🌏 ‘The Duolingo of health’

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Here’s what you need to know

Red, white, and bruised. According to a report, the U.S. is the country hit the hardest by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which are causing the global economy to slow.

Made in China? Not lately. Chinese manufacturing shrank sharply in May — to its lowest level in nearly three years — as a result of the Trump administration’s then-steep tariffs on China.

No love lost on tax cuts. Elon Musk continues to trash Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax bill, calling it a “disgusting abomination” — and more — in a social media rant.

Fission accomplished for Meta? The company just made a 20-year deal to acquire nuclear energy as it works to quench the seemingly insatiable energy demand created by AI.

Europe gets a dose of Hims & Hers. The telehealth company is expanding into Europe with an acquisition, which could accelerate access to weight-loss drugs across the Atlantic.

Ford is still zooming. Thanks to upticks in hybrid and traditional vehicle sales, the automaker reported a sales increase — despite auto tariffs and cratering EV purchases.

Buongiorno, Alaska Airlines! The Seattle-based airline will soon offer its first-ever direct flights to Europe: between Washington state and Rome.

Musk claims astronomical gains. SpaceX will hit over $15 billion in revenue this year, according to its CEO — a number Musk says will surpass NASA’s entire 2026 budget.

Kale me, maybe

In a crowded field of wellness apps nudging users to eat better and move more, Noom is betting that behavioral science — and a little gamification — can do what willpower alone can’t.

Under CEO Geoff Cook, the company is working to become what he calls the “Duolingo of health,” layering things like streaks, badges, and microincentives onto a platform that currently offers coaching, AI support, and prescriptions for GLP-1s such as Ozempic and Wegovy. Noom’s goal? Make healthy habits easier to form — and harder to abandon.

Drawing on psychological tricks such as loss aversion, social accountability, and the satisfaction of incremental progress, the company is redesigning its experience to reward engagement, not just effort. And it’s doing so at a moment when weight-loss drugs are shifting further and further into a cultural phenomenon.

The company launched Noom Med in 2023, joining a wave of digital health firms capitalizing on the GLP-1 boom. But motivation — not medication — could be Noom’s differentiator. By building an ecosystem that rewards behavior change with subtle, sustained feedback loops, the company is hoping to become more than a prescription platform. It’s aiming to become a daily habit.

As Cook put it: “You don’t want to necessarily treat health as a game, but I think you want to make it so that you keep coming back to the application because it doesn’t feel like work.” Quartz’s Shannon Carroll has more on why your lunch log could soon come with a leaderboard.

Shelf awareness

If Dollar General is thriving, the odds are that someone else isn’t.

The discount retailer just posted a better-than-expected quarter: Same-store sales are up, earnings are up, and guidance is raised. Investors rewarded the stock with a 9% pop. But for the rest of the economy, Dollar General’s performance may be more of a red flag than a green shoot.

Dollar General has long doubled as a recession barometer. With over 20,000 stores blanketing rural and underserved areas, its shelves are often where economic strain first shows up — especially when “trade-in customers” start swapping Whole Foods for off-brand canned beans.

In a classic case of countercyclical success, Dollar General tends to shine when consumer confidence dims. And right now, the bigger picture isn’t exactly sunny: The OECD just downgraded U.S. growth forecasts, exports are tanking, and business sentiment is shaky.

Dollar General, meanwhile, opened 156 stores and remodeled over 1,200 in the first quarter. If that sounds like confidence, it is. But it’s confidence in continued consumer distress — a bet that the $1 aisle is about to get even more foot traffic. Quartz’s Catherine Baab has more on the company cashing in when cash is running low.

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