The Daily Upside

Politics

The Ever-Trickier Geopolitics of Being Elon Musk

Photo by Ministry of Communications of Brazil via CC BY 2.0

Elon Musk’s fight with Brazil has highlighted how his interlocking array of companies can put him in a difficult geopolitical spot.

2 min read

Today’s Upside

Recent News

Industrials

Deep-Sea Oxygen Discovery is a Big Problem for Deep-Sea Mining

Photo by Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement via Public Domain Mark 1.0

A recent study adds more ammunition to the idea that disturbing the sea floor via deep sea mining could do serious ecological damage.

2 min read
Big Tech

Silicon Valley Gears Up for Crucial Earnings Week

Photo by Anthony Quintano via CC BY 2.0

Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta all report earnings this week. Wall Street is dying for any hint that heavy investment in AI is paying off.

2 min read
ETFs

The Vanguard Patent Shaking Up the Fund Industry

Photo illustration by Connor Lin / The Daily Upside, Photo via Freepik

Nearly 50 years ago, Vanguard disrupted the investing world by launching the first index fund for individual investors. Now comes the sequel.

5 min read
Technology

Online Education Provider 2U Files for Bankruptcy

Photo by Katerina Holmes via Pexels

Pioneering online education company 2U filed for bankruptcy, even as the public writ large has gradually embraced online learning.

2 min read
International Economics

Paris Olympics Begin With Economic Promise and Peril

Photo by Anne Jea via CC BY-SA 4.0

Hosting the Olympic games is supposed to be an economic boon for any city. Early metrics, however, show Paris might not be so lucky.

2 min read
Media & Entertainment

Universal Music Feels the Sting from Streaming Saturation

Photo by Paolo V via CC BY 2.0

Taylor Swift may be signed to the label, but Universal Music Group somehow can’t find a way to make its business work.

2 min read
FA Upside

Going Under the Hood of Buffer ETFs

Photo illustration by Connor Lin / The Daily Upside, Photo by Tohamina via Freepik

Buffer ETFs have quickly gained momentum with 200 funds currently trading on US markets with about $37 billion in aggregate assets.

5 min read
Patent Drop

Philips’ AI Ultrasound Patent Could Help Solve Healthcare Data Problem

Photo via U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

A patent for generative neural network-based ultrasounds from medical device firm Philips could provide more data to develop AI innovations throughout…

2 min read
Patent Drop

Salesforce’s Model Tester Adds to Firm’s DIY AI Toolkit

Photo via U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Salesforce wants chatbots to expect the unexpected with the latest patent for it’s DIY AI toolkit.

2 min read
Patent Drop

Neuralink Pairing Patent Protects Against Brain Cyber Attacks

Photo via U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Neuralink wants to protect implants from interference.

2 min read
Technology

CrowdStrike Explains Just What the Heck Happened

Photo by Reivax via CC BY 2.0

CrowdStrike offered a candid assessment of what led to the largest outage of the computer age, affecting 8.5 million computers.

1 min read
Healthcare

RSV Vaccines Lose Some Shine for Big Pharma

Photo by Mathurin Napoly via Unsplash

Pfizer, Moderna, and GlaxoSmithKline are developing vaccines for RSV to fill the gap on their balance sheets.

1 min read
Economics

US Economy Trending Toward ‘Goldilocks’ Scenario: S&P Global

Photo by Andy Feliciotti via Unsplash

S&P Global’s US Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index shows business activity grew the fastest in over two years this month.

1 min read
FA Upside

RIA Deals Hit Sizable Peak in Q2

Photo by Sora Shimazaki via Pexels

The heightened RIA deal activity points to optimism for cheaper financing in the future as firms get ready for Federal Reserve rate cuts.

2 min read
FA Upside

Janney Montgomery Scott Sold in Major PE Deal

Photo via Connor Lin / The Daily Upside

Janney will be sold from the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, marking another major equity deal in a busy year for the industry.

1 min read
FA Upside

Ethereum ETFs Impress in Debut. Will Advisors Care?

Photo by Kanchanara via Unsplash

A recent survey found most clients aren’t interested in having conversations about crypto, which could cap the funds’ impact on the industry.

2 min read
Autos

GM Pulls the Plug on Driverless, Brake Pedal-less, Steering Wheel-less Robotaxi

Photo by Michael Vi via iStock

General Motors shares tumbled after the company said its driverless taxi division, Cruise, will suspend production of the Origin robotaxi.

1 min read
Energy

Shell Backs Off Offshore Wind

Photo by Jesse De Meulenaere via Unsplash

Shell has started to shop around for buyers to offload its stake in an offshore wind project off the coast of Scotland.

1 min read
Artificial Intelligence

Meta Turns to an Old Strategy to Boost New AI Business

Photo by Anthony Quintano via CC BY 2.0

Meta debuted the latest version of Llama, its large-language model. Unlike rival ChatGPT, Llama is open source.

2 min read
Consumer

Airlines Have Finally Hit a Ceiling on Fares

Photo by Nastya Dulhiier via Unsplash

Ryanair said it had seen its profits take a 46% nosedive, and would have to offer “materially lower” airfares for the busy summer period.

1 min read