Labubus are coming to the big screen, according to Sony Pictures and Chinese toy giant Pop Mart, which may or may not be a box office win — here are the top-grossing films based on real-life toys. However, even a smash hit doesn’t necessarily translate into more toy sales. While “Barbie” tops the list, Mattel’s Barbie sales declined for four consecutive quarters prior to the release of the movie, and got only a short bump after. Stocks sank and oil prices rose on Friday as the war in the Middle East escalated, with the US deploying more troops and warships. All stocks in the Magnificent 7 fell for the second consecutive day. Financials was the best-performing sector. The S&P 500 closed lower for the fourth consecutive week. The Russell 2000 officially entered correction territory. 🏀 Take a shot at our Snacks Seven Quiz. Here’s the first question: |
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What’s happening this week: |
- Monday: January construction spending. Earnings expected from WeRide
- Tuesday: Earnings expected from GameStop
- Wednesday: Earnings expected from Chewy and Beyond Meat
- Thursday: Earnings expected from Pony AI and BitGo
- Friday: March Consumer Sentiment (final). Earnings expected from Carnival Cruises
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| “My companies are, surprisingly in some ways, trending towards convergence,” Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI CEO Elon Musk wrote on his social media platform, X, back in November after a shareholder vote for Tesla to invest in xAI fell short. Musk may already be telling us how his empire looks inside his mind: less a collection of companies than a single integrated system. The reasons it makes sense are becoming too numerous to ignore, and the convergence Musk described is already underway. So why not just merge Tesla and SpaceX and make it official? |
- At Tesla, though it still acts like a high-growth company, its main revenue engine — car sales — and overall revenue are shrinking. Musk has acknowledged that Tesla’s future isn’t EVs, and he even moved to cut two of Tesla’s models from production recently.
- Enter SpaceX, whose satellite internet business is booming and which is exploring other lucrative revenue streams.
- Its valuation is surging: it was valued at $1.25 trillion last month, and now there’s speculation it could seek a valuation higher than $1.75 trillion.
- If Tesla were to swallow up SpaceX, it could again become a growth story. (Or at least its stagnating car sales could be masked by stashing them among a growing business line.)
- A merger wouldn’t just be about strategy; it would also enhance Musk’s control. He owns a much larger stake in SpaceX than he does in Tesla. In a stock deal, that ownership would convert into additional Tesla shares, increasing his influence over the combined company and giving him a firmer grip on its direction.
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“My contrarian belief is I don’t think SpaceX will IPO,” SPAC king Chamath Palihapitiya said on his podcast last month. “I think that it will reverse merge into Tesla, and I think Elon will use it as a moment to consolidate control and power of his two seminal assets into one cap table.” Just after we published this piece, Musk announced that his giant Terafab chip project would be — you’ll never guess — run jointly by Tesla and SpaceX. |
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Consolidating power and control sure sounds like Musk — he combined Tesla and SolarCity in 2016, he combined X and xAI in March 2025, and he combined xAI and SpaceX just last month. And don’t forget: during the process of merging xAI and SpaceX, Bloomberg reported that SpaceX and Tesla were also considering a merger. And there may be no better regulatory environment for merging these two giant companies than now. The current administration is vocally hands-off on regulation, and it’s run by Donald Trump, who remains a pal of Musk’s despite their tiffs. |
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Surf Air Mobility and BETA Technologies Partner To Bring Electric Aircraft to Commercial Passengers |
Electric aviation may soon be taking off for US passengers. Surf Air Mobility (NYSE: SRFM) has partnered with BETA Technologies (NYSE: BETA) in a milestone move with the goal of launching the first commercial electric passenger airline service in the United States. BETA's proven ALIA electric aircraft, with over 100,000 nautical miles flown,1 will pair with SRFM's operational expertise, existing network, and passenger base, creating the pathway for a commercial electric aviation launch with depth and demand. SRFM plans to initially deploy BETA aircraft for cargo operations in Hawaii, then transition to passenger service after certification of BETA's passenger-configured ALIA CTOL aircraft — with demo cargo flights planned to start this year. BETA’s broad product roadmap will also give Surf Air Mobility flexibility to serve on-demand charter missions in the future. The future of flying awaits. Visit surfair.com to learn more. |
1 Source: BETA Technologies / Surf Air Mobility press release, March 12, 2026. This is a paid advertisement for Surf Air Mobility, Inc. |
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Stories we’re obsessed with |
- A Stitch in Figma’s side: Since the Iran war started, risky assets have been in the crosshairs, but one port of refuge has been software stocks. Shares of Adobe, Workday, Salesforce, and the like have been a relatively safe haven in the chaos — so why has Figma been an exception? Figma is far from the “cash cow” stage of its life, but it also faces a new challenge from Google as it debuts “vibe designing” by Stitch.
- China’s EV triple triumph: Chinese EV startups Nio, Li Auto, and XPeng are, as of Friday, all profitable, a stark contrast to the startups in the EV market in the US. Rivian just quietly delayed its 2027 profitability target in a filing, and rival Lucid recently cut 12% of its US workforce as part of its “path toward profitability,” which seems like a distant horizon. Still, it’s not a clear forecast for the Chinese market, either…
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Last Tuesday, in a stark and much-needed reminder not only of the metaverse’s existence, but also of its prolonged disassembly, Meta announced that it would be pulling Horizon Worlds, its metaverse social network, from its VR headsets. By Wednesday, the company’s plans had changed. Again. The book of Big Tech ideas gone bad |
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Surf Air Mobility Is Making Strides In Electric Aviation — Powered By New Partnership With BETA Technologies |
Surf Air Mobility (NYSE: SRFM) is partnering with BETA Technologies (NYSE: BETA) to launch the first US commercial electric passenger airline, once certified — combining a proven electric aircraft with an existing airline operator. For SFRM, it’s more than a plane order. Pending certification, Surf Air Mobility plans to establish exclusive MRO service centers for BETA aircraft and eventually deploy this ground support infrastructure across its network, positioning SRFM at the center of the electric aviation ecosystem. Visit surfair.com. |
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- ⛽ Gasoline: Gas prices seem almost assured to finish the month north of $4.00 per gallon nationwide, with prediction markets* pricing in a 95% chance they finish March above $4.00, an 85% chance they finish north of $4.10, and even a one-in-three chance they finish above $4.30.
- 📊 Inflation: Because goods usually need to go on trucks in order to get from the place they are made to the place they are sold, those gas prices are going to potentially turn up the temperature on inflation. The market-implied chance we see the April CPI number come in above 0.3% has risen sharply, from 26% before the war was launched to 87% now. Markets are even pricing in a 47% chance April CPI comes in above 0.6%, and a 17% chance that it comes in red-hot at 1%. Similar numbers are also being seen for May and June inflation prints.
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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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- Surf Air Mobility aims to be the first in the US to offer commercial passengers an electric airline service. Now partnered with BETA Technologies and their proven ALIA all-electric aircraft, Surf Air Mobility is a step closer to take-off. Learn more.
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Advertiser's disclosures:
Stock markets are volatile and can fluctuate significantly in response to company, industry, political, regulatory, market, or economic developments. Investing in stock involves risks, including the loss of principal. Before investing, carefully assess whether a particular stock aligns with your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and financial situation. This is a paid advertisement for Surf Air Mobility, Inc. |
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