Hey Snackers,
While Americans’ trust in the media has never been lower, there’s one outlet they haven’t cooled on: The Weather Channel is America’s most trusted news source, boasting a 49% net trust score this year, with BBC and PBS rounding out the top three. Check out the rest of the top 10 (and this publication, which had the biggest drop, falling to 26th place).Â
US stocks enjoyed a positive start to the week, shaking off early losses to finish near their highs of the day. The S&P 500 rose 0.4%, the Nasdaq 100 gained 0.7%, and the Russell 2000 went up 0.2%. Energy was the best-performing S&P 500 sector ETF despite another production increase from OPEC+, while tech also put in a solid gain. Industrials was the lone sector to finish in the red.
Slate promises a new truck for less than most used cars
The federal $7,500 EV tax credit will probably be gone by the time the first Slate Auto electric truck rolls off its Indiana lot next year, but even so, the so-called Blank Slate will still cost in the “mid-$20,000s,” according to Jeff Jablansky, the company’s head of public relations.Â
Jablansky spoke with Sherwood News’ Rani Molla and told her something interesting about Slate’s target customer: “We’re not just competing with new vehicles.” Rather, the new EV company is looking to compete with the used car market, which sells more than twice the number of vehicles as the new car market in the US each year.
The average price of a used car in the US is currently about $25,500, Kelley Blue Book data shows, or nearly $28,000, CarGurus reports. But Jablansky says that sub-$30,000 price is firm, and gave Molla some pretty good reasons to believe him.
Besides its price, one thing that’s made the Slate truck so compelling is the ability to customize it (which, of course, would make it more expensive). So far, Slate has received more than 100,000 refundable reservations for the truck. Using an online tool called the Slate Maker, people have customized nearly 8 million vehicles so far. While there don’t seem to be any clear preferences, there is one thing Jablansky says is a positive sign for sales.
The Takeaway
We noticed early on that the Slate truck’s price point is attractive compared to other new cars, but adding used cars to the competition equals a much bigger market. Having made the effort to learn how to change a car’s oil, we’re also drawn to the company’s “Slate University” idea, which allows and encourages people to repair their own vehicles. Whether it’s actually a good idea to let us fix our own bent fender is another matter.
Celebrity-backed gaming startup, $40M raised, closing soon
Meet Virtuix, the company behind Omni — a category-defining omni-directional treadmill that lets users walk, run, and explore 360° inside VR games and simulations.
Why investors are jumping in:
✅ $18M+ in lifetime revenue1 - with major customers like Dave & Buster’s
✅ Omni One launched Sept 2024 — their first at-home system, with 3,000+ preorders2 worth $7M+ in revenue
âś… $40M raised across all offerings
The Even More Exciting News?
They just had one of the biggest investment weeks of the round, and momentum is accelerating.
“This is a huge market, and Virtuix is a competitor in it with proven sales. That’s what I like about this deal.”
— Kevin O’Leary, StartEngine Strategic Advisor and Shark Tank personality3
Round closing soon: Own a stake in one of the most exciting companies in immersive entertainment.4
1 Lifetime revenue is since December 20, 2013.
Nvidia’s China snag becomes Nvidia’s China emergency
Nvidia is missing out on $8 billion in sales a quarter because of curbs on access to China, and it’s not afraid to say so: the company’s latest earnings call featured 27 mentions of China, more than the previous four quarters combined. The Trump administration banned Chinese sales of the H20, a version of Nvidia’s Hopper GPU that had been tailored to comply with restrictions on tech shipments to the world’s second-largest economy, back in April. Now, clearly the—
Wait. Hold on there. Eight billion dollars a quarter? With a “B”? Egad. Let’s allow ourselves a moment to soak that in.
Eight billion dollars a quarter is, to put it bluntly, a shocking amount of money to not have. It’s more money than every McDonald’s on earth makes every quarter.Â
It’s more than 19 S&P 500 companies combined.Â
The $8 billion in forgone revenues for the current quarter is more than the total sales of 384 S&P 500 companies.
If I were missing out on $8 billion a quarter because of something, you could not get me to stop talking about it, ever. And the issue for Nvidia is that while the China revenue was tough to miss out on when times were good, now that the data center business is getting less impressive, it’s become more of an acute issue.
The Takeaway
Nvidia is perhaps talking about China more because its golden goose — eye-popping data center spending — is looking less shiny. While still growing and still massive, the three-month annualized rate of change for private construction spending on data centers dipped below 10% in April. When the data center boom was full-on booming, it was easier to shrug off curbs on your access to the world’s second-largest economy. Now, the loss of the growth opportunity available in this market stings more and more.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched nearly 400 Starlink satellites in May alone
That’s a record month for SpaceX and takes the total deployed to more than 8,800, some 7,600 of which are still actively whizzing around Earth. Starlink makes up an impressively high percentage of all satellites launched since Sputnik was fired into orbit in 1957.
Together with State Street Global Advisors
Why do investors choose SPY, the world’s most traded ETF,1 for US stock market exposure?
For one, SPY traded 3.64x more than Apple in 2024 — and more than Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta combined.2 Get the power of the S&P 500® in a single trade with SPY.
Getting there starts here.
Yesterday’s Big Daily Movers
Applied Digital and CoreWeave skyrocketed after announcing a pair of 15-year deals between the two tech companies
DraftKings and Flutter Entertainment dipped after Illinois unveiled a surprise tax hike that will hit both sportsbooks
Steel companies smelt a red-hot day for shareholders following President Trump’s latest tariff hike on metal imports
What else we’re Snackin’
Disney is reportedly cutting several hundred jobs worldwide in its latest cost-saving push
How much time can AI save workers? One UK study got an answer
Ethereum spot ETFs are having their longest streak of positive inflows in 2025
But traders weren’t positive on the news that SharpLink Gaming plans to buy $1 billion in ethereum
France charged 25 suspects in crypto abduction cases
Snack Fact of the Day
1 in 8 cars sold in America is now a hybrid.
2 Preorders are non-binding expressions of interest and do not represent guaranteed sales. Actual conversion to revenue may vary based on fulfillment, customer demand, and other factors. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.
3 Kevin O’Leary is a paid spokesperson for StartEngine. See his 17(b) disclosure, here. StartEngine is where Virtuix’s Reg CF offering is made available.
4 Please read the offering circular and related risks at the StartEngine webpage for Virtuix. This is a paid advertisement for Virtuix’s Regulation CF Offering. This Reg CF offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC.Â
Investing in private company securities is not suitable for all investors because it is highly speculative and involves a high degree of risk. It should only be considered a long-term investment. You must be prepared to withstand a total loss of your investment. Private company securities are also highly illiquid, and there is no guarantee that a market will develop for such securities.
This was a paid for ad. Sherwood Media has been compensated for this ad by the Virtuix Reg CF Campaign hosted on StartEngine.
5 Bloomberg Finance, L.P., as of April 30, 2025.
6 Bloomberg Finance, L.P., as of March 31, 2025. Average daily trading volume calculated based on a 1-month average.
Before investing, consider the funds' investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. To obtain a prospectus or summary prospectus which contains this and other information, call 1-866-787-2257 or visit www.ssga.com. Read it carefully. Investing involves risk. ALPS Distributors, Inc. (fund distributor); State Street Global Advisors Funds Distributors, LLC (marketing agent).
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