Good Morning Quartz members,
Welcome to Sunday Reads!
It’s been a week of turmoil here in the United States, with a series of Supreme Court decisions upending decades of settled practice, and top Democrats pushing President Joe Biden to step aside in the race to lead America. Meanwhile, nepo-moguls David Ellison and Shari Redstone say their Skydance-Paramount marriage may be back on, Tesla sales are down, Elon Musk is threatening Bill Gates, and Boeing is getting a plea bargain deal from the Feds. And, oh yes, Americans celebrated their freedom from Great Britain on Thursday with charred meat, weak beer and exploding Chinese munitions, while Brits went to the polls to throw out their government.
Read on for more news.
5 things we especially liked on Quartz
💍 Are wedding bells about to ring for Paramount and Skydance? Skydance, the studio owned by Larry Ellison’s son David, appears to have upped what it will pay for Paramount, the studio owned by Sumner Redstone’s daughter Shari, and Paramount’s parent company National Amusements.
🌯 The Great Chipotle Burrito Bowl Weight Debate. Wells Fargo analysts ordered 75 burrito bowls from eight Chipotle locations and found he heaviest bowls weighed 87% more than the smallest bowls. “While throughput is improving, order consistency remains an opportunity,” the analysts said.
👮♀️ Gen Z’s economic moral failure. A new report says Generation Z believes that the economy is so stacked against them that committing fraud is justified, and 42% of Gen Z’ers surveyed admitted to committing first-person fraud.
🚗 Psst: Wanna buy a new EV? Fisker, the bankrupt EV maker, has asked a court to let it sell its remaining 3,000 EVs to a car leasing company for about $14,000 apiece. That’s almost an 80% discount off the original price of its flagship models.
👁️ Don’t do it kid, you’ll go blind. So you thought Ozempic was the easy way to lose weight? Well, according to a new study published in a major medical journal, researchers have found an association between semaglutide — the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy — and nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, a common cause of sudden blindness
1 sneak peek
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has to retire eventually. Quartz’s Rocio Fabbro has the rundown on five top candidates vying to succeed him. The bank underwent some senior leadership reshuffling at the start of this year, giving a number of key executives “new and increased responsibilities” and installing new leadership in key divisions — many of whom have stood out as potential replacements for Dimon. The longtime Chase chief said at the company’s annual investor day this year that his timetable for retirement is less than five years. Visit qz.com on Monday morning for the story.
Fourth of July inflation
Here’s how much Fourth of July food staples have increased in cost since last year:
- Hotdogs: +7.3%
- Beef: +5.7%
- Tomatoes: +3.9%
- Beer: +3.1%
- Soda: +2.3%
- Wine: +1.6%
- Whole Chicken: +1.5%
- Bakery Items:+1.0%
- Ice Cream: +1.0%
- Breakfast Sausage: +0.8%
What to watch for this week
- Monday: The Federal Reserve drops its monthly consumer credit report. Americans currently hold $1.12 trillion of credit card debt.
- Tuesday: The Fed releases its Equitable Growth Indicators report
- Wednesday: Amazon’s AWS Summit takes place in New York, and promises to demonstrate “how generative AI is shaping the future.” Meanwhile in Seattle, Amazon is hosting the Bloomberg Green Festival, which brings together innovators across sectors including tech, policy and food to discuss the “new climate era.”
- Thursday: Delta reports earnings. It’s one of a handful of major airlines that have begun slashing prices to compete with “budget” airlines. Wall Street analysts expect the earnings per share (EPS) to drop to $2.37 from $2.68 last quarter. PepsiCo also releases its earnings before the market opens, as Dr. Pepper tied Pepsi for second place in the soda rankings (Coke is still Number 1). Pepsi’s EPS is expected to ri0se slightly from $2.09 last quarter to $2.16. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) data report, which measures inflation, is set to be released at 8:30 AM ET
- Friday: Banking giants JP Morgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo and Citigroup release their earnings reports before the bell. Special scrutiny will be given to Citi as the results of its restructuring and leadership change come into view. Last quarter, bank earnings reports exceeded expectations and boosted the stock market.
Thanks for reading! Here’s to the week ahead, and don’t hesitate to reach out with comments, questions, feedback, joy, or pics of your favorite fireworks display. Sunday Reads was brought to you by Peter S. Green, Morgan Haefner and Audrey McNamara.