First OpenAI killed Sora, and now it seems Sam Altman has realized that a ChatGPT “adult mode” is… not the best idea. Per a report from late last week, investors and staff raised concerns that offering an erotica-generating AI model doesn’t exactly align with the company’s stated mission to “ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.” Bets are open on which side quest gets killed next. The ongoing Mideast war continued to leave investors jittery on Friday and unwilling to hold stocks over the weekend. The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 all suffered heavy losses, with the tech-heavy gauge down nearly 2% as front-month West Texas Intermediate futures climbed toward $100 per barrel. Since the conflict began, the final two trading days of the week have been the worst for the S&P 500, with the steepest drops coming on Fridays, as you can see in this chart. 🧠 Think you know a lot about futures? Prove it by acing our Futures Final. Here’s the first question: |
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What’s happening this week: |
- Monday: Earnings expected from Fermi; Fed Chair Powell to speak
- Tuesday: Earnings expected from Nike, McCormick, and FactSet; JOLTS job openings (February), consumer confidence (March)
- Wednesday: Earnings expected from ConAgra, Lamb Weston, Cal-Maine, RH, and Tilray
- Thursday: Initial jobless claims
- Friday: Markets closed for Good Friday; US employment report released
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Crocs spent $10 million to buy a company that made tiny plastic charms. Now it’s pumping out $250 million in yearly revenue. |
Being a shareholder of Crocs, the maker of the clunky foam footwear that people love to hate, has been anything but comfortable in recent years. One reason the company keeps coming back from the dead is its high margins: when you sell somewhat pricey products made of your own proprietary foam (known as Croslite), you’re generally able to turn more of your revenue to profit. On that front, Crocs is well ahead of its competitors, and part of the reason is likely Jibbitz. |
- Jibbitz are colorful charms that can be popped into the holes in Crocs to turn the shoe into a branded demonstration of their wearers’ obsessions.
- Branded Jibbitz can be bought for everything from licensed pop culture characters and sports team logos to tiny food items, animals, initials, gemstones, and travel icons dangling off the same pair of clogs. Crocs bought the family-owned business Jibbitz in 2006 for $10 million in cash.
- The charms are generally sold in multipacks at the likes of Foot Locker but are also available online, and cost between $3 and $5 per widget. Around three in four Crocs buyers end up buying Jibbitz to make their clogs their own, the company told CNBC.
- They’re a steadily growing part of Crocs’ business: Jibbitz accounted for around $260 million to $270 million in sales last year, CEO Andrew Rees implied in the company’s Q4 2025 update in mid-February.
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At a June 2025 event, Rees said that there are three big platforms within the company: clogs, sandals, and “personalization, which is our Jibbitz.”Clogs are — at least in the United States — a mature market, Rees said. “Almost everybody has a pair,” he said. “Everybody’s kids have a pair. They have multiple pairs, and we think that’s well penetrated.” As a result, Rees added, the company wasn’t likely to see much high growth out of that area of the business. |
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Jibbitz are cheap to make, easy to impulse-buy, and keep customers spending long after they’ve bought the shoes. It’s extremely high-margin, and historically accounted for about 8% of all Crocs sales. The tiny tchotchkes are so crucial to the future growth of Crocs that the company is starting to “Jibbitize” other products it plans to sell this year, according to Barclays analysts who attended a product review hosted by the company last year. There they saw opportunities to add the charms to bags and other products Crocs plans to sell. |
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Stories we’re obsessed with |
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- 🌱 Fertilizer: While gas prices are the most immediate thing on consumers’ minds related to the spiking price of oil — traders are pricing in a 60% chance* that gas hits $7 a gallon or higher in California this year — keep an eye on the price of fertilizer, which consumers will feel sooner rather than later. The per-ton price of urea 46-0-0 hit $999.68 last week, up $134 week over week, and markets are pricing in pain, with a 59% chance the average price for the year hits $1,200 or higher.
- 📊 Texas: Despite an earlier suspicion that President Trump would endorse incumbent Texas Sen. John Cornyn as the primary heads to a runoff against Attorney General Ken Paxton, last week markets came around to the idea that no endorsement appears forthcoming, which in turn sent Paxton rocketing back into pole position, with a 72% chance of becoming the nominee, up from a low of 12% the day after the primary.
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*Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC. |
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