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☆ After creators flocked to Instagram Threads, Meta's challenge is to keep them from fleeing
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

The one major app that's eluded him: Twitter. Threads skyrocketed out of the gate in large part because it was easy for existing Instagram users to create accounts on the new messaging service and connect with their established following. watch nowCurrently, Threads users are unable to search for topics or hashtags that represent hot topics. That could entice some people to use Twitter over Threads, said Tameka Bazile, who works in artist relations and marketing at Time. Like with Threads, creators will wait to see how Twitter works for their peers before "spending much more time making content there," Kaletsky said.

Persons: Jaap Arriens, Brian Moller, Prince, he's, Moller, It's, Elon, Mark Zuckerberg pounced, He's, Caspar Lee, There's, Lee, Adam Mosseri, Jack Whitehall, Musk, Thilina, Marcel Floruss, Floruss, Floruss isn't, Chas Lacaillade, Lacaillade, Tameka Bazile, Bazile, they've, Twitter hasn't, Brendan Gahan, Mekanism, Gahan, Sasha Kaletsky, Kaletsky, Jack Appleby, Appleby, Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Gary Vaynerchuk Organizations: Nurphoto, Getty, YouTube, Twitter, Meta, Instagram, Rocket, Ventures, LinkedIn

☆ Read the Notion pitch document e-commerce startup Whop used to raise its $17 million Series A
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Here's an exclusive look at the Notion document used by the startup during its fundraising process. Although fundraising in the creator economy has slowed over the last several quarters, Schwartz sees Whop as a pivot in the space. "Historically, the creator economy, at least up until maybe a year and a half ago, has been pictures and text content," Schwartz said. Instead of creating a fancy pitch deck to send off to investors, Whop's team built a deck using productivity software Notion. Check out the Notion document Whop used to raise its $17 million Series A:Note: The document Whop shared with Insider includes several redactions.

Persons: Steven Schwartz, Cameron Zoub, Schwartz, Whop's, Jack Sharkey, Zoub, Sharkey, Whop, Peter Thiel, Justin Mateen, VCs Josh Richards, Griffin Johnson Organizations: Facebook, Twitter, Insight Partners

☆ US banks' second quarter earnings: the results in charts
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Manya Saini | Thomson Reuters | Manya Saini Reports On Prominent Publicly Listed U.S. Financial Firms Including Wall Street S Biggest Banks | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The results follow a tumultuous first quarter in which Silicon Valley Bank and two other lenders failed. Signs of a revival in the investment banking sector, as higher rates and economic uncertainty have hampered deals and trading, also drove share gains. The upbeat results sparked a rally in bank stocks with the S&P 500 Banks Index (.SPXBK) gaining 9.3% and the KBW Regional Banking Index (.KRX) rising 13.7% month-to-date. Here are three charts on mid-sized banks' second-quarter results:DEPOSIT LEVELSReuters GraphicsWhile regional bank earnings in recent days have reassured investors that the crisis has subsided, regional banks are being squeezed as they pay customers more to retain their deposits. The KBW Regional Banking Index (.KRX) has rallied 13.7% month-to-date but remains down 13.6% so far this year.

Persons: Banks, Manya Saini, Michelle Price, Barbara Lewis, Nick Zieminski Organizations: Bank, Banks, Federal, Reuters Graphics, Bank of America, Graphics, Graphics Bank, Thomson Locations: Silicon, KBW, Bengaluru

The weather story lingered again on Wednesday, but harsher threats from Russia thrust the grain deal into the spotlight. Most-active CBOT wheat futures surged 8.5% on Wednesday, wheat’s largest single-day percentage rise since Feb. 28, 2022, just days after Russia invaded Ukraine. Money managers held a modest net short of 63,052 corn futures and options contracts by that date. Prior to that, grain deal uncertainty failed to spark bullish interest as Ukrainian export volumes far exceeded original expectations. Had the Jan. 3 high stood, it would have been November beans’ first annual high set in January since 1999.

Persons: reconnection, Karen Braun, Matthw Lewis Organizations: Funds, Reuters, Thomson Locations: NAPERVILLE , Illinois, Ukraine, Chicago, Russia, India, U.S, Moscow, Western

☆ The market could be impacted by forced selling in the Magnificent Seven, says Jim Cramer
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

The market could be impacted by forced selling in the Magnificent Seven, says Jim Cramer'Mad Money' host Jim Cramer hits the charts to dig into the NASDAQ-100 rebalance.

Persons: Jim Cramer Organizations: NASDAQ

Many investors think that will only happen if interest rates go to levels just too high for investors to pass up. "You wonder whether they have left it too late" said Mikhail Volodchenko at one of Europe's largest fund managers AXA IM. Reuters Graphics4/LOCAL PROBLEMSIn contrast to the dollar bonds, Turkey's 'local' lira-denominated bonds have had a shocker. Even if the lira is taken out of the equation the bonds are still down around 13% since Erdogan's election win. Reuters Graphics($1 = 0.8920 euros)Reporting by Marc Jones and Canan Sevgili Editing by Shri NavaratnamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Tayyip Erdogan, Erdogan, Mehmet Şimşek, Hafize Gaye Erkan, Mikhail Volodchenko, Enver Erkan, Yatirim, Treasuries, COVID, Wednesday Erdogan, Simon Lue, Fong, Vontobel, Turkey's, Jeff, Michael Metcalfe, Metcalfe, Marc Jones, Shri Navaratnam Organizations: LONDON, AXA, Reuters, JPMorgan EMBI Global, NATO, Investment, Wednesday, United Arab Emirates, JPMorgan GBI, Street Global Markets, Reuters Graphics, Thomson Locations: Central, Turkish, Nigeria, Argentina, Turkey, U.S, Arab, Swiss, Lira

☆ ‘Oppenheimer’ Review: A Man for Our Time
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Manohla Dargis | More About Manohla Dargis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan’s staggering film about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man known as “the father of the atomic bomb,” condenses a titanic shift in consciousness into three haunted hours. The movie is based on “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer,” the authoritative 2005 biography by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. The atomic bomb and what it wrought define Oppenheimer’s legacy and also shape this film. “Oppenheimer” is a great achievement in formal and conceptual terms, and fully absorbing, but Nolan’s filmmaking is, crucially, in service to the history that it relates. The story tracks Oppenheimer — played with feverish intensity by Cillian Murphy — across decades, starting in the 1920s with him as a young adult and continuing until his hair grays.

Persons: “ Oppenheimer, ” Christopher Nolan’s, Robert Oppenheimer, J, Kai Bird, Martin J, Sherwin ., Nolan, Oppenheimer, Oppenheimer —, Cillian Murphy —, Jean Tatlock, Florence Pugh, boozer, Kitty Harrison, Emily Blunt Organizations: Manhattan Engineer District, Manhattan Locations: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Los Alamos, New Mexico, Pacific

☆ Is this extreme weather the ‘new normal?’ There’s no such thing, some scientists say
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Just over halfway through July and already a slew of extreme weather records has been broken. Southern Europe is experiencing one of its most extreme heat waves on record, with wildfires raging in Greece, Spain and Switzerland. It’s a shifting baseline of ever-more devastating impacts as long as the Earth continues to warm.”For scientists like Mann and Cloke, this year’s extreme weather has largely not been surprising. Extreme heat could be quickly followed by heavy rainfall impacting society, agriculture, and ecosystems in unusual ways,” she told CNN. The planet is around 1.2 degrees Celsius warmer than it was before the industrial revolution – still short of the 1.5 degrees scientists are warning the planet should stay under.

Persons: Petteri Taalas, ”, Hannah Cloke, Kim Hong, Reuters Michael E, Mann, we’ve, Cloke, Brandon Bell, Peter Stott, –, ” Mann, Vikki Thompson, ” Thompson, ” Read Organizations: CNN, Southwest, World Meteorological Organization, University of Reading, Reuters, University of Pennsylvania, UK Met Office, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute Locations: Northern, Southwest United States, Phoenix , Arizona, Southern Europe, Greece, Spain, Switzerland, Asia, China, South Korea, Japan, India, Cheongju, Antarctica, North, Phoenix, “

☆ Threads now has ‘tens of millions’ of daily users. But its honeymoon phase may be over
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

After surpassing 100 million user sign-ups in less than a week, user engagement on Threads has slowed. Threads daily active users fell from 49 million on July 7, two days after its launch, to 23.6 million users last Friday, according to a report published this week by web traffic analysis firm Similarweb. “I’m very optimistic about how the Threads community is coming together,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post on the platform Monday. “We’re clearly way out over our skis on this,” Mosseri said in a Threads post the week of the app’s launch. Threads could be a way for Meta to eke additional engagement time out of its massive existing user base.

Persons: It’s, “, Mark Zuckerberg, who’s, Adam Mosseri, ” Mosseri, Mosseri, ” Meta, Elon Musk, ”, Ali Mogharabi, Musk, Scott Kessler, ” Kessler Organizations: New, New York CNN, Meta, Twitter, ”, ” Morningstar Locations: New York

☆ Amazon is inundated with shoppers desperately trying to cool off
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

On Amazon, sales of air conditioners increased 248% during the 30 days ending July 14, according to data from Jungle Scout, a data and analytics platform for Amazon sellers. Searches on Amazon for “single room AC units” and “portable misting fans” also spiked triple digits during the period, according to Jungle Scout. On Wednesday morning, a sun shade for car windshields was listed as the best-selling product on Amazon’s automotive page. In the Northeast, where the wildfire smoke was worst, air purifier sales jumped 119% in June. The cost of home energy bills this summer will increase by 11.7% to an average of $578, up from $517 last summer, according to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association.

Persons: ”, windshields Organizations: New, New York CNN, Scout, National Energy Assistance, Association, Louisiana — Locations: New York, United States, East Coast, Circana, Texas, Louisiana

Like many, they home in on the outsized drop in used-car prices - one of the key aggravators of 'core' inflation that at 4.8% is still well above the now sub-3% headline CPI rate. Pointing to four straight months of ebbing 'trimmed mean' inflation measures of core inflation - which strip out high and low outliers - the Morgan Stanley team doubt June was a bum steer and see core disinflation more "a trend rather than a headfake". Inflation surprisesFed estimates of R* natural interest rateReuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsR-STAR GAZINGOthers doubt the optimism, of course. And it's the latter that homes in on the prospect of an inflation undershoot. Further Fed tightening after this month, then, could well see markets start to consider inflation actually undershooting 2% targets after all - but dragging recession back onto the dashboard to boot.

Persons: it's, Morgan Stanley, Christopher Waller, Guneet Dhingra, Allen Liu, Janet Yellen jived, Mike Dolan Organizations: Federal Reserve, Reuters, Barclays, Global, Bank of America, Treasury, Twitter, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Intriguingly

☆ Jim Cramer hits the charts and zeros in on vulnerabilities ahead for the markets
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Jim Cramer hits the charts and zeros in on vulnerabilities ahead for the markets'Mad Money' host Jim Cramer hits the charts with a chart that looks at vulnerabilites facing the markets

Persons: Jim Cramer

NAPERVILLE, Illinois, July 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. Corn Belt has experienced much more forgiving weather this month after an unusually dry June crashed both corn crop conditions and yield ideas. Three weeks ago, corn was just 50% GE, the week’s worst since 1988. Although long ago, most years with similar gains around this time frame featured corn yields within a couple percent of trend, if not better. Keep in mind that the concept of “trend yield” is subjective and often varies by analyst. USDA’s 2023 corn trend of 181.5 bushels per acre, which some considered too high, was reduced to 177.5 last week after the dry June.

Persons: Karen Braun, Matthew Lewis Organizations: U.S . Department of, GE, Reuters, Thomson Locations: NAPERVILLE , Illinois, U.S

☆ Mattel hated the 1997 song 'Barbie Girl' so much that it sued. Now, the song is making a return thanks to Greta Gerwig.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Aqua's chart-topping 1997 hit "Barbie Girl" called the doll a "blond bimbo" and was full of innuendos. "Barbie Girl" is now being revived in Greta Gerwig's film with a performance by Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice. But no one really thought that the tongue-in-cheek song could have been written by Mattel, Lobel wrote. Years later, Mattel even bought the rights to the song from Aqua, Lobel wrote. The song is now making a comeback, in a way, thanks to Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" film, which is hitting cinemas this Friday.

Persons: bimbo, Greta Gerwig's, Nicki Minaj, Elton John, Barbie —, Lobel, Aqua, Barbie, Ken, Barbie's Dreamhouse, Lene Nystrøm, René Dif, hanky, Mattel, Alex Kozinski, Vinnie Zuffante, Michael Ochs, Nystrøm, Stone, Pamela Anderson, Kozinski Organizations: Mattel, MCA Records, Service, Universal Music, Michael Ochs Archives, Aqua, YouTube, Spotify Locations: Wall, Silicon, Norwegian, Australia, Barbie's

☆ TikTok is hitting the accelerator on its Spotify rival as it tests music streaming in 3 new markets
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Dan Whateley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The TikTok spokesperson also said the company will have "more news to share on the launch of TikTok Music in the coming months." With TikTok Music, the company can connect the dots between music discovery and audio streaming. TikTok Music users can sync their accounts directly to TikTok, making it easy to hear a song snippet and then click over to stream the full track. TikTok Music is set to eventually replace Resso in the latter two markets. Outside streaming, TikTok has been experimenting with other ways to make money from its influence over music.

Persons: TikTok, Jonny Kaps, we've, Daniel Ek, ByteDance, Resso Organizations: Spotify, Apple Music, TikTok Locations: Australia, Mexico, Singapore, Brazil, Indonesia, India

☆ Las Vegas Police Search Home in Investigation of Tupac Shakur’s Murder
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Julia Jacobs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Las Vegas police have executed a search warrant in connection with the fatal drive-by shooting of the rapper Tupac Shakur in 1996, the department said Tuesday, reinvigorating the investigation into the unsolved death of a mythic figure in hip-hop. 1 on the charts, was shot as he was leaving a Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon prizefight in Las Vegas when a Cadillac pulled up alongside the BMW he was riding in. He died less than a week later at the age of 25. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement that it had served the search warrant in Henderson, Nev., a city outside of Las Vegas, on Monday. Shakur’s “All Eyez on Me” was one of the first double albums in hip-hop.

Persons: Tupac Shakur, Shakur, Mike Tyson, Bruce Seldon prizefight, ”, Janet Jackson, John Singleton’s, Jon Pareles Organizations: Las, BMW, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, The New York Times Locations: Las Vegas, Henderson, Nev

In the past few months, the technology has made ads easier to generate and track. It is writing marketing emails with subject lines and delivery times tailored to specific subscribers. Much has been made about the technology’s potential to limit the need for human workers in fields such as law and financial services. The conflicting attitudes suffused a co-working space in downtown San Francisco where more than 200 people gathered last week for an “A.I. Copywriters expressed worry and skepticism about chatbots capable of writing ad campaigns, while start-up founders pitched A.I.

Persons: Heinz, ” A.I, Copywriters Locations: San Francisco

☆ Mark Zuckerberg says tens of millions of people are returning to use Threads every day
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Mark Zuckerberg said he was very optimistic about the growth of the community on Threads. Mark Zuckerberg says "tens of millions" of people are returning to use Threads daily almost two weeks after the launch of the Twitter rival. In a Threads post on Monday, the Meta boss said he was "very optimistic about how the Threads community is coming together." "It'll take time to stabilize, but once we nail that then we'll focus on growing the community," Zuckerberg wrote. The comments from Zuckerberg come as his rivalry with Elon Musk and Twitter intensifies since the launch of Threads.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Musk, Instagram, Adam Mosseri, Meta Organizations: Elon, Twitter

☆ ‘Boys Love’ genre finds new audiences in South Korea
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Jake Kwon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Not only was the TV series part of a genre — Boys’ Love, or BL for short — that was lesser-known in South Korea, it depicted something rarely seen on the country’s screens: same-sex romance. “Semantic Error,” which was based on a popular web novel of the same name, tells the story of two male college students who fall in love. And the risk paid off: “Semantic Error” became a hit upon its release in 2022. There are currently more than 20 BL shows being produced in South Korea. The on-screen adaptation of "Semantic Error" stars Park Seo-ham as Jang Jae-young and Jaechan as Chu Sang-woo.

Persons: Park Jae, chan, ” Jaechan, Jaechan, Chu Sang, “, ”, —, Kim Hyo, Jeong Areum, Kakao, Kim, Jennifer Konig, J, Kim Hye, ” Kim, Jang Jae, Thomas Baudinette, Jeong, South Korea’s, Go Tae, Holland, ” Holland, “ That’s Organizations: CNN, Elle, Cosmopolitan, BL, Seoul National University . Local, Sydney’s Macquarie University, South Locations: South Korean, South Korea, Japan, Seoul, Asia, Taiwan, Thailand, Korean

Those factors caused a historic 21% plunge in CBOT December corn in the final seven trading days of June, though price steadied immediately after. But money managers in that week expanded their net short in CBOT corn futures and options to 63,052 contracts from 18,209 in the prior week, against expectations for mild net buying. Managed money net position in CBOT corn futures and optionsUSDA lowered U.S. corn yield on July 12 due to dry June weather, but it would still be a new record. U.S. soybean plantings came in far below market predictions on June 30, but money managers have been net sellers of CBOT soybean futures and options in the last two weeks. That was on a 0.5% rise in November soybean futures for the week, and beans rose another 0.8% in the last three sessions.

Persons: steadied, Wheat, Karen Braun, Diane Craft Organizations: U.S . Department of Agriculture, soyoil, U.S ., Reuters, Thomson Locations: NAPERVILLE , Illinois, Chicago, U.S

☆ A short seller with an over 90% win ratio shares the 4 chart signals that indicate a good stock to short
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

These signals are data points that indicate things like share price and trading volume, to name a few. He has a checklist of variables that he looks for before deciding to short a stock. He's also able to shop around for the best locate fee, or a flat per-share fee to borrow shares to short sell. This indicates the price point where many traders purchased shares before the price plunged, leaving them stuck holding the shares. This price point could indicate a resistance line and a possible area to short the stock, he said.

Persons: David Capablanca, TraderSync, David Olivares, Olivares, Capablanca, He's, VWAP David Capablanca, it's, I'm Organizations: Capablanca's, Interactive, Capablanca, Growth Corp, Insider

☆ A Canadian lake best charts humanity’s impact on Earth
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Fossils embedded in rock reveal intriguing details about animals, plants and other life-forms that once called Earth home. ConsequencesCrawford Lake in Ontario is the geological site that best reflects a new epoch recognizing the impact of human activity on Earth, said geologists of the Anthropocene Working Group. The Anthropocene Working Group determined in 2016 that the epoch began around 1950 — the start of the era of nuclear testing. The international research group says that Crawford Lake in Ontario best charts humanity’s impact on Earth. Back then, it took 10 hours to relay a single image to Earth — incredibly slow by today’s standards.

Persons: Crawford, they’ve, Amenhotep III, didn’t, Philippe Martinez, Mona Lisa of Egypt, Thais Rabito Pansani, —, Webb, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, Conservation, Scientists, MAFTO, Sorbonne University, NASA Mariner, Mariner, NASA Jet Propulsion, CNN Space, Science Locations: Ontario, Brazil, South America, Americas

☆ The US consumer isn't in trouble. Here are 5 stats that show Americans will be fine even amid dwindling savings and student loan payments.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( Matthew Fox | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

That's true even amid concerns of dwindling excess savings and the imminent resumption of student loan payments. The consumer is important to track for because about 70% of the US economy is driven by consumer spending, which relies heavily on the daily spending habits of more than 300 million Americans. Carson Group"When thinking about debt, the key question is whether households are able to service that debt," Detrick. Based on estimates from JPMorgan, the household debt service ratio at the end of the second quarter was 9.7%. Strong spending trends.

Persons: Carson, Ryan Detrick, it's, that's, Detrick Organizations: Service, Carson, JPMorgan, JPMorgan Consumers Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ K-Pop supergroup BTS' Jung Kook releases solo single
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SEOUL, July 14 (Reuters) - Jung Kook, a member of K-Pop supergroup BTS, officially launched on Friday his solo career with the release of single "Seven", a track also featuring American rapper Latto. BTS is on temporary break as a group with two of its seven members currently doing mandatory military service in South Korea, but other members are continuing to carry out solo projects and concerts. The video for "Seven" - described by his music label as an invigorating summer song - was also revealed on Friday and includes an appearance by South Korean actress Han So-hee. His label BigHit is part of South Korean entertainment company HYBE and also manages BTS. Ahead of his official solo debut, Jung Kook previously released two free singles.

Persons: Jung Kook, Han, Joyce Lee, Ed Davies, Michael Perry Organizations: BTS, Thomson Locations: SEOUL, South Korea, U.S, Korean, South Korean, New

☆ Inflation’s Fall From a Four-Decade High in Four Charts
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Amara Omeokwe | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Persons: Dow Jones

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