Hey there weekday warriors,
Today we’re breaking down Google’s latest AI f*ck up, saying goodbye to a legend of the crypto world & a whole lot more.
Enjoy the next 4 minutes and 23 seconds of blue-chip news and commentary.
Keep on snapping necks and cashing checks,
+ US stocks “rose Friday, with the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite scoring a fresh record peak ahead of the three-day weekend honoring Memorial Day.” (WSJ)
+ The 10-year Treasury yield “were little changed Friday as investors weighed recent economic data releases." (CNBC)
+ Oil “rose about 1% on Friday, but fell for the week on worries that strong U.S. economic data would keep interest rates elevated for a longer period, curbing fuel demand.” (Reuters)
+ Bitcoin “dropped below $68,000 during the early U.S. trading session from around $70,000 earlier in the day, sliding almost 3% over the past 24 hours.” (Coindesk)
+ The three most talked about stocks on WallStreetBets in the past 24 hours were: 1) Nvidia +2.5% 2) GameStop +3.7% // +12.8% after hours 3) C3.ai +0.4%
The market moves you need to know about…
+ Better late than never, I guess. GameStop mooned 12.8% after the company announced it had raised $933M via a stock sale.
– Workday fell 15.3% after sharing a piss-poor outlook on Thursday that led to a handful of downgrades from the Street on Friday.
+ VF Corp. rose 3.0% on news that it could consider selling off assets including the Timberland brand. The news comes just a few days after rumors began swirling that VF had engaged bankers to unload Supreme.
AI Oversight
(Source: Giphy)
Name something more satisfying than pointing out the flaws of one of the most successful corporations of all time. I’ll wait…
Once again, Google (+0.7%) has gone full Fire Phone with an AI product.
You’re probably thinking, “Tyler, we already heard about Bard’s launch going so poorly it had to change its name… and its image generator being woker than a 2024 Columbia grad.” But its newest product launch could end up being the most high-profile bag fumble…
That’s because its “AI overview” beta test is being hailed as a look into our not-so-distant future, where search results are just answers delivered directly from our AI overlord.
And Google’s AI overviews have been providing, um, “flawed” and inaccurate answers…
How bad could it be?
Probably the most viral flub was a user asking Google about “cheese not sticking to pizza.” The AI Overview’s solution was to add “about 1/8 cup of nontoxic glue to the sauce.” To be fair, it was nontoxic…
Allegedly, the chatbot was citing an 11-year-old Reddit article.
There were countless other missteps, like the artificial “intelligence” bot indicating that geologists suggest humans consume one small rock per day.
But, by far my favorite response was Gemini admitting that Google search violated antitrust laws.
The fallout
This is another friendly reminder that large language models are only as good as the content they’re trained on… and it turns out the internet is an absolute cesspool.
Of course, not getting this right could be a nightmare for Google, considering we’re just a few days removed from OpenAI’s little brother showing how it would monetize its AI Overviews with ads.
+ The world of high finance lost another legend on Friday…
First Charlie Munger. Then Jim Simons. Now… Kabosu.
Kabosu, the Shiba Inu, passed away on Friday, at 18 years old, in Japan. By all accounts was a very good girl.
Of course, you probably know her better as the mascot of Dogecoin. Kabosu had already become an insanely popular meme before the sh*tcoin borrowed her likeness. At its peak, Dogecoin’s market cap was nearly $90B, thanks in large part to Elon’s interest.
On behalf of all the weekday warriors… rest in power, Kabosu.
+ Lebanon, Indiana is about to dominate the “best small cities to live in” lists…
Eli Lilly (-0.1%) is investing another $5.3B at its factory in the city, which I hear is the St. Tropez of central Indiana. That brings Eli’s total investment to $9B.
It probably shouldn’t come as a shock that the facility will produce the active ingredients in Mounjaro and Zepbound (think: Eli’s Ozepmic).
+ Glass Lewis woke up feeling dangerous. The proxy advisor is advising Tesla (+3.1%) shareholders to reject Elon’s $56B pay package, citing the “excessive” size and the dilution it will cause. Oh, and just in case that didn’t have Elon ready to put Glass and Lewis’s Full Self Driving into Paul Walker mode, the advisor is also recommending that shareholders vote Kimbal Musk off the board.
+ Walmart (+0.8%) and Capital One (+0.09%) are officially breaking up. Capital One has been the issuer of Walmart’s store-branded cards since 2018.
The writing was on the wall, though. WMT sued Cap One to get out of the deal early, citing the credit card issuers piss poor customer service.
+ This is the most Boeing (+1.3%) sh*t ever. Despite a helium leak that engineers are calling a “design vulnerability,” the Boeing Starliner (with astronauts on board) is still expected to fly to the International Space Station later this week.
+ What 5 self-made millionaires refuse to spend money on: It’s ‘fun being able to buy something and choosing not to’ (Read)
+ The ‘absolute worst’ of times for car buying are over (Read)
+ Hands Down Some of the Best Credit Cards for Balance Transfers (Read)
+ Cash discounts, while still rare, are up over 60% from 2015. Here’s how much you can save (Read)
Here's what we’re keeping an eye on today...
+ Cava and Faraday Future report after the bell
+ Hess shareholders vote on the acquisition by Chevron
+ A handful of FOMC members hit the speaking circuit
Yesterday, I asked, “What should the DOJ crack down on after it's done with Live Nation?”
The top 3…
Spam calls ran away with it (48.9% of the vote)
HOA fees
Airline change fees
Lots of write-in love for real estate commissions and hotel fees.
Here’s today’s question…
Who's the most famous dog of all time?
Before you go…
My favorite new parenting hack (Check it out on Twitter)
#SaveChipotleWorkers (Watch on Twitter)
Oh, and…
What did you think about today's newsletter?
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.