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đ° 5 Fact Friday: Is Your DNA for Sale?
23andMe is selling off its assetsâincluding the genetic database of 15+ million users. And yes, legal experts say your DNA could go to the highest bidder.
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Hey Money Maniacs,
This week, the trillion-dollar tariff chess match ratcheted upâabruptly ending the marketâs 3-day win streak.
Weâre covering that disruption, a biotech bankruptcy, and an AI IPO that could set the tone for the entire sector.
Plus: stablecoins are suddenly patriotic, and a certain meme stock is pivoting into Bitcoin as a Hail Mary. (What could possibly go wrong?)
Letâs dive in!
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ECONOMY
1. The Price Of Trumpâs âMade In Americaâ Push đ
The S&P 500âs three-day win streak hit the brakes on Wednesday after Trump dropped the hammer: a 25% tariff on all imported vehicles, effective April 3.
Investors had been betting the reciprocal tariffs due April 2 might be milder than expected. But that bet just blew up. Auto and tech stocks sold off, dragging the broader market with them.
This month has been a wild ride of megadeals and mixed signals, as Trumpâs tariff threats continue to stir up both investment and anxiety.
With the worldâs biggest consumer market as leverage, Trump is forcing global firms to play ball. But the back-and-forth rollout is also creating ambiguityâand thatâs starting to bite.
Letâs talk pros first.
In the past couple of months, corporations have rolled out the red-white-and-blue carpet:
Apple is investing $500B into U.S. operationsâincluding thousands of jobs in a new Houston server manufacturing facility
TSMC is adding another $100B for five more chip fabsâon top of the $65B already underway in Arizona
Johnson & Johnson committed $55B (with $11B confirmed new spend) to build U.S. facilities and research hubs
Hyundai is dropping $5.8B on a Louisiana steel plant to supply auto factories in the South
Stellantis is adding 1,500 jobs and shifting Dodge Durango production from Canada to Detroit
Honda moved production of its next-gen Civic hybrid from Mexico to Indiana
Samsung, LG, and Nissan are all reportedly eyeing similar shifts from Mexico to the U.S.
Sure, some of that is routine spending dressed up for headlines. But a meaningful chunk appears to be genuinely newâand tariff driven.
Now the downside.
Consumer confidence is crumbling. The Conference Boardâs index just dropped to a 4-year low, and expectations plunged to a 12-year low.
So far, itâs all âsoft data.â As Fed Chair Powell put it:
âThe relationship between survey data and actual economic activity hasn't been very tight. There have been plenty of times where people are saying very downbeat things about the economy and then going out and buying a new car.â
But if the tariff whiplash continues, companies may freeze capex and delay hiring. When sentiment becomes spending, thatâs when things get real.
And if that happens, itâll be harder for Trump to advance his industrial revivalâand Wall Street wonât take it lightly.
How are YOU feeling about the economy? |
STOCKS
2. From DNA Darling To Data Dumpster Fire đ§Ź
Once worth $6 billion, 23andMe $ME ( Ⲡ21.97% ) is now worth less than a fancy house in Palo Alto.
The genetic testing pioneerâfamous for letting you spit in a tube to trace your ancestryâfiled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week, capping off one of biotechâs most famous flameouts.
But hereâs where it gets personal:
As part of the bankruptcy process, 23andMe is selling off its assetsâincluding the genetic database of 15+ million users. And yes, legal experts say your DNA could go to the highest bidder.
One likely bidder? Co-founder and longtime CEO Anne Wojcicki.
Wojcicki, whoâs been trying to take the company private for months, stepped down this weekâonly to announce plans to buy it back herself. Thatâs after burning through $1B+, laying off more than half the staff, and watching all seven independent board members resign in protest last fall.
The company insists your data is still protected and that any buyer will have to comply with privacy laws and 23andMeâs existing policies. But if youâd rather not roll those dice, you can delete your data in just a few clicks.
STOCKS
3. CoreWeave IPO Tests The AI Hype Cycle đ¤
CoreWeave began as a crypto miner, but after the 2018 crash, they pivoted fastâturning their Nvidia-powered fleet into one of the hottest AI infrastructure plays in the world. Now, theyâre going public.
This morning, CoreWeave $CRWV ( âź 7.3% ) hits the Nasdaq in the first major listing of the generative AI era. That makes it a big test for both the IPO market and the AI trade. The buzz? Loud. The risks? Also loud.
What They Do
CoreWeave operates 32 data centers stacked with over 250,000 Nvidia GPUs, offering AI compute power on demand. Instead of buying your own chips, you can rent clusters by the hourâperfect for companies training large-scale AI models.
Microsoft is their biggest customerâmaking up over 60% of revenueâand Nvidia owns a 6% stake. That kind of backing is powerful⌠but that level of customer concentration is also a big red flag.
Why The Hype?
Revenue exploded 737% in 2024, growing from $16 million to $1.9B in three years. CoreWeave isnât chasing one-off chip rentalsâthey specialize in long-term leases of giant GPU clusters to hyperscalers like OpenAI.
Theyâre also sitting on $15B+ in future contract obligations. Demand is realâand sticky.
But Hereâs The ConcernâŚ
CoreWeave burned nearly $6B in cash last year, carries $8B in debt, and relies heavily on Nvidiaâs now-aging Hopper chipsâwhich are rapidly being outclassed by the Blackwell generation.
Those H100 chips that rented for $8 per hour in 2023? Now available for under $2 per hour.
As Nvidia continues to drop faster, cheaper, more powerful chips, CoreWeave may be forced to shorten the depreciation schedule on its GPU inventory. Instead of spreading investment expenses over 5-6 years, they may need to squeeze them into 3-4 years.
That would hit profitability hardâthough to be fair, theyâre not profitable anyway. The company posted net losses of $594M in 2023 and $863M in 2024.
The Bet
Bull case: If AI demand keeps compounding and long-term GPU contracts remain sticky, CoreWeave could ride the wave and scale profitably over time.
Bear case: If chip prices keep falling and AI workloads shift to newer, more efficient hardware, margins could evaporateâand so could confidence in that $23B valuation.
Itâs a high-growth, high-stakes debut. Just how Wall Street likes it.
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Take From the Rich, Give to the People, Big Dataâs Robinhood
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CRYPTO
4. Stablecoins: The Calm In Cryptoâs Chaos đľ
Stablecoins are having a moment.
This week alone, Fidelity and World Liberty Financialâa crypto venture backed by the Trump familyâboth announced plans to launch a stablecoin.
The timing isnât random. The SEC is easing up on enforcement, new regulatory frameworks are emerging, and Trump wants to make the U.S. the âcrypto capital of the world.â
But before we get swept up in the hype, letâs zoom out: What exactly are stablecoinsâand why is everyone piling in?
Stablecoin 101
Stablecoins are crypto tokens designed to maintain a fixed valueâusually pegged to the U.S. dollar.
Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, which can gain or lose 10% before breakfast, stablecoins aim to stay glued to $1.00 by backing each token with dollar-based assets, like U.S. Treasuries.
Whoâs In The Game?
Two giants dominate the ~$234 billion (and growing) market:
Tether $USDT.X ( âź 0.04% ) â The largest stablecoin by market cap, widely used across the globe and based in El Salvadorâthough its offshore structure raises some security concerns.
USD Coin $USDC.X ( Ⲡ0.0% ) â The arguably more buttoned-up, U.S. counterpart. Itâs favored by institutions and is slowly gaining ground in domestic payments.
Whatâs The Big Deal?
Stablecoins solve cryptoâs biggest problemâvolatility. Theyâre fast, cheap, and globally accessible:
Cross-border transfers execute in seconds, not days
International transactions cost cents, not $50+
They operate 24/7, not 9 to 5
No middlemen, so no risk of being âdebankedâ
Plus, since each stablecoin is backed by dollar-denominated assets, they actually increase global demand for the U.S. dollar. That helps keep U.S. borrowing costs low and maintains Americaâs financial influence.
Thatâs why even Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is a fan.
Bottom Line
You wonât 10x your portfolio with stablecoinsâbut in a $2T market full of chaos, theyâre the boring, reliable backbone. With players from Fidelity to fintechs now getting involved, expect them to stay center stage as crypto regulation takes shape.
STOCKS
5. Guess That Stock đľď¸ââď¸
This meme stock legend is creeping back into focus as it slims down, reshuffles priorities, and rethinks what a corporate treasury should look like.
Can you name the stock?
1. A video game retailer by trade, this stock skyrocketed from under $20 to $483 in early 2021âone of the most infamous short squeezes in Wall Street history.
2. Still prone to meme stock mania and the occasional Roaring Kitty tweet, shares have climbed 65% over the past yearâthough they remain more than 95% below that frenzy-fueled peak.
3. In its latest earnings report, the retailer beat expectations despite declining salesâposting $131 million in net income. But that wasnât the headline that grabbed Wall Streetâs attentionâŚ
4. The company also announced plans to add Bitcoin to its balance sheet as a treasury reserve asset. With $4.8 billion in cash on hand, itâs got plenty of ammo to make that crypto pivot count.
5. Led by Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen, the brandâs future looks less like a retailer and more like a reinvention play. Crypto? Acquisitions? A complete pivot? All options seem to be on the table.
Got a guess? Tap here to reveal the answer â
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