Five interesting things that Hodges Capital research analysts discovered this week...

#1 RECORD USAGE OF PRODUCTIVITY APPLICATIONS: People are switching between more productivity apps and software than ever. According to a study from the cloud software company Okta, each company used an average of 89 different apps or software programs last year, up from 58 in 2015.

#2 SALARY GAP BETWEEN BACHELOR’S AND MASTER’S NARROWING: According to a recent Bloomberg report, starting salaries between bachelor's and master's degree holders have shrunk to the smallest on record. Master's degrees now command a 22.5% premium compared to 31.9% in 2016

#3 WOOF VS. WORK: One in five households got a dog during the pandemic, and now 75% of office workers say their pets are a big reason they don't want to return to work in real life, according to Business Insider.

#4 TWEET AND MONETIZE: Twitter's new owner, Elon Musk, has publicly said that Twitter cannot support itself on advertising revenue alone. He is looking at avenues to monetize, and one way is to charge users $8 per month to be verified. The feedback from users on this plan has been mixed.

#5 CRYPTO SHORT SQUEEZE: Last week was the largest short liquidation event in history for Bitcoin and Ethereum, with more than $1.6B in short positions closing between October 24 to 31, according to data from CryptoQuant. The liquidations came as markets found strength with BTC and ETH, over the same period gaining 8% and 19%, respectively, after a prolonged period of muted volatility.

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