May 1, 2024

The Appetizer

“I kind of had to do a double take. I thought I was seeing things. I had to pull out my phone because I think if I told someone, they wouldn’t have believed me. It’s a very absurd thing to see in Montana.”

• A Butte, Montana, driver after she saw an escaped circus elephant running down the street.

Now, on to the numbers. Drum roll, please …

• $1.25 million: The estimated loss that fans have incurred so far from Taylor Swift concert ticket scams, leading to the UK’s Lloyds Bank issuing a warning to its customers.
• Two hours, 16 minutes, and 16 seconds: The London Marathon time for reigning Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir, a new women-only world record.
• 176: The number of career home runs that Los Angeles Dodgers player Shohei Ohtani reached on April 21, breaking Hideki Matsui’s record for the most home runs by a Japanese-born MLB player.
• $1,225,000: The median price of a U.S. luxury home in the first quarter, up nearly 9% year over year, hitting an all-time high, according to Redfin.
• 60 hours: The number of nonstop hours of chess played by Nigerian chess player and child education advocate Tunde Onakoya in New York City’s Times Square to break the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon.

Dig In
Caps Off to the Class 2024

It’s that time of year again, folks! Around 4 million college students are soon to receive their diplomas and enter the “real world.” Exciting, right? But also a little nerve-wracking. Don’t worry, after you’ve celebrated with your friends and taken a week, or weeks, to bask in your achievement, you’ll be ready to tackle the job market.

When we last wrote about college grads about two years ago, the unemployment rate was 3.9%. While it has since moved up to 4.8%, this is pretty close to the long-term average. Keep in mind the unemployment rate ranges between 0.2% for industrial engineering graduates and 8.0% for art history majors.

You’re now probably wondering about the potential earnings. For 2023 – the median starting wage for graduates was $60,000, up from $58,000 in 2022. But the pay also varies, with the highest median salary being electrical engineering at $110,000!

Congratulations, class of 2024, and good luck!

Weekly Specials

The Federal Trade Commission is making it easier to leave your job by creating a rule that bans noncompete clauses. It’s estimated that 1 in 5 workers were covered by these restrictions, which typically prevented people from working for a competitor for a certain period of time.

You’ll no longer have to sit on hold for 12 hours to be able to talk to airline representative to get a refund. The Department of Transportation finally decided enough is enough and will require airlines to automatically refund canceled flights.

Milan might consider banning late-night pizza and gelato, potentially ending a beloved tradition for both residents and tourists. Officials aim to restore balance in the community, citing excessive noise and chaos as hungry customers munch these post-midnight snacks outside.

Trading 24/7 sounds like fun? The New York Stock Exchange might be giving it a try … currently it is doing a vibe check to see if it should adopt the never-ending hours. Does this mean we will have night shifts for day traders?

Corporate Lunch

Oracle’s HQ is swapping Austin for honky tonk! It is headed to Nashville to be closer to the healthcare industry with a dash of twang!

Chipotle customers are loyal! It has raised prices six times in the last three years, but the company reported this hasn’t dented demand.

Footwear innovation is thriving. First, Crocs and Pringles did a collaboration to introduce an ankle holster for your potato chips. Now, New Balance has introduced the “Snoafer,” a sneaker-loafer hybrid.

Walmart’s fintech startup, One, is now offering buy now, pay later for major purchases at over 4,600 U.S. stores.

Apple TV might be snagging a historic deal with FIFA to be the exclusive TV provider for a new World Cup-style competition set to take place in the U.S. next summer.

Sherwin Williams is trying to promote its least popular paint color, Kingdom Gold. The company has sold less than 11,000 gallons of it in the last 14 years.

Meta Platforms stock dropped after the company raised its capital expenditure projections by as much as $10 billion to build out its AI offering.

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