- __[Jeezy](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/419JPU4iKFubhqsgTFUD7I/articles/e8sgVKCwr2g0Q13CQXp4h/):__ After 19 days of public backlash, __[Adidas](https://robinhood.com/stocks/ADDYY/)__ ended its partnership with Kanye West’s __Yeezy__ (nearly 10% of its revenue) after he made antisemitic statements. Balenciaga, __[Gap](https://robinhood.com/stocks/GPS/)__, __[Foot Locker](https://robinhood.com/stocks/FL/)__, and __CAA__ also dropped ties with West. 
- __[Zucked](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/419JPU4iKFubhqsgTFUD7I/articles/6tQrME9GLxpQ09CKaElahE/):__ It was a rough week for Meta, whose shares have plunged 28% after it reported "train wreck" earnings. Investors weren't sold on Zuck's vision of the metaverse, or the company’s $15B splurge on it.
- __[Feast](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/540cTuIpTqabq5PMret6Zx/articles/2cgO2YYLyxyIsoqJLc9P0r/):__ YouTube star MrBeast is said to be seeking a $150M investment to boost his empire, from viral videos to Beast Burgers. VCs interested in access to his 107M+ YouTube subscribers may see it as "fans as a service.”

ICYMI

Last week's highlights...

Snacks

 topped first-quarter estimates after the bell Tuesday.  Adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.4...

Nia Warfield

Markets

In a reversal of Monday’s session, the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 spent most of the day i...

Tasha Matsumoto

Editorial Operations Manager

Luke Kawa

Markets Editor

The $7,500 EV tax credit is set to expire after today, September 30. Logically, electric vehicle sal...

Max Knoblauch

Business

 is buying AI chip startup Rivos for an unknown sum, as part of the social media company’s effort to...

Rani Molla

Tech

Bitcoin ETFs saw $521.95 million in inflows on Monday, with  taking the lion’s share, recording $298...

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

Contributing Reporter

Crypto

The duopoly that dominates the US online sports betting business —  and FanDuel parent  — dove Tuesd...

Matt Phillips

Senior Markets Correspondent 

A host of new Model Y competitors appear to be paying off for Chinese EV maker . Shares of the compa...

 rose Tuesday after it was announced that the drugmaker reached a deal with the Trump administration...

J. Edward Moreno

Business Reporter

Electricity prices surged up to 267% in markets near data centers in the past five years

Jon Keegan

Tech Reporter

Your inbox is ready

Subscribe and thrive

Shares of  were volatile in early trading, falling as Bank of America downgraded the stock to “neutr...

Claire Yubin Oh

Data Journalist

Chat, is this $30 handmade candle in the shape of a cutesy Highland cow actually worth it?  Yesterda...

Tom Jones

OpenAI brought in $4.3 billion in revenue in the first half of this year, 16% higher than its total ...

 has spent much of the year improving its deliveries and climbing out of the hole it dug last year a...

 is in the midst of completing a very peculiar double act. Shares of the embattled silicon carbide s...

 signed a deal to provide up to $14.2 billion of compute to  on September 25, according to a filing ...

 is reporting third-quarter delivery numbers this week and it’s a glass half full or half empty situ...

Denmark’s economic growth has been revised lower amid a slump at the country’s largest company, . Ac...

Hyunsoo Rim

Data Reporter

 shares plunged as much as 13% in after-hours trading on Tuesday after the company disclosed an inci...

The early morning market rally ran out of steam throughout the session as the threat of a US governm...

 dropped on Monday after a Food and Drug Administration official criticized a method of evaluating d...

__Memes become Monet paintings…__ A new kind of AI is transforming the way people create art *and* do business. Generative AI uses deep learning and tons of data to convert text prompts into images, videos, and articles. We made the image above using gen-AI and a text prompt. 

- __Main character:__ __OpenAI__, which has raised billions from __[Microsoft](https://robinhood.com/stocks/MSFT/)__ and others, launched the first major gen-AI tool, Dall-E, last year. It was released to the public last month, and __Reddit’s__ already filled with viral Dall-E [creations](https://www.reddit.com/r/weirddalle/comments/xjf1vh/an_italian_sink_with_a_tap_that_dispenses/).
- __Other players:__ __Stability AI__ raised $100M this month (at a $1B+ valuation) for its open-source gen-AI tool, Stable Diffusion. __[Meta](https://robinhood.com/stocks/META/)__, __[Google](https://robinhood.com/stocks/GOOGL/)__, __[Salesforce](https://robinhood.com/stocks/CRM/)__, and __[Adobe](https://robinhood.com/stocks/ADBE/)__ have built in-house gen-AIs, too, but they’re not publicly available.

__Goofy images were only the start…__ Now entrepreneurs are putting gen-AI to work. 140+ gen-AI startups have launched in recent months: __Jasper__, which makes AI-generated blog posts, raised $125M at a $1.5B valuation last week. Companies can use it to automate copywriting (think: “a promotional post about air fryers in a friendly tone”). Other startups are auto-generating clothes, floorplans, and ad jingles. Microsoft added Dall-E to its design tools, and __[Shutterstock](https://robinhood.com/stocks/SSTK/)__ plans to use it to make stock images. But ethical concerns abound:

- __Payment problems:__ Critics say gen-AI doesn’t compensate artists who create the content that “feeds” its algorithms (though Shutterstock has a “contributor” fund).
- __Harassment hitches:__ Dall-E has safeguards, but some argue that gen-AI can still be used to produce celeb deepfakes and misinfo. Others say it replicates biases, like sexist imagery.
- __Automation anxiety:__ Some fear gen-AI will put writers and designers out of work (others disagree).

We generated this image using DALL-E and the prompt “an oil portrait of a Shiba Inu wearing a business suit and holding an iPhone, in the style of Claude Monet.”

Creative

__Highly visible = highly valuable…__ AI has many existing applications (think: self-driving cars, disease diagnosis, fraud protection),but it often operates behind the scenes. And yet generative AI has an accessible wow factor that’s already dazzled many. Some investors say it’ll be a huge industry: prominent VC firm __Sequoia__ predicted that gen-AI could generate “trillions in value” and revolutionize industries that require humans to create original work.

“Generative AI” is booming, and it’s revolutionizing the way people make art — and money

__Dressed up as Jerome Powell…__ because interest rates are terrifying. To be the Fed chair all you need are hiking clothes: America’s central bank is expected to raise rates by a “jumbo” 75 basis points on Wednesday — the fourth straight bump of that size. Soaring borrowing costs are spooking investors and raising recession red flags. Last week mortgage rates topped 7% for the first time in 20 years. But economists polled by Reuters said the Fed shouldn’t pause its hiking crusade till inflation drops to around half of its current level (a hot 8.2%).

__Winter’s coming…__ While consumers are still feeling #PumpAnxiety, oil giants are still pumping [record](https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2022-10-28/oil-giant-exxon-rakes-in-a-record-19-66b-in-profits) profits. Last week __[Exxon](https://robinhood.com/stocks/XOM/)__, __[Chevron](https://robinhood.com/stocks/CVX/)__, and __[Total](https://robinhood.com/stocks/TTE/)__ demolished earnings with record results (Exxon took home a $20B profit). Analysts expect __[Marathon Petroleum](https://robinhood.com/stocks/MPC/)__ and __[ConocoPhillips](https://robinhood.com/stocks/COP/)__ to deliver strong results when they report this week. Global oil and gas supplies are still tight from pandemic-era output cuts and the war in Ukraine. Now President Biden is urging Big Oil to boost production (and cut buybacks) ahead of winter.

Events

Coming up this week...

__Well, that was underwhelming…__ Tech stocks plunged last week after uninspiring third-quarter earnings. Google’s sales growth slowed big-time as ad spending sagged, while Meta’s revenue dropped for a second straight quarter (and profit plunged 52%). What really turned investors off: weak *forecasts* for this holiday quarter. __[Amazon](https://robinhood.com/stocks/AMZN/)__ [expects](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/540cTuIpTqabq5PMret6Zx/articles/2f6cF6488oIED70Eb3P8Vs/) sales to be up just 2% to 8% from last year (a major slowdown). As tech forecasts fall back to earth, investors are adjusting their expectations. Then again, lower expectations might mean less market disappointment.

__Trick or treat…__ But retailers aren’t spooked by candy-flation. Go-tos like __[Walmart](https://robinhood.com/stocks/WMT/)__, __[Costco](https://robinhood.com/stocks/COST/)__, and __[Lowe’s](https://robinhood.com/stocks/LOW/)__ widened their spooky selection by about 20%. This year Halloween spend is expected to hit a record $10.6B ($2B more than prepandemic), with Americans paying an average of at least $100 for goodies like fun-size candy bags, pumpkin plates, and wacky wigs (FYI: __[Home Depot](https://robinhood.com/stocks/HD/)__ sold out of its viral $200 life-size skeleton in one day). __[Hershey](https://robinhood.com/stocks/HSY/)__ is thriving on its sweet-and-salty strategy and expects Halloween candy to make up 10% of its annual sales.

Zoom Out

Stories we’re watching...

Dow Jones

S&P 500

Nasdaq

Bitcoin

Candy corn was originally called “Chicken Feed” and came out when farmers made up half of the US labor force

🎨 AI gets (scary) creative

Last week's highlights...

Get Your News

Subscribe and thrive

Latest Stories