💰 5 Fact Friday: Tragedy Tests Boeing’s Rebound

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STOCKS
1. Tragedy Tests Boeing’s Rebound ✈️

Just as Boeing was getting back to cruising speed, a tragic crash brought new turbulence.

An Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed shortly after takeoff yesterday morning, killing 241 of the 242 people onboard. It was the first fatal crash involving the Dreamliner since its debut in 2011, ending one of the cleanest safety records in modern aviation.

And while it’s far too early to assign fault, Boeing $BA ( ▼ 4.79% ) shares dropped 5% on the news.

Investors remember how long it took the company to recover from the 737 MAX crisis. This crash doesn’t involve the same model—or even a newly delivered aircraft—but it’s another blemish on Boeing’s already fragile public image.

Black box data should offer more clarity, but it could take months to get a full picture.

For now, there’s no evidence of a manufacturing flaw. The jet had been in service since 2014 and logged nearly 8,000 flights. Analysts have called the incident “puzzling,” given the Dreamliner’s previously spotless record.

Until now, Boeing had been gaining altitude.

In May, the company reported 303 new orders, raised 737 MAX output to FAA limits, and ramped up Dreamliner production from five to seven jets per month. It had even become a bargaining chip in Trump’s tariff negotiations.

This crash could stall that momentum.

While commercial flying remains the safest way to travel, roughly 100 times less deadly than driving, incidents like this still carry emotional weight.

For passengers, it stirs fear. For Boeing, it stirs memories of past crises.

Even without clear evidence of fault, perception can shift fast. And in aviation, reputation is as important as performance.

ECONOMY
2. Inflation Keeps Defying Forecasts 📉

After months of inflation warnings tied to tariffs, the data still isn’t backing the alarm bells:

• First, the claim was: businesses will raise prices in anticipation of tariffs. But inflation fell in February and March.

• Then: tariffs are here, so companies will start passing along price hikes. But prices dropped in April and May.

• Now, the latest story is: once inventory levels are drawn down, price hikes will show up.

Maybe. But in markets, being early still counts as being wrong.

So far, whether due to tariff truces, resilient supply chains, or simple overestimation, the inflation fears haven’t panned out.

Headline CPI clocked in at 2.4% year-over-year in May, hovering near four-year lows. Core inflation, which strips out food and energy, rose just 0.1% on the month. It’s now the fourth straight month that inflation has come in cooler than forecast.

Add in a weakening job market, and the rate-cut crowd has more fuel for their case. But there is one wrinkle to watch: the data itself.

Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said staffing shortages are forcing it to scale back price surveys. With fewer boots on the ground, some cities have been dropped from the official CPI sample.

No one’s crying conspiracy yet, but inflation data guides everything from Social Security increases to tax brackets and private-sector contracts. Getting it right matters.

That’s why some analysts are turning to Truflation, a private-sector inflation tracker that scrapes over 15 million prices from 30+ sources daily. It offers more real-time data and fewer government bottlenecks.

According to Truflation, U.S. inflation has been below 2% for the better part of the past three months. As of today? Just 1.9%.

Whether you trust the BLS or a blockchain-backed startup, one thing’s clear: Prices are holding steady. If tariffs are going to reignite inflation, we haven’t seen it yet.

STOCKS
3. Meta’s $14.3 Billion Bet On AGI 🧠

Mark Zuckerberg is done playing catch-up.

After trailing OpenAI and Google in the AI race, Meta is assembling a “superintelligence” team to close the gap. Zuck is personally recruiting top talent, dangling seven- to nine-figure offers, and making one of his biggest outside investments ever to make it happen.

At the center of the plan? Alexandr Wang, the 28-year-old founder of Scale AI.

Meta $META ( ▼ 0.11% ) has reportedly acquired a 49% stake in Scale for $14.3 billion—its second-largest deal ever, behind only the $19 billion paid for WhatsApp.

Wang isn’t your typical AI researcher. He built Scale into an $870 million business by providing the labeled data that fuels leading models from OpenAI, Amazon, and Google. Now he’s bringing that data firepower to Meta.

Until now, Meta leaned on its open-source Llama model to compete. But with rivals accelerating, Zuckerberg is taking a page from Microsoft’s playbook—investing big and going on a hiring spree.

He’s calling up researchers from Google and OpenAI, revamping Meta’s AI org chart, and going full “founder mode” in the race for artificial general intelligence (AGI).

Meta’s chatbot already has over a billion users across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. But without a major leap in model performance, the distribution might not mean much.

That’s where the superteam comes in.

If Zuckerberg gets his way, the next wave of AI breakthroughs won’t come out of San Francisco or Mountain View—they’ll come from Menlo Park.

MEDIA
4. AI Is Killing The Click ☠️

Google used to be a traffic machine.

Publishers would crank out listicles, explainers, and product reviews—then sit back and watch readers pour in from Google Search. But thanks to AI, that faucet is drying up fast.

Over the past three years, organic traffic has been cut in half at HuffPost, the Washington Post, and Business Insider. The Atlantic’s CEO even told staff to assume Google traffic will drop to zero.

Why? Because AI is doing the reading for you.

With Google’s AI Overviews, users get instant answers without ever clicking through to the publisher’s site. Add in ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity—all scraping the web in real time—and blue links are starting to fade to gray.

For digital media companies, this is an extinction-level threat. No clicks means fewer ad impressions, fewer affiliate dollars, and less reader data.

The pivot? Focus on what AI can’t easily replicate:

• Original journalism with real reporting and fresh insights

• Strong takes with a clear point of view

• Human storytelling that resonates beyond the algorithm

To stay afloat, publishers are already making tough calls.

More content is going behind paywalls. Some outlets are licensing their work to the very AI firms that threaten their existence. Others are cutting staff or consolidating to stay alive. Business Insider just laid off 21% of its workforce.

If you value independent reporting, now’s a good time to show it. The industry is adapting—but not everyone will make it.

STOCKS
5. Guess That Stock 🕵️‍♂️

This company turned plumbers, pocket monsters, and a banana-throwing gorilla into household names. Now, it's smashing sales records. Can you guess the stock?

1. This gaming giant just dropped its long-awaited console sequel, selling 3.5 million units and raking in $1.5 billion in just four days.

2. Originally founded in Kyoto in 1889 as a playing card maker, the business dabbled in taxis, instant rice, and even vacuum cleaners before finally leveling up in gaming.

3. Its first big hit? Donkey Kong. Since then, it’s built an empire of iconic franchises including Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, and Animal Crossing.

4. The brand focuses on creativity, charm, and all-ages fun, brought to life on consoles like the Wii, DS, Game Boy, and GameCube.

5. The name loosely translates to “leave luck to heaven,” a nod to its gambling-era origins long before Pikachu and power-ups took over living rooms.

Got a guess? Tap here for the answer → 

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