#FINANCIAL_LITERACY

Hey Snackers,

Fetch isn't happening. Mean Girls Day is.

Markets pulled a Regina George as the Dow aggressively dipped 800 points in last two days. Blame it on more mounting evidence of a global economic slowdown.

Microsoft failed smartphones. So it invented a new Smartphone-ish foldable device.

It's product unveil season... We expected Microsoft to show us new Surface tablets for your aunt's holiday wish list. We didn't expect a smart device that defies labels. The dual-screen Surface Duo arrives next year — Picture 2 iPhones connected book-style at the spine so they fold. We call it the "Phonebook." Just don't call it a phone (Microsoft hates that).

Bill Gates' has accepted his destiny... The billionaire co-founder's #1 mistake was letting Android (owned by Alphabet) become the leader of mobile phone software. Software was Microsoft's thing (just ask Clippy). Now Microsoft's new hardware runs on Android's operating system — shocking for the company defined by its historic operating system domination.

Microsoft has its swagger back... It embarrassingly missed on smartphones the 1st time — it acquired Nokia in 2013, didn't do much with it, then killed its Windows phone in 2017. Since then, Microsoft's stock has grown 90% and it's now the most valuable publicly-traded company on Earth. With that confidence, it's taking on Apple and Samsung on their turf.

PS: CEO Satya Nadella says this "device" has two screens so you can be creative on one side, productive on the other (like a brain). 

Chipotle's newest menu item is actually a major strategy shift

We know. Guac is extra... But Chipotle's too busy scaling its newest limited time menu item: carne asada (grilled beef showered in lime juice love and cilantro). It's the 1st newly-tested option since 2018's chorizo, and it arrived just before another surprise change at Chipotle.

The Fast Food Breakfast Wars... Chipotle is surviving by not fighting in it. Dunkin's got breakfast bowls, McDonald's does breakfast-only donut sticks, and Starbucks offers egg-white sammies. Breakfast is the new battleground because it's a daily habit that fast food hasn't satiated yet. Chipotle don't care:

• New-ish CEO Brian Niccol dropped this last week: “We’re not going to be doing breakfast anytime soon.”
• Instead, Chipotle's focusing on the opposite of breakfast. Dinner. Carne asada, paired with its new drive-thru Chipotlanes and delivery, works nicely with that.

This carne asada is a powerful executive statement... Chipotle's old CEO was opposed to new menu items — especially "limited time offers" that could disappoint diners once they get 86'd. But Brian has a different interpretation:

• "Menu Fatigue." He thinks a lack of new proteins lost customers who can only barbacoa so many times.
• Chipotle's stock has nearly doubled since last year as it tests out new flavors (queso, chorizo) and a loyalty program that hooks you after you try them.