Hey Snackers,
Even though the news has been filled with stories of people’s inappropriate and disastrous relationships with AI chatbots, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reassured a group of journalists that “way under 1 percent” of users have problematic relationships with ChatGPT. Even if we take this statement as true, that would mean a startlingly high number of people have a harmful parasocial relationship with ChatGPT, by our calculations. Perhaps to change the topic, Altman also said he’d “like to have” Google’s Chrome browser.
On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 0.3% while the Nasdaq 100 and Russell 2000 each gave back 0.5%. Healthcare was the best-performing S&P 500 sector ETF, and there was one big reason why. More on that below.
🧠 Trivia time… Test your knowledge on recent business news.
Which fast-food restaurant saw the most growth in same-stores sales last quarter?
Domino’s
Dutch Bros
Popeyes
Taco Bell
Will Trump’s policies lead to “energy dominance” or more expensive power?
On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump told Americans that surging energy costs would be stopped and prices would be cut in half when he took office. US oil drilling was already at record highs before the election, but the Trump administration has put a renewed focus on fossil fuels and nuclear power. That said, it’s also curtailing long-standing energy efficiency standards and scaling back incentives to speed up the switch to renewables.
To see how it’s going, let’s dig into Trump’s flagship One Big Beautiful Bill Act:
An analysis of the act’s energy provisions by Energy Innovation, a nonpartisan energy and climate think tank, anticipates power generation capacity will actually fall by 340 gigawatts nationally by 2035, with consumers paying up to 18% more for electricity. It also predicted a staggering amount of lost GDP and jobs.
On the other hand, the business-friendly Tax Foundation estimates the bill will create way more jobs overall, though it doesn’t carve out energy-related impacts specifically.
US energy demand has been growing since 2020, spurred partially by Big Tech’s enormous hunger for bigger and more powerful AI data centers. Energy companies are on track to spend over $1 trillion by 2029 to meet that demand, and those costs are being passed down to consumers.
The Rhodium Group forecasts the average household will pay between $78 and $192 more annually; Energy Innovation puts it at an average $170 extra per year.
It’s not just about the cost per watt rising, but a slew of other changes that will raise prices in sneaky ways, as broken down in our scenario of a low-income renter.
Part of the problem is that Trump’s policies minimize renewables, which means more dependence on natural gas plants and therefore higher natural gas costs. Solar plants and wind farms can come online in a year or two, whereas natural gas plants take years longer — especially with a current five-year backlog on a key piece of equipment.
The Takeaway
Whether or not Trump is a fan of wind turbines (we’re kidding, he’s definitely not), tariffs and other measures will make it harder to add the cheapest, most quickly deployed power options to the grid when they’re needed the most.
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Stories We're Obsessed With
Can AI fix Stitch Fix? The subscription clothes company for people who hate shopping and want someone else to dress them on the daily recently posted its first top-line growth in three years and hopes its new AI “Style Assistant” and AI-powered visual tools can bring more growth. Unfortunately for Stitch Fix, its active user figure — basically anyone who’s actually getting “fixes” and buying items — is still dropping, as we charted here. And while the CEO thinks that having an in-app AI stylist will draw new customers, we have our doubts.
What the billionaires bought: UnitedHealth Group enjoyed its biggest daily gain since March 2020, soaring double digits after filings revealed Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway bought the stock in the second quarter. But he wasn’t alone — UnitedHealth Group is now this hedge fund’s second-biggest position. Can these billionaires provide the shot in the arm the beleaguered healthcare giant needs?
The Best Thing We Read Today
Retail investors love Hims, and Hims loves its retail investors
Hims & Hers CEO Andrew Dudum is cozying up to retail investors with posts on X and embracing the Hims House hype machine by taking questions from the blog on earnings calls and sending it press statements.
While Dudum’s response to this X user’s post about Hims gummies converted a retailer consumer into a retail investor, Wall Street has a different POV.
No gatekeeping, just real science.
While Big Tech scrambles to keep up with tariffs, biotech companies are quietly building.
One of those is Cytonics. They’ve already treated over 10,000 patients with their first-generation biologic therapy for osteoarthritis — and now, their next-gen drug CYT-108 could become the first disease-modifying therapy for OA.
This is your chance to invest before Big Pharma catches on. Invest in Cytonics at $3.00/share — only until next week.1
What Else We're Snackin'
Joby completed its first US test flight
The Dallas Cowboys are (again) the NFL’s most valuable team by far
Ford’s safety recall total has hit triple digits, blowing past all previous full-year records
Why small-caps actually rally when traders price more Fed easing
Opendoor’s CEO and chair of the board, Carrie Wheeler, announced she’s stepping down
Snack Fact Of The Day
Nearly a quarter of recorded inflows into US spot ethereum ETFs happened last week.
This Week's Events
Earnings expected from Palo Alto Networks
Earnings expected from Home Depot, Medtronic, Keysight Technologies, and Jack Henry & Associates
Fed meeting minutes. Earnings expected from Baidu, Lowe’s, Target, Estée Lauder, Viking, XpengTJX, The Nordson Corp, and Analog Devices
Earnings expected from Walmart, Alibaba, Intuit, Workday, and Ross
Earnings expected from Williams-Sonoma and BJ’s Wholesale Club
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1 The minimum investment is $501 (167 units). This is a paid advertisement for Cytonics Regulation A+ Offering. Please read the offering circular and related risks on the Cytonics StartEngine page.
Investing in private company securities is not suitable for all investors because it is highly speculative and involves a high degree of risk. It should only be considered a long-term investment. You must be prepared to withstand a total loss of your investment. Private company securities are also highly illiquid, and there is no guarantee that a market will develop for such securities.