Keeping the email gods happy isn’t easy.

It’s come to my attention that some precious TWC emails have been going to spam… or worse… the “Promotions” tab.

The best way to make sure The Water Coolest hits your inbox every day is by responding to an email. It tells email providers that we’re friends (it’s cool because we are).

So here’s what I need you to do…

That’s right, just three little letters. Reply with “TWC." And hit send.

I appreciate the help more than you know.

Enjoy the next 4 minutes and 21 seconds of blue-chip news and commentary.

Keep on snapping necks and cashing checks,

- tyler

+ US stocks “were little changed Wednesday as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated the Fed will likely cut interest rates this year amid inflation's "bumpy" path downward.” (Yahoo! Finance)

+The 10-year Treasury yield “ticked lower after briefly reaching a new high for the year on Wednesday.” (CNBC)

+ Oil “settled at their highest levels since late October on Wednesday as investors worried about supply disruptions from a worsening geopolitical landscape, although a jump in U.S. crude oil inventories eased some of those concerns.” (Reuters)

+ Bitcoin “saw a significant dip this week and into Wednesday, falling from a $71,300 high on Sunday to just below $66,000.” (TheStreet)

+ The three most talked about stocks on WallStreetBets in the past 24 hours were: 1) Trump Media & Technology Group -5.4% 2) Nvidia -0.5% 3) Reddit -6.8%

Increased adoption of IoT and smart-home devices is changing the way we live our lives.

And has led to billion-dollar acquisitions.

If you missed out on these spectacular early investments, here is your chance to grab hold of the next one.

RYSE is the up-and-coming player poised to dominate the Smart Shades segment.

And their pre-IPO investment offering is open for a limited time.

Their patented devices leverage advanced sensors and AI to save on heating and cooling costs, and they've just launched in over 100 Best Buy stores with a deal that resembles the one that led Ring and Nest to their billion-dollar buyouts.

Sponsors are the reason I can bring The Water Coolest to you every day for free. The only thing I ask is that you show them some love by clicking and checking out their offer.

The market moves you need to know about…

+ Spotify shares climbed 8.2% on news that it would hike prices by $1-$2 in key markets, including the US. How will they use all that extra money? To pay Joe Rogan fund a push into audiobooks.

– Shares of Ulta sunk 15.3% yesterday after management warned that consumers are coming under pressure (spoiler: sales are dropping).

+ Levi Strauss jumped 7.0% after the company hiked its full-year profit guidance. Eat a d*ck, athleisure.

– Intel tanked 8.2% a day after it said that its foundry (read: chip manufacturing biz) lost a f*ck ton of money (~$7B).

Elon: *takes hit* *opens Twitter/X*

Early Wednesday, Elon came in hot in support of Nelson Peltz in his proxy fight against Disney (-3.1%).

Quick history lesson: Nelson was trying to win Disney board seats, with a goal of Making DIS Great Again. His fund (and others, to be fair) have been fed up with the media juggernaut’s bullsh*t as of late. Like… Bob Iger’s succession plan (or lack thereof), Disney+ losing billions, and ESPN bleeding subs.

So they launched a proxy fight (read: they wanted board seats) that ended up being one of the most expensive of all time… and the most exciting thing to happen to an 81-year-old man since the invention of V*agra.

Unfortunately, Elon’s Tweet fell on deaf ears. Probably because most people voted weeks ago…

The results are in…

Disney defeated Peltz and Trian Management at the company’s annual meeting. Peltz’s group didn’t win any of the board seats it was hoping for. And it wasn’t particularly close.

Disney had the support of two of its largest institutional investors, Vanguard and BlackRock. And retail investors overwhelmingly supported the company that ruined the Star Wars franchise (don’t @ me).

The fight is estimated to have cost Trian more than $25M. And Disney shelled out more than $40M. Turns out it ain’t cheap to call in the big guns like George Lucas…

But that’s a drop in the bucket compared to the House of Mouse’s gainz since the battle for hearts and minds got underway. Shares rose more than 50%.

I guess at the end of the day it doesn’t matter who won, as long as we all had fun…

+ Chase to let advertisers target bank customers based on spending history (Read)

+ Mark Cuban says he broke his No. 1 negotiating rule to buy the Dallas Mavericks: ‘I was just like, yes’ (Read)

+ Nearly 35% of millennials say they're behind on saving for retirement. A financial advisor could be the next money move to make (Read)

+ Gen-Z is shunning college to take up traditional trades like welding and plumbing they say is far more satisfying and which doesn't incur huge student debt (Read)

BTW, some of these include affiliate partnerships.

+ It’s the first Wednesday of the month, which means it’s time for a tradition unlike any other…

The ADP jobs report for March just dropped. It showed that the US added 184k jobs last month. That’s a massive jump from February’s 155k (spoiler: that number was “upwardly revised”).

But that isn’t even the most concerning figure (… if you were hoping for rate cuts). Wages increased 5.1%, which certainly isn’t going to help with our current inflation problem.

+ Another win for nepo babies (… pending due diligence).

Bloomberg is reporting that David Ellison’s Skydance Media (yes, that’s billionaire Larry Ellison’s son) is thisss close to buying Shari Redstones National Amusements. Friendly reminder: National Amusements is a majority owner of Paramount Global (+14.9%).

+ Jay Powell spoke at the Stanford Business, Government and Society Forum at Stanford University yesterday. And how come the University of Phoenix never gets Fed speakers?

He didn’t reveal what the Fed plans to do for the remainder of the year. But he did address the elephant in the room (stubborn inflation): “On inflation, it is too soon to say whether the recent readings represent more than just a bump.”

Unsurprisingly, the nothing burger did little to move markets.

+ Ok, don’t freak out, but Waymo driverless cars are going to begin delivering Uber Eats (-0.2%) in the Phoenix area as part of a multi-year deal. I’m kinda gonna miss my delivery guy calling and screaming into the phone “FOOD OUTSIDE!”

+ Today in things that aren’t exactly surprising… Amazon (+0.9%) is laying off hundreds of Amazon Web Service employees, including those in its physical stores group. Earlier this week Amazon said it was giving up on its cashierless “AI-powered” stores (a huge win for humans everywhere). Amazon will also let go of some staff in the sales and marketing department of AWS.

Here's what I'm keeping an eye on today...

+ Conagra reports

Yesterday, I asked, “The Powerball jackpot is above $1B. What's the first thing you buy after you win?”

41.1% of you are buying a house first. Travel came in second.

Here’s today’s question…

ICYMI above…

It’s come to my attention that some precious TWC emails have been going to spam… or worse… the “Promotions” tab.

The best way to make sure The Water Coolest hits your inbox every day/send a message to big tech is by responding to an email. It tells email providers that we’re friends (it’s cool because we are).

So here’s what I need you to do.

That’s right, just three little letters.

Oh, and…

Does this look like the face of a guy you should take financial advice from?

No, it’s the face of an individual who is financially irresponsible/dumb enough to be talked into spending money on a family photo shoot that he could have just done with his iPhone. So, act accordingly...

This is not financial advice. Nothing in this newsletter is an investment recommendation. All content is created for entertainment, educational, or informational purposes only. Do your own research, or do yourself a favor and hire a professional.