Good morning and Happy(?) Tax Day. Here are some goofy tax facts to drop in any conversation today: - In 1696, England imposed a tax on windows to extract more revenue from the wealthy (whose houses had more windows). But all it did was incentivize fewer windows in homes and public health deteriorated from the lack of ventilation.
- People 100 years old and older in New Mexico are exempt from the state's income tax.
- In 2009, local officials in China's Hubei province were required to smoke more cigarettes to boost sales tax collections. They were fined if they didn't hit their targets.
—Sam Klebanov, Neal Freyman, Cassandra Cassidy, Abby Rubenstein PS: If you want to learn how to analyze complex data sets and make beautiful dashboards, check out our virtual Data Storytelling course, which starts next Monday. | | | |  | Nasdaq | 12,157.72 | | | | | S&P | 4,151.32 | | | | | Dow | 33,987.18 | | | | | 10-Year | 3.606% | | |  | Bitcoin | $29,523.14 | | | | | Prometheus | $193.51 | | | | *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 3:00am ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: Stocks got a boost yesterday from the strong start to the corporate earnings season. According to Bank of America (which releases its own financials today), 90% of S&P 500 companies that have reported so far have beaten estimates for earnings per share, making it the best start to a season since 2012.
- Stock spotlight: Prometheus Biosciences spiked on the news that Merck will buy the company—which doesn't have any approved drugs yet—for $10.8 billion.
| | | | Francis Scialabba A new Drake and The Weeknd collab just dropped. Well, not quite…but an AI-generated song rendered in Drake's voice featuring another voice that sounds like The Weeknd, called "Heart on My Sleeve," dominated the FYP this weekend. The track, which sounds like a back-and-forth between Drake and The Weeknd about Selena Gomez, The Weeknd's ex, was released on TikTok by @ghostwriter977, an anonymous producer wearing a white sheet and sunglasses. The TikTok video racked up more than 10 million views despite scratchy audio and faulty vocals. But the song was removed yesterday not only from TikTok but also from Spotify and Apple Music, where it had been streaming (less virally) since April 4—ostensibly at the request of record label Universal Music Group (UMG), which works with both artists. Labels want things to go their way While it may delight the internet, pop-hit-slinging AI is not music to the ears of artists and companies that own the rights to songs. And the threat to their business appears to be growing: AI versions of Rihanna and Eminem have also released unsanctioned tracks in recent weeks. Though it wouldn't confirm to Rolling Stone that it was responsible for taking down "Heart on My Sleeve," UMG has been taking steps lately to curb the possibility of unauthorized AI jams. - According to the Financial Times, the company recently hit Spotify and Apple Music with requests to stop their users from scraping content to train AI systems.
- UMG says AI parroting musical output could constitute copyright infringement and that it is prepared to protect artists' rights.
Zoom out: "Heart on My Sleeve" may have been scrubbed from major platforms, but AI is recording its debut album—whether music industry executives like it or not. And the labels will still have to deal with what AI expert Roberto Nickson called a "modern Napster moment."—SK | | Did you know that 100k knee replacement surgeries fail every year? But change is potentially coming to this $19.4b market. Why? The two founders of Monogram Orthopedics made history recently with the first fully remote, simulated robotic surgery. Meet Monogram, the company that's working to revitalize orthopedics. They've developed customized joint implants using 3D printing and high-accuracy surgical robots, with the goal of improving surgical outcomes and reducing patient downtimes. With FDA approval for their implant components under their belt, Monogram is working toward introducing their robotic knee replacement system to the operating room—and they've already held successful surgical demonstrations using their tech. You can invest now before their planned Nasdaq listing. Invest in Monogram before their current round closes on May 10. | | View Press/Getty Images  Hollywood writers vote to strike. The members of the Writers Guild of America have authorized their union to call for a strike if it can't hammer out a labor deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers by May 1. Union leaders have stressed the importance of ongoing negotiations because of how much the shift to streaming content has changed the industry. The last time writers walked off the job, in 2007, the strike lasted 100 days and TV seasons got some very weird endings.
 Remember the debt ceiling fight? It's still going strong, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy gave a speech at the New York Stock Exchange yesterday reinforcing his position that lifting the government's borrowing limit must be accompanied by spending cuts. McCarthy said the Republican-controlled House would soon vote on legislation with a one-year debt limit raise alongside cuts and new work requirements for people receiving federal benefits. But any such legislation would just be a negotiating tool, since Senate Democrats and President Biden won't be on-board.
 Dominion v. Fox defamation trial set to begin today. The trial in Dominion Voting Systems's $1.6 billion lawsuit accusing Fox News of harming its reputation by broadcasting false statements that the 2020 presidential election was stolen is scheduled to kick off at 9am in Delaware today following a day's delay while the two companies reportedly held settlement talks. If there's no last-minute deal, the trial, which could test the bounds of the First Amendment, is expected to last about six weeks and may include testimony from News Corp. honcho Rupert Murdoch.
| | Hannah Minn Apple's latest product launch is really interest-ing. In partnership with Goldman Sachs, the tech giant released a savings account yesterday that will yield a meaty 4.15% in annual interest just for parking your money in it. The details: - You can open the savings account via the Wallet app on your iPhone, but you'll need an Apple Card (Apple's credit card) to be eligible.
- No minimum deposit is required, the max balance is $250,000, and all of your funds are FDIC-insured.
Zoom out: Apple's push into money storage comes at a time when customers are pulling their savings out of low-yield accounts and stashing them in higher-yield options. And these days, there's no shortage of options due to the Fed's interest rate hikes—while JPow's rate increases have rocked your stock portfolio, they've boosted the returns you can get as a saver. So, while Apple's 4.15% yield is generous, it's joining a competitive field of online banks dangling yields in the same ballpark. Marcus by Goldman Sachs offers a 3.9% annual percentage yield, and Wealthfront's cash account offers 4.3%, for two. Other accounts advertise a more than 5% yield on your cash. Apple is betting that its trustworthy brand and the convenience of setting up an account on your iPhone will give it a competitive edge.—NF | | This goes out to all the entrepreneurs. Paysafe is coming through with extremely relevant resources for SMBs. Check their Small Business Resources blog to learn about: | | Marcus Ingram/Getty Images Yesterday, Jalen Hurts became the highest-paid player in NFL history thanks to a five-year, $255 million contract extension with the Philadelphia Eagles. Eagles fans who are as excited to have Hurts locked in as Commanders fans are to have Dan Snyder out have one woman to thank: Nicole Lynn. She is Hurts's agent, president of football operations at Klutch Sports, and a statistical rarity in football considering that, as of 2022, 67 out of 910 NFL Agents were women. Jerry Maguire could never—but Lynn did. Rather than chanting, "Show me the money," Lynn got Hurts's attention by sliding into his Insta DMs following his last collegiate game at Oklahoma in 2020. "Hey, have you picked an agent? If not, I'd love to link," she wrote. Unlike most Insta DMs, this one seems to have paid off: Hurts hired Lynn and, in February, she became the first Black woman to represent a starting quarterback (Hurts) in the Super Bowl. Lynn is now part of the all-women management team representing Hurts, which the QB calls a "team of straight hustlers." And based on Lynn's tweets when yesterday's deal was announced, we can confirm that her social media game remains strong. There's more: In addition to being the NFL's second-largest contract extension, trailing only the $450 million deal signed by Patrick Mahomes, the agreement marks the first time in history that the Eagles agreed to a no-trade clause.—CC | | View Press/Getty Images Stat: Meme-stock lovers may still be all-in on Bed Bath & Beyond, but plain old lovers…not so much. Thousands of couples using the wedding registry website Zola have taken items from flailing retail chain off their wish lists since January, so it's now showing up on less than half the number of registries it did last year, Bloomberg reports. It seems couples hoping to convince Aunt Sally to buy them something they actually want rather than an embellished silver pie server are worried the store might go out of business before they get the chance to say "I do." Quote: "I know about as much about fintech as I did about gin or mobile a few years ago." Having made bank through investments in Aviation Gin and Mint Mobile, Ryan Reynolds is now taking his charming pitchman schtick (and his cash) to Canadian payments company Nuvei. While Reynolds didn't disclose the size of the stake he took in Nuvei, the Canadian-born actor did star in a video explaining that the fintech is different from American tech companies because it's not ever planning to build its own rockets. Read: The myth of the broke millennial. (The Atlantic) | | - An 84-year-old white man was charged in the shooting of Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager who accidentally rang the doorbell at the wrong house in Kansas City, Missouri, when trying to pick up his younger brothers.
- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state legislature would overturn Disney's efforts to thwart state control of the area where Disney World sits and mused about putting a separate theme park or a state prison next-door.
- McDonald's is upgrading its burgers and bringing back the Hamburglar to tout the improvements.
- SpaceX had to scrap plans for the first test flight of its Starship rocket yesterday due to a valve problem. Elon Musk said the company will try again in "a few days."
- Shaq has finally been served with a lawsuit over his role as a paid spokesperson for FTX after allegedly dodging it for months.
| |  Eat like a king: Literally. This is the recipe chosen by the UK's King Charles III for "coronation quiche."
Wondering who else is watching? Here's how to see who else is using your streaming accounts (and log them off). From Acme to Zig Zag: A searchable database of fictional brands. If two minutes sounds too long…You may already be headed toward burnout, but this two-minute test will help you know. Everything in its right place. For client-facing teams with a high volume of client projects who struggle with consistent delivery, Coordinate lets you handle more business while delighting clients. Try it out.* *This is sponsored advertising content. | | Brew Mini: If watching the Boston Marathon got your competitive juices flowing, try beating Neal by solving today's Mini in under 30 seconds. Play it here. Tax fill-in-the-blank Let's keep the quirky tax facts rolling with Tax Day Trivia. The game is simple: We'll give you a sentence about taxes, and you have to fill in the blank. - In the early 18th century, Czar Peter the Great began taxing ____ so that Russian men would look more like their European counterparts.
- Last year, New Zealand proposed a tax on _____ to curb emissions from the agricultural sector.
- Alaska, Delaware, Montana, Oregon, and ____ are the five states that do not impose a sales tax.
- American singer-songwriter _____ released the album The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories? to help pay down his tax debt with the IRS.
- Producers of breakfast cereal in Canada qualify for a tax break if they ______.
| |  Tax Day has arrived, and HR Brew's guide has the tips and insights you need to help your employees navigate the complexities of filing. Download today.
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 Trying to enhance your marketing strategy? Hear from expert Ajay Kapoor, global director of performance-driven marketing at General Motors, at The Brief coming up on May 11 in NYC. Find out the details here.
| | - Beards
- Cow and sheep burps and farts
- New Hampshire
- Willie Nelson
- Put a toy in the box
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