Hey Snackers,
BMWâs in the hot seat: the luxury carmaker has ignited heated debate after launching an $18/month seat-warming subscription. Just press the butt-on.
Stocks ticked down for the week, though not as dramatically as weâve been used to lately. The S&P 500 spiked nearly 2% on Friday after news that US consumers boosted their spending in June despite soaring prices.
Netflix is down... in more ways than one. On Friday, the struggling streamer was briefly down for some users â putting shows like "The Umbrella Academy" and "How to Build a Sex Room" out of reach. But downtime isn't the Flix's only problem: the stock's down 70% this year as subscriptions sag and revenue growth slows.
Stranger thingsâve happened... In 2019, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said his streamer would never do ads, âperiod.â Now: Netflix is doing ads. In April, it announced it would launch a cheaper ad tier. The goal: attract and retain subs. High prices (#flation) + subscription overload (#subscripuration) have made it harder for consumers to afford multiple streamers.
To keep your identity, you may have to lose it⊠To maintain its rep as the #1 streamer famous for original content hits, Netflix must do something we thought it never would: Hulu-fy itself with ads. After its first subscriber loss in a decade, Netflix had to choose between cutting down on content spending or cutting the cost of its service. Ads could be a big profit puppy, but might cost Netflix its frictionless prestige.
$2 croissant⊠keep the exchange. One euro was worth one US dollar last week (and briefly less) for the first time in decades. Investors have ditched euros as comparatively higher US interest rates strengthen the $, while Russiaâs war on Ukraine darkens Europeâs growth outlook. Itâs good for American tourists (think: cheaper paella and prosecco): 7X more Americans are taking Eurotrips this year. But a strong dollar makes US exports more expensive (think: pricier Pop-Tarts), which could dampen spending and investing from abroad.
Crypto regulators... mount up. After Celsius' collapse and TerraUSD's implosion, regulators are speaking up. The Fed's vice chair said it's time to establish clear rules for what's permitted in crypto, and both the European Central Bank and the Financial Stability Board (a global regulator) called for stablecoin regs. Meanwhile, the US Treasury's asking for public comment on crypto's risks as it preps a report for President Biden. And as retail investors continue to feel crypto winter's chill, regulatory pressure will likely keep heating up.
Running on E⊠Tesla reports on Wednesday, but we already know that its record delivery streak is over. Last quarter, Tesla deliveries fell for the first time in over two years (blame: Chinaâs Covid lockdown). To ramp up output, Teslaâs upgrading its Berlin and Shanghai factories â but thatâll halt production at the major plants for weeks. Elonâs âsuper bad feelingâ about the economy led to 200+ layoffs in June and (another) set of Tesla price hikes. Still, Tesla demand is hot. Its Model Y was China's best-selling SUV in June.
A shot in the arm... Johnson & Johnson drops quarterly earnings tomorrow, and investors have good vibes (the stockâs up this year, and thatâs saying a lot). Analysts expect quarter-over-quarter sales growth for the 136-year-old company, which has become more associated with vaccines than Tylenol and Band-Aids. J&J had forecast up to $3.5B in vax sales this year, but walked that back as demand for shots sagged. Now health officials are pushing booster shots to combat the "worst version" of the virus, and US Covid hospitalizations are on the rise â nearing 6K a day.
Authors of this Snacks own: shares of Netflix, Twitter, Tesla, Comcast, Microsoft, and Google
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