| Good morning. Today is the first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, or as Neil deGrasse Tyson would call it, the summer solstice. It's also the longest day of the year, with the day you fly home from a wedding coming in a close second. —Matty Merritt, Cassandra Cassidy, Molly Liebergall, Abby Rubenstein, Neal Freyman | | | |  | Nasdaq | $17,862.23 | | | | | S&P | $5,487.03 | | | | | Dow | $38,834.86 | | | | | 10-Year | 4.217% | | | | | Bitcoin | $64,997.25 | | | | | GameStop | $24.70 | | | | Data is provided by |  | *Stock data as of market close. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: The markets were closed yesterday for Juneteenth, but they'll be back today to see if they can keep their hot streak going. One stock hoping to hit the reset button is GameStop, which tanked earlier this week after its much-hyped annual meeting failed to deliver info about the company's strategy for the future—though thanks in part to the return of meme stock inspirer Roaring Kitty, it's up so far this year.
| Markets Sponsored by EnergyX Tap into the lithium boom: Lithium demand is set to increase 20x. EnergyX's tech can extract 3x more lithium. No wonder GM invested. Invest for $9/share by June 27. | | Marc Piasecki/Getty Images | Like a college student who hangrily snapped at a parent during a family vacation, Elon Musk is walking back an earlier comment in an attempt to attract some funds. During a session at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity yesterday, WPP CEO Mark Read asked Musk what he meant by telling advertisers "go f*** yourself" last year. Musk's off-color comment, uttered on stage during the New York Times DealBook Summit in November, was a response to big-name advertisers like Disney, IBM, and Sony pulling their X ad dollars amid concerns about rising hate speech on the platform during Musk's chaotic takeover. Nearly seven months later, Musk has changed his tune. He told Read that the comment wasn't directed at all advertisers but "was with respect to freedom of speech." Don't call it another apology tour… But Musk needs to make nice with a lot of CMOs if he wants to turn X around. X's revenue fell 40% in the first six months of 2023 compared to the previous year, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg Businessweek. (Musk bought the company in late 2022.) X execs claim 65% of its former advertisers have returned, and smaller companies have flocked to X's cheap ad deals. But advertisers probably aren't spending as much: in May 2023, X accounted for 3.7% of ad spending on social media; that number dropped to less than 1% as of April 2024, according to The Information. Looking ahead…despite Musk's recent attempt to woo ad execs at Cannes and his effort to get some credibility by hiring NBC ad legend Linda Yaccarino as CEO last year, he still wants to diversify the platform's income streams. Musk has submitted paperwork to request money transmitter licenses, which would allow the platform to morph into a Venmo or PayPal clone.—MM | | GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images |  Russia and North Korea signed a mutual defense pact. Russian President Vladimir Putin visited North Korea, and the two increasingly isolated nations agreed to come to one another's aid in the event of "aggression" against either of them. Though full details of the apparently sweeping deal to tighten their relationship were not released, the AP reported it could represent the strongest collaboration between the two countries since the Cold War.
 First named storm of the season hits Texas. Tropical Storm Alberto, the first named storm of what's expected to be an intense Atlantic hurricane season, has begun pouring down on Texas, bringing floods. Meanwhile, a heat dome continues to create scorching temperatures in parts of the Midwest and across the Northeast, putting 71 million people under a heat advisory or warning with record-breaking temperatures forecast in many places.
 Astronauts' return to Earth delayed over Boeing ship's issues. Boeing recently got a break from its PR troubles when it finally succeeded in its long-delayed launch of its Starliner rocket, which ferried two astronauts to the International Space Station. But now the company has a "what goes up must come down" problem. NASA and Boeing have postponed the astronauts' return until at least June 26 in order to keep the spacecraft in orbit to study issues including helium leaks and malfunctioning thrusters, leaving the astronauts on the ISS almost twice as long as planned.
| | Scott Olson/Getty Images | It's not just Veruca Salt who isn't getting a golden goose. The company known for selling shoes that look like they've been dragged through mud postponed its IPO, putting a pause on what has been a big year for European companies going public. Golden Goose announced Tuesday it wouldn't go public in Milan on Friday as planned due to fraught market conditions in Europe stemming from parliamentary elections across the Continent. In France, President Macron's recent decision to call a snap election caused volatility throughout the market, hitting the luxury sector particularly hard. But this goose remains golden: While other luxury retailers have struggled, the Italian sneaker company's revenue rose 12% in Q1 this year. The decision to wait came a day before the IPO was priced, but bankers had indicated that Golden Goose would debut on the lower end of its range of between €9.50 and €10.50 a share (or $10.21 and $11.28), targeting a valuation of around $2 billion. Big picture: There's a gray cloud over Europe's IPO streak as political uncertainty keeps investors on edge. Over in the UK, a REIT called off its IPO last week due to tepid demand.—CC | | | Is your ride worth a nice payout? Find out now. Use Edmunds' online appraisal tool to see how much you can get for your car. You may just be surprised! Fast, free, convenient—it's the smartest thing you can do in the next few minutes. Get an appraisal now. | | sandid/Pixabay | An incident that threatened the safety of US health inspectors in Mexico is now threatening to stress you out about guac availability. Inspections of US-bound avocados and mangoes in a major Mexican export region are on hold while the US Department of Agriculture investigates a recent situation in which locals detained and beat USDA inspectors. The pause has been in place since Saturday…Reuters reported, after US agents were reportedly harmed during a labor protest in Michoacán, where organized crime has grown alongside the avocado boom. While the inspections are paused, Mexico won't be able to clear any new Michoacán avocados or mangoes for US export. Michoacán grows nearly three-quarters of of Mexico's avocados. How key are these Mexican imports to the US? According to the USDA: - Mexico provided 89% of the record 2.78 billion pounds of fresh avocados that the US brought in last year.
- On average, more than 63% of US mango imports come from Mexico.
But don't worry too much. A safety incident that halted inspections of avocados in Michoacán in 2022 only lasted for about a week and didn't really impact the US avo supply. Another Mexican state, Jalisco, now exports avocados to the US, and its inspections are currently business as usual.—ML | | Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/picture alliance via Getty Images | Unlike Sabrina Carpenter, most influencers can probably relate to desperation. Despite their carefully curated feeds that highlight lavish lifestyles, most of them aren't making much money, the Wall Street Journal reports. There are ~50 million people making cash off social media posts, Goldman Sachs found last year, but according to marketing agency NeoReach, 48% of them made $15,000 or less. And just 13% raked in $100,000+. The numbers look better if you put a different filter on, though: Emarketer predicts that as a group, social media creators will make $13.7 billion this year, with 59% coming from brand sponsorships. | | - Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI's former chief scientist who left the company after raising safety concerns, has started his own AI business and not so subtly named it Safe Superintelligence.
- Mortgage rates fell below 7% last week to their lowest level since March, but this didn't spur much extra demand.
- Houthi rebels appear to have sunk a Greek ship off the coast of Yemen. Concerns of a wider regional conflict in the Middle East were also stoked when Israel said Tuesday its military had approved an offensive against Lebanon after Hezbollah released video from surveillance drones taken inside Israel.
- Hundreds of people died during the Hajj pilgrimage this year amidst a heat wave in Saudi Arabia.
- Stonehenge was spray-painted orange by climate protesters from Just Stop Oil yesterday in advance of a massive gathering there for the summer solstice.
- Major League Baseball is holding its first game at Rickwood Field, the storied Negro League field in Birmingham, AL, where Willie Mays began his career, with the San Francisco Giants playing the St. Louis Cardinals tonight.
- Nintendo's newest Zelda game will finally let you play as the eponymous princess.
| | | Brew Mini: This one from Jack was a toughie—Neal took 1 minute and 8 seconds to solve it. Think you can beat that time? Play the Mini here. Three Headlines and a Lie Three of these headlines are real and one is faker than the promise of in-flight wi-fi. Can you spot the odd one out? - Judge rules candle company can sell celebrity scents like 'Nicolas Sage'
- Fashion's boring-and-expensive era is over
- Kevin Costner isn't sorry for casting his beautiful, whispering boy
- Vermont lawmaker apologizes for repeatedly pouring water in her colleague's bag
| | | We made up the one about the celebrity candles. Word of the Day Today's Word of the Day is: hangrily, a slang term, meaning "irritably because of hunger." Thanks to Christine from California and several other readers in need of a snack for the suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here. | | | ✢ A Note From EnergyX This is a paid advertisement for EnergyX's Regulation A+ offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.energyx.com/. | | ADVERTISE // CAREERS // SHOP // FAQ
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