Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 💋 Younger Americans are increasingly embracing offline dating
• 🚗 GM wants to use Costco to sell more EVs
• 🏏 The Miracle on Grass

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.99-minute read (1,328 words).

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"Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."

Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962)

A growing number of US teens and young adults are cutting URLs out of their dating life and switching to IRL.

According to a new report from event management platform Eventbrite, more young Americans are turning to in-person events in order to meet potential romantic partners.

• Attendance at dating and singles events on Eventbrite has more than doubled over the past two years, including a 49% jump from May 2023 to April 2024.
• The company says its research found relationship-seeking Gen Z and millennials are moving away from dating apps, and instead see places like coffee shops, bookstores, dance/cooking classes, and painting workshops as ideal spots to meet potential partners.

The trend comes amid increasing complaints of dating app burnout. A recent Forbes Health study found 79% of Gen Z and 80% of millennials report feeling fatigued by dating apps, outpacing all other generations.

• A separate report, published last October by Axios and Generation Lab, found 79% of college students and other Gen Zers don’t use any dating apps, instead opting for in-person meet-cutes to find romantic partners.

Over on Wall Street, younger Americans’ growing interest in offline dating has coincided with a recent downturn for the two major dating app players: Bumble and Match Group (which owns Tinder, Hinge, Match.com, and other platforms). Bumble’s shares have fallen 34% over the past year, while Match’s have dropped 23%.

Yes, but: Despite growing enthusiasm for meeting romantic partners IRL, dating apps are still one of the most popular ways to find a match. An estimated 10% of all partnered adults met their current significant other online, including 20% of Americans under 30, per the most recent Pew data.

📊 Flash poll: Which of the following best describes your relationship status? (FYI: there is one follow-up question.)

• Married
• In a relationship but not married
• Single and looking for a partner
• Single and not looking for a partner
• Other

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💥 Israel-Hamas war: An Israeli military operation on Saturday led to the rescue of four Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, with one reported death of an Israeli soldier and conflicting reports on Palestinian casualties. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says at least 274 Palestinians were killed and 698 injured, which would mark one of Gaza’s deadliest days in months, while Israeli officials dispute those numbers and say the estimated death toll was “under 100.” Neither figure has been independently verified.

🇰🇷 North Korea resumed sending trash-filled balloons into South Korea, prompting retaliation. North Korea flew 300+ trash-filled balloons across its southern border on Saturday, representing Pyongyang’s third such campaign since late May. In response, South Korean officials on Sunday positioned dozens of high-powered speakers near North Korea and began broadcasting anti-regime messages up to 12 miles across the border.

🍬 US sugar tariffs are driving candy manufacturers north into Canada. In recent years, three major US candy manufacturers – Hershey, Blommer Chocolate Company, and Oreo-maker Mondelez – have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to expand their Canadian operations and shift some production away from the US. Analysts largely attribute the trend to decades-old US regulations governing raw materials needed by the candy industry, which are intended to protect farmers and prevent foreign countries from flooding the US with sugar – but critics say they’re also keeping American sugar prices artificially high, at ~2x the average global price.

GM has a secret weapon it believes will help it sell more EVs – Costco, which apparently does sell everything.

Background: The discount retailer with samples that draw people from miles around has also shown its ability to move cars.

Costco Auto has facilitated 500,000+ vehicle sales annually over the past five years on average, a figure equal to 3+% of all vehicles sold in the US each year. It’s also more than the annual sales of large publicly traded dealer groups like Lithia Motors and AutoNation.

How GM fits in: Costco Auto isn’t a traditional dealer – instead, it acts as a facilitator for franchised dealers and automakers, offering special prices to Costco members on top of other rebates and incentives.

• GM is increasingly using Costco Auto to move EVs, as it works to expand from niche to mass-market segments with vehicles like the Chevrolet Equinox.
• GM North America President Marissa West said in a recent CNBC interview that she sees EVs as a “huge opportunity” to expand the automaker’s reach with Costco’s 50+ million US members.

📸 Big picture: While some automakers like Ford and Volkswagen are scaling back their EV ambitions, others like Hyundai and GM are aggressively introducing affordable EV models to build economies of scale, Bloomberg reports. Electric vehicles accounted for ~8% of the automotive industry’s 15.5 million vehicles sold in the US last year.

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“I would say it’s a big day for Team USA and for the USA cricket community too.”

• Late last week, the upstart US cricket team defeated powerhouse Pakistan at the T20 World Cup in Dallas, a victory many analysts are calling America’s biggest upset on the international stage since USA Hockey’s “Miracle on Ice” in 1980. Pakistan, which reached the finals in the last T20 World Cup in 2022, was heavily favored over the American squad, which is making its first appearance in the tournament. Team USA’s roster also features many athletes who don't play cricket full-time – including Saurabh Netravalkar, a hero of the Pakistan win, who works as a software engineer at Oracle. And while many Americans were unable to watch the match live, the ensuing upset probably elicited a sly fist-pump from the International Cricket Council, which selected the US to co-host its first T20 World Cup partly in hopes that it would spark more American interest in the sport (alongside the newly established Major League Cricket pro league).

⚖️⏳ Stat of the Day: The end of the Supreme Court’s current term is less than a month away – and, similar to every school-related group project ever, Justices seem to be putting off all the hard work until the last minute. According to Adam Feldman, creator of the Empirical Scotus blog, the Court is currently completing decisions at its slowest rate since the 1946 term, with justices yet to issue rulings in nearly half the cases remaining on their docket. And many Americans are waiting with bated breath: These 29 pending cases cover some of the most contentious topics in US society, including decisions on abortion, gun rights, online speech, and the federal prosecution of former President Trump.

🤔 Did You Know? We’re all technically living in the middle of an ice age. Scientists have found evidence of five major ice ages on Earth over the past several billion years, with the most recent one starting ~3 million years ago and continuing through the current era.

📰 Worth a Read: Have wine for breakfast, put on a 51-pound suit, and head to battle in the name of research → (NY Times)

• ☝️ The Olympic Rings – weighing a collective 30 tons – were unveiled on the Eiffel Tower on Saturday, in a ceremony marking 50 days until the start of the Summer Games in Paris.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with The Motley Fool

• 💰 US markets fell across the board on Friday (S&P: -0.1%; Dow: -0.2%; Nasdaq: -0.2%). | 💼 The US economy added 272,000 jobs in May, above the 180,000 expected by economists; unemployment came in at 4%, up from 3.9% in April.
• 🐱 Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty, hosted his first livestream in three years on Friday. | 🎮 GameStop shares dropped ~40% on the day following the company’s earlier announcement that sales fell in the first quarter and that it was selling more stock.
• 🍎 Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference kicks off this morning; the tech giant is expected to announce new AI features and Siri upgrades in its upcoming iOS 18.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🍿 Bad Boys: Ride or Die earned a better-than-expected $56 million in its opening weekend at the domestic box office; the film earned $104.6 million globally.
• 🎾 French Open: Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz defeated Alexander Zverev in five sets to win the men’s championship, marking his third Grand Slam overall; on the women’s side, Poland’s Iga Swiatek defeated Jasmine Paolini to win her third straight French Open.
• 🏀 NBA Finals: The Boston Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks 105-98 last night to take a 2-0 series lead. | 🏒 Stanley Cup Finals: The Florida Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers 3–0 on Saturday to take Game 1. | 🏀 Caitlin Clark was left off Team USA's women basketball roster for the upcoming Paris Olympics. 

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Tugboat

• 🌎 Fresh water and dry land – two key ingredients for the creation of life – existed on Earth at least 4 billion years ago, or 500 million years earlier than previously thought, per a new study.
• 🔇 MIT scientists developed a razor-thin silk fabric that dampens noise by ~75%; it can be incorporated into curtains to sound-proof homes and offices.
• 🗺️ Researchers developed the first comprehensive map of the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a massive offshore fault running from California to Canada that could eventually cause “The Big One” (a mega-earthquake that reshapes the US West Coast).

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🎓 Stanford is reinstating the SAT or ACT as a requirement for undergraduate admission, joining several other top schools that recently made a similar decision.
• 🚢 The Port of Baltimore is expected to fully reopen within the next few days, after the last piece of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge is removed from the water.
• 🇫🇷 French President Emmanuel Macron unexpectedly dissolved the lower house of parliament and announced new upcoming elections; the move came after Macron’s party lost to the opposing conservative party this weekend in an election to determine France’s EU representatives. | 🇮🇳 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in for a third term.

CLICKBAIT

• 😋 World's 50 best restaurants.

Monday: National Iced Tea Day

Tuesday: Non-presidential primary elections in Maine, Nevada, North Dakota, and South Carolina

Wednesday: Inflation data out; Fed announces interest rate decision

Thursday: World leaders gather in Italy for the G7 summit; shareholders wil vote on Tesla CEO Elon Musk's $56 billion pay package; Golf's US Open begins

Friday: Flag Day; Euro 2024 soccer tournament kicks off

On Friday, we covered how former President Trump’s 2024 campaign has requested information from eight top potential VPs in recent weeks, with his shortlist reportedly containing four candidates.

❓ Our question to you: If the November election were held today, who would you vote for?

• 🔵 President Biden: 44%
• 🔴 Former President Trump: 30%
• 3️⃣ Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: 9%
• 3️⃣ A different third-party candidate: 7%
• 🔞 I’m too young/I don’t vote: 4%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 6%

Click here to read the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Added context: DONUT subscribers are predominantly Gen Z or millennials.

+Note on sample size: We received 4,508 votes and 515 longform responses.

Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka is no stranger to athletic success. The politician represented Fiji in the decathlon at the 1974 Commonwealth Games, and also played rugby for his country.

Last week, the 75-year-old won a bronze medal at the Oceania Athletics Championships, finishing third in the 75-79 shot-put category.

• “It was indeed a morale booster for me," shared the prime minister. "Even at 75, I hope to inspire the younger generation to develop a habit of keeping fit and staying healthy." 

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

1. Cardin
2. Emul
3. Foss
4. Gram
5. Leg

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1. Cardin = Hinge (e.g., cardinal)
2. Emul = Rivaling (emulate)
3. Foss = Dig (fossil)
4. Gram = Writing (grammar)
5. Leg = Send (relegate)