With just two weeks until the election, what outcomes should the cannabis industry be keeping an eye on for federal legalization? Check out this week's newsletter for more industry insights 🔥

Spotlight: Cannabis Beverages

One thing you can always count on in the cannabis industry is that trends are constantly evolving. The idea of cannabis-infused beverages may not be entirely new, but the concept has been riddled with issues from the beginning, keeping its entire market viability questionable.

Election season is heating up, and for the cannabis industry that begs the question: Which candidate is a better choice for the future of the industry? Turns out, neither Biden nor Trump look promising for the cannabis agenda. So what's the industry to do? Push for full federal legalization, now.

With less than 100 days until the election, the COVID issue has increasingly become a political one. Beliefs regarding the virus’ threat to human life and the economy are largely divided based on political ideologies. While many feel that states reopening too quickly puts human life at risk, others believe not reopening quickly enough poses its own risk to human life.

Despite the continued economic uncertainty, M&A transactions and funding rounds continue to occur with lower than normal valuations. Due to relentless economic uncertainty, there has been a large pullback on behalf of nontraditional investors which could impact overall deal flow tremendously.

Last Thursday the Federal Reserve released results of the stress test performed on US banks. The Fed concluded that the US banks have been a sign of strength amidst the crisis and are able to remain strong during the harshest of economic environments. They even relaxed some financial crisis-era Volcker Rule restrictions they deemed overly strict, now allowing banks to invest in qualified private equity and hedge funds.

2020 continues to be an eventful year. As peak tensions from COVID-19 dwindle, protests and riots have popped up across the country forcing Americans to come to terms with the institutional and systemic racism existing in today’s society. The US is more politically divided now than it ever has been in recent history causing an abundance of economic and political uncertainty for the months to follow.