Hey there weekday warriors,

Here’s what we’re getting into today…

• Steve Mnuchin wants TikTok

• More bad inflation data

• Chief AI Officer

Enjoy the next 4 minutes and 18 seconds of blue-chip news and commentary.

Keep on snapping necks and cashing checks,

- tyler

+ US stocks “stumbled after a stronger than expected reading on U.S. inflation cast doubt on the timing and magnitude of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year.” (Reuters)

+ The 10-year Treasury yield “climbed Thursday after hotter-than-expected wholesale inflation report worried traders about its potential impact on Federal Reserve policy going forward." (CNBC)

+ Oil prices “rose on Thursday to settle at four-month highs as the International Energy Agency predicted a tighter market in 2024 and raised its view on oil demand growth this year.” (Reuters)

+ Bitcoin “headed lower at the March 14 Wall Street open after United States macro data offered a fresh inflation headache.” (Cointelegraph)

+ The three most talked about stocks on WallStreetBets in the past 24 hours were: 1) Nvidia -3.2% 2) TSMC -1.7% 3) Tesla -4.1%

The market moves you need to know about…

– It appears that the only group more upset with Bud Light than Kid Rock fans is Altria’s C-suite. The cigarette maker said it was offloading ~$2.2B of its $12.7B stake in AB InBev. BUD fell 5.4% in the US.

+ Dick’s put on a clinic in its holiday quarter. Shares jumped 15.4% yesterday following a beat and dividend hike.

– You guys are savages. Despite beating on the top and bottom lines, Adobe shares cratered 10.9% after sharing revenue guidance that came up just short of expectations.

– US Steel tumbled 6.3% after Cleveland-Cliffs’ CEO said he’d consider bidding on the company… at a significant discount to its most recent bid. You might recall that Cleveland was outbid by Japan’s Nippon Steel. But now, it appears the White House may move to block the Nippon deal.

In only 84 days, Nvidia went from $1T to 2T in value…

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I’m assembling a team…

Steve Mnuchin’s stock hasn’t been this high since that time he took that Bond-villain-looking picture with his wife (you know the one I’m talking about)…

Last week, the former Treasury Secretary swooped in to save New York Community Bank from a certain death. Along with a group of other investors, Mnuchin injected $1B into the bank.

He smells blood in the water…

The guy whose resume just screams nepotism is nothing if not an opportunist. He told CNBC he’s assembling a team of investors to buy TikTok. Listen, I hate to say “I told you so”… but I told you so yesterday in “Tyler’s take…”

Mnuchin made his stance clear: “I think the legislation should pass and I think it should be sold.” And he might have a pretty decent shot if the opportunity presents itself. You see, Softbank’s Masa Son is a major investor in both ByteDance and Mnuchin’s Liberty Strategic Partners.

Long shot

Of course, it’s still unclear if Mnuchin or anyone else will even get the chance to buy TikTok. Not only does the Senate need to pass the bill, but Bytedance would need to agree to actually divest it. It could, in theory, just shut down the app in the US.

And even if it is up for sale, Mnuchin would likely face stiff competition. Bobby Kotick, the former Activision Blizzard CEO, already said he’d be down to f*ck.

Tyler’s take… Something tells me Xi Jinping would recognize Taiwan as an independent nation before he let a US company buy TikTok. If this bill passes and Biden signs it into law, sh*t is going to hit the fan. It’ll make the “trade war” look like child’s play.

+ College is still worth it, research finds — although these majors have the lowest rate of return (Read)

+ Nvidia Reveals 8 'Secrets' For When To Sell Stocks. (Read)

~ ICYMI... I earn 6 figures working just 10 hours a week. Here's how I rate my 8 income streams based on difficulty and earning potential. (Read)

+ Once again, it appears that inflation isn’t transitory. After a CPI print that was of the “not great, Bob” variety, we got some bad news on the producer price index front…

PPI jumped 0.6% vs. last month. That’s more than double expectations. On an annual basis, PPI jumped 1.6%, the highest since September of last year.

Tyler’s take… This is pretty, pretty bad news considering PPI is a leading indicator for consumer inflation. You see, the higher priced raw, intermediate, and finished goods get sold to poor b*stards like you and I. And… newsflash… we get charged more because the products cost more to make. This shows up in the CPI data a few months down the road.

+ Wake up babe, the new overpaid Wall Street C-Suite job just dropped…

I bet Morgan Stanley’s (-0.2%) Jeff McMillan sure is happy he heard about ChatGPT before the rest of his colleagues. Because the wealth management tech exec just got promoted to the entire bank’s head of AI. Which I’m pretty sure is the financial institution equivalent of being a 4-star General in the Space Force…

MS is the first bank to name an official head of AI. But Wall Street has been in an arm’s race for AI talent, despite hiring slowing elsewhere.

+ Bad news for workers in Foxconn City… you’re about to have new AI overlords…

According to Bloomberg, Apple (+1.0%) purchased DarwinAI earlier this year. Although it isn’t clear how much Apple paid, it was likely a pretty small acquisition. Darwin’s tech keeps an eye on manufacturing accuracy.

+ Boy, that escalated quickly. Shares of WW (-20.4%) fell 20%, and hit a 52-week low yesterday. The collapse comes just weeks after Oprah said she was leaving the weight loss company’s board. The move brought attention to WW’s fat stacks of debt and reminded everyone that GLP-1s are making old-fashioned weight loss “so 2023.”

Yesterday’s move prompted CEO Sima Sistani to send an internal memo telling everyone everything is fine. I think that’s what the captain of the Titanic said at first too…

Here's what I'm keeping an eye on today...

+ Happy triple witching to those who celebrate (expiration of stock options, stock index futures, and stock index options contracts)

+ The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index drops

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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