š Plowing into a downturn
Plus: When āhealthā is a hashtag.
Good morning, Quartz readers!
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Hereās what you need to know
Fed sees no ceiling in sight. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell just warned of more frequent āsupply shocksā and interest rates that stay higher for longer.
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Still banking on a storm? Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chaseās CEO, just said he isnāt ruling out a recession ā even after the U.S. and China reached a temporary tariff truce.
Meta just hit an AI roadblock. The tech company has delayed its latest AI model, known internally as āBehemoth,ā raising questions about Metaās AI investments.
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 doesnāt want phones ābuilt in India.ā
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 āverified users.ā
Thatās one costly crypto hack. Coinbaseās cyber attack ā where hackers breached the system by bribing employees ā could cost the company $400 million.
Tesla sales under scrutiny. The automaker had people return leased cars so it could use them as robotaxis ā but sold them instead to ājack up the priceā of used cars.
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. Dickās Sporting Goods just announced itās buying Foot Locker in a $2.4 billion deal, bringing together two American sports staples.
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 wasnāt spared either ā profits there nosedived 43%.
The companyās updated outlook isnāt 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, itās clear customers are choosing to wait out economic uncertainty.
If you zoom out, youāll see that this isnāt just one company stalling: Itās a broader economic warning. Deere is a bellwether. The sharp slowdown in farm and construction equipment sales isnāt just bad news for the company ā itās a warning sign that capital spending across agriculture, infrastructure, and industrial sectors is pulling back fast.
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. Quartzās Catherine Baab has more on why capital spendingās wheels might be coming off.
Kennedyās cabinet of curiosities
In Trumpās second term, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is running the Department of Health and Human Services ā and running it straight into wellness culture.
Heās 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 āMaking America Healthy Again.ā
This isnāt just policyāitās 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.
Still, not everything is pseudoscience. Some creators are sharing smart, accessible health info ā filling gaps left by an overstretched system. But as government, wellness, and ideology blur, the question remains: When everyoneās selling āhealth,ā whoās actually protecting it? Madeline Fitzgerald has more on the new politics of protein, plasma, and pseudoscience.