Good Morning!

🌞 Happy Monday Folks.

Today’s article is brought to you by: 95% human and 5% AI

Market Update

📈 US Stocks closed down again Friday, marking a third straight week of negative returns. The Nasdaq is still up 9.4% YTD while the S&P500 is approaching break-even.

🟢 Natural Gas producer EQT jumped 6.9% as natural gas stocks performed well in general over increased M&A discussion.

🔴 Live Nation, owner of Ticket Master, fell 10% Friday after reporting weaker-than-expected Q4 earnings amidst heightened scrutiny around the Taylor Swift fiasco.

Banger Tweet of the Day

Adam Neumann is worth more than WeWork 😢 

Amazon Expands Same-Day Delivery

Amazon is continuing to invest heavily into logistics as they announce they are expanding their same-day delivery initiative.

Good Timing: The announcement comes just days after Target said they will be investing $100 million into their Next-Day Delivery programs.

Shopper Preference: The ramped investment from companies in last-mile delivery highlights the increased consumer demand for rapid shipping, a high bar ironically set by Amazon themselves.

By the Numbers: Amazon currently operates 45 same-day sites - smaller warehouse locations designed for immediate product shipment - and plans to expand to over 150 sites over the next few years.

Moving Online: While same-day shipping can be an expensive promise for Amazon to deliver on, it can help transfer sales volume that would otherwise go offline - shoppers who need something today historically would have to go to a brick & mortar retailer, can now (or soon) use Amazon instead.

Amazon is making up for the higher costs by adding a $2.99 fee for same-day purchases under $25.

Business Bytes

🤖 Meta releases new AI Language Model - LLaMa (CNBC)

• LLaMa is similar to GPT-3 on performance but with less parameters, and only using publicly available data.

• The announcement comes as the AI races heat up and companies are feeling increased pressure to ship projects.

📱 Apple not expected to release cheaper VR headset until 2025 (CNBC)

• The company is expected to release its high-end version in June, and is expected to cost around $3,000.

• A low-end & cheaper version is much further behind, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple plans to release two versions in 2025 - a low-end and a 2nd-gen high-end version.

🚀 SpaceX Prepares to Launch Crew to International Space Station (WSJ)

• This flight will mark the seventh time SpaceX has transported people to the ISS for Nasa.

• By the time you read this, the launch should have taken place.

🗑️ Twitter has Laid off At Least Another 50 Employees (Techcrunch)

• Elon even canned the girl famous for sleeping on the office floor when meeting the deadline for Twitter blue.

Coronavirus Conspiracy Looks More Credible

The US Energy Department concluded that the coronavirus pandemic most likely originated from a lab leak in Wuhan, China.

The conclusion is the result of “new intelligence” made available to the Energy Department - an agency with strong scientific expertise and a network of US laboratories. The judgement was made with “low confidence”, but said that it appears to be the most likely cause.

Government bodies are mixed: The FBI and now The Department of Energy believe it to be from a lab leak, while 4 other agencies believe it was from natural transmission, and 2 are still undecided.

The claim that covid originated in a Chinese lab was often dismissed as a fringe conspiracy theory, but has since gained legitimate credibility. Chinese officials have disputed any such claims and have yet to comment on the Energy Department’s conclusion.

Today’s Challenge: Drink more water. And definitely chug some water before you get any caffeine in you.

Thanks for reading, go out and make today a great one.

Much Love,

Andrew (and AI)