May 11, 2025
While capitalism is viewed as a religion by some, it does feel weird mixing the Pope announcement with Jay Powell's remarks about the economy.
Regardless, we found a way to do it.
- Alex Blackwood
🇺🇸 Shoulda been Red, White & Blue Smoke, amirite? - This past week, the Vatican’s white smoke signaled Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, a Chicago native and Villanova alum, has been elected Pope Leo XIV-the first American to ever don the papal slippers. As a Georgetown alum, I am both frustrated that he is an alum of Villanova and proud of an American being at the top of the Catholic church. Regardless, I found it classy that one of my first notifications on my phone about it came from Fox Sports debating whether he was a White Sox or Cubs fan.
🥡 The company that made it possible to order from the restaurant below you and not have to leave your apartment (don't judge) - In one week, the delivery giant DoorDash announced plans to acquire hospitality tech firm SevenRooms (think restaurant CRM with a side of AI) and inked a $3.9 billion deal to gobble up the UK's Deliveroo. The goal? To transform DoorDash from your 1am McFlurry provider into a comprehensive commerce platform for restaurants and hotels. With SevenRooms, DoorDash aims to help restaurants build direct relationships with customers. As Americans dine out less, DoorDash is clearly betting on a future where your phone is the maître d’ and the waiter, and possibly your therapist.
👟 Had two opening lines for this one, so I used them both - Skechers, the brand that screams 'I value comfort over fashion,' has been acquired. Skechers, the sneaker brand beloved by dads, nurses, and Snoop Dogg (he's a brand ambassador, swear), is lacing up for a new chapter. Private equity giant 3G Capital is buying Skechers for $63 a share, a 30% premium that had the stock sprinting up 24% in a day. After nearly 30 years on the public market, Skechers is going private, but CEO Robert Greenberg and his team are sticking around. Despite global trade drama and tariffs, 3G Capital is betting Skechers can keep growing, especially with two-thirds of its business outside the U.S. Will they bring back the light-up sneakers? Only time will tell.
🤖 From groceries to AI, seamless transition - In the tech world’s latest game of executive musical chairs, OpenAI has poached Fidji Simo, the CEO of Instacart, for a role that sounds like it was conjured up by a Silicon Valley name generator: “CEO of Applications.” Simo, who steered Instacart through its pandemic boom and public offering, will now report to OpenAI chief Sam Altman, but here’s the twist: all the bigwigs like the COO, CFO, and CPO will now report to Simo, not Altman. Translation: Altman gets to focus on “research, compute, and safety” (aka the fun science stuff), while Simo wrangles the business side and scales OpenAI’s applications to new heights.
From Buffett's conference to Milken's conference within a 7 day span, Billionaires and Wall Street analysts were on high alert already, but add in big daddy Jay Powell's Fed meeting remarks, and you can feel the hangover from Wall Street heading into the weekend.
What happened?
The Fed decided to keep interest rates steady at 4.25% to 4.5%. No fireworks, no surprise plot twists. They’re basically saying, “We’re watching the economy like a hawk, but we’re not ready to jump in just yet.” The big hang up? Trade tensions and tariffs are throwing a wrench into the economy’s gears. Jerome Powell and his crew are waiting to see how this whole trade war soap opera plays out before making any bold moves.
What does this mean?
It means the Fed is playing it safe. Inflation is still a concern (because groceries didn’t get cheaper), but growth is slowing down. The Fed’s basically stuck in the middle, trying not to mess things up. So, no rate cuts yet, no rate hikes either. Just a big, cautious “we’ll see.”
Why should investors care?
Because uncertainty is everywhere. If you were hoping for a rate cut to send stocks soaring, you might have to wait a bit longer. On the bright side, cash and fixed income investments are suddenly looking like the cool kids on the block with yields over 4%. That’s right, your savings account might finally be worth bragging about at parties. That, and real estate yielding 10%+ and average of 18.8% annual returns. Where can I get that you may ask? There's this cool site mogul. Anyways, enough plugs, back to the news.
How should you invest in the next year?
Final thoughts
The Fed’s basically saying, “We’re not in a hurry, but we’re watching.” The economy is like a toddler learning to walk, wobbly, unpredictable, and prone to tantrums. Your best move? Stay calm, keep investing steadily, and don’t try to outsmart the Fed. Because if there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that the Fed’s version of a “bold move” is more like a polite golf clap.
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I thought vampire stories were played out until I cracked open Stephen King’s second novel. ’Salem’s Lot isn’t just a horror yarn; it’s a biopsy of small‑town America with fangs attached.
The plot seems simple enough: writer Ben Mears returns to his sleepy childhood town only to notice people disappearing after sunset. What makes the book stick is how King drip‑feeds dread, with a very slow build up that pays off beautifully. He sketches every porch light, every gossip session at the local bar, until the town itself feels alive, and then he drains it.
Forget sparkling vampires like Hollywood tends to love; these ones are relentless, infectious, and terrifyingly ordinary in their hunger, much more akin to zombies.
If you’re a Stephen King fan like me and haven’t read this yet, do yourself a favor and pick it up. Once it gets going, it’s almost impossible to put down, and has so many terrifying scenes. This is King at his absolute best.
⭐ 4.8 / 5.0 in my book (no pun intended)
Got told this one by a friend over the weekend and I had to look it up to believe him...
The original London Bridge was sold and relocated to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, brick by brick, in 1968.
How's that for a fun fact?
Written by Alex Blackwood & Thomas Horcel
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