Hindenburg checking the e-truck receipts [PeopleImages/E+ via GettyImages]
Hey Snackers,
Shiba just got funged: the iconic "Doge" Shiba Inu meme was sold as an NFT for $4M, making it the most expensive meme NFT of all time.
The market notched record highs yesterday, as investors shifted into Big Tech stocks.
Hold the hard seltzers... Summer isn't starting off well for Lordstown Motors. The e-truck startup went public via SPAC merger in October, and has been teasing its much-hyped "Endurance" electric pickup since last June. Those were better days for Lordstown.
The "I told you so" award goes to... Hindenburg Research. It's the same short-selling firm that dropped a 67-page report accusing Nikola of exaggerating the readiness of its e-truck tech, calling it "an intricate fraud" (see: truck-rolling-down-a-hill commercial). Nikola's CEO resigned soon after, and the stock has fallen 40% since.
Short sellers can operate like investigative journalists… but with major conflicts of interest. A new report partially confirms Hindenburgs findings about the preorders. Now the SEC is investigating the allegations. Short sellers can sometimes have a corrective effect on markets by exposing overvalued companies, as Hindenburg may have done. Buuuut: Hindenburg also has a short position in the stock — aka: it would profit from Lordstown falling. Short sellers can make companies more transparent – but they're driven by their own financial incentives.
Friends Reunion vibes... G7 countries have been getting cozy lately. The Group of Seven = the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan. This month, G7 leaders schmoozed over tea at a London summit — and agreed on backing a 15% global minimum corporate tax rate. France decided to ship another Statue of Liberty to the US as a gift of friendship (#aw). Now, the G7 is bonding over a global infrastructure initiative:
Rare bipartisan support topics ... Extra vacation days, and countering China’s power (it's a theme). With Build Back Better World, the G7 hopes to rival China's multi-trillion-dollar "Belt and Road" initiative. China’s ambitious program aims to build physical and digital infrastructure connecting hundreds of countries. It's a way for China to expand its global influence. BBBW is a way for the US and friends to counter that.
The real winners could be companies... When the US took on Russia during the Cold War, American military contractors made big profits. Today’s tension with China is less about weapons, more about tech power. This month, the Senate approved a $250B bill to boost government spending on tech R&D to keep the US competitive against China (think: more US-made chips). This global infrastructure initiative could benefit American tech, telecom, and energy companies, too.
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