🍋 Going Nuclear

Together With

Good Morning! US economy grew slower than expected last quarter, but it actually is looking like a good sign inflation measures are working. And in the corporate world, women have finally surpassed men named John at the CEO level at S&P 500 companies.

After months of skyrocketing prices, wholesale egg prices have finally plummeted to a mere $1. But egg prices aren’t the only thing expected to fall in 2023. Morgan Stanley is predicting the worst commercial real estate crash since the 2008 financial crisis, but not everyone agrees.

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1. Story of the Day: Going Nuclear

There’s another scientific breakthrough that’s taking the investment world by storm - nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion could lead to almost limitless energy. And now, some of the biggest names in tech and business, including Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, Bill Gates, and Marc Benioff, are investing in the technology as the next frontier in energy production.

Nuclear fusion is a game-changing technology that promises to revolutionize the energy industry. Unlike fossil fuels, fusion energy is abundant and produces no harmful emissions, making it a clean-energy alternative that could help combat climate change. Bloomberg thinks fusion could become a $40 trillion industry, and become the most cost-effective and dominant source of clean energy by 2050.

Some skeptics once believed that nuclear fusion was impossible to achieve. But recent breakthroughs in the field have turned the tide. Scientists achieved a net energy gain in an August 2021 reaction, which has sparked a surge of interest in fusion technology among investors and industry experts. The value of investments in fusion has nearly tripled over the past few years, and 2023 could be a strong year in an otherwise bleak venture capital landscape.

The potential benefits of nuclear fusion are enormous. By harnessing the power of fusion, businesses could reduce their energy costs and carbon footprint. But the path to profitability is still unclear. Tech billionaires don’t care if it’s a bumpy road, though. Business tycoons like Sam Altman and Jeff Bezos have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to the industry in the hopes of cementing their legacies as changing human history.

Takeaway: It’s hard not to get excited about how fusion could change business. But is the underlying technology even profitable? Scientists still think widespread fusion use is years away if not decades. But if the industry comes even remotely close to the hefty multi-trillion-dollar valuation Bloomberg’s predicting, it could be a good growth pick.

2. Markets Rundown

Stocks surged after it looks like inflation measures are working.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Meta ($META) +14% after earnings crushed estimates and expenses dropped.

• (+) First Republic ($FRC) +9% because the government offered to help rescue the bank if needed.

• (–) Crocs ($CROX) -16% after poor earnings and profit outlook.

Private Dealmaking

• Vinfast, a Vietnamese EV automaker, got a $2.5 billion injection of capital

• Ohmium, a green hydrogen company, raised $250 million

• Ursa Major, a rocket engine maker, raised $100 million

• Pinecone, a vector database company, raised $100 million

• Evommune, a biotech focused on inflammatory diseases, raised $50 million 

• AMSilk, a silk protein developer, raised $27 million

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3. Top Reads

• Stifel says easy money is now behind us (CNBC)

• Honey, I shrunk the revenue multiple (TC)

• Bed Bath & Beyond stores won’t stay closed for long (Axios)

• The new 9-to-5 starts at 6p for some Gen-Zers (YF)

• What slower box sales say about the economy (Axios)

• Microsoft doesn’t need Activision to win at cloud gaming (BB)

• NYC still has priciest rents, but Jersey City is closing in (BB)

• Apple’s new savings account is convenient, is that a good thing? (WSJ)

• How much a First Republic failure would cost (Axios)

• First Republic is a problem with no easy solution (WSJ)

4. Shortform Book of the Day: The Two-Parent Privilege

In The Two-Parent Privilege, Melissa S. Kearney makes a provocative, data-driven case for marriage by showing how the institution’s decline has led to a host of economic woes—problems that have fractured American society and rendered vulnerable populations even more vulnerable. Eschewing the religious and values-based arguments that have long dominated this conversation.

Kearney shows how the greatest impacts of marriage are, in fact, economic: when two adults marry, their economic and household lives improve, offering a host of benefits not only for the married adults but for their children. Studies show that these effects are today starker, and more unevenly distributed, than ever before. Kearney examines the underlying causes of the marriage decline in the US and draws lessons for how the US can reverse this trend to ensure the country’s future prosperity.

Based on more than a decade of economic research, including her original work, Kearney shows that a household that includes two married parents—holding steady among upper-class adults, increasingly rare among most everyone else—functions as an economic vehicle that advantages some children over others.

As these trends of marriage and class continue, the compounding effects on inequality and opportunity grow increasingly dire. Their effects include not just children’s behavioral and educational outcomes, but a surprisingly devastating effect on adult men, whose role in the workforce and society appears intractably damaged by the emerging economics of America’s new social norms.

“The surprising story of how declining marriage rates are driving many of the country’s biggest economic problems.”

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5. Short Squeez Picks

• Google lured them with perks but is taking them away

• How smart is ChatGPT?

• A history of fatigue

• 4 ways to identify high-conflict people

• 10 micro habits that will 10x your productivity

What Else To Read

For years on the show We Study Billionaires, The Investor’s Podcast Network has made a habit of chatting with the world’s best investors, like Ray Dalio, Joel Greenblatt, Howard Marks, and many more. With 100+ million downloads, they make podcasts by investors, for investors.

Now, they’re joining the newsletter space. Read The Investor’s Podcast Network’s full daily commentary and expert insights in the We Study Markets newsletter.

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6. Daily Visual: Change in Air Quality by Metro Area

2015-2021

_{Source: Axios}

7. Daily Acumen

Joseph Tussman once said, "The world would do most of the work for you, provided you cooperate with it by identifying how it really works and aligning with those realities."

What Tussman suggests is that achieving success is not just about working harder or putting in more effort, but rather it is about understanding how the world operates and working in harmony with it. In order to achieve this, we must first recognize that the world follows certain laws and principles that govern its function.

Once we understand these principles, we can align our thoughts, actions, and behaviors to fit within this framework. For instance, if we want to succeed in a certain industry, we must identify the key players, trends, and strategies that drive success in that field. We must then align our own skills, talents, and goals with those realities to achieve success.

By aligning with the realities of the world, we can set ourselves up for success. It's about working smarter, not harder. It's about recognizing that the world is not against us, but rather, it is waiting to work with us to achieve our goals. By doing so, we can save ourselves a lot of time and energy that would otherwise be wasted on trying to do everything ourselves.

8. Memes of the Day

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