Joe Rogan's exclusive Spotify deal and 4 other business stories you need to read today

Markets may have been a little too euphoric Monday as investors gobbled up optimism about a potential coronavirus vaccine and seized on a “60 Minutes” interview in which Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled the central bank would do more to help the recovery along — nothing new from our pal Jay, but investors didn’t seem to care.

On Tuesday, reality set in, and US stocks finished lower, seemingly unfazed by the (frankly pretty snooze-worthy) testimony from Powell and Mnuchin on Capitol Hill.

We’re honestly kind of surprised it took brands this long to get their logos and characters printed directly onto our PPE.

For all you Disney-heads, there are now official cloth face masks featuring Anna, Elsa, Woody, Buzz Lightyear and Baby Yoda. Capitalism is just so dependable, you know? The NBA’s getting in on the game too, so you can prove you’re a true fan by strapping your team’s logo right across your mouth and cheeks as you avoid touching produce at the grocery store.

You may be thinking: Isn’t profiting from PPE a little, déclassé? Yes, which is why most big names are donating the proceeds to charities. (Still, you pretty much can’t get more prominent placement for walking advertisements than human faces)

POD-IFY

Spotify just secured exclusive rights to one of the most popular podcasts in the world, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” for an undisclosed amount. This is a big get, considering the size and cult-like devotion of Rogan’s fan base.

Big picture thoughts: Spotify is flexing some serious muscle in the podcast space lately. After a splashy acquisition of the startup Gimlet Media last year, Spotify went on to acquire Bill Simmons’ The Ringer in February. It now boasts exclusive deals with Rogan as well as the creators of “The Last Podcast on the Left.” Meanwhile, Apple seems to have taken its dominance as a pod platform for granted, because it just keeps ceding ground to smaller rivals like Spotify.

WHERE’D YOU GO, WARREN?

Warren Buffett and Masa Son are perhaps the world’s two best-known investors — oracles whose insights are as a good as gospel to their legions of fans. But lately, we’re scratching our heads, wondering whether their prescient wisdom (or plain old good luck) has simply run out. CNN Business’ Paul R. La Monica offers his analysis.

VROOM MEETING?

Finally, we’d like to take a minute to salute these pioneers who are turning WFH to WFC. They needed a change of scenery, and like good Americans they took to their cars.

Walter Kinzie, pictured to the left, works out of his wife’s minivan on a farm in South Dakota.

IN OTHER NEWS:

The owner of Peet’s Coffee, the quirky-fonted California-born java label, is betting big that coffee and tea will withstand the corona-recession and pressing ahead with a more than $2 billion IPO.
Panic shopping and hoarding gave Walmart one of its best quarters in decades.
Nasdaq will de-list scandal-ridden Chinese coffee company Luckin
The pandemic is driving the final nail in Pier 1’s wicker casket, three months after the home-goods store filed for bankruptcy

source: cnn.com