| | | | | The space economy is blowing up, vodka is back on top, and Christie’s is getting desperate. All this and more in this week’s Alts Cafe. |
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| | ❇️ Closing Soon ❇️ - Invest in robotic, stackable homes | Innovative housing | 80,000 orders | $11m raised | ZenniHome isn't just another housing project; it's a real solution to the housing crisis. | Their units are designed as standalone single-family homes, ADUs, or building blocks for large multi-family communities. | | Highlights: | CEO Bob Worsley is a former Arizona senator and the guy behind SkyMall (sold to Rupert Murdoch) One of Wefunder's biggest campaigns. Raised $11 million from 2,000 investors Revenues grew from $5.1m in 2023 to $70m in 2024. Expecting profitability this year. Leadership team from Tesla, Bosch, SkyMall, Offerpad, Invitation Homes | Their mission is to completely revamp the housing industry with units that are scalable, sustainable, and stackable. | Invest in the future of housing. | | Investment closes on April 29. Minimum investment: $250 | SPONSOR | | 📰 Market Headlines | | Equities were mixed yesterday as Treasury yields climbed with inflation fear and the reality of high interest rates settling in. Fed Chair Powell said there has been a "lack of further progress" on inflation this year. The 2-year Treasury yield briefly topped 5% after Powell's comments before settling just under that level. The Dow snapped a six-day losing streak, but the S&P and Nasdaq ticked down a bit. | The IMF upgraded its global growth forecast to 3.2% for 2024, saying the economy has proven "surprisingly resilient" despite risks. Trump Media has tanked a whopping 29% in the past 2 days. [Ed: Please tell me you read this and did something] |
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| | 🕶️ Market Vibes | 🎰 Market Forecasts and Futures | Forecasts via Kalshi, the prediction market. | | 😱 Fear and Greed Index | This is not going well. | | | 📈 Trends you need to know | |
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| The Federal debt has been spiraling out of control since 2000. Debt servicing costs are set to outpace defense spending in the US for the first time, nearing $900 million in 2024. |
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| | 🧠 What do you think? | 💬 Have your say | Other than opportunity costs of interest payments (if America is paying down debt, it’s not building roads), how big a deal is the ballooning national debt? | Is the debt a problem | what should be done | | 🎤 What you said last time | Incredible parity between these two funhouse mirror reflections of classic films. | | | 📊 Stocks | | | Winners and losers | Earnings, upgrades, and acquisitions | United Airlines reported a narrower-than-expected Q1 loss, despite a $200 million hit from the Boeing 737 Max 9 grounding; shares soared more than 8.5% after-hours. Bank of America's profits shrank as it set aside more money to cover souring loans. Shares fell over 3%. Morgan Stanley beat estimates with a 4% revenue increase and a 19% EPS jump. Shares climbed over 2%. JB Hunt missed Q1 EPS estimates and revenue of $2.94 billion fell short of the $3.12 billion consensus; the stock is down 7.92% in the last 3 months. PNC Financial saw Q1 profit plunge 21%, dropping the stock price by over 2%. Adidas raised its 2024 operating profit outlook after a better-than-expected Q1. Shares rallied 3.5%. UnitedHealth expected the Change Healthcare hack to cost up to $1.6 billion this year but maintained its 2024 earnings forecast. Shares surged 5.3%. Johnson & Johnson topped Q1 profit estimates as medical device sales jumped 4%, however, shares closed more than 2% lower. | Market movers | Live Nation tanked 7% after news the Department Of Justice will file an antitrust lawsuit next month. [Ed: this is long overdue] Another Boeing whistleblower. Insiders reported Red Lobster is toying with bankruptcy to restructure its debt. [Ed: Victims of their own AYCE success] Startup Rivos raised over $250 million to develop cheaper AI chips than Nvidia, targeting smaller installations. Tesla's global job cuts hit its two biggest markets: In the US, several service centers saw heavy layoffs, primarily sales staff and technicians. In China, over 10% of Tesla's sales team is being let go. Shares tumbled almost 10% in two days. More layoffs across big banks: Citigroup saw the biggest drop, shedding 2,000 employees in Q1 as part of a broader plan to cut 20,000 jobs. Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and PNC Financial together cut over 2,000 jobs. USAA eliminated 220 roles, after cutting nearly 1,000 jobs last year. | Ideas, trends, and analysis |
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| | | 🌍 Global Perspectives | 🇬🇷 The Olympic flame for the 2024 Paris Olympics was lit in Olympia, Greece, the birthplace of the ancient Olympics. 🇮🇩 A volcano in Indonesia erupted, forcing over 800 people to evacuate. 🇩🇰 A massive fire engulfed Copenhagen's historic stock exchange building, causing the iconic dragon spire to collapse. 🇧🇪 Belgian police shut down a far-right conference in Brussels ahead of Europe's June elections. 🇦🇷 🇩🇰 Argentina sealed a $300 million deal for 24 F-16 jets from Denmark to strengthen its air force capabilities. 🇸🇳 Senegal's new government is targeting economic sovereignty and seeking to renegotiate contracts. |
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| | 📊 Crypto | | Bitcoin has corrected down nearly 15% in a month, but there are reasons to stay bullish. Grayscale's GBTC Bitcoin holdings have halved to 311,621 BTC in the 3 months since spot ETFs launched. 6 altcoins in the top 50 have outperformed Bitcoin's 54% year-to-date gains. Dogecoin leads, up 77%. Bybit reported that exchanges could run out of Bitcoin within 9 months after the halving if current withdrawal rates persist. | |
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| 🧠 Errata | Farmers are using soothing Axe Body spray to keep angry sheep from fighting. The U.K might ban smoking for anyone born after 2009. A man who kidnapped an FBI employee in South Dakota was sentenced to 37 years in prison. The world's first AI beauty pageant, Miss AI, is being slammed as a "curse" and a sign we're "getting dumber." |
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| | 📺 What to Watch Today | | Moment spire collapses at Copenhagen's old stock exchange |
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| | That’s all for today. Did I miss anything? Smash the reply button to let me know. | Cheers, | Wyatt |
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