Presented by

Krispy Kreme is leaning on some of America’s biggest retailers in a bid to make sure its doughnuts aren’t the only dough it’s making. CEO Josh Charlesworth said it’s focusing on distribution partnerships with Walmart, Target, Costco, and others to boost profitability. And while the glazed treat maker may be known more for its belt-widening efforts, its belt-tightening moves are what’s making traders drool over DNUTs.

The high-flying, more speculative pockets of the market got crushed yesterday as volatility rose and traders went risk off.

AI trade jitters returned and job numbers from private consulting firm Challenger, Gray, and Christmas that said job cuts in October were the steepest in 22 years spooked the market. The S&P 500 was off over 1%, the Nasdaq 100 finished nearly 2% lower, and the Russell 2000 dipped roughly 1.6%.

🔮 Quiz time: Predict what score you can achieve on our fundamentals of futures quiz. Here’s a fun one: 

Two truths and a lie: Select which statement is the lie.

Check your answer.

Language-learning app Duolingo plunged yesterday, declining 26%, the worst-ever single-day decline for the stock, as we’ve charted here. 

This came after the company posted weaker-than-expected user growth in Wednesday’s Q3 results and simultaneously signaled that it was deprioritizing monetization over the short term in an effort to revive its growth numbers. Given that “prioritizing monetization” is essentially Wall Street’s unofficial slogan, the stock market tumble is perhaps understandable.

But what does it actually mean?

Duolingo intends to redouble its efforts to create “unhinged” social media marketing content — which often features a stalker-like version of its ubiquitous green owl that’s fixated on getting you to do your language lessons. Such content was key to the way the company built its user base over the last few years. 

“We paused all the unhinged posts in our social media for a bit because we were listening to our community and trying to build brand love. And when we don’t post unhinged things, that basically our posts were much less likely to go viral, and that did have an impact on [daily active user] growth,” as Von Ahn explained on the conference call. “The good news is that, over the last few weeks, we have started the unhinged posts again in our social media accounts.”

Imagine a future where we could mass produce homes like cars—one every minute. That’s the vision behind BOXABL Inc. (“BOXABL”), a startup aiming to revolutionize housing construction with foldable, factory-built homes.

BOXABL aims to replace outdated homebuilding methods with efficient, scalable assembly lines,creating modern, durable, and compact living spaces that can be folded up and shipped anywhere.

BOXABL has announced a potential SPAC merger with FG Merger II Corp (“FGMC”) (NASDAQ: $FGMC).

At its annual shareholder meeting Thursday, Tesla announced that shareholders voted for CEO Elon Musk’s much-watched $1 trillion pay package, with 75% voting in favor.

Proposal 7 argued that xAI’s AI expertise would complement Tesla’s autonomous driving and robotics endeavors, and would give Tesla investors a stake “in a major AI player, potentially yielding significant financial returns while fostering technological advancements that benefit Tesla’s customers and shareholders.”

Musk himself has said investment in xAI is something Tesla should have done “long ago.”

*Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.

Was this email forwarded to you? Don’t miss out on future stories — subscribe to Snacks and get your daily dose of financial news straight to your inbox. 

Craving more insights in your inbox? Subscribe to Chartr and The Wrap for quality reads.

Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... See more