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Here’s what you need to know
Oil prices are near a six-month high after Israel bombed an Iranian consulate. Brent crude, one of the major global oil benchmarks, was trading at over $88 a barrel yesterday.
The U.S. is asking South Korea to stop sending chipmaking equipment to China. That could spell trouble for major South Korean firms, including Samsung and SK Hynix, that operate in China.
The Bob Iger-Nelson Peltz fight ends today. A favorite is emerging ahead of the vote to decide who will get a seat on Disney’s board.
Health insurance stocks were rocked yesterday because of a Medicare decision. UnitedHealth, CVS, and Humana won’t be getting paid as much as they had hoped. Meanwhile, Costco is now prescribing Ozempic and Wegovy.
The owners of the cargo ship that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge near Baltimore don’t think they are at fault. Costs are piling up from the deadly collision, and who is going to pay for it all remains a question.
Tesla delivered a lot of disappointment
Wall Street had expected 457,000 Teslas to be delivered in the first quarter of this year. That didn’t happen — by a long shot.
Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company said deliveries actually totaled 386,810. That’s not the kind of news you want to give investors that are increasingly looking for reasons to dump the stock. But it’s not all doom and gloom for Tesla. It is once again the world’s top EV seller after rival BYD’s sales fell. So, you know, glass half full, if you’re Musk.
Curious how Tesla’s sales compare to other carmakers in the U.S. and beyond? Here are the first-quarter sales of the world’s top automakers.
Tech IPOs are making a comeback
The tech IPO frenzy of the early pandemic came to an abrupt end in 2022, as capital dried up following the Fed’s rate hikes.
Now, the money is flowing a little more freely. The same number of companies have gone public in the first quarter of 2024 as last year, but they’ve raised about three times as much capital ($7.8 billion). That, along with the two biggest IPOs of the year so far — Astera Labs and Reddit — are encouraging other tech companies to jump in.
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🛋️ Americans’ idea of a comfortable retirement is far outpacing inflation
📎 An animated AI chatbot for Xbox? Microsoft is reportedly testing one
Surprising discoveries
No one has won the Powerball lotto in three months. That means the jackpot has skyrocketed over $1 billion.
International Space Station debris may have torn through a roof and two floors of a home in Florida. NASA is looking into it.
Thawing Arctic ice could mean more underwater internet cables. That could shift maps away from areas where the cords are more prone to damage.
Spotted owls are being crowded out by barred owls in the U.S…. A plan to cull half a million of the latter bird is ruffling a lot of feathers.
…and it appears that populations are growing for the birds and the bees. America suddenly has a record number of the insect.
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