Sherwood News

Over the past three weeks, we’ve seen two unicorns in the US stock market: generational divorces between what the stocks in S&P 500 are doing vs. the performance of the index itself. 1. On June 25, the S&P 500 rallied 0.4%, despite the number of stocks falling exceeding those that were rising by 274. That was the first time the S&P rose with that many of its constituents falling in nearly 30 years. 2. Just yesterday, the S&P 500’s advance-decline line (the number of stocks up on the day, minus the number of those that fell) was at 289 — but the overall index fell 0.9%. That’s the first time the S&P 500 ended in the red despite so many of its constituents rallying in data going back to October 1996. More and more, trading days have felt like someone who has half their body in the freezer and the other half in the oven, says Luke Kawa: https://lnkd.in/egcjS4tn

Alas: You may not be able to gatekeep your favorite regional fast-food delicacies forever. More and more of these chains (Culvers, In-n-Out, and Whataburger, to name just a few examples) are expanding beyond their original borders, with an eye towards national dominance. But while the arrivals of Zaxby's or Chick-fil-A in states like Utah and Maine may provide some cheap and deep-fried thrills, it's hard not to think that the regionality is part of what made these businesses feel so special and charming in the first place. More on the new era of french-fried and flamebroiled ubiquity: https://lnkd.in/eD-XCDH9

The European Commission today charged Elon Musk’s X with being in violation of its Digital Services Act—in part for how it uses the verification checkmark. “Since anyone can subscribe to obtain such a ‘verified’ status, it negatively affects users' ability to make free and informed decisions about the authenticity of the accounts and the content they interact with,” the Commission wrote in a statement. It added, “There is evidence of motivated malicious actors abusing the ‘verified account’ to deceive users.” (In fact, many of these bad actors are impersonating none other than Elon Musk himself.) X could be fined 6% of its annual revenue as a result of these charges, which would be another blow to the already-struggling platform. https://lnkd.in/e5YqvDWq

What do Bill Hwang, Tesla, and New York City rats all have in common? They're all part of today's WEIRD MONEY. From Jack Raines:

Congratulations if you’ve been having a great year picking stock and industry winners! But if that's you, you might be having a crappy day today. The soft June CPI inflation print appears to be catalyzing a massive rotation within equity markets rather than outright strength at the index level, as the S&P 500 is down about 0.8%. To overgeneralize: everything that has been working, isn’t. And all the things that haven’t, are. More on "belated overreaction," from Luke Kawa: https://lnkd.in/eUn2JWnY

First it was plastic surgery. Then came the Botox and fillers. But the latest cosmetic space men are getting into is body contouring. By using methods like cryolipolysis (freezing), electric muscle stimulation, or lipolysis (essentially heating fat cells until they burst), men can remove several pounds of stubborn flab without diet or exercise—which is a huge draw for gymgoers who want the perfect toned and chiseled physique. Traditionally, the clientele for body contouring has been mostly women, but the ratio is changing. Before the pandemic, men received about 10% of the body-contouring treatments at SKINNEY, which operates three locations in New York City and one in Miami. Now that number is close to 40%. But a new clientele also brings new marketing needs, and some of the more traditional spa-like environments are now rebranding towards a masculine, science-and-information-driven vibe. Either way, it appears that the gym bro-ification of CoolSculpting is upon us. https://lnkd.in/e_P2YMqk

Now that the under-50 set has abandoned Facebook en masse, how do people plan parties these days? An awkward email with a BCC? An Instagram Close Friends story that important invitees might miss? None of the options so far have been that great at filling the e-vite space. Enter Partiful. The startup, which helps users plan events, has been dubbed “the least cringe” option to plan a party and "Facebook Events for hot people." We spoke to cofounder and CEO Shreya Murthy about Partiful's $100m valuation and what comes next. https://lnkd.in/dn6U5Rgf

The humble, tasty potato chip is facing turbulence. As Matt Phillips puts it: This is "a deep-fried microcosm of this moment in the U.S. economy, as consumers, especially people who make less money, have grown increasingly price conscious and shifted their behavior after years of uncomfortably high price increases." Give us ̶l̶i̶b̶e̶r̶t̶y̶ our salty snacks at reasonable prices, or give us death!!! https://lnkd.in/ecY-6Mcu

Popular tourist destinations are being slammed by record numbers of visitors this summer, and locals are extremely Over It. In Barcelona, conditions have gotten tense enough that nearly 3,000 protestors hit the streets last weekend, and some even sprayed water guns at tourists who were eating on restaurant patios. Barthelona (I'm saying it with the lisp) isn't the only hotspot feeling the pain. Athens has capped the number of daily visitors to the Acropolis, Bali and Iceland have begun charging tourist taxes, and Japan is levying a toll on Mt. Fuji's most popular hiking trail. Naturally, all of these locations are economically reliant on *some* degree of tourism, but both the infrastructure and the vibes are suffering under a stampede of comfy walking shoes. So for your next vacation, you might want to look off the beaten path. https://lnkd.in/gSZizCdH