In The Air… the terms of $25B in federal airline aid (which forbid airline companies from cutting jobs) expired early this morning, meaning ~30k workers will be laid off today. Separately, the Treasury Department closed loans with seven major U.S. airlines on Tuesday in exchange for equity.

New Product Launch: Google unveiled two new Pixel phones, a new Nest smart speaker, and an updated Chromecast yesterday.

By The Book

When the pandemic hit the family of Anaik Sachdev, an 8-year-old from Phoenix, AZ, it hit hard. First, the young boy’s mother contracted COVID-19 after returning from a spring break trip to New York. His grandmother followed, requiring hospitalization after catching the virus. Anaik’s father fell ill shortly after. With almost the entirety of his immediate family fighting to recover, the Anaik’s only escape was in books, reading for hours at a time as he coped with being home alone.

After all of his family members had successfully recovered from the virus, Anaik decided that he wanted to share the gift of reading with others struggling with the illness. Thus, the ravenous reader started the Loving Library, a program that has purchased and donated nearly 250 books for the COVID-19 patients at the nearby Valley Wise Hospital.

Music For The Soul

Growing up, Nick Harvey of East Sussex, England, was always in awe of his father’s talents as a musician. With little to no guidance, Paul Harvey could improvise beautiful melodies on the piano, delighting his son and all others who were fortunate enough to hear. However, the 80-year-old Paul now has dementia. With each passing year, the musical virtuoso seems more like a shadow of his former self.

Nevertheless, earlier this month, Nick’s father showed him that – although some days, Paul struggles to remember how to play his favorite instrument – he remains the talented artist he has always been. In a video that has gone viral on Twitter, the octogenarian improvises a breathtaking piece on the piano after Nick gives him just four random notes as a starting point.

A Brush With Friendship

Last year, 45-year-old Tim Gjoraas of Sioux Falls, SD, was diagnosed with colon cancer. Although he proceeded to undergo more than a year of grueling chemotherapy treatment, doctors informed the high school teacher in July that he only had a few months left to live. Wanting to spend his remaining time with his wife and three children, Tim retired from teaching and began to get his affairs in order.

Recently, Tim asked his friend Doug Rinken – who is also a former educator – if he would be able to paint his house for him next summer since Tim would most likely not be around to do it himself. Instead, Doug organized a team of a dozen of Tim’s friends and colleagues to complete the task this month, so the faithful family man could be there to see it happen. The team, which finished the job this past weekend, painted the house blue, a color chosen by Tim’s wife.

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