Good Morning! If you think hotel prices in the Hamptons are looking rough right now.. just wait. More and more NYC investment firms are snapping up properties and are poised to send rates even higher. Wall Street investors are spooked about a resurgence in U.S. Treasury yields. But good news for VC investors - pre-money valuations for U.S. startups in Q2 are showing signs of stabilization or even improvement after months of declining values (see chart below).

Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of its Vision Pro headsets. And the Federal Reserve's upcoming launch this month of FedNow, a system for instant payments, could potentially disrupt banks' reliance on customer cash.

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_{SQUEEZ OF THE DAY}

Slimming Shakeup

Weight-loss brands are shaking up how they’re targeting consumers. In the past, you’d go to Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig and pay for diet and exercise advice. But with the rise of drugs like Ozempic and other GLP-1s, companies are competing with each other to see who can offer the most efficient weight-loss medicine.

In a bold move to redefine their strategies, industry leaders like WeightWatchers are making strategic acquisitions, incorporating telehealth platforms that specialize in weight-loss drugs.

On the other hand, Jenny Craig, once a household name in the market, met its demise as the company liquidated just last month.

Meanwhile, on Wall Street, investors are eagerly eyeing the weight-loss treatment sector. With a staggering 40% of Americans classified as obese, the potential arrival of an effective weight-loss pill could revolutionize the entire industry - right now, drugs like Ozempic can only be injected.

Takeaway: Well-positioned companies like WeightWatchers can cash in provided they cater to consumer interests of wanting quick fixes even if they are not FDA-approved.

_{CAPITAL PULSE}

Markets Rundown

Stocks closed lower after mixed jobs data.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Rivian ($RIVN) +14% after WedBush raised its price target.

• (+) TG Therapeutics ($TGTX) +8% after Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated its overweight rating.

• (–) Levi Strauss ($LEVI) -8% after the clothing-maker cut its full-year profit forecast.

Private Dealmaking

• eFishery, an aquaculture startup, raised $200 million

• Bausch + Lomb bought Blink, an eye and contact lens drop brand, for $106.5 million

• Benchmark Space Systems, an in-space propulsion solutions developer, raised $33.2 million

• NVision Imaging, a developer of MRI technology, raised $30 million

• Steadily, a landlord insurance startup, raised $28.5 million

• Leap, a retail-as-a-service platform, raised $15 million

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_HEADLINES

Top Reads

• Tom Brady lost $30M from FTX collapse (YF)

• Yellen says world is big enough for both U.S. and China (CNN)

• Threads explodes to 70M sign-ups in its first day (CNBC)

• Economist sees potential rally in housing market (YF)

• Soft corporate-earnings season poses next test for stock market rally (WSJ)

• The US economy can’t function effectively without UPS (CNN)

• Threads won’t kill Twitter if it’s boring (Vox)

• Tesla’s China price truce shows it’s willing to abide by new rules (YF)

• TikTok’s $20B plan to succeed where Instagram failed (BB)

• Why China has a giant pile of debt (NYT)

_{BOOK OF THE DAY}

For The Culture

We all try to influence others in our daily lives. Whether you are a manager motivating your team, an employee making a big presentation, an activist staging a protest, or an artist promoting your music, you are in the business of getting people to take action.

In For the Culture, Marcus Collins argues true cultural engagement is the most powerful vehicle for influencing behavior. If you want to get people to move, you must first understand the underlying cultural forces that make them tick.

Collins uses stories from his own work as an award-winning marketer—from spearheading digital strategy for Beyoncé, to working on Apple and Nike collaborations, to the successful launch of the Brooklyn Nets NBA team—to break down the ways in which culture influences behavior and how readers can do the same.

With a deep perspective, and built on a century’s worth of data, For the Culture gives readers the tools they need to inspire collective change by leveraging the cheat codes used by some of the biggest brands in the world. This is the only book you’ll need if you want to influence people to take action.

"An engrossing book that will make you better at any job.”

_{ENLIGHTENMENT}

Short Squeez Picks

• 5 books to make you smarter about money

• 3 things people with high emotional intelligence do when talking to others

• What’s the deal with ginger shots

• 6 science-backed ways to improve your well-being at work

• The biggest mistake when planning for retirement

• 42 of the best cheap home decor from Amazon

_{DAILY VISUAL}

Signs of Hope for Late-Stage Valuations

Median pre-money start-up valuations

_{Source: Axios}

_{DAILY ACUMEN}

The Three Questions

A king wanted to know the answers to three important questions: When is the right time to do something? Who are the right people to listen to? And, what is the most important thing to do?

The king asked wise men throughout his kingdom, but no one could give him satisfactory answers. One day, he met a hermit in the forest who claimed to know the answers.

The hermit said, "The right time is now, the right people are those you are with, and the most important thing to do is to help the person in front of you."

This story teaches us the importance of being present and mindful. It reminds us to focus on the present moment, be attentive to the people around us, and prioritize acts of kindness and service.

_{MEME-A-PALOOZA}

Memes of the Day