| | | | | Introducing Books from the WC | (yes, those are my initials, and yes, I know what they mean, but I’m owning it) | | Curated from among hundreds of books I've read over the last several decades, these are the best. | Most are non-fiction, but you'll also find works of fiction sprinkled in. They tell an important story, give essential historical context, or present a compelling or necessary vision of the future. | They're all books that will make you a better investor, give you essential context for our world, and possibly help you become a better human. | You can view them all here. | Here’s a closer look at one recommendation. The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. | | I actually found reading this book exceptionally hard work, but perhaps that's because I slogged through it while deployed with NATO during the Libyan uprising. Nonetheless, the vision of the future presented here, specifically around AI as a tutor for our children, is compelling and thought-provoking. | If you enjoy it, I encourage you to check out Snow Crash as well. It looks at what might happen if America (and the world) split up into corporate city-states. | Which isn't, like, an impossible outcome. |
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| | 🚀 The AI Future of Marketing 🚀 | With 7,000+ investors, RAD AI is disrupting the $633b content and data industry. | They help brands create content that resonates deeply with their target audience and, most importantly, deliver outsized ROI. | Last year we did an issue questioning if RAD AI is a good investment. Since then... | Nvidia's value went to $2 trillion Cisco spent $28b on its largest AI acquisition ever, and Reddit’s move to license data for AI has re-energized the IPO market.
| That's the power of AI… |  | RAD AI has been dubbed ‘game-changing’ by Fortune 500 execs. Here's your chance to invest. |
| For RAD, the potential is evident in the numbers: | $27m raised since 2018 7,000+ investors, including VCs, execs at Google, Amazon and Meta ~3X revenue growth from 2022 to 2023 — while landing major clients, including Hasbro, Skechers, and Sweetgreen Leadership has 5 exits between them.
| The round closes in one week! (Apr 29) | | This is a paid advertisement for RAD AI’s Regulation CF offering. Please read the offering circular and related risks at invest.radintel.ai | | 📰 Market Headlines | | Markets bounced back, with the S&P 500 crossing 5,000 again. Iran and Israel appear to have skipped starting WW3, and this week is crammed full of big earnings data. The S&P 500 rose 1.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied nearly 1%. 180 S&P 500 companies, representing over 40% of the index's market cap, are set to report Q1 results this week. [Ed: I told you it was a big week]
The historic criminal trial of Donald Trump began in New York. He appeared to fall asleep again. Tesla stock tumbled over 3% after big price cuts in the US, China, and Europe. Britain’s FTSE index notched an all-time high.
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| | 🕶️ Market Vibes | 🎰 Market Forecasts and Futures | Forecasts via Kalshi, the prediction market. | | 😱 Fear and Greed Index | You know last week was bad when notching up to a 38 feels like big progress. | | | 🎤 What you said last time | When you’re ticking below Tesla, something’s wrong. Is this all down to Gemini? | | 📈 Trends you need to know | |
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| Google has beaten estimates four quarters in a row (after missing four times on the bounce). |
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| | 🧠 What do you think? | 💬 Have your say | Why all the hate (above) for Google? | Why will Google miss? | | | 📊 Stocks | | | Winners and losers | Earnings, upgrades, and acquisitions | Verizon lost fewer-than-expected wireless subscribers (🎉) and beat estimates for quarterly profit. Shares fell 3.3% anyway. Zions Bancorporation's adjusted EPS beat the consensus estimate, boosting shares by 4%. SAP reported Q1 cloud revenue up 24%. Shares rose 1.37% on the news. Albertsons beat estimates, but revenue missed the consensus estimate, dropping shares 0.59%. Truist Financial's stock rose 3.42% after reporting a 13% rise in digital transactions compared to last year. Bank of Hawaii missed revenue estimates; shares were flat. Nucor posted revenue of $8.14 billion beating expectations. Shares didn’t budge.
| Market movers | US President Biden unveiled $7 billion in grants for residential solar projects in his Earth Day message. Meta started licensing its Quest headset OS to Lenovo, Asus, and others in a bid to be the "Microsoft of headsets." Kroger and Albertsons announced plans to sell 166 stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers while seeking approval for their $25 billion merger. Express Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US and plans to close over 100 stores. Layoffs: Elon Musk originally wanted to give Tesla the Twitter treatment and cut its workforce by 20%, double the announced 10% cuts. Adient is moving jobs out of Europe, expecting $125 million in restructuring charges. Nike is cutting 740 jobs at its Oregon HQ, expecting to save $2 billion annually.
| Ideas, trends, and analysis |
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| | | 🌍 Global Perspectives | 🇮🇹 Italy's 2023 budget deficit soared to 7.4% of GDP, more than double the EU average. 🇲🇻 🇨🇳 🇮🇳 A pro-China party won a landslide victory in the Maldives parliamentary elections. 🇵🇭 🇺🇸 Nearly 17,000 Filipino and American troops kicked off joint combat drills in the Philippines, including maritime exercises in the South China Sea. 🇩🇪 🇨🇳 Germany arrested three people suspected of giving technology to China to strengthen its navy. 🇮🇱 🇵🇸 Israeli troops stormed back into eastern Khan Younis in a surprise raid.
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| | | | | 📺 What to Watch Today | Africa is jumping on the Beluga Caviar train, angering China. |  | Since 2014, #China has sold the most expensive #caviar. Africa wants to catch up. #luxuryfood |
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| | That’s all for today. Did I miss anything? Smash the reply button to let me know. | Cheers, | Wyatt |
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