The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of Colombia Tolima Los Brasiles Peaberry Organic coffee, grab a seat outside, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads:
• You Want That Gift to Arrive Today? This Is What It Takes. Retailers like Amazon, Walmart and Target have figured out that if they get you your online order today, you will probably spend more tomorrow. (New York Times)
• Have we reached peak PreCheck? Trusted travelers may have more company in the security line, but TSA says waits don’t top 10 minutes. (Washington Post)
• The Quest to Turn Human Waste Into Medicine: After success in early stage trials, MaaT Pharma is on the verge of becoming the first company to have an approved microbiome-related product for cancer care. (Bloomberg) *unlocked
• Everybody Loves FRED: How America Fell for a Data Tool: From Facebook political debates to college classrooms, the St. Louis Fed’s data tool has gained a major following. (New York Times)
• The Big Guide to Fusion: Nuclear fusion will not be “cracked” in a single breakthrough. Instead, there is a fixed checklist of requirements that it must work through. This guide will walk through the checklist. I call it “The Fusion Ladder”. By the end, you will understand the important milestones in taking fusion from kid to grid. (Ben James)
• Khamenei Loses Everything: The October 7 attack on Israel has now cost Iran its regional proxy forces. (The Atlantic)
• A Miracle: Notre-Dame’s Astonishing Rebirth From the Ashes: Restorations on that scale could take decades. The country was already rattled by uprisings over gasoline prices and a frayed social safety net that, like Notre-Dame, had long been a source of national pride and identity. The symbolism of the cathedral’s fire was unmistakable. Then came Covid. Yet here we are. (New York Times) see also How Notre-Dame Was Reborn: It took about 250 companies, 2,000 workers, about $900 million, a tight deadline and a lot of national pride. (New York Times)
• Exploding the Big Bang: It was thought that science could tell us about the origins of the Universe. Today that great endeavour is in serious doubt (Aeon)
• The Mets Stole Juan Soto From the Yankees. Who’s the Big Spender Now? The Yankees didn’t just lose a superstar; they lost him to the Mets. Is the balance of power shifting in New York? (New York Times)
• Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Changed Everything: The biggest tour of the 21st century is coming to an end. Will concerts ever be the same? (Wall Street Journal)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business this week with Tony Kim, Head of Technology Investing, Fundamental Active Equity at Blackrock. He is manager of the firm’s Technology Opportunities Fund (BGSAX), which has trounced the Nasdaq 100 and the MSCI World Net benchmarks since its inception in June 2000; his new AI-focused fund, the iShares A.I. Innovation and Tech Active ETF, just began trading.
Ranked: The Top Performing S&P 500 Stocks in the Last Two Decades
Source: Visual Capitalist
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