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Apple crushed it with its new iPad ad. A record player, a TV set, a trumpet, and other analog items are hydraulically smooshed in the polarizing commercial. Oddly satisfying or just odd? The Dow had its seventh straight day in the green, and the S&P 500 was lifted by gains in real estate. US jobless claims hit an eight-month high, boosting hopes for interest-rate cuts. Next week's April inflation report should also inform the Fed's decision. 🌸 Mother's Day quiz: Our weekly Snacks Seven is full of Sunday-brunch trivia to impress the moms (as long as they like a side of biz news with their eggs). Try the first Q: |
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The endangered-sedans list… GM announced it's ending production of the Chevrolet Malibu, the brand's last sedan sold in the US. More than 10M Malibus have been sold since its 1964 debut, but the model's sales have dwindled as drivers shift to SUVs and trucks. GM is giving its Malibu factory a $390M upgrade to produce Chevy Bolt EVs and luxury SUVs. The Malibu — a friend to thrifty airport renters — will join the sprawling sedan junkyard. |
- Sedan dustpan: Just 8% of new-vehicle sales in the US last year were midsize cars. Stellantis and Ford have scrapped most of their sedans (the Mustang is Ford's last traditional car), and Subaru said it'll end the Legacy next year.
- Seduopoly: The Toyota Camry and Honda Accord still dominate the sedan market. Yet Accord sales are down 12% from last year.
- Midsize, mid-demand: GM sold 130K Malibus last year, a 9% drop from 2022. Many Malibu sales in recent years have been to car-rental companies, which net lower profits.
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Always be hauling… Traditional cars have been left in the dust by larger SUVs and trucks. By some estimates, conventional cars now make up less than 20% of US auto sales (in 2012 sedans accounted for half of sales). Ford's F-Series trucks have been America's best-selling vehicle for 42 years straight. 15M+ full-size (three rows of seats) SUVs were sold in the US last year, up 11%. While safety ratings play a part in Americans going big, regulatory loopholes are also at play: for decades, fuel-economy standards (now 40 miles/gallon) haven't applied to "light trucks" (including SUVs), which may've encouraged carmakers to lean in to producing them. |
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Bigger isn't better… for the environment. As US sedan demand falls, the SUV boom has helped erase enviro gains by 30%. Between 2017 and 2022, six automakers (including GM, which sells 4x more Silverado pickups than Malibus) saw net decreases in average fuel efficiency. |
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InstaEats… Uber Eats is teaming up with rival food-delivery app Instacart, but not through an acquisition. In a surprising move, Uber Eats will make its service available on Instacart, the leading grocery-delivery app. While Instacart doesn't list restaurants, it does directly compete with Uber on grocery and alcohol deliveries. |
- Eggstra: Instacart will soon add a "restaurants" tab that'll connect users to Uber Eats drivers and the hundreds of thousands of businesses they deliver from.
- More bread: Uber Eats will get more exposure from Instacart shoppers, and Instacart will get $$ from Uber for every restaurant order placed through its app.
- Eye on the pie: On Wednesday, Uber and Instacart both reported solid growth in their food-delivery businesses. But competition's comin' in hot.
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The enemy of my enemy is my friend… And Uber and Instacart have many enemies. The top one is DoorDash, America's No. 1 restaurant-delivery app. DoorDash dominates meal orders, but it's also been gaining market share in groceries since the pandemic (though it's still unprofitable). Then there's major food retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Target, who've ramped up their online-grocery game. Last month Amazon started offering Prime members a $10/month unlimited-grocery-delivery subscription. In March, Target announced a similar annual membership. And Walmart, America's largest grocer, includes delivery as a Walmart+ perk. |
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There's strength in delivery unity… Uber already ate up delivery market share by buying Postmates and Drizly. But its partnership with Instacart (which it doesn't own… at least not yet) is unprecedented. It suggests that competition is so tough that the only way to beat it is to team up against it. There's even speculation that it could lead to a merger. |
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💰 Spendy… Digital Currency Group said its Q1 revenue jumped 50% on the year, as a surge in crypto prices benefited its Grayscale ETF, bitcoin-mining biz, and exchange. It's a turnaround: DCG struggled as its crypto-lending unit collapsed into bankruptcy early last year. 🤖 Techy… Revolut launched a standalone crypto trading platform aimed at UK retail investors with support for 100+ tokens. The British fintech, which has 40M users, is aiming to become a "financial super app." 🪙 Coins… Data from Visa classified 90% of stablecoin transactions as inorganic (think: bots), suggesting low retail adoption. But the metric excluded accounts with large transaction volumes — possibly filtering out trading, one of stablecoins' use cases. |
- SwipeLeft: Match stock sank after the dating icon reported that paying Tinder users fell 6% last quarter (though its paying Hinge swipers grew 31%). Meanwhile, rival Bumble had a boom in paid subs and revenue.
- DisMax+: Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery said they'll bundle Disney+, Hulu, and Max into one package. The mash-up of Disney's family-friendly content with HBO's grown-up shows could help soothe subscription fatigue.
- Zendaya: AMC narrowed its Q1 losses as "Dune" and "Kong" propped up a sagging box office. Nicole Kidman's fave multiplex could see a summer slowdown with few blockbusters and Marvel movies set for release.
- NotFYP: TikTok plans to add "AI-generated" labels to some content uploaded to its app as deepfake concerns rise. Other social-media platforms including Meta are putting up safety rails to combat AI disinfo.
- Slide: After the yen fell 10% against the US dollar this year, Japan is said to have spent $50B to prop up the currency (now the weakest in the G10). Investors are shorting the yen into a downward spiral.
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- University of Michigan preliminary consumer survey for May
- Earnings expected from Honda
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Authors of this Snacks own bitcoin and shares of: Apple, Amazon, Disney, GM, Match Group, Uber, and Walmart |
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Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... See more |
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