Hey there weekday warriors,

Today we’re getting into VW’s bailout of Rivian. Plus, Airbus doing its best Boeing impression.

Enjoy the next 4 minutes and 24 seconds of blue-chip news and commentary.

Keep on snapping necks and cashing checks,

- tyler

+ US stocks “closed mixed on Tuesday, pulled in opposite directions by the Nasdaq and the Dow, as AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) rebounded from a three-day skid to surge nearly 7%.” (Yahoo! Finance)

+ The 10-year Treasury yield was “little changed on Tuesday as investors looked ahead to fresh inflation insights slated for release on Friday." (CNBC)

+ Oil “fell 1% on Tuesday as weak U.S. consumer confidence data fed worries about the economic outlook and fuel demand after a slow start to the U.S. summer driving season.” (Reuters)

+ Bitcoin “rose above $61,000, clawing back some of the losses it suffered in the previous session.” (WSJ)

+ The three most talked about stocks on WallStreetBets in the past 24 hours were: 1) Nvidia +6.7% 2) Rivian +8.6% // +49.9% after hours 3) Micron +1.5%

The market moves you need to know about…

+ FedEx soared 13.8% after hours. The shipping company didn’t just beat on the top and bottom lines, but showed it could deliver on its cost-cutting goals. The lofty initiative is finally beginning to show some (impressive) results.

– Celsius fell 6.5% after an analyst pointed out that market share gains will be hard to come by in the near term.

+ It appears that Steve Cohen is a Dead Head. Shares of Sphere Entertainment (aka The Sphere in Vegas) rose 7.2% on news that the Point72 founder had taken a nearly 6% stake in the company.

+ The human race has a fever and the only prescription is more cruises. Carnival Cruise Lines just smashed earnings expectations and pointed to thicc demand. Shares rose 8.7% yesterday.

Funding secured

Ever make a terrible investment? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. The smartest guys in the room do too…

Volkswagen (+0.7%) is bailing out Rivian (+8.6% // +49.9% after hours) with an investment of as much as $5B. The initial investment will inject $1B into the EV maker.

The company that brought us Dieselgate will invest another $1B in both 2025 and 2026. Plus, VW will pony up an additional $2B in 2026 to fund a JV… if it doesn’t realize what a terrible mistake it’s made by then.

Tell me more about this JV…

In 2026 (assuming the wheels haven’t fallen off) the two automakers will collab to “create electrical architecture and software technology.” According to Rivian, VW is jonesin’ to get its hands on the EV maker’s tech.

The two sides were also very clear about what sort of state secrets they won’t swap. Stuff like “battery technologies, vehicle propulsion platforms, high voltage systems or autonomy and electrical hardware” are off the table.

11th-hour deal…

Rivian just avoided getting its Fisker on. Friendly reminder: Fisker filed for bankruptcy protection last week after a deal with Nissan fell through.

Speaking of Chapter 11…

RIVN has been in a death spiral, with shares down 49% YTD as of Tuesday’s close. Turns out, Wall Street doesn't love massive losses and even more epic cash burn.

Unsurprisingly, the news sent shares up almost 50% after hours.

+ *Begins writing on the window like that one scene from ‘A Beautiful Mind’*

We did it, you guys. We finally figured out how many Tesla (+2.6%) Cybertrucks are on the road. And it’s, well… not a lot.

Elon doesn’t actually break out the number of Cybertrucks sold in the US. But in a recall document from earlier this week, Tesla indicated it was recalling all of its Cybertrucks for two issues. All 11,688 of them.

This would mean TSLA has been delivering ~1.7k per month since launch.

Of course, Elon said at the company’s shareholder meeting a few weeks ago that it was producing 1.3k… per week. And he had hopes of nearly doubling that figure by the end of the year…

+ Airbus (-1.7%) is out here blowing a 28-3 lead…

Boeing’s (-2.2%) largest competitor just shot itself in the foot. It slashed its guidance for 2024. And not just by a little bit. The jet maker now expects EBITDA to come in around 5.5B euros, vs. previous estimates of 7B. And its delivery outlook is equally as bleak. The company plans to deliver 770 aircraft, down from 800.

Shares fell more than on news that it had bungled the opportunity to eradicate literally its only competitor…

+ Panera’s Charged Lemonade walked so Starbucks’ (-0.5%) Iced Energy could run. Starbucks rolled out a new energy drink with ~200mg of caffeine… just a few weeks after Panera’s lemonade was removed from stores (spoiler: because it was literally killing people).

+ The good news is June’s consumer confidence read met expectations. The bad news? The American consumer’s confidence continues to slip… despite economic growth, a good job market, and the stonk market putting on a clinic.

+ If You Can’t Beat High Mortgage Rates, Consider Joining Them (Read)

+ Top 10 Counties with Highest Home Flipping Rates in Q1 2024 (Read)

⏪ Yesterday we got earnings from Carnival Cruise Lines and FedEx. You can check out all of the details above.

⏩ Today we’re keeping an eye on…

+ General Mills and Daktronics report before the bell

+ Micron, Jefferies, and Levi Strauss earnings drop this evening

+ Grail begins trading as a stand-alone company (it spun off from Illumina)

+ Chipotle starts trading on a split-adjusted basis

Yesterday, I asked, “What's the better use of $5? (McDonald’s $5 meal OR a Starbucks $5 meal)”

70.8% of you chose McDonald’s. Mostly because Starbucks’ food sucks.

Here’s today’s question…

Before you go…

I will never forgive Apple for focusing on the Vision Pro and not the Apple Car…

And good news if you were concerned that ChatGPT was going to take your job… (Check it out on Twitter)

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.