From COVID-19 relapses to election insecurity, these factors drive defensiveness up and demand down. This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com, Bitstamp and Nexo.io.Today on the Brief:Skepticism around Powell’s inflation prognosticationsThe Tesla Stock Split GameChina’s COVID-19 vaccine maker presses countries for early adoptionOur main discussion: The Anxiety IndexWe live in an economy organized around consumption and perpetual growth. In that context, factors that cause consumers to be fearful, reduce spending, increase savings, move less and generally slow down can wreak havoc. In this episode, NLW discusses four factors shaping and driving consumer anxiety, including:COVID-19 related concerns, both health and economicMonetary policy questions U.S.-China tensions Election insecurity See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.