đ Presidential business
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Hereâs what you need to know
Oil prices are up 25% since June. Analysts predict that Brent crude oil could climb to $100 a barrel, levels not seen since the first months of Russiaâs invasion of Ukraine.
Tencentâs ChatGPT-clone has a linguistic edge over ChatGPT. Hunyuan, the AI model that Tencent released for enterprise use today, beats humans as well as ChatGPT in its understanding of Chinese.
The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company said its Arizona plant is progressing quickly. The update comes as the project faces a delay until 2025 because of worker shortages, with technicians having to be flown into the US to train staff.
The 2023 season of the National Football League starts today in the US. The opening game will be hosted by defending Super Bowl champs the Kansas City Chiefs against the Detroit Lions, and the sports bettors are ready.
Lulaâs bringing the 2000s back
Since taking over as president at the beginning of this year, Luiz InĂĄcio Lula da Silvaâs time-tested tax-and-spend strategyâalong with a strong campaign for public ownership of utility and energy companiesâappears to be stimulating Brazilâs economy.
Itâs a callback to his early aughts. To understand the successes of his current presidencyâwhich so far include growing the countryâs GDP and raising its credit ratingâitâs helpful to look back at his first, during which Brazil embarked on the largest-ever expansion of its economy. Diego Lasarte has the highlights.
Truth Social will be Trumpâs meme stockâŠ
Sure, Donald Trumpâs Truth Social won more time to go public, but with only about 2 million active users, the right-wing Twitter clone is not as much a viable social media business as a vehicle for the former US presidentâs cult of personality.
Digital World Acquisition Corp. (the shell company that Trumpâs media firm wants to merge with to go public) has effectively become a meme stock. And perhaps thatâs how the new combined firm, which has scaled nearly every barrier preventing it from actualizing as a public company, should be understood. Not a real business, but a stock-market stand-in for one of the most influential and controversial men on the planet. Quartzâs Scott Nover has the take.
âŠand Ramaswamyâs ETF firm is getting a presidential boost
âIt is a rare feat for any indie issuer to hit $1 billion in first year, let alone one that is largely a pushback to ESG as many of those ETFs have flopped. Ramaswamyâs wealthy backers helped a lot and running for president probably canât hurt either. That is some unchartered territory when it comes to ETF marketing.ââBloomberg Intelligence senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas
Ramaswamyâs asset management fund Strive calls itself âanti-wokeâ and âanti-ESGââand is, in a sense, his US presidential launchpad. But the fund, launched in 2022 and backed by the likes of Peter Thiel and Bill Ackman, is facing legal trouble, and its hype may be short-lived.
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Surprising discoveries
People in the US can buy old bridges. Pick up your 128-foot (39-meter) Warren pony truss from 1912 today.
A 2,200-lb (998-kg) bull in Nebraska rides shotgun in his ownerâs car. Half of the vehicleâs top has been removed so Howdy Doody can properly fit.
The 400-year-old skeleton of a child was found with its foot padlocked to stop it rising from the dead. The remains were in the same Polish gravesite where a âvampireâ woman was found last year, and we will be staying far away from there, thank you very much.
Opposites donât really attract. In fact, most couples are remarkably similar (and every successful relationship is successful for the same reasons, too).
Ten languages are officially spoken across the RuPaulâs Drag Race editions. New goal: learn how to say âdeath dropâ in each (along with every other piece of Drag Race jargon outlined in this weekâs Quartz Obsession).
Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, pet bulls, and old bridges to [email protected]. Reader support makes Quartz available to allâbecome a member. Todayâs Daily Brief was brought to you by Morgan Haefner, Scott Nover, and Samanth Subramanian.