Happy Fourth of July! As the long weekend kicks off with fireworks and parades, the real spectacle for many will be whether Joey Chestnut, the undisputed GOAT of hotdog eating contests, will cut the mustard when he returns to Nathan's today after a year-long ban. Today we're exploring: |
- State of the Union: How the US economy is holding up, in six charts.
- Teen spirits: Gen Z is drinking more alcohol, but underage adolescents are still abstaining.
- DDOG days: Datadog just got added to the S&P 500.
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As America celebrates Independence Day, the US economy is powering along |
As you settle in for your second, third — or maybe 70th if your name is Joey Chestnut — hot dog today, you may find yourself unwittingly entered into a conversation about the economy. To arm you for such an event, here's some data: |
The reality is that, despite a slew of weak economic data — particularly soft data like surveys and sentiment polls — which spooked investors in the springtime, the world's largest economy has chugged along just fine. And yesterday's official labor market data showed that the country added another 147,000 jobs in June. In fact, unemployment fell to just 4.1%, with trade uncertainties yet to meaningfully dent the economic data. Of course, there are always risks. The "wall of worry" that investors have had to climb to get comfortable investing has been pretty substantial — with ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, continued trade uncertainty, and growing unease over the size of the federal deficit. Even AI is a double-edged sword, with companies starting to make very real cuts to their workforces. But dip-buyers, both retail and institutional, can't seem to kick the habit, leaving the S&P 500 Index at a record high just in time for America's birthday. |
So, do the kids like to drink alcohol or not? |
The rise of a "clean living," alcohol-free generation of young people has been much reported as shifting attitudes toward drinking, declining in-person socialization, and spiking interest in sober-curiosity, including "Dry January," have all become associated with Gen Z. But new research suggests that once today's youth reach their 21st birthday and enter the working world, they become partial to a tipple. According to an IWSR survey for 2025 reported by the Financial Times on Wednesday, 73% of Gen Z respondents (from legal drinking age to 27 years) said they had consumed alcohol in the past six months, up noticeably on the 66% recorded in 2023. Still, the Gen Z cohort below legal drinking age is increasingly less prone to rebelling by hitting the bottle. |
A national survey conducted by the University of Michigan found that the proportion of 17- to 18-year-olds in the US who reported drinking alcohol in the last year had fallen to 42% in 2024. That follows a broad downward trend that's been observed since the '90s across all groups of teen respondents. |
The drop in risky behaviors — with studies showing that adolescents in many high-income countries are steering clear of alcohol, drugs, sex, and smoking — suggests that some members of the younger generation have taken the "you only live once" millennial mantra in its most conservative interpretation. Another explanation is that Gen Z is perhaps not so much "clean" as they are image-conscious in an age of social media. And, when they do decide to drink, there's evidence suggesting that young people are consuming smaller quantities of higher-quality drinks, with a Vogue Business feature published Tuesday saying that members of Gen Z "drink less, post more, and prefer their cocktails canned, collabed and content-friendly." |
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Datadog is now in the S&P 500. These big stocks still aren't. |
Cloud-monitoring software provider Datadog surged 15% on Thursday, following the news that it will be added to the S&P 500 Index on July 9, replacing Juniper Networks. Datadog's addition marks another win for the tech sector, which has steadily expanded its footprint in America's flagship index, with companies like DoorDash, Workday, Palantir, Dell, and Super Micro Computer added in recent reshuffles. |
With trillions of dollars invested in ETFs that track the index, getting your company into the S&P 500 is a big deal. So how do you join the club? One common misconception is that it's simply the largest 500 stocks — but the criteria that Standard and Poor's evaluates are a little more complex. To qualify, companies must meet eligibility factors including a market cap of at least $22.7 billion, a minimum of 12 months trading on a US exchange, and specific structural, profitability, and liquidity requirements. DDOG checks all the boxes, now with a $53.6 billion market cap (after yesterday's rise) — but what are the biggest names that so far haven't been called up? |
Topping the list is AppLovin, the ad-tech company that became one of Wall Street's darlings last year, followed by bitcoin-hoarding machine MicroStrategy. A little further down the list is Robinhood, CoreWeave, Snowflake, and Roblox. Despite trailing the broader tech sector this year, Wall Street remains bullish on Datadog's long-term growth, particularly in the AI space. In June, Bank of America analysts named it their top software pick for the second half of 2025, citing its ability to sustain 20%+ revenue growth in the years ahead. |
Disclosure: Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media and Chartr Limited, which are independently operated media companies. |
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- Microsoft is slashing 9,000 jobs, with its Xbox division hit hard by the cuts.
- New data from PitchBook found that 53% of all global venture capital dollars invested in the first half of 2025 went to AI startups.
- Travel rush: Tripadvisor stock surged more than 16% on Thursday after the Wall Street Journal reported that an activist investor built a stake in the travel company.
- Today is gonna be the day that the long-awaited Oasis reunion tour starts in Cardiff, with the Brit rock duo playing their first show together in 16 years.
- Couple goals? As the Women's Euro 2025 soccer championship gets underway, two players that have been together for 11 years will face off in the Denmark-Sweden game later.
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- Which decade saw the greatest shift in mainstream music?
- On the UK's hottest day of the year, Google searches for "fan" far surpassed queries related to another, er, heat-centric service — "onlyfans".
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Off the charts: Pixar's latest effort, "Elio," bombed at the box office, notching the studio's worst ever opening weekend. But which Pixar movie has had the best debut? [Answer below]. |
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Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... See more |
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