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US

Biggest winter storm in years batters Cincinnati; 2 more rounds of snow on the way

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The biggest winter snow storm in years battered Cincinnati overnight, dropping at least 5 inches of snow for most areas, with some seeing more than 10 inches.And the snow is not over yet, with two more rounds expected by the end of the week. With bitter cold temperatures, the snow on the ground is not going anywhere. When all is said and done, some communities could see more than a foot of snow by the week’s end.LIVE RADAR // LATEST WEATHER ALERTS // CLOSURES & DELAYSThe big snow moved in late Monday and parked itself over Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky in the overnight hours. This system was definitely an overachiever, bringing heavy snow mainly between midnight and 3 a.m.The system brought 2 to 3 inches of snow per hour in some areas.“That is a crazy snowfall rate, one that road crews couldn’t possibly keep up with,” said WLWT meteorologist Randi Rico. “So that’s how we went from 2 to 4 inches of snow to having 8 to 10 inches of snow in some towns in the middle of the night.”SNOW TOTALS: How much snow did your community receive?And given the cold ground temperatures, that snow will likely linger through most of the week. This snowfall will be coupled with two more chances of accumulating snow this week, with no signs of melting. A SECOND ROUND OF SNOWSnow is done falling Tuesday. For the rest of the day, expect mostly cloudy skies with temperatures around freezing throughout the day.By Tuesday night, another — and possibly even more potent storm center — will ride along the arctic cold front through Kentucky bringing widespread freezing rain and sleet south of the Ohio River.Another round of snow will move in from the south beginning Wednesday afternoon. Expect this system to move in between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Wednesday.Heavier snow bands will focus on the area’s southernmost communities. That system will linger overnight and into Thursday morning, bringing another 1 to 3 inches of snow to the area by Thursday morning. The potential for more than 2 inches of snow exists mainly along or south of the Ohio River. “Some places that had 10 inches last night, add another 2 or 3 inches, and we’ve got a foot of snow, and we haven’t made it to Thursday,” Rico said.A POTENTIAL THIRD ROUND Cincinnati will get a break from the busy weather Friday into Saturday, before another potent storm arrives Saturday night and into Valentine’s Day.This could also be accompanied by the brutal cold we have been watching with highs in the teens Sunday and below zero for lows by Sunday night. Details of this system are still being worked out, but it could bring with it more accumulating snow. Stay tuned.

CINCINNATI —

The biggest winter snow storm in years battered Cincinnati overnight, dropping at least 5 inches of snow for most areas, with some seeing more than 10 inches.

And the snow is not over yet, with two more rounds expected by the end of the week.

With bitter cold temperatures, the snow on the ground is not going anywhere. When all is said and done, some communities could see more than a foot of snow by the week’s end.

LIVE RADAR // LATEST WEATHER ALERTS // CLOSURES & DELAYS

The big snow moved in late Monday and parked itself over Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky in the overnight hours. This system was definitely an overachiever, bringing heavy snow mainly between midnight and 3 a.m.

The system brought 2 to 3 inches of snow per hour in some areas.

“That is a crazy snowfall rate, one that road crews couldn’t possibly keep up with,” said WLWT meteorologist Randi Rico. “So that’s how we went from 2 to 4 inches of snow to having 8 to 10 inches of snow in some towns in the middle of the night.”

SNOW TOTALS: How much snow did your community receive?

And given the cold ground temperatures, that snow will likely linger through most of the week. This snowfall will be coupled with two more chances of accumulating snow this week, with no signs of melting.

A SECOND ROUND OF SNOW

Snow is done falling Tuesday. For the rest of the day, expect mostly cloudy skies with temperatures around freezing throughout the day.

By Tuesday night, another — and possibly even more potent storm center — will ride along the arctic cold front through Kentucky bringing widespread freezing rain and sleet south of the Ohio River.

Another round of snow will move in from the south beginning Wednesday afternoon. Expect this system to move in between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Heavier snow bands will focus on the area’s southernmost communities. That system will linger overnight and into Thursday morning, bringing another 1 to 3 inches of snow to the area by Thursday morning.

The potential for more than 2 inches of snow exists mainly along or south of the Ohio River.

“Some places that had 10 inches last night, add another 2 or 3 inches, and we’ve got a foot of snow, and we haven’t made it to Thursday,” Rico said.

A POTENTIAL THIRD ROUND

Cincinnati will get a break from the busy weather Friday into Saturday, before another potent storm arrives Saturday night and into Valentine’s Day.

This could also be accompanied by the brutal cold we have been watching with highs in the teens Sunday and below zero for lows by Sunday night.

Details of this system are still being worked out, but it could bring with it more accumulating snow. Stay tuned.

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Business

Dow Jones Hits New High As Disney, Stock Market Rally; Yellen Sees This As ‘Biggest Risk’

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 130 points Monday afternoon as the stock market extended last week’s big gains, sending the key market indexes to new highs.




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The Nasdaq rose 0.5%, the Dow Jones industrials gained 0.4% and the S&P 500 added nearly 0.4% in the stock market today. Small caps tracked by the Russell 2000 soared 2%. Volume was mixed, lower on the NYSE but higher on the Nasdaq vs. the same time Friday.

Stocks rallied last week as Congress fast-tracked President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus relief plan. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the bill would be passed by the end of the month. The current stimulus package expires in mid-March.

On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told CBS the plan could bring the U.S. back to full employment by 2022. “We face a huge economic challenge here and tremendous suffering in the country. We have got to address that,” Yellen said. “That’s the biggest risk.”

The Labor Department on Friday reported U.S. nonfarm payrolls grew 49,000 last month, just below Econoday’s forecast for 50,000. Private payrolls accounted for only 6,000 of those jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 6.3% from 6.7% in December.

However, December’s job losses were revised to a 227,000 decrease.

U.S. Stock Market Today Overview
Index Symbol Price Gain/Loss % Change
Dow Jones (0DJIA) 31275.19 +126.95 +0.41
S&P 500 (0S&P5) 3900.40 +13.57 +0.35
Nasdaq (0NDQC ) 13924.95 +68.65 +0.50
Russell 2000 (IWM) 225.98 +4.33 +1.95
IBD 50 (FFTY) 47.43 +0.82 +1.76
Last Update: 1:20 PM ET 2/8/2021

Tech stocks boosted the Nasdaq to a 43.6% gain in 2020 for its fifth best year ever. The S&P 500 rose 16.3% and the Dow added 7.2% last year. Read The Big Picture for detailed daily market analysis.

Covid-19 Update

The Covid-19 pandemic continues to roil the U.S. economy, as nationwide lockdowns approach the one-year mark. But there are signs of hope as vaccinations roll out and the number of cases starts to plateau in some states.

Coronavirus cases worldwide are approaching 106.8 million with over 2.3 million deaths, according to Worldometer. In the U.S., cases have surpassed 27.6 million with nearly 475,000 deaths.

Dow Winners And Losers

Disney (DIS) jumped 4% to clear a 183.50 buy point of a five-week flat base in heavy volume. Shares remain in potential buy range, which goes up to 192.68. Analysts expect the media and theme parks giant to lose 33 cents a share on nearly $15.9 billion in revenue when it reports Thursday after the close.

Among other blue chip winners, Cisco (CSCO), Chevron (CVX) and Goldman Sachs (GS) rose nearly 2% each.

But McDonald’s (MCD), Nike (NKE) and Procter & Gamble (PG) gave up about 1% apiece.

Outside The Dow

Twitter (TWTR) gapped up and rose nearly 2% in heavy trade to a new high. The stock is on track to extend its win streak to six. Shares remain in potential buy range, which tops out at 59.02.

The messaging platform is expected to earn 29 cents a share on revenue of $1.18 billion when it reports Tuesday before the open. That would represent a 16% year-over-year EPS bump on 17% higher sales.

Tesla (TSLA) climbed 1.7% as it continues to trade tightly near all-time highs. The electric-vehicle maker disclosed in an SEC filing that it has bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin. Tesla said it plans to start accepting Bitcoin for payment soon. The price of Bitcoin was around $42,626, after earlier spiking to a record high near $44,000 on the news.

Tesla is nearly 90% extended from a 466 buy point of a cup with handle. The EV giant is an IBD Leaderboard stock.

Inside The 50

The Innovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) rallied 1.6% to a record high, thanks to big gains from 1-800-Flowers (FLWS), 360 DigiTech (QFIN) and Nvidia (NVDA).

1-800-Flowers soared 6% in twice normal trade to climb back above a 32.88 buy point.

Digital Turbine (APPS), also in the IBD 50, added nearly 2% to a new high. It’s showing action after a 54% surge last week. The stock has clearly broken an upper channel line on a weekly chart. This break of the upper channel is one sign of climactic price action.

Software, solar, and oil and gas stocks led the upside among IBD’s 197 industry groups. But toy makers, casino operators and restaurant stocks lagged.

Follow Nancy Gondo on Twitter at @IBD_NGondo

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Health

Younger adults are biggest spreaders of Covid-19, study suggests

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A research team at Imperial College in London used cell phone location data covering more than 10 million people and publicly available information on the spread of the virus to calculate which age groups were most responsible for the spread of the virus across most of the US.

Children accounted for very little spread, the researchers said, as did older adults. This could mean that opening schools may not contribute to spread if transmission is controlled among younger adults, they said.

“This study provides evidence that the resurgent COVID-19 epidemics in the US in 2020 have been driven by adults aged 20-49, and in particular adults aged 35-49, before and after school reopening,” the team wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.

“Unlike pandemic flu, these adults accounted after school reopening in October, 2020 for an estimated 72.2% of SARS-CoV-2 infections in the US locations considered, whereas less than 5% originated from children aged 0-9 and less than 10% from teens aged 10-19.”

And it might be the adults aged 35 to 49 who are the biggest factor in driving the pandemic, as opposed to younger adults, Oliver Ratmann of the Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team and colleagues concluded.

“Prior to the implementation of COVID-19 interventions, contacts concentrated among individuals of similar age, were highest among school-aged children and teens, and also common between children/teens and their parents, and middle-aged adults and the elderly. Since the beginning of the pandemic, these contact patterns have changed substantially,” the team wrote.

“This study indicates that in locations where novel highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 lineages have not yet established, additional interventions among adults aged 20-49, such as mass vaccination with transmission-blocking vaccines, could bring resurgent COVID-19 epidemics under control and avert deaths,” they added.

They estimated that people 35 to 49 accounted for 41% of the new transmissions through mid-August, and adults 20 to 34 were responsible for another 35%. Children and teens accounted for just 6% of spread. People 50 to 64 made up 15% of transmission.

“Over time, the share of age groups among reported deaths has been remarkably constant, suggesting that young adults are unlikely to have been the primary source of resurgent epidemics since summer 2020, and that instead changes in mobility and behavior among the broader group of adults aged 20-49 underlie resurgent COVID-19 in the US in 2020,” the team wrote.

Efforts to control virus spread

The researchers said that efforts to control the spread of coronavirus — including vaccination — should probably focus on those aged 20 to 49.

But there is not yet enough vaccine to immunize everyone, and the federal government is working with state and local governments to try to vaccinate people in an orderly, fair and logical way.

Current US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance put frontline healthcare workers and frail long term care facility residents at the front of the vaccine line. The White House under both presidents Trump and Biden has suggested that states open up vaccination to anyone over 65, as this age group is considered most vulnerable to death and severe disease from Covid-19.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Tuesday that while older people are more at risk for severe disease, experts have suspected for some time that younger people are driving the spread of the virus in the US.

Fauci did not discount the idea that the US should ensure those aged 20 to 49 get vaccinated but noted that it should not come at the expense of vaccinating older people, especially those with underlying health conditions.

“You don’t want to deprive them to get the younger ones, because they’re the ones that are going to wind up in the hospital and have a higher rate of death,” Fauci told CNN’s Don Lemon. “What we don’t want to do is to neglect them.”

Dr. Jonathan Reiner, professor of medicine at George Washington University and CNN medical analyst, said that while it’s important to vaccinate older people, younger adults should not necessarily be at the back of the line.

“I’ve thought for a while now that the priority groups just aren’t working and that we have to open it up to everyone,” Reiner told CNN’s Jake Tapper Wednesday.

“Now we can set aside, perhaps, a larger percentage of the vaccines for older Americans, but I think we need to start getting the vaccine out into younger people for exactly this reason — the younger people are the people who are spreading the virus,” Reiner added.

The Moderna and Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines currently available in the US provide protection against severe disease, though it is unclear whether they prevent transmission of the virus.

Researchers have suggested that the type of protection provided by vaccines may have some role in decisions about who should get a vaccine and when.

“Ultimately, everyone has to be vaccinated,” said Reiner. “And if you end up vaccinating older people, you’ll save their lives because they’re at higher risk. And if you vaccinate younger people, you’ll save lives also because they’re spreading the virus.”

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Entertainment

The biggest awards and movie deals from the 2021 Sundance Film Festival

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SALT LAKE CITY — As the 2020 movie awards season got underway Wednesday with the announcement of Golden Globe nominees, the Sundance Film Festival also wrapped up the first major event of the new movie year.

Awards for the 2021 Sundance festival were presented Tuesday evening. The festival, which was held virtually online for the first time, started on Thursday and ends today.

The Grand Jury Prize winners for this year’s Sundance were “CODA,” which took the top prize in the U.S. Dramatic competition, “Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)” in U.S. Documentary competition, “Hive” in World Cinema Dramatic competition and “Flee” in World Cinema Documentary competition.

“This was not a ‘virtual’ festival, it was a real festival and the power of these artists and their work was what made it so,” Sundance Film Festival Director Tabitha Jackson said in a news release Tuesday. “It has been a privilege to help this work meet new audiences and enter the culture with such fanfare, especially now, when breaking through the noise is harder than ever.”

“CODA,” “Summer of Soul” and “Hive” also took home audience awards, as well as the Indian documentary “Writing With Fire” and the drama “Ma Belle, My Beauty.” The full list of awards can be found at this link.

A still from Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, an official selection of the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. (Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Mass Distraction Media)

In addition to all the awards, “CODA” also brought home the bacon — Apple’s $25 million acquisition of the film smashed the previous record for biggest deal out of Sundance. That was previously held by the Andy Samberg comedy “Palm Springs,” which sold to Neon and Hulu at last year’s festival for a reported $22 million.

Sundance Institute CEO Keri Putnam also touted the creative work showcased at this year’s film festival.

“Watching people come together to connect and discuss exciting new work has been incredibly rewarding — and a resounding confirmation that great independent storytelling inspires rich conversation,” Putnam said.

Here’s a look at the rest of the deals reported out of Sundance this year so far.

‘Ailey’

Distributor Neon picked up the documentary “Ailey,” which is about the dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey, for an undisclosed sum, according to the Hollywood Reporter. It’s directed by Jamila Wignot.

‘CODA’

“CODA,” Sian Heder’s drama about a child of deaf adults who is the only hearing member of her family, went for a record-breaking $25 million at Sundance, according to Variety. Apple Studios won the rights to distribute the film after a bidding war between several other major distributors, Variety reported.

‘Cryptozoo’

Dash Shaw’s eclectic adult animation film sold to Magnolia Pictures, according to Variety. The film follows two lovers who dash off to the woods for a date, stumbling upon a park full of fantasy creatures. It features voice acting from Lake Bell, Michael Cera and Zoe Kazan.

A still from “Flee” by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, an official selection of the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. (Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute)

‘Flee’

Neon’s second pickup from this year’s Sundance is the animated documentary “Flee.” It sold to Neon in a partnership with Participant for a seven-figure deal, according to Deadline. Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, “Flee” documents an Afghan refugee’s tale of persecution and escape.

‘Jockey’

Clifton Collins Jr. earned a Sundance special jury prize for best actor for “Jockey,” which sold to Sony Pictures Classics, according to Deadline. Collins plays an aging horse racer who is reconciling with his deteriorating health when he encounters a rookie rider who claims to be his long-lost son.

‘Playing With Sharks’

National Geographic Documentary Films bought distribution rights to the documentary “Playing With Sharks,” according to the Hollywood Reporter. The movie features Australian conservationist and filmmaker Valerie Taylor.

‘Superior’

Visit Films acquired the rights to distribute the neo-noir “Superior,” which features two twin sisters who meet under mysterious circumstances, according to Screen Daily.

Nick Cassavetes and Nic Cage appears in Prisoners of the Ghostland by Sion Sono, an official selection of the Premieres section at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. (Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute)

Deals completed before the festival began

  • “A Glitch In The Matrix”: Magnolia Pictures announced it acquired the documentary, which examines simulation theory, late last year, according to The Wrap.
  • “The Most Beautiful Boy In The World”: Juno Films acquired North American distribution rights for this documentary, Deadline reported. The movie documents the life of former child acting star Björn Andrésen.
  • “Prisoners of the Ghostland”: RLJE Films will release the zany Nicolas Cage action flick, according to The Wrap. The distributor previously released the art house titles “Mandy” and “Color Out Of Space,” which both also featured Cage.
  • “Together Together”: Bleecker Street acquired distribution rights for the comedy, which stars Ed Helms and Patti Harrison, according to Variety.

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Health

Adults 20 to 49 are biggest COVID-19 spreaders in US: study

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Adults aged 20 to 49 are the biggest spreaders of COVID-19 in the US, according to British researchers who say targeting this age group for vaccination could hasten school reopenings.

A team at Imperial College London used cell phone data from more than 10 million people to calculate that 65 of 100 infections still originated from those aged 20 to 49 in the US.

The found that people in that age bracket accounted for about 72 percent of the cases after schools reopened in October. Less than 5 percent came from children, and less than 10 percent from teens.

Adults aged 35 to 49 accounted for 41 percent of new cases through mid-August, compared to 35 percent for adults aged 20 to 34, according to the peer-reviewed study published in Science.

“We find adults aged 20-49 are a main driver of the COVID-19 epidemic in the United State and are the only age groups contributing disproportionally to onward spread, relative to their population size,” Imperial College’s Dr. Melodie Monod said.

Adults aged 35 to 49 accounted for 41 percent of new cases through mid-August, according to the study.
Getty Images/iStockphoto

“While children and teens contribute more to COVID-19 spread since school closure mandates have been lifted in fall 2020, we find these dynamics have not changed substantially since school reopening,” she added.

The college’s Dr. Oliver Ratmann said: “We believe this study is important because we demonstrate that adults aged 20-49 are the only age groups that have consistently sustained COVID-19 spread across the US, despite large variations in the scale and timing of local epidemics.

“Thus, at least where highly transmissible variants have not established, additional interventions targeting the 20-49 age group could bring resurgent epidemics under control and avert deaths,” he added.

Meanwhile, a new study suggests that coronavirus antibodies last for at least six months after infection for the majority of people who contracted the bug.

The research from UK Biobank found that 99 percent of participants who had tested positive for previous infection retained antibodies for three months after being infected, while 88 percent did so for the full six months of the study, according to Sky News.

“This important study has revealed that the vast majority of people retain detectable antibodies for at least six months after infection with the coronavirus,” said Professor Naomi Allen, UK Biobank chief scientist.

“Although we cannot be certain how this relates to immunity, the results suggest that people may be protected against subsequent infection for at least six months following natural infection,” Allen said.

“More prolonged follow-up will allow us to determine how long such protection is likely to last,” she added.

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Business

Goldman says the stock market is undergoing its biggest short squeeze in 25 years – and that has hedge funds dumping stock exposure at the fastest rate since 2009

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Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images

  • The US stock market has seen its biggest short squeeze in 25 years over a trailing three-month period, according to Goldman Sachs.
  • The culmination of this came this past week, when hedge funds withdrew from the market at the fastest rate since 2009, the firm said.
  • Day traders have driven up shares GameStop and other heavily shorted stocks in recent weeks, costing short-sellers billions.
  • Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell. 

The US stock market has experienced its biggest short squeeze in 25 years over the past three months, according to Goldman Sachs.

It all came to a head this past week amid the GameStop madness that forced hedge funds to dump stock holdings at the fastest rate since 2009, the firm found.

GameStop shares spiked 400% just last week – and 1,625% across all of January – squeezing hedge funds and others who had bet against the stock, costing them billions of dollars. A short position is a bet that a share price will fall. Estimates by data provider Ortex on Friday showed that short-sellers were sitting on losses of around $19 billion just on GameStop in 2021 so far.

The surge in GameStop and other heavily shorted stocks was driven by users of the Reddit forum Wall Street Bets, who forced up the price in an effort to make themselves money but also to hammer hedge funds such as Melvin Capital. They had to buy shares in companies such as GameStop and movie theater chain AMC to close their short positions, and sell other stocks to cover their losses.

Read more: Buy these 26 heavily shorted stocks as retail traders trigger wild rallies in Wall Street’s least-liked names, Wells Fargo says

The activity was the culmination of a three-month span that saw basket of the most-shorted US stocks rally 98%, far outpacing similarly aggressive squeezes seen in 2000 and 2009. 

“Funds in their coverage sold long positions and covered shorts in every sector,” said David Kostin, Goldman’s chief US equity strategiest.

Kostin and his colleagues said regulations, limits put in place by trading platforms, or sharp losses could bring the amateur trading frenzy to a halt.

“Otherwise, an abundance of US household cash should continue to fuel the trading boom,” they said.

Goldman said retail investing was thriving because of the large amount of savings built up during the coronavirus period, as well as government stimulus.

“During 2020 credit card debt declined by more than 10%, checking deposits grew by $4 trillion, and savings grew by $5 trillion,” the investment bank’s analysts said.

“On top of these savings, our economists expect more than $1 trillion in additional fiscal support in coming months, including another round of direct checks.”

Read more: Jefferies says these 20 heavily shorted and lightly traded stocks could see big jumps in the event of a GameStop-like squeeze

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Entertainment

After a wild week of stocks, you can’t stream most of the biggest Wall Street films

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It has been a wild week for the stock market, with amateur traders from Reddit’s r/WallStreetBets subreddit battling traditional investors. The past several days have been full of massive swings in stocks like GameStop and AMC and app-fueled drama that’s sparked a larger debate over the nature of Wall Street as a whole.

But if you were hoping to kick back this weekend, relax, and enjoy a classic business movie about shark-like investors and over-confident Wall Street executives, you’re probably out of luck. Nearly every major finance film isn’t available to stream right now in the US (at least, not at the time of publication of this article), thanks to the capricious nature of the streaming marketplace, the increasingly fragmented libraries of studios, and the byzantine licensing deals that regulate what you can stream and where.

This week’s short stock drama have you hankering for The Big Short? You won’t find it on Netflix, Hulu, or HBO Max. Right now, you can stream it with ads on Crackle, of all services. Paramount (which distributed the film) might be saving it for Paramount Plus, which is set to launch in March, but that won’t do you any good this weekend. Instead, your only option is to buy or rent it — which, it seems, many people are doing, given that the film has shot to the No. 3 spot on iTunes.

Maybe the ups and downs of the stock market reminded you more of Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, chronicling the rise and fall of investor Jordan Belfort. But the Paramount film is nowhere to be found on any streaming platform. So unless you’re willing to pony up some actual cash to buy or rent the film (which, like The Big Short, is shooting up rental charts), you won’t be enjoying Leonardo DiCaprio’s profanity-fueled chest-thumping either. The same applies to 2000’s Boiler Room, which is also absent from any streaming service.

20th Century Fox’s Wall Street is — predictably — not on Disney Plus to stream, but it’s also not available on Hulu or any other service. If you are looking for a financial film to watch this weekend, though, the sequel, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, is on Amazon Prime. There’s also Margin Call, which is streaming on Peacock (for now).

But the dearth of classic Wall Street films isn’t a unique issue. It’s one that streaming services have been grappling with in recent years, as big players like Netflix and Hulu have been less encompassing and streaming services have focused more on building up libraries of original content. There was a similar issue during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when millions of viewers looking to watch Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 film Contagion were frustrated that the film wasn’t available to stream anywhere.

The fact that iconic Wall Street films will similarly miss the big moment around ambitious investors and skeevy short selling is indicative of a bigger problem with streaming in 2021, one that will likely continue to get worse as more and more studios continue to reclaim their content for their own services.

Then again, it’s almost fitting that the only way to watch The Wolf of Wall Street or The Big Short this weekend is to pay a little extra cash back into the big financial machine.

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Sports

Biggest 2021 NFL draft risers and fallers from practices, workouts

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While many aspects of the pre-NFL draft process can get overrated in their importance, the Senior Bowl is not one of them. It’s one of the few settings in which evaluators can see future NFL players going against future NFL players without the advent of a superior scheme or surrounding cast. More than 120 prospects went against each other at practice on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with the game Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET on NFL Network.

There’s a long history of under-the-radar standouts such as Tampa Bay guard Ali Marpet, Washington receiver Terry McLaurin and Carolina safety Jeremy Chinn proving early in their NFL career that what they did in Mobile, Alabama, wasn’t a fluke.

Here are 10 prospects from the 2021 class who raised and lowered their draft stock at the Senior Bowl:

Biggest risers from the week

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Technology

Stadia’s biggest (timed) exclusive won’t be exclusive anymore

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Crayta’s timed Stadia exclusivity is coming to an end soon, with developer Unit 2 Games confirming that the title will be making its way to PC “very soon.” Originally announced as a “First on Stadia” timed exclusive, Crayta’s jump to other platforms was always more a question of “when” rather than “if,” but the announcement marks the first official indication of the regular PC port.

The news — originally spotted by 9to5Google, citing a tweet from Twitter user @Yogarine — comes from an announcement by Unit 2 Games in the game’s Discord chat. The company promises that it’ll have more information (including a launch date and the digital storefront where Crayta will be offered) in the coming weeks, but it does promise that it’s “still every bit as committed to Stadia as we’ve always been.” The new PC version will also offer full crossplay with the Stadia version of Crayta.

A Minecraft-style game creation game that’s built on Unreal Engine, Crayta’s standout feature (aside from the rare status of a Stadia-exclusive title) was as one of the first games to adopt Stadia’s State Share technology, which (in theory) promised that any Stadia player could join a Crayta world simply by clicking on a link. It’s a feature that’ll likely stay exclusive to the Stadia version of the game even after the PC port launches, given its reliance on Google’s streaming tech to pull off.



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Sports

3 observations after Sixers pass their biggest test yet, pull off dramatic win over Lakers

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Though Wednesday night’s game was never going to provide a definitive answer to whether the Sixers are a bona fide NBA title contender, it was the team’s most significant early-season test yet.

The Sixers just about passed it, earning a 107-106 win over the defending champion Lakers to improve to 13-6.

Tobias Harris’ pull-up jumper on the Sixers’ last possession won the team the game and saved it from what would’ve been a bitterly disappointing loss.

Up 14 points with a little over five minutes to go, the Sixers late-game execution simply wasn’t good enough as they seemed more eager to watch the clock wind down than score.

“It shouldn’t have gotten that close,” Danny Green said. “We were up double digits most of the game and us growing and showing some maturity, hopefully, throughout the season we’ll keep that lead and keep our foot on the gas. But we had too many lapses, too many lulls of not playing solid offense and moving the ball, too many turnovers and bad shots on goal. And then defensively, just a couple lapses.”

Harris ultimately saved the day, and an off-balance Anthony Davis heave at the buzzer came up short. 

“I’m a person that visualizes myself in those spots,” Harris said. “When the opportunity came, we came out of the timeout and me and Seth (Curry) were talking and basically discussing how they’re more likely to switch that pick-and-roll coming off if Joel (Embiid) isn’t open, and just let me iso at the top and get to my spot.

 

“That’s a shot I work on time and time again. In those moments, being confident enough to let it go and being OK with the result. Tonight, it fared well.”

LeBron James posted 34 points, six rebounds and six assists in a losing effort, keeping Los Angeles competitive throughout the game. 

The win is the 2020-21 Sixers’ best thus far, an impressive response to the notion that their place at the top of the Eastern Conference is attributable to an easy schedule. 

Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey was not at the game as he’s working remotely because of COVID-19 contact tracing unrelated to the Sixers, according to a report from The Inquirer’s Keith Pompey. 

The Sixers next play on Friday night, a road matchup against the Timberwolves. Here are observations on their win over the Lakers: 

Simmons vs. James

Ben Simmons was in attack mode from the jump, scoring six of the Sixers’ first nine points, quickly eating up the ample space James gave him to operate and setting the tone well. 

James was predictably the focal point of the Lakers’ offense, and he burned Simmons and the Sixers’ zealous defense early by scoring off of multiple back cuts. James’ sense for when and how to use his wide array of skills remains special; he’s a basketball genius who happens to have extraordinary physical gifts. His aggression was necessary in the first half as Los Angeles shot 1 for 11 from three-point range and received no meaningful scoring from anyone besides James and Davis. 

Though James scored much more than his mentee, Simmons left his mark on the game in many ways, recording a triple-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. 

“He was huge,” head coach Doc Rivers said. “The numbers will say the offense, but the defense and all these other little things he did was unbelievable. He’s playing great. It’s funny, on his low-scoring nights, you look at the game film and he’s flying all over the place.

“The stuff he does for us, the winning things he does, it’s hard to put into numbers, and unfortunately we’re in this numbers generation where everything’s numbers. His brilliance sometimes is missed by a lot of people.”

Green said after the Sixers’ shootaround Wednesday that he sees why people link James and Simmons, but that he thinks it’s “unfair” to compare anyone to James. We think that’s a reasonable assessment. 

Embiid’s eventful evening 

It didn’t take long for Embiid to frustrate Marc Gasol, the man who guarded him during his career-worst 0-for-11 performance last season, as the 35-year-old picked up a technical foul in the first quarter for objecting to an Embiid and-one. The Sixers’ All-Star center started rolling after that, squaring up and making his move in the post before double teams could arrive. 

 

Rivers left Embiid in for over 10 minutes and played him in a lineup with no true power forward. That unit was excellent as the Sixers shaded help in the direction of whichever man was facing a size disadvantage on a particular defensive possession and continued to cook offensively, gaining a 34-18 lead. 

The non-Embiid minutes that followed were a lot less fruitful for the Sixers as the Lakers went on an 8-0 run. Dwight Howard missed four throws during that stretch and didn’t play well, prompting Rivers to insert Simmons as his team’s defensive center. A member of the Los Angeles bench yelled out “No rim protection” upon seeing that decision and, with all due respect to Simmons and his diverse defensive talents, the sentiment wasn’t wrong. 

That said, the Sixers were at least able to muster some offense and stabilize things a bit when Simmons replaced Howard. Rivers’ willingness to use Simmons at center is certainly a notable development; perhaps it’s a look the Sixers will start incorporating more if they envision featuring it in the playoffs. Rivers did give Howard his normal backup center minutes in the second half. 

The Sixers welcomed back Embiid’s ability to draw fouls (along with his many other skills, of course) after he missed the team’s loss Monday to the Pistons with back tightness. Embiid was 11 for 13 from the foul line and is now averaging 10.9 free throw attempts per game through 15 contests. 

Embiid (28 points, six rebounds, four assists) had an injury scare in the third period when he went up for a dunk and fell hard to the floor after James made contact with his chest. He pounded his fist into the floor and got up gingerly but stayed in the game and made both free throws. James was called for a Flagrant 1 foul, though Embiid said after the game he thought the 16-time All-Star should’ve been ejected.

Embiid was whistled for a Flagrant 1 foul of his own about a minute later when he hit Davis in the face with an elbow while looking to draw a foul on a drive. 

Complementary pieces step up 

In a star-centric game, the Sixers won in large part because their complementary players were better overall than the Lakers’.

At an important juncture early in the third quarter, Harris drove into Gasol’s body and laid the ball in to give the Sixers a 57-53 lead. Harris (24 points on 10-for-16 shooting) and Green (14 points on 5-for-11 shooting) both drained three-pointers shortly thereafter, helping the Sixers build their advantage back up to 12 points, forcing a Lakers timeout and removing some of the uneasiness that might have stemmed from the Lakers’ second-quarter comeback. 

Though the Lakers didn’t go away, Harris was vital again later in the third, converting a lefty layup, stopping Davis one-on-one twice in the post and enabling the Sixers to maintain their lead. His All-Star case certainly grew a little stronger Wednesday night, especially with his clutch jumper to cap a high-drama game.

 

“I hope we do all make it together,” Harris said when asked about himself, Embiid and Simmons possibly all being All-Stars. “Obviously, this season we’ve been playing great basketball as a team. We have the MVP on our team in Joel. He’s been playing lights-out since Day 1. Ben has been a great player. This year he’s been playing at a great pace, really dictating everything and defensively, offensively, doing his thing all around.

“I hope we do all make the game. For myself, I’ve always just been about winning and letting that handle itself, but I’ve been playing consistently at an All-Star level every night. I’m not one to always toot my own horn but in the past I’ve had a couple times where I felt like I should’ve been there and didn’t make it, so that would be my little pitch for it right there.”

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