Hello, Quartz members, and welcome to Sunday Reads!
The big news this week was the return, and swift crash, of the meme stock. If you haven’t sold your GameStop holdings you’re about to get hosed. The Dow broke 40,000, Open AI disabled its safety team, Walmart and Netflix are doing very well, and the U.S.-China trade war has begun in earnest.
Here are our favorite Quartz stories from last week. Enjoying this newsletter? Let us know; we’d love to hear from you.
5 reads we liked on Quartz
White-pilled. Eli Lilly says the only way to Make America Slim Again is with a Wegovy-style pill that’s as effective as a shot. Demand is so great that injectables will never solve America’s weight program, says Lilly, whose new weight-loss pill, orforglipron helped users lose 15% of their body weight in 36 weeks.
Forget E.F. Hutton. When Jamie Diamond speaks, people listen. The JPMorganChase has done a lot of talking and writing this year about the ceconomy, and what it could look like given the uncertainty around interest rates and inflation, along with a high fiscal deficit and global geopolitical turmoil. Rocio Fabbro has wrapped it all up for you.
Hedge Funds play it safe: Hedge funds were caught off guard in early 2021, when retail investors suddenly put the squeeze on GameStop stock that the funds had been shorting. But when the meme stock frenzy came back with a fury this week — and then fizzled fast — things were different. Quartz’s Rocio Fabbro has the story.
The Tesla division. It’s pretty obvious that America is divided over Tesla: Some are skeptical about electric cars, others are polarized by Elon Musk. Now a YouGov poll offers some insight: Some of that division is due to different media diets. While most Americans get their news about Tesla from mainstream media and mainstream social media, the Teslarati are plugged into a non-stop virtuous circle of tweets, videos, and podcasts touting the wonders of Tesla.
Speed Racers: Formula 1 is setting up a battle between one of the world’s greatest current drivers, and AI versions of his predecessors. Using a heads-up display, Williams team lead driver Logan Sargeant will race AI-generated avatars and cars of six former Williams world champion drivers: Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, and Jenson Button.
1 sneak peek
Have the U.S. and China already begun Cold War II?
Are the U.S. and China already engaged in a new Cold War? That’s the question Quartz’s Britney Nguyen puts to Department of Homeland Security advisor Dmitri Alperovitch, whose new book, World on the Brink, says the U.S. and China are locked in a battle over economic dominance and in particular the future of semiconductor computer chips. Alperovitch was one of the first analysts to predict that Russian President Vladimir Putin would invade Ukraine, three months before the war began. He says China will invade Taiwan by the end of this decade, and the U.S. needs to prepare. It’s a chilling read.
🗓️ What to watch for this week
Here’s what our newsroom will be keeping an eye on:
- Monday: Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella will speak at a special event about how the company’s AI technology will be integrated into its software and hardware. Zoom reports earnings after the bell.
- Tuesday: The Microsoft Build conference for developers starts in Seattle, and more AI announcements are expected. Lowe’s and Macy’s have their earnings before the market opens.
- Wednesday: Earnings to watch before the bell include TJX and Target, with heavyweight Nvidia coming in after the market closes.
- Thursday: Medtronic reports earnings before the market opens, Intuit will report after the close, and the Fed releases the latest data on new home sales.
Thanks for reading! Here’s to the week ahead, and don’t hesitate to reach out with questions, comments, and a fraction of a timeshare (we’re in the market). Sunday Reads was brought to you by Peter Green and Morgan Haefner.