(Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images) |
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Hey Snackers, Canada's maple-syrup reserve is in a sticky situation. The reserve, which can hold 133M pounds of syrup, is at a 16-year low of just 7M pounds — barely enough for a weekend rush at IHOP. Stocks dipped for the third straight trading day yesterday, but major indexes were trending toward their fifth positive month in a row. Meanwhile, cocoa futures kept soaring ahead of Easter, topping $10K/ton for the first time (#ChocoRally). |
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A controversial case… The US Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday on its first abortion-related case since it overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. At the center of the dispute is the abortion drug mifepristone made by Danco Laboratories. An anti-abortion group, the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, asked SCOTUS to limit access to mifepristone (which the FDA expanded in the past decade). The group argues that the FDA's loosening of restrictions on the drug has led to adverse health effects (the FDA disagrees). |
- A ruling against the FDA could restore a seven-week limit on prescribing mifepristone and require that the pill be prescribed and taken in person at a doctor's office. Mifepristone has become more widely available, including via telemedicine.
- Abortion through medication now makes up nearly two-thirds of abortions in the US. There were 150K+ more medication abortions last year than in 2020, and 5M+ American women have used mifepristone.
- Since SCOTUS overturned Roe, nearly a third of states have banned all or most abortions, but abortions haven't declined.
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To stock or not… Last year the FDA said specially certified pharmacies including CVS and Walgreens could sell mifepristone, but the chains only started stocking the pill this month (in states where it's legal). A ruling against the FDA could lead to the drug being pulled from big chains. Experts say challenges to Perrigo's Opill — the first daily birth-control pill cleared for over-the-counter purchase in the US — could be next. Opill went on sale last week. |
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 THE TAKEAWAY |
The FDA's gold standard is at stake… The pharmaceutical industry seems to be united in support of the FDA. The concern: a ruling that second-guesses the drug regulator's guidance on mifepristone could open up scrutiny of the whole medicine cabinet. The lawyer repping mifepristone maker Danco Labs argued the opposition's POV "would upend… virtually every drug approval" the FDA's made. |
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Why buy a single stock when you can own the entire sector? |
Sector SPDR ETFs divide the S&P 500 into eleven sector index funds. Investors can now invest in just the slices of the S&P 500 they like best. The full list of Sector SPDR ETF funds are Communication Services (XLC), Consumer Discretionary (XLY), Consumer Staples (XLP), Energy (XLE), Financials (XLF), Health Care (XLV), Industrials (XLI), Materials (XLB), Real Estate (XLRE), Technology (XLK), and Utilities (XLU). Learn more about Sector SPDR ETFs. Advertiser's disclosure: All ETFs are subject to risk, including possible loss of principal. Sector ETF products are also subject to sector risk and non-diversification risk, which will result in greater price fluctuations than the overall market. An investor should consider investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus, which contains this and other information, call 1-866-SECTOR-ETF (866-732-8673) or visit www.sectorspdrs.com. Read the prospectus carefully before investing. |
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$5 sandals, $50B supply chain… Shein wants to sell more than polyester dresses. The ultra-fast-fashion giant is getting into "supply chain as a service." Shein's built a lean, mean, cost-effective fashion machine, listing thousands of trendy new items each day. The Chinese ecomm titan has been accused of using algorithms to identify designs "with the greatest commercial potential" and then passing them to its factories to generate replicas. |
- SaaS: By offering its supply chain as a service, Shein would be making its fast-fashion backbone available to other brands. Designers could use its tech to test new styles.
- Copycat? Shein's been accused of copying designs, and it may be replicating the "supply chain as a service" play. In 2020, rival H&M started sharing its supply chain, but it discontinued the biz in 2022 after disappointing growth.
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Shein's American Dream… isn't looking so shiny. Its supply-chain service could be a bid to diversify revenue as it faces growing hurdles and competition in the States, its No. 1 market. Last year lawmakers urged the SEC to pause Shein's IPO until it could show it wasn't using forced labor in China. Shein filed to list in the US in November but hasn't heard back from the SEC (#ghosted). Meantime, Chinese ecomm rival Temu is gaining on Shein's market share, becoming the No. 2 US shopping app after Amazon. |
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THE TAKEAWAY |
Value lies behind the screens… Success in the ecomm space is fueled by what's happening behind the scenes, not what's on-screen. Shein's biggest strength, like Amazon's, is its powerful supply-chain backbone. Shein outsources production to thousands of Chinese factories that churn out countless new styles daily. It quickly analyzes which items perform best, and then orders more. That allows it to save $$ on storage and avoid inventory pileups. |
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Elon Musk's X wants influencers but doesn't seem all that interested in paying them. Since it launched its ad-revenue-sharing program last summer, X has paid out just $45M to 150K posters. In the creator economy, those are penny-slots numbers, a small fraction of the $700M MrBeast makes on YouTube each year paying people to live in a coffin for six weeks (or whatever he's up to). For comparison, YouTube says its Partner Program has paid out $70B to 3M channels in the past three years. X's $45M spend over eight months isn't going to do the trick, given that (back-of-the-napkin) YouTube's spending on the order of $1.6B over the same period. So why the stinginess? Well, to share ad rev you need ad rev, and that's been a struggle for X. Late last year, dozens of major advertisers including IBM, Apple, and Disney paused campaigns on the site after Musk endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory on the platform. This month Musk told Don Lemon (who was, for a minute, a certified X Creator™️) that ad and subscription revenues were rising rapidly, though he didn't share #s. X aside, it's tough being an influencer. Goldman Sachs said only 4% of global creators pull in more than $100K/year. |
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- Iced: Krispy Kreme shares popped ~40% after McDonald's said it would sell the glazed doughnuts in its US locations. Elsewhere, Wendy's and Subway have teamed up with sweet brands like Cinnabon.
- Maryland: Maersk stock fell after a massive cargo ship it had chartered struck a Baltimore bridge used daily by 30K commuters. The bridge collapsed and six people were presumed dead.
- Merged: Truth Social, former President Trump's social-media co, went public via a SPAC merger yesterday. Its user count is just 5M, but its +16% stock jump boosted Trump's net worth by billions.
- Pause: GameStop shares sank 16% after the OG video-game retailer reported disappointing Q4 #s. While profit jumped, sales fell 19% on the year as consumers cut back on gaming purchases.
- Block: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law requiring social-media cos to delete accounts belonging to kids under 14. It's the latest effort to address growing scrutiny of social-media's effects on youth mental health.
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For the past six years, the US has produced more crude oil than any country in history |
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- Earnings expected from Carnival, Cintas, Paychex, Restoration Hardware, and Rumble
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Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Carnival, CVS, and Disney |
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