Hey Snackers,
Adulting is hard! Who among us hasn’t asked Google or YouTube about fundamental how-tos that maybe, as adults, we should have learned by now. But queries regarding cleaning techniques, basic financial knowledge, and day-to-day practical skills have all reached record highs in recent months. We must admit, we’re a bit concerned to see how many people are searching how to use a mop or a hammer.
A slightly downbeat day for US stocks morphed into something considerably worse this afternoon, when spiking bond yields in the wake of a poorly received Treasury auction accentuated the slide in stocks.
The S&P 500 fell 1.6%, the Nasdaq 100 gave back 1.3%, and the Russell 2000 dropped 2.8%.
Every S&P 500 sector ETF fell at least 1% except for communication services, with consumer discretionary, financials, healthcare, and real estate all off more than 2%. The S&P 500’s advance-decline line was lopsided: the number of fallers outnumbered risers by 467. That’s the worst reading this year outside of April 4, when markets were reeling at the end of the week that featured the Rose Garden reciprocal tariff announcement.
Guess who’s coming to the $TRUMP dinner?
Tonight, 220 winners of a competition to hold the most of President Trump’s meme coin will get to attend a dinner at the Trump National Golf Club in Washington, DC. We don’t know what they’ll get to eat, but we hope there’s at least a nod to today also being Bitcoin Pizza Day, especially after the crypto hit a new all-time high yesterday.
The event has brought a lot of excitement… and a nearly equal amount of criticism, a lot of it stemming from what “looks like a blatant pay-to-play model” and “questions about market manipulation and, with this dinner, about foreign nationals and their involvement with US politics.” A Bloomberg analysis found that all but six of the top 25 holders are foreign and indeed, the top of the leaderboard is a notorious foreign crypto figure who is also the single largest buyer of $WLFI, the token associated with Trump-backed World Liberty Financial.
To get closer to the story, Sherwood News spoke to two VIP attendees to get their takes on the event and why they wanted to get a seat at the table.
Ogle, the pseudonymous cofounder of blockchain ecosystem Glue and a cybersecurity adviser to WLFI, is one of them. He has “no clue” how much he spent, nor if he lost or won money. “I have traded it actively from the day it launched. Spent millions, made millions, but net-net, I have zero idea,” he told us. He did share what he’s wearing to mask his identity and what he hopes they’ll serve for dinner.
We also spoke to No. 2 on the leaderboard: MemeCore. The project’s cofounder, the pseudonymous Ice, will attend the dinner. MemeCore’s participation in the contest was “rooted in our mission to represent and reignite global meme culture,” the company’s chief business development officer said, who added that “Donald Trump is more than a political figure; he is arguably one of the iconic living memes.”
The Takeaway
As Ogle put it, both Trump and crypto are divisive, which is why the dinner has garnered so much attention. Yet Ogle also likened it to other lobbying dinners, like those of the National Association of Realtors, which haven’t received backlash, though they could also present perceptions of a conflict of interest for Trump.
He built a biotech company to save his daughter. Next, his company Alpha Rose Therapeutics plans to take on hundreds of rare diseases — and you can invest.
Musician Casey McPherson’s daughter, Rose, was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease. She can’t say “daddy” anymore. He gave up his career to do something almost unthinkable: build a biotech company from scratch to try to save her.
That company, Alpha Rose Therapeutics, has developed a platform for precision genetic treatments. Its lead candidate, Rosiphersen, is in preclinical development and supported by the NIH’s NCATS TRND program.
Alpha Rose is targeting scalable, patient-focused therapies for rare conditions that collectively impact 400 million people globally.
Alpha Rose is raising capital from everyday investors like you to support targeted therapies for patients who need them most. Invest today.1
Does a big bet on Sinclair signal an even bigger bet on deregulation?
Decades of research have generated strong evidence that stock purchases by insiders — especially members of the board or company officers — often come before “abnormal” returns. That is, on balance, they can presage a juicy upward moves in prices.
That’s just one reason it’s interesting that the chairman of broadcaster Sinclair Inc. spent more than $13 million during March and April to purchase over 900,000 class-A shares on the open market, raising his already significant stake in the company to a high of 6.6%.
So what gives? Why is David D. Smith buying so much stock now?
One reason may be that the regulatory environment has changed a lot with the return of President Donald Trump, creating opportunities for the kind of dealmaking that can make stocks jump.
For years, broadcasters have complained that needed consolidation of the declining industry is hampered by government rules designed to keep individual media companies from growing too powerful.
Trump’s FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, has said he would like to eliminate ownership rules and caps that have imposed speed bumps on consolidation.
If such rules are rolled back, it just might create an opportunity for Sinclair shares, as the company could be either a buyer of additional stations — something that was a key driver of the share price several years back — or even potentially a deal target itself. The company’s market cap is about $1 billion.
The Takeaway
Of course, there’s no guarantee a frenzy of local broadcast dealmaking is coming down the pike, or that any of the stocks benefit. Still, companies with close financial, ideological, or business t
THE BEST THING WE READ TODAY
Dear Google, don’t pull an Apple and advertise features you can’t deliver
At Google’s developer conference this week, AI was everywhere and being shoved into everything. Generally analysts were happy with the company’s performance and promises, but what’s ultimately more important is whether Google will actually be able to execute all that AI supposedly “coming soon.”
OFF THE CHARTS
Options trading and retail involvement in which headline-grabbing stock has exploded in the last week?
Crypto doesn’t have to be complicated.
Investing in crypto isn’t complicated, at least not with Grayscale. Grayscale is the world’s largest crypto-native asset manager, and has over a decade of experience helping investors get into crypto investing.
If you’re thinking about crypto, start investing with Grayscale. Look for its investment products directly in your brokerage account.2
Yesterday’s Big Daily Movers
Vans parent VF Corp tripped after reporting weak Q1 sales and a gloomy outlook
UnitedHealth closed down more than 5% after a downgrade from HSBC and a report that alleged it coordinated with nursing homes for its own financial gain
Target slumped after missing Q1 estimates and slashing full-year guidance
CoreWeave is blowing away even the most bullish on Wall Street with its double-digit surge
What Else We're Snackin'
On the heels of rampant interest in Slate Auto, Toyota is considering giving the US smaller trucks
OpenAI is buying a startup from Apple former design lead Jony Ive for $6.5 billion, and its gigantic Texas data center just got $11.6 billion in funding
The cutoff day for copycat Ozempic and Wegovy is imminent. What’s next?
The US air traffic control system is like “an old clunker of a car,” airline execs told Congress
Elon Musk probably won’t be dropping another $292 million on elections. Our chart shows how much he outspent every single other donor
Snack Fact of the Day
Google’s Waymo has now done more than 10 million paid trips.
Today's Events
Initial Jobless Claims, Existing Home Sales, and Manufacturing and Services PMI
Earnings expected from PDD Holdings, Williams-Sonoma, Ralph Lauren, Ross Stores, Intuit, and Deckers Outdoor
1 Please read the Offering Circular and related risks at https://www.startengine.com/offering/alpharose/.This is a paid advertisement for AlphaRose Therapeutics’s Regulation CF Offering. This Reg CF offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.
This was a paid for ad. Sherwood Media has been compensated for this ad by the AlphaRose Therapeutics’s Reg CF Campaign hosted on StartEngine.
In addition, as described in the Offering Circular, the Company retains the right to continue the offering beyond the Termination Date, in its sole discretion.
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.
Alpha Rose Therapeutics was featured in this article from People Magazine.
2 Please read the prospectus carefully before investing in any fund. Investing involves risk and the potential loss of principal.