More Interest Rate Hikes Expected from Fed Reserve

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Good morning,

Iron is vital to our bodies, and a study found that 38.6% of teen girls and young women were iron deficient. Iron is necessary to produce enough hemoglobin, and not getting enough can lead to anemia.

Lean meat, seafood and poultry are some of the best iron sources, but you can also get it from lentils, spinach, peas and other foods.

BREAKING NEWS

Yusef Salaam, one of the Central Park Five who was convicted—and later exonerated—of raping and assaulting a woman in Central Park in 1989 after falsely confessing, won the Democratic primary in a New York City Council race in Harlem. Salaam is unlikely to face a serious challenger in the November general election.

The man accused of raping a 10-year-old Ohio girl will spend at least 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple charges Wednesday, according to the Columbus Dispatch. Ohio outlawed virtually all abortions after six weeks in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, and the 10-year-old’s case made headlines when she had to travel to Indiana for an abortion due to Ohio’s restrictions.

BUSINESS + FINANCE

A UPS workers’ strike is becoming more likely as talks between the company and the Teamsters union representing workers broke down. The workers’ contract expires at the end of the month, and if an agreement isn’t reached, it could disrupt national supply chains.

The Federal Reserve said it will likely raise interest rates again this year and that a recession in 2023 is likely, according to newly released notes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting last month. Some on Wall Street had hoped the June pause in interest rate hikes would be the end of the central bank’s tightening campaign, and stocks fell following the Fed release.

WEALTH + ENTREPRENEURSHIP

In spite of political turmoil, the combined wealth of Thailand’s 50 richest was up nearly 15% to $173 billion this year. This year’s list includes Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha whose fortune more than doubled to $3.5 billion as his family’s duty-free outlets, King Power International, expand with Thailand’s tourism revival.

TECH + INNOVATION

Meta’s stock reached an 18-month high, rising 4% Wednesday morning, as the social media company prepared to launch Twitter rival Instagram Threads. More than 10 million people signed up to join Meta’s new app within the first seven hours of its launch Wednesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced.

Twitter’s new CEO Linda Yaccarino broke her silence on the social media platform’s controversial new restriction that initially limited most users to reading just 600 tweets per day, which Twitter said was necessary to get rid of spam and bots. “When you have a mission like Twitter—you need to make big moves to keep strengthening the platform,” Yaccarino tweeted. “This work is meaningful and on-going.”

MONEY + POLITICS

A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that some federal officials and agencies can’t contact social media companies to discourage or remove First Amendment-protected speech. Republicans argued in the lawsuit that the Biden administration pressured Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, among others, to remove content that contained alleged misinformation about election security, the coronavirus and other issues.

Chinese officials Tuesday warned of additional retaliatory measures against the U.S. in response to Washington’s efforts to curb China’s access to advanced computer chips. Trade tensions are escalating between the two countries, and this week Beijing placed restrictions on the export of key raw materials needed to manufacture semiconductors.

SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT

Two members of a U.K. environmental activist group were arrested at the Wimbledon tennis tournament Wednesday after disrupting a match, the latest in a series of protests at sporting events. The group, Just Stop Oil, was protesting Wimbledon’s sponsorship deal with Barclays Bank, which activists say has lent about $38 billion to oil and gas firms in the last two years.

Taylor Swift is extending the European leg of her record-breaking “Eras” tour with an additional 14 shows across countries like France and Italy, and Paramore will be opening for all of the Europe shows. The tour, with over 130 concerts, could gross $1.4 billion according to Pollstar estimates, an “astonishing, unbelievable, inconceivable” amount, when it ends next year.

TRENDS + EXPLAINERS

While mass shootings are on the rise, the murder rate nationwide is down about 11% so far this year, data from AH Datalytics shows. Nearly 22,000 people have died in 2023 so far from all gun-related events in the U.S.

DAILY COVER STORY

Brazil’s Nubank Is Leaving U.S. Digital Banks In The Dust

TOPLINE In the decade since David Vélez’s Brazilian digital bank Nubank launched, it has grown to serve nearly half of all Brazilian adults.

On May 15th, Nubank blew away analysts’ expectations by posting $142 million in net profit in the first quarter on an 87% year-over-year growth in revenue to $1.6 billion. In just the past two years, it has more than doubled its customer base to 80 million people.

It’s all the more striking given how, despite a pandemic-fueled fintech boom, many other fintechs are mired in slow growth and slim or no profits. Chime, the most successful digital bank in the U.S, likely has fewer than 20 million registered users (it doesn’t disclose the number) and laid off 12% of its staff last year.

“We thought this would happen faster in emerging markets than in developed economies like the U.S. or Europe, because the consumer pain you’re addressing in emerging markets is much, much bigger,” says the 41-year-old Colombian-born Vélez.

In contrast to the more competitive U.S. market, five Brazilian banks controlled 80% of the market when Nubank launched, earning fat profits by lending at 200% to 400% interest rates, charging monthly fees for everything from fraud protection to text-message alerts, and delivering lousy customer service.

While U.S. digital banks have mostly avoided credit, Nubank launched with a no-fee credit card, which was arguably a risky move since since credit card losses “can really kill your company,” says Nubank cofounder and chief growth officer Cristina Junqueira. But one advantage is that Nubank wasn’t burdened with high upfront marketing costs.

Still, keeping up with the pace of its stunning growth will be difficult as it expands in the Mexican and Colombian markets. So far, Nubank counts just 3% of Mexican adults and 2% of Colombians as customers, compared to 46% in Brazil.

WHY IT MATTERS Such strategic insights have helped make Nubank the second most valuable financial services company in Latin America, behind only 78-year-old Itaú. True, with its stock trading around $8, Nubank is still down 12% from its initial offering price of $9 in December 2021. But that’s impressive compared to a 54% drop for the fintech category in the same time period.

MORE How David Vélez Built The World’s Most Valuable Digital Bank And Became A Billionaire

FACTS AND COMMENTS

The Fourth of July broke global heat records for the second consecutive day as the return of the El Niño weather pattern coincides with soaring temperatures at the start of summer. Excessive heat warnings and advisories remained in effect throughout Florida, parts of the Pacific Northwest, southern Texas and other areas Wednesday:

Up to 125,000 years: The time since the Earth was this hot

62.92°F: The global average temperature reached Tuesday

57 million: The number of people across the U.S. who were exposed to dangerous heat on Tuesday, according to the Washington Post’s heat index forecast

STRATEGY AND SUCCESS

Companies often overlook employee development, but it is essential to retention, building an internal talent pipeline, and sparking productivity and innovation. For employees, touch base regularly with your manager about personal development goals and bring suggestions, like courses, certifications, events and more.

VIDEO

QUIZ

Delta-8, a THC product made from hemp instead of marijuana, has surged in popularity, generating $2 billion in sales in the last two years. The Federal Trade Commission says six companies are selling Delta-8 THC in packaging that’s “almost identical” to popular children’s snacks. Which of the following is not one of those snacks?

A. Doritos

B. Nerds Rope candy

C. Chex Mix

D. Gummy bears

Check your answer.