Good morning. The UConn men's team closed out a dominant NCAA tournament performance with a win over San Diego State in the finals last night. The Huskies have won five championships since 1999 and haven't lost a title game during that run. We also learned yesterday that the women's college basketball final between LSU and Iowa, which featured loads of drama despite the lopsided score, was the most-watched women's college basketball game in history by far. Averaging 9.9 million viewers on ESPN, it drew a bigger audience than any MLS game ever, the 2021 NBA Finals, and the 2023 Sugar Bowl, according to Front Office Sports. See you in the fall, college basketball. It's NBA playoff season. —Sam Klebanov, Jamie Wilde, Neal Freyman, Abby Rubenstein | | | |  | Nasdaq | 12,189.45 | | |  | S&P | 4,124.51 | | | | | Dow | 33,601.15 | | | | | 10-Year | 3.418% | | | | | Bitcoin | $27,797.23 | | | | | WWE | $89.30 | | | | *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 4:00am ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: Markets were a mixed bag yesterday as investors absorbed the surprise decision by OPEC+ to cut oil production, which is likely to drive up the cost of oil. Airline stocks took a hit on the prospect of higher fuel costs, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq—the hero of last quarter—started Q2 with a down day. Meanwhile, the WWE's stock got body-slammed after news broke that it agreed to combine with UFC to create a $21.4 billion entertainment company.
| | | | Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images In a first for presidential history, Donald Trump will be criminally charged today. The former president flew into his hometown, New York City, yesterday and is set to appear at a courthouse in lower Manhattan to plead "not guilty" this afternoon. What will go down today? Today's courthouse visit is expected to be a short one: Trump will likely be released without bail soon after he's arraigned. The charges against him, which are currently in a sealed indictment, will be read at the arraignment—but we already know the prosecutor was investigating hush money paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the final days of Trump's 2016 presidential run. Then he'll enter his plea. Before the arraignment, the former president will be fingerprinted and possibly photographed for a mug shot, per the usual protocol. Mug shots aren't released publicly in New York, and it's unlikely that Trump will be handcuffed and perp-walked in front of the media. - But he's certainly not camera shy: Trump plans to hold a press conference in the evening after he returns to his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago.
One place Trump doesn't want cameras is the courtroom. Media outlets asked the judge to make an exception and let them broadcast the proceedings, but Judge Juan Merchan said no, only allowing still photographs inside the courtroom before the arraignment begins. Trump's lawyers had opposed letting cameras in, saying it would create a "circus-like atmosphere." Exactly the atmosphere the Big Apple is gearing up for Authorities barricaded the courthouse and Trump Tower (where the ex-POTUS crashed for the night) in anticipation of Trump supporter protests and his critics' counterprotests. "Be on your best behavior," Mayor Eric Adams told one high-profile protester in town for the arraignment: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). Looking ahead…Trump has lawyered up with some of the best names in the white-collar defense business, digging in for a long fight that will likely begin with a motion to dismiss the charges, which he claims are politically motivated.—SK | | | Monogram plans to list on the Nasdaq this year, but Brew readers don't have to wait 'til then to invest. You can invest right now alongside 17,000+ others backing Monogram's plan to reinvent the $19.4b joint replacement industry. Monogram aims to launch the first active-cutting robotic surgical assistant on the market to install their personalized, 3D-printed joint implants. That's perfect timing, considering 50% of joint replacement surgeries will involve robotics by 2030. They even showed off their robot's potential with a live surgery on a cadaver in front of a 5,000-person digital audience this year. In a world where 100,000 joint surgeries fail every year, there's never been a greater kneed for Monogram's tech. Invest in Monogram before their intended Nasdaq listing. This opportunity closes on May 10. | | JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images  Tesla ordered to pay almost $3.2 million to a worker in a racial harassment suit. The amount a California jury decided yesterday that former employee Owen Diaz should get sounds like a lot—until you hear that a different jury two years ago said he should be awarded $137 million. Diaz, a Black man who had worked as an elevator operator at a Tesla plant and claimed he was subject to racial abuse, opted for a new trial on damages after a judge said the law required the amount be cut to $15 million despite "disturbing" evidence in the case.
 Musk let the doge out on Twitter. For some users yesterday, Twitter's bird logo was swapped out for a Shiba Inu—specifically, the Shiba Inu image best known from the "doge" meme and the volatile cryptocurrency it later inspired. Dogecoin surged 30% following the switcheroo. Notably, Musk owns a Shiba Inu named Floki and on Friday, lawyers for Musk and Tesla asked a federal court to throw out its $258 billion lawsuit about…Musk allegedly manipulating the price of dogecoin with his internet antics.
 Paris to say au revoir to e-scooters. Paris is set to ban rental electric scooters as of Sept. 1, following a referendum where a whopping 89% of voters cast their ballots in favor of taking them off the streets. But the vote had a very low turnout, with just over 100,000 people participating out of Paris's ~1.38 million registered voters—even though scooter companies offered registered voters free rides. Online voting, popular with younger voters, was not permitted. The vote was closely watched by other European cities mulling similar scooter prohibitions.
| | Mark Felix/Getty Images NASA revealed its team yesterday for its upcoming mission around the moon—one small step toward humankind making its first lunar footprints since 1972. The Artemis II flight test, scheduled for 2024, will ferry its four-person crew to the moon, make a pass close to its surface, and bring them back to Earth over the span of about ten days. It's part two of a three-part mission to land astronauts on the moon's surface in 2025. Part one was a success last year, when an unmanned spacecraft orbited the moon. So, who's going to space? The four lucky Sailor Moons are: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Hammock Koch, and Jeremy Hansen. The crew includes the first woman, the first person of color, and the first Canadian to ever go on a lunar mission. Why one Canadian? Hansen's spot on the Artemis II mission cost the Canadian Space Agency an arm and a—well, actually just an arm. In 2020, the CSA sealed the deal by agreeing to give NASA a robotic arm the agency needed for its small, moon-orbiting space station.—JW P.S. "Astronaut" was US kids' fifth top answer to "What do you want to be when you grow up?" when Lego asked in 2019. No. 1 was "YouTuber/vlogger." | | TOGETHER WITH FIDELITY TRADER | | Award-winning trading. Enjoy a smoother trading experience with Fidelity. They have real-time alerts and insights to help when you want to buy + sell, and Fractional Shares let you purchase a li'l slice of your favorite companies + ETFs. Plus, trading stocks + ETFs is commission-free and their mobile app is easy to use. Open your account. | | Amadeus/Orion Pictures/The Saul Zaentz Company In its latest push into audio, Apple launched a dedicated app for classical music last week. And classical music snobs…actually like it. Here's why: The Apple Music Classical app lets you find the classical music you want to listen to. While that doesn't sound earth-shattering, it's a huge deal, because searching for classical music on services like Spotify was worse than using Bing pre-ChatGPT. The issue is classical music's metadata—how it's labeled and categorized. - Streaming apps are optimized for pop songs that have limited metadata (typically just song/artist/album).
- But a piece of classical music has a lot more metadata, including the composer, the orchestra, the conductor, the movement, the nickname, and the key.
So, it gets messy. Imagine sifting through more than 490 covers of a Dua Lipa track for your favorite rendition. That's how many recordings of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 are on Apple, CNET notes. To help it fix the metadata problem, Apple bought Primephonic, a Dutch startup that had built the back-end data infrastructure needed to surface the most relevant search results. Tack on human editors curating their favorite recordings, and Apple's hoping its new app will attract both the Lydia Tár types and newbies looking to see what all the Mozart fuss is about.—NF | | Hannah Minn Stat: Despite what the wing slingers at Hooters would have you believe, bigger isn't always better when it comes to chicken breasts. Fast-food joints like KFC and Chick-fil-A prefer four-pound chickens to make their chicken sandwiches, but they're in short supply as producers have shifted their focus to larger birds (they cost about the same amount to raise, but the bigger birds sell for more). Data from the Dept. of Agriculture shows that small chickens accounted for almost 30% of chickens slaughtered weekly in 2005 but only ~15% in 2023, per the WSJ. Quote: "Any action that supports those efforts simply to retaliate for a position the company took sounds not just anti-business, but it sounds anti-Florida." Disney's returned CEO Bob Iger made it clear he is back at the company's shareholder meeting yesterday and that Mickey plans to take no prisoners in the ongoing battle with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. To recap: Disney spoke out against the so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill, prompting the governor to install a new board to govern the special tax district that includes Disney World (the board was picked by Disney, not the state, for the previous 55 years)—but Disney outfoxed DeSantis with a legal maneuver that stripped the new board of power. DeSantis has asked the state's inspector general to determine whether that legal move was…legal. Listen: The cellphone is 50 years old. Here's what its creator has to say. (NPR) | | - Finland officially joins NATO today, more than doubling the size of the Western military alliance's border with Russia.
- The teacher shot by a six year-old student has filed a $40 million lawsuit against several school officials.
- Leonardo DiCaprio testified as a witness in the trial of Prakazrel "Pras" Michel, a former member of the Fugees accused of taking money from a corrupt Malaysian tycoon to run a political influence campaign in the US (the fugitive tycoon helped finance The Wolf of Wall Street).
- YouTube will livestream all Coachella performances this year.
- A derailed train in Montana dumped a lot of Coors Light and Blue Moon beer into the Clark Fork River.
| |  Want to use AI to do practical stuff? Here's a helpful how-to guide.
Plumb the depths: How a team of scientists captured a video of the deepest swimming fish. It's a-me, Mario: An oral history of the (dreadful) 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie. Learn where your peanut butter belongs: A food safety professor explains what should go in the fridge vs. the cabinet. Save up to 90% on every flight for life. For the next 12 hours, get 93% off Dollar Flight Club's lifetime membership for $129 (normally $1,690). Fly round-trip to Paris from $299, Hawaii from $197. Start exploring.* *This is sponsored advertising content. | | Succession/HBO via Giphy | Becoming a new manager doesn't have to feel like you're Cousin Greg walking into his first day at Waystar. The Brew's one-week online New Manager Bootcamp will prepare you to tackle your new position head-on, armed with the tools and knowledge you need to excel and become an incredible manager. Course kickoff is April 17. Reserve your spot now. | | Brew Mini: Mary is back from attending a crossword conference this weekend, and it shows in this super fun Mini. Play it here. Origin story trivia On this day in 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft (microcomputer + software). Which US city were they in at the time? | |  Need help to meaningfully and effectively engage employees? HR Brew talked strategy with Vimeo's chief people officer. Catch the webinar on demand.
 Leadership isn't just another buzzword—it's the key to success in most facets of life. Learn to build a team, strategize, and drive change with the Brew's Leadership Accelerator. Apply today.
 We're convening pros from some of the most recognizable brands to spotlight innovations, highlight strategies, and seek solutions to tackle the future of marketing. Don't miss it.
| | | ✢ A Note From Monogram This is a paid advertisement for Monogram Orthopedics' Regulation A+ offering. Learn more at invest.monogramorthopedics.com/disclaimers. ✳︎ A Note From Fidelity Trader $0.00 commission applies to online U.S. equity trades and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in a Fidelity retail account only for Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC retail clients. Sell orders are subject to an activity assessment fee (from $0.01 to $0.03 per $1,000 of principal). Other exclusions and conditions may apply. See Fidelity.com/commissions for details. Employee equity compensation transactions and accounts managed by advisors or intermediaries through Fidelity Institutional® are subject to different commission schedules. ETFs are subject to market fluctuation and the risks of their underlying investments. ETFs are subject to management fees and other expenses. Fidelity Brokerage Services, Member NYSE, SPIC. © 2023 FMR LLC. All rights reserved. | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment