🥊 The Cage Match: Elon vs. Zuck
Happy Wednesday!
We got some interesting headlines for you this week, to say the least - as Elon and Zuck have decided to have their “potential” long-awaited cage match live-streamed on X. Imagine saying that phrase out loud just six months ago… it wouldn’t even sound like a real sentence. Regarding these two, who knows if Elon is actually serious about competing in a brawl — Zuck, on the other hand, seems more serious and willing to do it.
Who would you put your money on in the fight?
In other news, I just got back yesterday from LA and the Taylor Swift concert. Follow me on Instagram and check out my post about it. I post more personal content on there, so if you’d like to see more of that - follow me!
Enjoy this week’s Hump Days!
- Humphrey, Rickie & Tim
👀 Eye-Catching Headlines
🫨 JPMorgan CEO calls Fitch Ratings U.S. downgrade ‘ridiculous’ (CNBC)
⚡️ Lucid shares up after missing earnings, on track for 10k units of production (Barron’s)
📱 iPhone 15 reportedly set for mid-September launch (CNBC)
👨💻 U.S. tech groups back TikTok in challenge to Montana state ban (Reuters)
💃 Barbie tops $1B at global box office on Sunday (CNBC)
🍺 How Dave Portnoy Bought Back Barstool Sports for $0 Dollars (Axios)
The Weekly Brief
U.S. payroll growth totaled 187,000, lower than expected (CNBC)
Job growth in the month of July expanded by 187k, falling short of the estimated 200k but actually represented a slight gain from June (185k). Stocks saw a rally following the news. The increase in job creation was led by healthcare which added 63,000 jobs. According to experts, the labor market remains resilient, given a series of 11 interest rate hikes targeted at taming inflation. The 3.5% unemployment rate is just above the lowest level since 1969.
Hump Days Take
Many have predicted that a recession is imminent but the labor market along with strong consumption and a strong service sector has kept the economy in growth. The particular strength of the labor market has kept the alarm bells away but Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned that the full effect of rate increases has yet to have been felt.
Berkshire Hathaway stock hits record, lifts major indexes (WSJ)
Berkshire’s class B shares rose 3.6% to $362.58, marking their first new all-time high since March 2022—when the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates. According to Catherine Seifert, VP of equity research at CFRA: “If you assume Berkshire is a microcosm of the broader economy, there’s a bull case for the broadening out of the stock-market rally away from just tech stocks.”
Hump Days Take
This year's run up in stocks has been mostly attributed to the high flying tech stars: NVDA, META, AAPL, TSLA, etc. It's good to see other industries start to rally a bit more - however, we'll still need to keep an eye on it as interest rates remain high.
China tips into deflation as efforts to stoke recovery falter (Reuters)
Anxiety is rising that China is entering an era of much slower economic growth akin to the period of Japan's "lost decades," which saw consumer prices and wages stagnate for a generation, a stark contrast to the rapid inflation seen elsewhere.
Hump Days Take
Consumer prices in China are falling, and is raising some alarm bells. According to the article, "Worried consumers and companies are hoarding cash rather than spending or investing it, despite lower interest rates." This is interesting because it seems that China has the complete opposite problem that we in the US have.
You’ll Find This Interesting
Musk says his fight with Zuckerberg will be live-streamed on X (Reuters). Who knows if it will actually happen?
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