🍋 TikTok and Tank Tops

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Good Morning! If you're flying to or through Europe any time soon, it may be a more pleasant experience than you have in the states. Heathrow, is following Gatwick and Schiphol airports in capping daily passengers to control the chaos. Also in Europe, the euro hits parity with the US Dollar, aka the euro's lowest levels against the US Dollar since December 2002.

Speaking of falling currencies, crypto hedge fund, Three Arrows Capital, filed for bankruptcy on July 1, and now the cofounders are nowhere to be found. You will be able to find new CPI numbers today, in one of the most anticipated drops since Drake's last album. Unlike Drake's last album, the White House gave investors a heads up that they may not like what they get.

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1. Story of the Day: TikTok and Tank Tops

Just the same way you used to want to look like all the kids you saw on TV, with the Bump-Its, and the Heelys, and those sweet Life Alert necklaces, teens these days want to dress like the influencers they see on TikTok. It's also now easier than ever to fit in, as new styles are a dime a dozen, like e-girl, clean girl, Y2K, fairy-core, alt, mall goth, coconut girl (that can't be allowed,) and more.

This is great for the fast fashion industry, whose model of creating more items of lower quality, caters perfectly to all these TikToking teens that are constantly changing their minds. According to a survey of Gen Zers by Marketing Charts, 39% of the hip demographic was directly influenced to buy something after they saw it on TikTok.

The unfortunate side effect of this is that the production of these clothes grows annually by 2.7%, but 25% remains unsold, and less than 1% is recycled into new products, according to the 2021 State of Fashion report.

Nil Sani, a 19 year old lifestyle and fashion YouTuber said, "Influencers make their audiences believe they need to purchase specific items in order to achieve their look. If you don't have this shirt, these socks, this mirror, this room decor, then you won't embody this aesthetic." Wait, is Nil saying that the influence is a bad thing, or is she Mean Girling right now?

Short Squeez Takeaway: SMH... Gen Z probably doesn't even know what Mean Girl is. Just like I don't know what the "Coastal Grandmother" aesthetic is. Apparently though, it's a trend on TikTok where people are dressing up like bubbies at the beach to "exude sophistication."

2. Markets Rundown

All markets were lower with headline inflation expected to move higher today, and WTI crude oil falling yesterday to around the $95 level thanks to concerns regarding global demand.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Boeing ($BA) +7% after reporting that deliveries have reached their highest monthly level since 2019.

• (+) American Airlines ($AAL) +10% because of the company's updated second quarter guidance.

• (–) PriceSmart ($PSMT) -10% touching a 52-week low after earnings missed analyst expectations.

Private Dealmaking

• WeFox, German insurance start-up valued at $4.5 billion raises $400 million in funding

• SingleOps, a SaaS provider for green companies, raises $75 million

• Hidden Road, a crypto brokerage, raises $50 million in funding

• SingleStore, a cloud database provider, raises $40 million in funding

• Francisco Partners raises nearly $17 billion for technology-focused buyout funds

• Motive Partners, a fintech investing firm, raised $2.5 billion

3. Top Reads

• Climbing housing costs could provide more fuel for inflation (WSJ)

• Wall Street traders set for $27.8 billion haul amidst wild markets (BB)

• ‘Great Resignation’ spurred permanent changes (CNBC)

• Meta managers encouraged to identify, push out low performers (WSJ)

• Spotify buying Heardle, the music-themed wordle (CNBC)

• Musk lost interest in pretending to buy Twitter (BB)

• Robots aren’t done reshaping warehouses (NYTimes)

• Amazon launches cancer vaccine clinical trial (CNBC)

• Bill Ackman to wind up SPAC, return $4 billion to investors (Reuters)

• Walmart to electrify delivery fleet with Canoo EV’s (TechCrunch)

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4. Book of the Day: Good Arguments: How Debate Teaches Us to Listen and Be Heard

When Bo Seo was 8 years old, he and his family migrated from Korea to Australia. At the time, he did not speak English, and, unsurprisingly, struggled at school. But, then, in fifth grade, something happened to change his life: he discovered competitive debate.

Immediately, he was hooked. It turned out, perhaps counterintuitively, that debating was the perfect activity for someone shy and unsure of himself. It became a way for Bo not only to find his voice, but to excel socially and academically. And he’s not the only one. Far from it: presidents, Supreme Court justices, and CEOs are all disproportionally debaters.

This is hardly a coincidence. By tracing his own journey from immigrant kid to world champion, Seo shows how the skills of debating—information gathering, truth finding, lucidity, organization, and persuasion—are often the cornerstone of successful careers and happy lives.

Drawing insights from its strategies, structure, and history, Seo teaches readers the skills of competitive debate, and in doing so shows how they can improve their communication with friends, family, and colleagues alike.

He takes readers on a thrilling intellectual adventure into the eccentric and brilliant subculture of competitive debate, touching on everything from the radical politics of Malcom X to Artificial Intelligence. Seo proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that, far from being a source of conflict, good-faith debate can enrich our daily lives.

Indeed, these good arguments are essential to a flourishing democracy, and are more important than ever at a time when bad faith is all around, and our democracy seems so imperiled.

“I love argument, I love debate. I don't expect anyone just to sit there and agree with me, that's not their job.”

5. Short Squeez Picks

• Coinbase's stock is down 78% YTD with crypto markets imploding. But how much further can the stock fall? Model it out yourself! Daloopa is giving Short Squeez readers access to Coinbase's detailed financial model. Download COIN's Model for FREE here

• The power of part-time optimism

• The business lunch may go out of business

• Cruising is now cheaper than staying at a motel

• What private equity’s rise means for your stock investments

6. Daily Visual: US Stock Market Capitalization as % of GDP

Q1 1992 to Q2 2020

Source: Axios

7. Daily Acumen: The Failure Paradox

You have to fail more to succeed more.

Our greatest moments of growth often stem directly from our greatest failures.

Don’t fear failure, just learn to fail smart and fast.

Getting punched in the face builds a strong jaw.

Source: Sahil Bloom

8. Crypto Corner by Bonkalytics.com

• Bitcoin price indicator that marked 2015 and 2018 bottoms is flashing

• Founders of bankrupt crypto hedge fund go missing as investors try and reclaim assets

• Shrimps and whales keep Bitcoin afloat

• Crypto VC protagonist raises $100 million

• Capitulation ongoing but market not at the bottom yet

• Crypto is crashing. Where were the regulators?

For more crypto-focused content, sign-up here.

9. Memes of the Day

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