Good morning. Americans are talking about one thing, and no, it's not your new haircut (looks good, though  ). Far more people are interacting with news articles on the Johnny Depp–Amber Heard trial than with coverage around any other subject, including abortion, inflation, Joe Biden, and Elon Musk, per NewsWhip. And in April, website traffic for People, Us, and the New York Post jumped a respective 9%, 16%, and 22% from last year. —Max Knoblauch, Jamie Wilde, Neal Freyman | | | |  | Nasdaq | 11,984.52 | | | | | S&P | 4,088.85 | | | | | Dow | 32,654.59 | | |  | 10-Year | 2.879% | | | | | Bitcoin | $30,167.58 | | | | | Walmart | $131.35 | | | | *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 11:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: Stocks have fallen so far for so long that investors may have found some good deals, and they sent all three indexes higher yesterday.
- Economy: The health of the US consumer is just very confusing to figure out right now. On the one hand, Walmart whiffed badly on its Q1 earnings as higher costs took a huge bite out of profits. On the other, national retail spending in April increased for the fourth straight month, despite inflation nearing a 40-year high and consumer sentiment at an 11-year low. It's a weird time!
| | | | Department of Defense For lawmakers, a welcome respite from events that require you to know what Instagram is: Yesterday, for the first time in more than 50 years, Congress held a public hearing on UFOs. According to a Navy intelligence official, about 400 incidents have been reported involving UFOs, or as the military calls them, UAPs (Unexplained Aerial Phenomena). That's a big uptick from an official report published last year that included 143 such events dating back to 2004. Many of those new reports aren't actually new, either: They're older stories from people who were reluctant to come forward at the time. Officials say the increase in incidents reveals that efforts to destigmatize coming forward with UAP sightings are working. Terrestrial, hold the extra Just to get this out of the way, Scott W. Bray, the deputy director of Naval intelligence, told lawmakers that nothing "nonterrestrial in origin" has been discovered. All flying objects appeared unpiloted, and there was no effort made by either party to communicate in any incident, according to Bray. So, sadly, the hearing did not feature any Disney Channel original-style interrogations of a suburban family and their beloved alien houseguest, but it still had its moments. - One previously classified video revealed Tuesday showed a spherical object speeding past a US fighter jet. That incident, like many others, remains unexplained.
Asked for some clarity about the growing number of reports of these encounters, Bray pointed to "aerial clutter" like Mylar balloons and the rising popularity of drones, along with improvements in sensors. But the hearing wasn't just a forum for questions about if Men in Black could happen IRL. Lawmakers criticized officials for not drawing or pursuing conclusions that could explain unidentified aircraft, which could pose a threat to national security, alien or not. "When we spot something we don't understand or can't identify in our airspace, it's the job of those we entrust with our national security to investigate and report back," said California Rep. Adam Schiff. When pushed for reasons why investigations into these flying objects often result in more questions than answers, the Pentagon's top intelligence official, Ronald S. Moultrie, explained that there are competing needs for transparency and secrecy. "We do not want potential adversaries to know exactly what we see or understand," Moultrie said.—MK | | | You could start your day however you want, so it means a lot that you start it with us. And as a proud part of your morning routine, we'd like to share a delicious new way to spice up your day. Four words: Crisp Apple Green Juice. organifi just dropped this refreshing new flavor—and it's perfect for drinking up some self-care. It helps lower your cortisol levels, it reduces cravings, and it'll keep you feeling your best all day long. Ready to make your morning routine more scrumptious (and packed with adaptogens and micronutrients)? Take 25% off your entire order + get free shipping with code BREW. | | Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images  The Bidens went to Buffalo. The president and first lady traveled to Buffalo, where on Saturday 10 Black people were killed in an alleged hate crime at a supermarket. In his remarks, Biden condemned the racist "replacement theory" that apparently inspired the shooter, and said that the "American experiment in democracy is in danger like it hasn't been in my lifetime."
 Hiring trends going in the wrong direction. Coinbase is slowing its hiring plans amid the crypto market's downturn. Wayfair is freezing corporate hiring over the next 90 days given the "great deal of uncertainty in the overall economy." And Netflix laid off ~150 employees, saying that it needs to cut costs as it contends with slower revenue growth.
 JPMorgan investors sent Jamie Dimon a message. Just 31% of shareholders voted to greenlight a $201.8 million pay package for the longtime CEO and other executives, the first time since 2009 (when exec pay was first put to a shareholder vote) that they didn't approve of such a measure. JPMorgan is the worst-performing big bank this year; its stock is down ~23%.
| | Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue The Elon Musk–Twitter takeover drama is a lot like Game of Thrones: exciting when it started out, but became so tedious in the later seasons that you only watched to understand why everyone at work was so upset about it. On a recent episode…Elon Musk attempted to put the takeover on ice (for the second time) Tuesday morning, tweeting "this deal cannot move forward" unless Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal shows proof that fewer than 5% of Twitter's accounts are fake/spam. - Twitter estimates that fewer than 5% of its monthly active users are fake or spam accounts, and Agrawal explained in a long thread on Monday how the company arrives at that number.
- Musk, without giving any credible evidence, has asserted that at least 20% of all Twitter accounts are fake, and maybe even 90% are.
Big picture: Musk's hang-up with spam accounts has some analysts suggesting that he's manufacturing outrage over bots as an excuse to renegotiate a deal he believes he paid too much for—or wants to back out of completely. If Musk rips up the agreement, he'll owe a $1 billion breakup fee. Twitter, for its part, seems to be getting tired of Musk's backpedaling. In a statement, the board said, "We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement."—NF | | Francis Scialabba Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said that MiamiCoin—a cryptocurrency launched last June—could potentially replace taxes as a way to raise funds for the government. But five months later, the Miami Herald quoted him as saying, "I don't know whether it's going to work." Why the double take? MiamiCoin has lost more than 95% of its value since its peak in September. Meanwhile, its younger sibling, NYCCoin, is down 80%. What even are these coins? MiamiCoin and NYCCoin are both part of a project called CityCoins. Here's how it works: - Investors buy tokens that they can use to bid on a city's coin.
- The highest bidder receives 70% of their bid in MiamiCoin, while the remaining 30% of the tokens go into the city's digital wallet.
Miami's and New York's wallets held $25 million and $31 million, respectively, as of January, according to CityCoin. But proposed applications for using the funds—such as creating a universal basic income or supporting small businesses—haven't materialized. As markets turn bearish and some idealistic cryptos, like terra, collapse, investors appear less keen to bet on unproven blockchain projects.—JW | | Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images Stat: We're not shocked when airport beers are a bit pricier (TSA has to taste them first). But last summer a traveler at LaGuardia posted a pic of a 23-ounce Sam Adams Summer Ale that cost…$27.85. Last week, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which regulates the region's big airports, announced new rules that require airport concessions to be capped at off-airport "street prices" plus a maximum surcharge of 10%. Quote: "Do you know what I need for my knee? Some tequila." You heard the man, get the pontiff a paloma. In a viral video, Pope Francis explained to a group of Mexican seminarians that a shot or two of Clase Azul might do wonders for the strained ligaments in his knee. The 85-year-old Argentine has been using a wheelchair and a cane as of late while his knee heals. Read: A list of "spite buildings"—when human grudges get architectural. (The Guardian) | | - Gas prices have risen above $4 a gallon in all 50 US states for the first time ever. Five states are averaging more than $5 a gallon, and one—California—hit a record of $6.02.
- The FDA authorized a booster shot of Pfizer's vaccine for kids ages 5–11.
- A unit of Allianz, a German insurance giant, pleaded guilty and will pay more than $6 billion in fines and restitution for fraud around the market sell-off in March 2020.
- Flight data from a China Eastern jet that crashed in March indicates that someone in the cockpit purposely sent it into a nosedive, the WSJ reported.
- Americans can order eight more free Covid-19 tests from the government at COVIDtests.gov.
| | Word search: We tried solving today's puzzle without smiling. Mission failed. Try to identify the celebrity action figures here. Movie trivia A film that debuted today 21 years ago today was the inaugural winner of the Best Animated Film category of the Academy Awards in 2001. Can you name it? | | | Written by Neal Freyman, Jamie Wilde, and Max Knoblauch Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. WANT MORE BREW? Industry news, with a sense of humor → - Emerging Tech Brew: AI, crypto, space, autonomous vehicles, and more
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