🌏 Plowing into a downturn

Plus: When “health” is a hashtag.

Image for article titled 🌏 Plowing into a downturn
Photo: Scott Olson (Getty Images)

Good morning, Quartz readers!


Here’s what you need to know

Fed sees no ceiling in sight. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell just warned of more frequent “supply shocks” and interest rates that stay higher for longer.

Still banking on a storm? Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase’s CEO, just said he isn’t ruling out a recession — even after the U.S. and China reached a temporary tariff truce.

Advertisement

Meta just hit an AI roadblock. The tech company has delayed its latest AI model, known internally as “Behemoth,” raising questions about Meta’s AI investments.

Advertisement

Trump wants Apple to hang up on India. After the company shifted some production from China as a result of tariffs, the president said he doesn’t want phones “built in India.”

Advertisement

Walmart might raise some prices. The retail giant reported first-quarter sales that beat expectations but had a big warning: Price hikes could be coming as a result of tariffs.

Coinbase clashes with regulators. The SEC is looking into whether the cryptocurrency company misstated its user base when it claimed 100 million “verified users.”

Advertisement

That’s one costly crypto hack. Coinbase’s cyber attack — where hackers breached the system by bribing employees — could cost the company $400 million.

Tesla sales under scrutiny. The automaker had people return leased cars so it could use them as robotaxis — but sold them instead to “jack up the price” of used cars.

Advertisement

Spending spree rattles investors. Nvidia-backed CoreWeave saw its stock tumble after its first earnings report since going public showed CapEx spending that exceeded forecasts.

Shoe-in for the market share. Dick’s Sporting Goods just announced it’s buying Foot Locker in a $2.4 billion deal, bringing together two American sports staples.

Advertisement

Oh, Deere

The green giant is waving red flags: Deere just posted a 16% decline in revenue and a 24% drop in profit for the second fiscal quarter. Profit in its crown jewel segment, Production & Precision Ag, was down a backbreaking 21%, and construction wasn’t spared either — profits there nosedived 43%.

Advertisement

The company’s updated outlook isn’t any brighter. Deere now expects large ag equipment sales in North America to fall around 30% this year, citing high interest rates, weaker grain prices, and softening demand across construction markets. With capital-intensive purchases on pause, it’s clear customers are choosing to wait out economic uncertainty.

If you zoom out, you’ll see that this isn’t just one company stalling: It’s a broader economic warning. Deere is a bellwether. The sharp slowdown in farm and construction equipment sales isn’t just bad news for the company — it’s a warning sign that capital spending across agriculture, infrastructure, and industrial sectors is pulling back fast.

Advertisement

Deere is a proxy for an economic pulse in the industrial heart. And right now? That pulse is faint, and the price of horsepower is starting to weigh heavily. Quartz’s Catherine Baab has more on why capital spending’s wheels might be coming off.


Kennedy’s cabinet of curiosities

In Trump’s second term, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is running the Department of Health and Human Services — and running it straight into wellness culture.

Advertisement

He’s hired anti-vaxxers, pushed fringe food policies, and inspired states to ban fluoride. Meanwhile, the administration has gutted health funding and slashed tens of thousands of federal healthcare jobs, all while claiming to be detoxing America in the name of “Making America Healthy Again.”

This isn’t just policy—it’s a vibe shift.

Wellness has become a $2 trillion industry, fueled by pandemic-era distrust and Instagram science. Once crunchy and female-coded, wellness is now a tech-bro playground of biohacking, testosterone stacks, and plasma swaps.

Advertisement

Still, not everything is pseudoscience. Some creators are sharing smart, accessible health info — filling gaps left by an overstretched system. But as government, wellness, and ideology blur, the question remains: When everyone’s selling “health,” who’s actually protecting it? Madeline Fitzgerald has more on the new politics of protein, plasma, and pseudoscience.


More from Quartz

🩺 UnitedHealth’s stock cratered after a reported DOJ investigation

🧓 Warren Buffett asks, “How do you know the day you become old?”

📱 Here are the 7 countries Apple relies on to make its iPhones

🤖 Elon Musk’s Grok AI won’t stop talking about “white genocide”

🧦 Bombas finds a new CEO as it looks to expand its wholesale operations

💻 What a study says about remote workers’ happiness 

🏡 There are still metro areas where you can buy a house under $300,000


Our best wishes on a safe start to the day. Send any news, comments, and more to talk@qz.com.