Unusual Whales

U.S. regulators rejected Elon Musk’s bid to test brain chips in humans, citing safety risks

U.S. regulators rejected Elon Musk’s bid to test brain chips in humans, citing safety risks, per CNBC. Such FDA rejections do not mean a company will ultimately fail to gain the agency’s human-testing approval. But it was rejected at least once in 2022, per Reuters. "Innovation

Blackstone, BX, has defaulted on a 531 million euro ($562.5 million) bond backed by a portfolio of offices and stores owned by Finnish company Sponda Oy

Blackstone, $BX, has defaulted on a 531 million euro ($562.5 million) bond backed by a portfolio of offices and stores owned by Finnish company Sponda Oy, per Bloomberg. "This debt relates to a small portion of the Sponda portfolio. We are disappointed that the Servicer has not advanced

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage jumped back over 7%, rising to 7.1%

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage jumped back over 7%, rising to 7.1%, per CNBC. “Rates continue to move at the suggestion of economic data, and the data hasn’t been friendly. This is scary considering this week’s data is insignificant compared to several upcoming reports,

JPMorgan, JPM, says electric flying vehicles will be a $1 trillion market

JPMorgan, $JPM, says electric flying vehicles will be a $1 trillion market. JPM reportedly recommends Eve for this, per CNBC. Recently, numerous EVs were having occasional difficulties. Ford, $F, temporarily halted production and stopped shipments of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck in Feb 14. "We are not aware

The Biden administration approved more than $23 billion worth of licenses to blacklisted Chinese companies in the first quarter of 2022

The Biden administration approved more than $23 billion worth of licenses for companies to ship U.S. goods and technology to blacklisted Chinese companies in the first quarter of 2022, per Reuters. “Overwhelmingly, (the Commerce Department) continues to grant licenses that allow critical U.S. technology to be sold to

US debt limit increase over $20 trillion over next ten years

The US government currently has a debt pile of $31 trillion, and that's expected to increase by more than $20 trillion over the next 10 years. That's $5.2 billion every single day, or $218 million every single hour, per Bank of America, $BAC. The US

morgan stanley

Morgan Stanley's Mike Wilson says stocks are now in a 'death zone' after climbing too high

Per Business Insider Morgan Stanley's Mike Wilson gives his thoughts on the current state of the stock market, saying it is now in a "death zone" with predictions of its potentially massive drop. Wilson estimates that the S&P 500 could drop down to 3,

americans

Number of Americans with side hustles spiked from 13% in 2020 to 44% in 2022

Americans have reportedly been struggling to make ends meet, and with inflation remaining the driving factor, 44% of them decided to take up a side hustle on top of their full-time jobs last year. In 2020, only 13% of Americans reportedly worked a side hustle on top of their regular

coinbase

Coinbase cuts transactions with Silvergate, causing the latter to drop by 45% premarket

Per Reuters Since FTX's crash, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has maintained that the effects of his actions could still continue throughout the industry. While other crypto exchanges filed for bankruptcy shortly after, Coinbase has retained its position but has recently cut transactions, including initiating payments to or from

manufacturing

US manufacturing shrunk for the fourth straight month: ISM survey shows raw material prices rise

Per Reuters A recent survey by the Institute for Supply Management showed how raw material prices started to increase in February. This comes as contracted US manufacturing dropped for the fourth month straight. The ISM said that the price increase for raw materials came due to more sellers were interested

sbf

Prosecutors said SBF deleted tweets and a Slack message after being told to preserve FTX records

Per Business Insider Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly deleted tweets and a Slack message despite being told the complete opposite. This happened when SBF was reportedly told to preserve records for the regulators. The ongoing investigation's recent developments saw the founder receiving four new charges by the

The $1.8 trillion student debt bubble is about to burst, per Bloomberg

The $1.8 trillion student debt bubble is about to burst, per Bloomberg, as after a three-year pause, payments on federal student loans are set to resume in the next six months. The Supreme Court case centers around Biden’s plan to forgive $10,000 per borrower — or $20,000

JPMorgan, JPM, Chase is resisting attempts by lawyers to question chief Jamie Dimon under oath in litigation over the US bank’s decision to retain late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as a client

JPMorgan, $JPM, Chase is resisting attempts by lawyers to question chief Jamie Dimon under oath in litigation over the US bank’s decision to retain late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as a client, per FT. PMorgan, $JPM, has further said it should not be held liable for a former top

Homeowners are swarming to HELOCs at the fastest rate in more than a decade to pay for food, gas, and renovations

Homeowners are swarming to HELOCs at the fastest rate in more than a decade to pay for food, gas, and renovations, per BI. US homeowners are sitting on $29.6 trillion of home equity, according to the Federal Reserve. Per BI: It's not just refinancings that have fallen.

U.S. House of representatives committee approves bill to give Biden power to ban TikTok.

U.S. House of representatives committee approves bill to give Biden power to ban TikTok. Additionally, TikTok announced that they will limit screen time for users under 18 to just 60-minutes a day. TikTok said the new limit comes after it brought in a prompt last year to encourage teens

U.S. Congress votes to block ESG investing, with Biden likely to veto

U.S. Congress votes to block ESG investing, with Biden likely to veto. The U.S. Senate voted 50-46 to adopt a resolution to overturn a Labor Department rule making it easier for fund managers to consider environmental, social and corporate governance, or ESG, issues for investments and shareholder rights

TikTok announced that they will limit screen time for users under 18 to just 60-minutes a day

TikTok announced that they will limit screen time for users under 18 to just 60-minutes a day. TikTok said the new limit comes after it brought in a prompt last year to encourage teens to manage their screen time. It said this helped "increase the use of our screen

fda

FDA removes 'healthy' categorization of sugary cereal and white bread

Per BI The Food and Drug Administration has changed the categorization of sugary cereal and white bread, previously called "healthy." Now, the administration says that these foods lost the claims to salmon and avocados. For many years, sugary cereal and white bread have been considered healthy, especially by

salesforce

Salesforce laid off 8,000 employees but retained its $10M annual payments to Matthew McConaughey

Per Business Insider Salesforce just let go of 8,000 employees while retaining its annual payments to Matthew McConaughey worth $10 million. McConaughey serves as the company's "creative adviser" and TV pitchman. As explained in an article by The WSJ, the cloud-based software company had McConaughey

401(k)

American 401(k) millionaires drop by a third from 2021 to 2022

Per CBS News The number of Americans that are recorded as 401(k) millionaires have dropped by a third from 2021 to 2022, per Fidelity Investments data. From 422,000 millionaires in 2022, those with over a million in their 401(k) accounts have dropped down to just 299,000.

visa

Visa and Mastercard push back on crypto services, citing the need for better regulations and market conditions

Per Reuters Visa and Mastercard have decided to push back on their decision to offer crypto services. This comes as the two companies cite the need for improvement in terms of regulations and market conditions. The information reportedly came from people that were familiar with the topic but said that

finland

Finland builds Russian barbed wire fence worth over half a billion

Per BBC Finland has started to establish a barbed wire fence on the Russian border. The fence is reportedly 124 miles long and 3 meters tall. Specifically, this will include a fence with barbed wire on top, costing the country $597 million to build. This comes as Finland is getting

The Federal Reserve is unlikely to be able to bring down inflation without having to raise interest rates considerably higher, causing a recession, per a research paper

The Federal Reserve is unlikely to be able to bring down inflation without having to raise interest rates considerably higher, causing a recession, according to a research paper with Former Fed Governor Frederic Mishkin on it. “We find no instance in which a central-[bank]induced disinflation occurred without a

FBI Director Christopher Wray has said that the Covid pandemic was probably the result of a laboratory leak in China

FBI Director Christopher Wray has said that the Covid pandemic was probably the result of a laboratory leak in China. "The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic were most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” Wray said in an interview.

Nishad Singh, former director of engineering at FTX, has agreed to plead guilty to U.S. criminal charges

Nishad Singh, former director of engineering at FTX, has agreed to plead guilty to U.S. criminal charges. In 2020, Singh tweaked FTX’s software to exempt Alameda from having its assets sold automatically if it were losing too much borrowed money, per Reuters. “Be extra careful not to liquidate,