Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 💉 The data on vaccine safety is in
• 🪫 EV demand is impacting the battery metals market
• 🤔 Social media + sponsored posts

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.89-minute read.

P.S. First time reading? Subscribe here for free.

“As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands. One for helping yourself, the other for helping others.”

–Sam Levenson (1911-1980)

Covid vaccines, which saved the lives of millions of people around the world, were linked to small increases in neurological, blood, and heart-related conditions, per a new US government-funded study that represents the largest global vaccine safety research to date.

The CDC- and HHS-backed study, which examined 99 million vaccinated individuals in eight countries for signs of certain medical conditions, focused on collecting and comparing patient data before vaccination and also 42 days after a Covid shot was administered.

• Myocarditis, aka inflammation of the heart, was consistently identified following a first, second, and third dose of the mRNA-based vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech.
• Researchers also found a statistically significant increase in cases of myocarditis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis – a type of blood clot in the brain – associated with either the first, second, or third dose of the Covid vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca (non-mRNA vaccines).

Point of note: the study didn’t monitor for symptoms of exercise intolerance, excessive fatigue, numbness, and brain fog identified in hundreds of adults experiencing chronic post-vaccination syndrome in a separate study conducted by the Yale School of Medicine.

Big picture: Overall, the data from the CDC- and- HHS- backed study indicates that the number of people who developed serious medical conditions after receiving the Covid shot was miniscule compared to the scope of the study. Out of the 99 million vaccinated individuals, researchers found that ~150,000 – ~20,000 more than expected – developed one of the 13 medical conditions included in the study after receiving the shot.

• A total of 13.5 billion Covid vaccine doses have been administered globally over the past three years, saving between 2.4 million and 14+ million lives, according to multiple studies.

💬 Bottom line: “Both things can be true. [Vaccines] can save millions of lives, and there can be a small number of people who’ve been adversely affected,” according to Dr. Harlan Krumholz, director of the Yale New Haven Hospital Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation.

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🇷🇺 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in prison. Navalny first rose to prominence over a decade ago by posting YouTube videos and speaking publicly about what he characterized as vast corruption and opulence among Russian elites under President Vladimir Putin’s government. Russian authorities claim the 47-year-old died of sudden death syndrome – a catch-all term for various causes of cardiac arrest – on Friday, while on a walk at the "Polar Wolf" Arctic penal colony where he was being held. Navalny’s widow, President Biden, and other Western world leaders blamed Navalny’s death on Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is also accused of trying to assassinate Navalny via poison in 2020.

🇯🇵 Japan successfully launched its new H3 rocket into orbit. As part of Saturday’s launch, which came nearly a year after the H3 rocket exploded in its initial launch attempt, Japan released two satellites aimed at securing independent access to space and remaining globally competitive. Japan’s new flagship H3 rocket is designed to carry larger payloads at a much lower cost than Japan’s previous generation of rockets.

🇪🇬 Egyptian officials canceled plans to renovate one of the ancient pyramids at Giza. Last month, archaeologists launched a three-year project to restore the outer layer of granite of Menkaure, the smallest of Egypt’s three main pyramids. A review committee scrapped the project last week, saying cement could damage Menkaure, and that it’s impossible to determine where each block had originally been.

The prices of metals used in batteries are declining, and lower-than-expected EV demand may be the culprit. According to data reported by the WSJ:

• The price of lithium carbonate – a raw material in batteries – fell 70% in 2023
• The price of cobalt dropped 25%
• Nickel prices decreased 45%

The reason for this drop is right out of Econ 101. When supply goes up and demand goes down, prices tend to mirror demand and decrease. And that’s what’s happening here.

Metal producers in recent years have ramped up new projects in order to supply the burgeoning EV industry – but EV demand from consumers has come in below expectations, leaving many of these producers in an unprofitable position, the WSJ reports. The result: lithium and nickel projects are increasingly being paused. Swiss mining and trading giant Glencore recently announced plans to suspend production at an unprofitable nickel mine and processing plant that provides more than 6% of the world’s supply.

Lower-than-expected EV demand is also impacting legislation. The Biden administration will reportedly soon ease vehicle-emission requirements through 2030 at the urging of automakers and the UAW, who say EV tech is still too costly for many mainstream consumers and that more time is needed to develop a charging infrastructure.

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💬 Quoted… “Human beings don’t make the best decisions at two o’clock in the morning. It’s clear as day – credit delinquencies spike right around 2 am.”

• People who shop between midnight and 4 am are often making riskier financial decisions and are more likely to default on loans, Michael Linford, CFO of buy-now, pay-later company Affirm, told CNBC in a recent interview – which should come as no surprise to anyone who’s ever drunk-purchased an impromptu flight to Europe after getting home from closing down the bar. But, while the data clearly shows these late-night financial decisions are riskier, the reasons why aren’t as clear. Experts posit that shoppers could be inebriated, or under financial or emotional duress and desperately seeking credit.

💪📈 Stat of the Day: The combined market cap of the so-called “Magnificent 7” companies – Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla – would make it the second-largest country stock exchange in the world, according to a new report from Deutsche Bank. These seven companies were responsible for a large portion of the S&P 500’s gains last year, and this level of concentration has led some analysts to voice concerns over related risks in the US and global stock market. It’s also given us an idea for the next off-the-wall Hollywood remake: A (Magnificent) League of Their Own. (To all the studio execs reading this – you’re welcome.)

🤔 Did You Know?... Nearly all influencers on social media (97%) promote products/services under commercial agreements (ex: sponsored posts). But, according to a new study by the European Union, only 20% of influencers systematically indicate that their commercial posts are ads – something that’s required under EU law. Be vigilant out there, folks🫡.

📰 Worth a Read: How a financial advice columnist got scammed out of $50K → (The Cut)

• ☝️ Japanese scientists recently built and tested a small, custom cube made of timber that would represent the world’s first wooden satellite; the project is aimed at reducing the toxic aluminum particles that enter Earth’s atmosphere when a typical satellite burns up.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Forecaster

• 💰 US markets closed down across the board on Friday (S&P: -0.5%; Dow: -0.4%; Nasdaq: -0.8%); all three major indexes ended a five-week winning streak.
• 💳🤝 Capital One is reportedly acquiring Discover in an all-stock deal worth $35.3 billion.
• 🎯 Target unveiled a new in-house brand called "dealworthy," which features 400 items aimed at cost-conscious consumers.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏀 NBA All-Star Game: The Eastern Conference beat the Western Conference 211-186 on Sunday night; it’s the first time a team has scored 200 points in a game in NBA history, with the combined total (397 points) also setting a new record; Damien Lillard and Matthew McClung both repeated as champions of the three-point and dunk contests, respectively.
• 🍿 One Love, the Bob Marley biopic musical, earned $52 million at the box office in its debut over the extended Valentine’s Day weekend; Madame Web starring Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney earned $26 million, marking Sony’s worst superhero debut.
• 🎶🥇 Ye’s Vultures 1, a joint LP with Ty Dolla $ign, debuted at the top of the Billboard 200; it’s the artist formerly known as Kanye West’s 11th No. 1 album.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with The Cold Life

• 🤖📹 OpenAI unveiled a new text-to-video tool named Sora, which can generate videos up to a minute long based on user prompts.
• 🐷 Japanese startup PorMedTec recently cloned three piglets with the purpose of having their organs be viable for transplantation to humans.
• ☄️ NASA said the material recovered from its OSIRIS-REx mission to the asteroid Bennu is double the amount it expected. (Background: When rocket scientists have to think inside the box.)

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MISCELLANEOUS

• ⚖️ Two juveniles were charged in connection with last week’s mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory parade that left one person dead and 22 others wounded.
• 🌬️✈️ Strong high-altitude winds over the Mid-Atlantic – measuring up to 265 mph – helped propel at least two passenger planes to supersonic speeds above 800 mph on Saturday night.
• 🗽 Former President Trump was ordered to pay $355 million in penalties after a New York judge found he systematically misrepresented his company's finances in loan applications; the civil ruling also bans Trump from running any businesses registered in New York for three years. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 💧📲 Did your iPhone get wet? Apple says rice isn’t the solution.

Here are five stats from this past week that made our team go “whoa.” Hopefully you will, too.

• 🏘️ The typical value of Black-owned US homes ($291,000) is 18% less than the typical value of white-owned homes ($354,000), per Zillow data. (Read more)
• 🍿📉 So far this year, movie ticket sales in the US and Canada are down 15% compared to the same period last year, and are 41% lower compared to pre-pandemic figures from 2020. (Read more)
• 🧑‍🌾🐖The average American farmer faced a loss of ~$32 for every pig sold last year. (Read more)
• 🧓🗓️ A record-high 4.1 million Americans will turn 65 years old this year. (Read more)
• 🏫🚗 In 2022, a majority of US students (53%) got dropped off at school or drove themselves in private cars, while 33% took the bus and 11% walked or biked to school. (Read more)

On Friday, we covered how former congressman Tom Suozzi (D) won a special New York House election to replace former NY Rep. George Santos (R), in an abortion- and immigration-focused race seen as a bellwether for the upcoming November elections.

❓ Our question to you: In your opinion, what’s the number one policy issue heading into the November elections?

• Immigration: 23%
• High cost of living/Economy in general: 20%
• Election integrity/Democracy: 17%
• Abortion: 12%
• Crime/Violence: 8%
• Foreign policy: 8%
• Mental health/Addiction: 6%
• Other: 6%

Click here to read some of the best longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 6,933 votes and 414 longform responses.

Jonathan Yacko, 36, and Natalie Gilliard, 34, moved to Vermont from Long Island a few years ago. 

But, while the couple loved their new home and sprawling backyard, there was one thing they hated: mowing the lawn. So they decided to plant some wildflowers instead.

Problem ⏩ Solution... Over the last three years, the couple's property has bloomed into one of the largest controlled wildflower meadows in the state. 

• Their flowers attract populations of honeybees, as well as tourists from all around the state.

💐 Bloom where you're planted: Natalie shared that the flowers also help connect the couple to their town, as well as make them feel more at home in Vermont. “The meadow became this wonderful way to develop new friendships and feel like we belonged to something and were part of a community."

Guess the definitions of the following Greek/Latin root words.

1. Anem
2. Cephal
3. Endo
4. Fum
5. Hypn

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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1. Anem = Wind (e.g., anemometer)
2. Cephal = Head (cephalic)
3. Endo = Inside (endocrine)
4. Fum = Smoke (fumigate)
5. Hypn = Sleep (hypnosis)