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- Thursday's Scoop: Complacent🌤️
Thursday's Scoop: Complacent🌤️
Pfizer settles claims of causing cancer & Pepsi achieves net-zero manufacturing
Hey friend - almost Friday.
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Insiders, look out for the Weekly Scoop tomorrow.
Here’s what you need to know today to inform your work, spending, and investments…
🌎 Big picture
Layoffs picked up last week.
Americans keep spending, but they’re trading down to cheaper items.
The number of homeowners with more debt than home value keeps climbing.
How are you feeling about the economy? |
💼 Work trends
Unemployment Rate: 3.9%
Still near the lowest rate in 50+ years
Layoffs jumped last week to the highest level in more than eight months. The Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims rose to 231,000, not that far from average but somewhat concerning. This follows the official April jobs report last week, which revealed increasing unemployment and the fewest new hires in six months. The number of people receiving unemployment benefits for consecutive weeks also climbed last week, indicating that finding jobs is growing more challenging. The number of open positions has fallen steadily over the previous several months. Overall, the jobs market is still remarkably healthy, but the last few months have signaled a trend toward more unemployment and slower hiring.
👜 Cost of living trends
Inflation Rate: +3.5% (YoY), +0.4% (MoM)
Policymakers aim for 2% YoY inflation. (March CPI)
Americans continue spending, but they’re trading quickly to cheaper items. Adobe Analytics revealed that overall e-commerce spending in the first three months of the year was 7% higher than last year's first quarter. Adobe’s Digital Price Index reported a -5.6 % decline over the past year. So, online goods have actually gotten cheaper while in-person goods have climbed. That means the net amount people spent online was even more pronounced. However, they’re trading to more affordable goods more rapidly than usual. Spending growth on the cheapest segment of goods within each spending category dramatically outpaced growth in the most expensive products.
🏠 Housing trends
30yr Mortgage Rate: 7.2%
That’s up from 6.6% a year ago. (MBA)
Median Home Price: $393,500
That’s up from $375K a year ago. (NAR)
Falling real estate prices have trapped more homeowners in unmanageable mortgage debt. A new report from real estate data firm ATTOM revealed that 2.7% of homes in the US carry debt balances that are at least 25% higher than the value of their home. This can happen when someone purchases a home at a high price or with a down payment that is too small, and then the home value decreases to below the amount they borrowed from the bank. This can prevent homeowners from selling because they would need to pay the difference back to the lender on top of the money they get from the sale. The problem is more pronounced in Southern states that saw significant real estate investment post-pandemic, with 5-8% of homes underwater. While these rates are increasing, they’re still well below the levels before the pandemic.
📈 Investment trends
The Market: ⬆️ +0.5%
S&P 500: 5,214.08
1Mo: +1% | 1Yr: +27% | 5Yr: +81%
The market pushed higher today as investors celebrated more signs of a slowing economy, hoping that means policymakers are more likely to make borrowing less expensive sometime soon. That seems enough to distract from the fact that the economy is still slowing.
🏭 Companies worth watching
👍👎 APPROVAL RATINGS
Join the board at America’s biggest companies. Vote and judge their decisions. (+2 pts)
![]() Pfizer | Cancer Pills Pfizer settled lawsuits from more than 10,000 people accusing the drugmaker of knowingly concealing that its Zantac heartburn drug could cause cancer. Pfizer was one of many of the drug's owners over its 40-year lifetime before Sanofi recalled it in 2019.
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💭 Broader perspectives… (+2 pts)
How much do you worry about side effects from taking drugs? |
![]() Tesla | Criminal Charges Tesla is under criminal investigation with possible charges of securities and wire fraud for intentionally misleading customers, investors, and regulators about the capabilities of its self-driving features. Tesla's autopilot has been involved in hundreds of crashes with dozens of injuries and 14 deaths.
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![]() Warner Bros Discovery | Streaming Savior Warner Bros Discovery plans to bundle its Max with Disney's Hulu and Disney+ streaming services this summer, hoping to reduce churn while it fights to keep its NBA license. The media giant's streaming numbers have improved, but its cable networks and movie studios have stumbled.
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![]() Roblox | Less Gaming Roblox warned that kids are pulling back on their gaming enthusiasm, reporting its slowest growth in years for users and usage time. The teen metaverse platform rolled out virtual billboards to generate advertising revenue as in-game spending slows.
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![]() PepsiCo | Sustainable Milestone Pepsi will have its first beverage factory operating with net zero carbon emissions by year-end after investing $29M over five years to electrify the facility and improve its efficiency. The snack and beverage giant aims to reduce company-wide emissions to net zero by 2040.
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🤓 Inside Scoop: What is the difference between net-zero and carbon neutral?
More companies are setting net-zero emissions and carbon-neutral targets to reduce their impact on climate change and minimize the volume of harmful greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere from their operations, supply chain, and products.
While the terms are often colloquially interchangeable, they have slightly different meanings. Carbon neutral means the company removes as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as it emits yearly. Net-zero takes it a step further, broadening from just carbon to all greenhouse gases like methane or sulfur dioxide and restricting the use of carbon offsets. This means net-zero companies must reduce their emissions, not just counteract them by purchasing financial instruments that direct money to carbon-negative projects like tree planting.
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