💩 Best I can do is...

And Microsoft gets put in a body bag

Author

Tyler Morin
September 24, 2024

Hey there weekday warriors,

There is only one group Boeing still has some leverage with: its employees.

Enjoy the next 4 minutes and 28 seconds of blue-chip news and commentary.

Keep on snapping necks and cashing checks,

Markets

+ US stocks “rose Monday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 eked out record closes, extending a winning streak on Wall Street. Investors looked to Federal Reserve speakers and a key inflation reading for clues to the odds of another big rate cut.” (Yahoo! Finance)

+ The 10-year Treasury yield “was higher Monday as investors assessed the growth outlook following the Federal Reserve’s jumbo rate cut last week.” (CNBC)

+ Oil “closed lower on Monday as worries about demand were compounded by disappointing euro zone business activity and a weak Chinese economy.” (Reuters)

+ Bitcoin “rose to a one-month high on Monday, extending gains from the prior week as traders cheered an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve, with a slew of more cues due this week.” (Investing)

+ The three most talked about stocks on WallStreetBets in the past 24 hours were: 1) Nvidia +0.2% 2) Intel +3.3% 3) Intuitive Machines -12.2%

The market moves you need to know about


+ Nuclear power is having a moment in the US. Just a few days after Constellation Energy said it was firing up Three Mile Island again, NANO Nuclear is launching a new subsidiary “to explore the potential commercial applications of its micronuclear reactor technology in space.” Which sounds a lot like the plot from ‘Armageddon 2.’ Shares rose 8.8% on the news.

+ Danone wants to make it official with Lifeway. The French food giant offered to buy the ~75% of Lifeway that it doesn’t already own for $25 per share. Shares popped 16.3%
 to right around $25 after the news broke.

‘Best I can do is
’

Source: Giphy

Listen, I don’t like to point fingers, but weren’t Boeing’s machinists the reason the company’s jets have been falling out of the sky and losing doors mid-flight?

ICYMI, Boeing’s (+1.9%) factory workers are currently ~2 weeks into a strike. They’re demanding better pay and a re-instated pension. Super original, you guys.

The union already turned down Boeing’s first proposal.

‘Best and final’

Yesterday, Boeing management came to the table with what it’s calling its ‘best and final’ offer. The airplane maker just went all ‘best I can do is’


  • 30% pay raise over 4 years (12% upfront followed by three 6s)

  • Double the size of the ratification bonus to $6k

  • The next new airplane would be built in the Seattle area

  • It will NOT bring back the pension that Boeing got rid of more than 10 years ago

Throw in a 401k match, and I’ll shut down this newsletter, move to the Pacific Northwest, and learn how to weld fuselages (poorly).

Under pressure

Boeing would really like to get back to making jets that make headlines for all the wrong reasons, but the machinists are feeling the pressure too


You see, they got their final paycheck last week. And health insurance runs out at the end of the month. Running low on b*ner pills will make a middle manager think twice about how much more he really needs to squeeze out of his employer


TS

+ Dude, we get it, you’re a Mac guy


D.A. Davidson just did the unthinkable: downgrade Microsoft (-0.4%) (to be fair, they didn’t cut the price target).

It’s a rare L for MSFT, which has been a popular pick on the Street
 for obvious reasons. Despite Bing’s best efforts, Microsoft continues to print money and is a member of the $3T market cap club.

But the analyst isn’t just bearish, he threw some major shade. He said the company that gave us #REF errors is “beholden” to Nvidia. In fact, he believes, “Microsoft is so reliant on Nvidia that it's almost transferring wealth from its own shareholders to Nvidia shareholders.”

Unfortunately for this dude’s career prospects, nobody gave a damn. Shares fell only slightly on the day.

+ Death and taxes generative AI startups raising massive rounds at outrageous valuations


The company behind Claude, Anthropic, is in talks to raise money at a $40B valuation. The company, which counts Amazon as an investor, is currently valued at ~$18B. Because you can’t create a bubble with down rounds, you guys


Not that it’s a d*ck measuring contest (spoiler: it’s definitely a d*ck measuring contest), but OpenAI is in talks to raise $7B at a $150B valuation.

+ It appears that we have learned nothing from Friend


After nearly two years of rumor and speculation, Jony Ive (the dude who designed the iPhone) has confirmed he’s collabing with Sam Altman on a top-secret AI hardware product.

It’s still not entirely clear what the product will be. But we’ll be getting it anyway, if for no other reason than they’ve already raised money from heavy hitters like Laurene Powell Jobs.

+ On the fence about getting a travel card? This just might be the perfect card for you. It’s time to make credit card miles your entire personality


+ 40-year-old CEO shares the No. 1 red flag she sees in employees—avoiding it is ‘more important than ever’. Believe it or not, the biggest red flag is wearing square-toed shoes to an interview


FYI, TWC might be compensated if you click on the links above. So, what are you waiting for? Start clicking.

FWD

âȘ Yesterday, we heard from a few Fed presidents.

⏩ Today we’re keeping an eye on


+ AutoZone reports before the open

+ Stitch Fix and KB Home drop earnings after the close

EXIT

On Friday (and Thursday), I asked, “You can get $5M OR you only need 1 hour of sleep per night for the rest of your life. Which are you taking?”

Money won with 72.9% of the vote. I honestly thought "1 hour of sleep" was a no-brainer.

I love the self-awareness of the weekday warriors. LOTS of answers were something along the lines of, "I know I wouldn't use that time wisely anyway."

Here’s what some of you guys had to say (and my thoughts in italics)


  • Sleep: "With only one hour of sleep, you can start truly living the 10X life and hopefully make more than $5M. OR you can just stay up late and get up early every day and play video games so not a bad life."

  • Money: "Well I know myself enough to know I won't be using that extra 6 hours in the middle of the night to improve myself in any meaningful way, so $5M is the easy winner."

  • Money: "This is an easy one to me. Productivity more memories to make”

  • Money: "The hell am I going to do in 23 hours that I don't already do? Give me the 5mil, let me clear my debt, buy a house and be able to live comfortably for at least six months before poor financial decisions take their hold and I'm broke again."

  • Sleep: "With zero tradeoffs, you can work hard enough to make that incremental $5m back and still have time with the wife and kids / time for the gym. Easy decision."

  • Money: "I would probably become less productive knowing I had more time to procrastinate."

  • Money: "If I only sleep one hour a night, when am I going to sober up?"

  • Money: "I know myself too well to pretend I’d do something useful with that extra time"

And here’s today’s questions


You get $1M per year but you have to eat three hotdogs every day for the rest of your life. If you skip a dog, or quit, you do a year in (white collar) prison. Do you take the deal?

See the rules below.

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

RULES OF THE ROAD: The hotdogs are free. You can still eat other stuff, but have to eat at least three hot dogs. Yes, you can put whatever you want on them BUT not use them in another recipe - they must be eaten in the traditional manner. No pigs in a blanket size, either. Let's assume there won't be any major health consequences related to the hot dogs.

Oh, and one more thing


What did you think about today's newsletter?

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FINE

Does this look like the face of a guy you should take financial advice from?

No, it’s the face of an individual who is financially irresponsible/dumb enough to be talked into spending money on a family photo shoot that he could have just done with his iPhone. So, act accordingly...

This is not financial advice. Nothing in this newsletter is an investment recommendation. All content is created for entertainment, educational, or informational purposes only. Do your own research, or do yourself a favor and hire a professional.