GisermanGroup.com #BreakingNews
👵GOP Push To Raise Retirement Age to 69
🐂Fed Sinks Bull Market & 🏠Home Sales
🏛️TRUMP ‘SCARED $HITLESS’—Former Chief of Staff
🪙Crypto Clipped—SEC Cracks Down
🛣️I95 Collapse—You Can’t Get There From Here
⏰TikTok Ban
🎵AI Brings Back the Beatles
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👵GOP Push To Raise Retirement Age
House conservatives are proposed raising the retirement age to collect Social Security, handing Democrats damaging political ammunition ahead of the 2024 election.
The proposal by the 176-member House Republican Study Committee would gradually increase the retirement age, ultimately hitting 69 years old for those turning 62 in 2033 or after. The current retirement age for full benefits now is 66 and rising gradually to 67.
Democrats successfully used similar proposals from fiscal conservatives to their advantage in the 2022 midterm election. Their message that the GOP was targeting old-age benefits resonated with voters and was credited with limiting Democrats’ losses in the House.
🐂Fed Sinks Bull Market
Stocks trying for a comeback after sinking as the Fed called an timeout on an interest rate hike, but forecast two rate hikes coming in the near future.
It could have been worse — the Dow dipped 0.68%, or 232.79 points, to finish the session at 33,979.33, the Nasdaq added 0.39% to close at 13,626.48, the S&P 500 eked out a gain, rising 0.08% to close at 4,372.59
It comes a day after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq jumped to their highest levels in 13 months.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq, gaining on Artificial Intelligence Stocks, beat the Dow by 9.3 percentage points last month. That’s the biggest gap between the two indices since the Dot-Com Bubble burst in October 2001.
It comes as the creator of ChatGPT is calling for heavy regulation on artificial intelligence technologies. “My worst fear is that we, the technology industry, cause significant harm to the world,” OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman said. “If this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong.”
And this from President Biden, "I met in the Oval Office with eight leading scientists in the area of AI. Some are very worried that AI can actually overtake human thinking in the planet. So we've got a lot to deal with. It's an incredible opportunity, but a lot do deal with."
🏠HomeSales Danger Thanks To Fed
The Fed’s plans to hike interests rates again in the coming months is NOT encouraging for homebuyers, home-sellers and housing stocks.
“Housing has been the Cinderella Story of the year,” SitusAMC’s Tim Rood, former Fannie Mae Exec has been saying it for months—now comes the proof. Home-prices in March were 0.7% higher than last year, according to the latest Case-Shiller data, while mortgage rates are dropping. BUT the Fed’s plan threatens that.”
Rood, a GisermanGroup Client breaks it all down to Fox’s Neil Cavuto
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Home sellers and builders are seeing a stronger-than-expected business this spring, capitalizing on the recent fall in mortgage rates and the shortage of existing homes for sale.
New-home sales soared to a yearly high in March as purchases leap 9.6%.
Tim Rood, former FannieMae Executive, on Yahoo Finance, FBN's Cavuto and on Scripps News says Housing is the Cinderella Story of the Year:
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🪙#Crypto Clipped —SEC Cracks Down
The Securities and Exchange Commission has sued Coinbase, alleging the U.S.’s largest crypto platform violated rules that require it to register as an exchange and be overseen by the federal agency.
It comes after the S.E.C. accused Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, of mishandling customer funds.
Bitcoin’s price is down over 60% since its 2021 peak.
Exiger’s Samar Pratt on FinTechTV saysCrypto had recently gained a foothold at BNY Mellon:
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TRUMP ARRESTED & CHARGED
“He’s scared $hitless,” former White House chief of staff John Kelly told the Washington Post.
Donald Trump has been booked, arrested and fingerprinted at the federal courthouse in Miami and arraigned on charges of mishandling classified documents. The first President ever to be arraigned in Federal Court plead not guilty to all 37 counts and then left for his New Jersey Golf Club where he typically denied any wrongdoing and claimed to be a victim of government persecution.
Inside the federal courtroom, where cameras and microphones are not allowed, when asked for his plea, one of his lawyers, Todd Blanche, spoke for Trump.“We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty,” he said.
The indictment gives the clearest picture yet of the files that Trump took with him when he left the White House. It said he had illegally kept hold of documents concerning “United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack.” It is the first time a former leader of the executive branch has been charged with obstructing the very agencies he led, and the first time a former commander in chief has been charged with endangering national security by violating the Espionage Act.
The former president had kept reams of classified documents in boxes at his Mar-a-Lago resort in South Florida until federal agents raided it last year and seized the records. The ex-president said he’s innocent and ripped the case as the “box hoax.”
Judge Aileen Cannon, who Trump appointed to the bench in 2020, is scheduled to preside over his trial. Judge Cannon was criticized by a higher court for handing him a series of unusually favorable rulings during the early stages of the investigation.
Special counsel Jack Smith has been investigating Trump over the removal of classified documents from the White House after he left office, as well as apparent efforts by Trump and his aides to potentially interfere in the government’s investigation.
Trump still faces two other criminal probes: Smith’s investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, pro-Trump riot at the Capitol, and an inquiry in Georgia looking into whether he attempted to interfere with the presidential election in that state.
🚨Piling On Trump
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced his Republican candidacy for president. Christie a one-time close Trump ally now calls the former president a "coward" and "puppet of Putin." Christie has cast himself as the one candidate unafraid to give voice to the frustrations of Republicans who have watched Trump transform the party and have had enough.
Christie calls Trump a loser because of his 2020 defeat, and said that he was unfit to return to the White House after inciting a mob to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He says that if Trump is the nominee, he will not vote for him.
Nikki Haley says, “ If charges are true, Trump was reckless with national security.”
Ron DeSantis says, “I would’ve been court-martialed for taking classified documents.”DeSantis was supposed to announce he is running for president during an audio only discussion with Twitter CEO Elon Musk at 6pmET….BUT the announcement was plagued with glitches. Not a good beginning for the start of DeSantis’ run for President.
Mike Pence declared his candidacy as well, saying he has no interest in pardoning the January 6th conspirators.
🏌️PGA Commissioner ILL AtCrucial Time
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan is “recuperating from a unspecified medical situation,” and won’t be leading the organization’s day-to-day operations, just a week after announcing the stunning merger agreement he brokered with Saudi-backed LIV Golf to call a truce in the battle that divided golf. And as the U.S. Open gets underway.
The PGA Tour and LIV Golf, the Saudi-upstart that sent the industry into a tailspin, have agreed to a merger that ends the divide that has dominated the sport for the last year.
The new company came together so quickly that it does not yet even have a name and is referred to in the agreement simply as “NewCo.” It would be controlled by the PGA Tour but significantly financed by the Saudi government’s Public Investment Fund. The fund’s governor, Yasir al-Rumayyan, will be the new company’s chairman.
Shocked *not* Saudi money we don’t care
🎵Using AI To Twist & Shout
More than 50 years after the group’s final album, Paul McCartney says he has used artificial intelligence to create “the last Beatles record.”
McCartney said he and Hollywood director Peter Jackson, who directed the 2021 documentary epic “The Beatles: Get Back,” used AI technology to isolate the voice of John Lennon from an old demo tape and teamed it up with the rest of the lads.
McCartney said the use of AI in musical artistry was both exciting and scary.
No release date yet for the album.
Collapse-You Can’t Get There From Here
Traffic nightmare along the East Coast’s key highway.
An elevated section of Interstate 95 has collapsed in Philadelphia after a tanker truck carrying a petroleum product caught fire, closing a heavily traveled segment of the East Coast’s main north-south highway in both directions indefinitely.
It usually carries about 160,000 vehicles daily and is one of the main roadways for commuters and trucks traveling through Philadelphia.
Transportation officials warned of extensive delays and street closures and urged drivers to avoid the area in the northeast corner of the city. Officials said the tanker may have been hauling hundreds of gallons of gasoline.
☸️Pat Sajak Takes Final Spin
Pat Sajak is retiring.
The longtime "Wheel of Fortune" host, who has been at the helm of the game show institution since 1981, will step away from the production after the end of his upcoming 41st season.
Wheel of Fortune” has been one of the most watched syndicated shows on American TV for much of Mr. Sajak’s run as host, and it was the most watched by the mid-1980s, when it drew more than 40 million viewers daily. The show became a pop culture phenomenon — known for its catchphrase “Can I buy a vowel?” — and spawned board games, toys, clothes and a spinoff show.
Sajak made the announcement on Monday afternoon.
🏀Denver Takes #NBA Title
The Denver Nuggets reached the NBA mountaintop from the foothills of the Rockies, winning their first-ever championship and setting Nikola Jokić's legacy as an all-timer in stone.
Battling foul trouble and a Miami Heat team that refused to die, Jokić amassed 28 points, 16 rebounds and four assists in a 94-89 victory in front of the 19,537 raucous fans filling Ball Arena. Jokić received all votes in the Finals MVP voting, concluding a historic playoff run for the 7-foot Serbian and his Denver teammates.
🎥Netflix Password Crackdown Works
Shares of Netflix have risen about 16% since its password-sharing crackdown started going into effect on May 23. The news sent shares of the company soaring to a 52-week high of $425.90. The stock closed Friday at $420.02, up 2.6%.
Netflix’s crackdown on password-sharing in the U.S. delivered a windfall of new subscribers in its earliest days, according to new data, a sign that the move is bearing fruit despite being unpopular with many users.
According to Antenna, Netflix amassed more new subscriptions in the U.S. between May 25 and 28 than in any other four-day period since the data company began compiling such data in 2019.
⚡️Tesla’s Charged
A big win for Tesla General Motors will follow Ford in partnering with Tesla to use the electric vehicle leader’s North American charging network and technologies.
Under the deal, GM vehicles will be able to access 12,000 of Tesla’s fast chargers using an adapter and through the Detroit automaker’s EV charging app, starting next year.
📺 Licht’s Out
Chris Licht is out at CNN.
David Zaslav, CEO of CNN’s parent, Warner Bros. Discovery, informed staff he met with Licht and the CNN Chief was leaving, effective immediately.
“For a number of reasons things didn’t work out, and that’s unfortunate,” Zaslav said, “It’s really unfortunate, and ultimately that’s on me. And I take full responsibility for that.”
Licht's 13-month tenure has been disastrous: Ratings have declined to the point at which CNN now trails even Newsmax, in primetime.
An attempt to turn former CNN primetime anchor Don Lemon into a morning-show personality failed and a decision to provide a town-hall forum for Donald Trump, with a partisan crowd undermined Licht's credibility.
Then to top it off there was his decision to give Atlantic writer Tim Alberta unprecedented access over a period of months, including to Licht’s gym workouts, which seems to have provided the fatal blow.
It’ll be a long road back for anyone willing to take the reins. Zaslav may turn to an executive on CNN’s interim leadership team. They are Amy Entelis, executive vice president of talent and content development, Virginia Moseley, executive vice president of editorial, Eric Sherling, executive vice president of US programming and David Leavy, chief operating officer.
🥽Apple Retreats From High On Headset
Is it hype or a new hit for the iPhone maker?
Apple shares down another 0.20% after hitting a record high ahead of unveiling its much anticipated 3D Headset. The stock has retreated after Apple announced the higher-than-expected price for the 3D device.
The high-end $3,499 headset is the company’s first major new product since the Apple Watch in 2014.
The Vision Pro will allow users to see apps in a new way, in the spaces around them. Users can use their eyes and hands to navigate through apps and search with their voices. The headset can be used to watch movies, including in 3-D and play video games. The company is partnering with Disney for 3D content.
Apple has succeeded before — hits like the iPod, iPhone and Apple Watch started in niche markets. Before the iPod, there were several MP3 players. Before the iPhone was released, the Blackberry had merged a wireless cellular internet connection and pocket computer into what is still called a smartphone.
But many questions remain who will pay $3500 and will there be a killer app?
⏰TikTok Banned
TikTok had filed suit in Montana seeking to block the state’s new ban on the app.
Montana is the first state to enact a complete ban on TikTok.
The Biden administration is demanding TikTok’s Chinese owners sell their stakes in the video-sharing app or face a U.S. ban.
Matt Hayden Former Cybersecurity Czar at the Department of Homeland Security and a GisermanGroup.com client on Scripps News says TikTok is dangerous:
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📺Tucker’s Twitter Show
Fox News notified Tucker Carlson's lawyers that the former prime-time anchor violated his contract with the network when he launched his own Twitter show on Tuesday, according to a copy of a letter obtained by Axios.
A breach of contract claim sets Fox News up to explore potential legal action against Carlson. Carlson’s lawyers told Axios that any legal action by Fox would violate his First Amendment rights.
👹Biden Takes Victory Lap
President Biden signed into law bipartisan legislation that suspends the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, narrowly avoiding an unprecedented U.S. default that could have pushed the economy into a recession and touched off a financial crisis.
“No one got every-thing they wanted but the American people got what they needed,” Biden said Friday in his first major address from the Oval Office as president. “We averted an economic crisis, an economic collapse.”
The bipartisan agreement between President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy passed the House the day before 314-117, with 149 Republicans and 165 Democrats voting for it.
*️⃣*️⃣GisermanGroup Translator: The DEBT CEILING is the maximum amount of money Congress allows the federal government to borrow to cover its bills.*️⃣*️⃣
President Biden tripped and fell during the Air Force Academy's graduation ceremony in Colorado Springs. White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt tweeted: "He's fine. There was a sandbag on stage while he was shaking hands."
🍺Bud Light Still #1
Don’t believe all the hype. Despite anti-gay rhetoric, Bud Light is still the world’s number one best selling beer.
Bud Light falling 25.7% last week — The plunge follows a 24.6% decline from the previous week and the sixth straight week sales have been hit since trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney promoted Bud Light on April 1st.
🏛️Oath Keepers Founder Sentenced
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes to 18 years in prison for plotting to forcefully prevent the peaceful transfer of presidential power, capping the seditious-conspiracy case against the far-right group’s leader with the stiffest punishment to date stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Blacks&Gays Warned Don’t Visit Florida
The NAACP has issued a formal travel advisory for Florida, warning black and LGBTQ people against visiting the state due to Governor Ron DeSantis' policies.
'Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals,' states the advisory issued on Saturday night by the civil rights group.
'Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color,' it adds.
The NAACP said the advisory was 'in direct response' to the Florida governor's 'aggressive attempts to erase black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools.'
🏓PickleBall Coming To YOUR Mall
Pickleball is coming to your local mall, replacing shuttered Bed Bath & Beyond, Old Navy and Sears stores.
It’s an effort to fill vacant spaces and draw in customers to shop.
Consumers are craving fun, social experiences after years of limited gatherings during the pandemic, and they have shifted their spending from goods to experiences like theaters, arcades and amusement parks.
Malls are responding to these trends by turning to a wider range of tenants and activities to draw traffic, real estate investment firm JLL said in a report this week that malls are drawing on the huge PickleBall crowds and building courts.
🩺Abortion Bans Bad For Biz
North Carolina and South Carolina leaders warning the states’ Abortion bans are bad for business, not to mention women’s safety.
In South Carolina legislation banning abortion after 6-weeks of pregnancy is about to be signed by the Governor. North Carolina has banned most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy.
🕊️Twitter’s New CEO Tweets
Elon Musk makes it official:
Linda Yaccarino is a 40-year NBC advertising veteran.
After Musk’s takeover of Twitter last year, many advertisers paused their spending out of concern surrounding the company’s direction under its new leadership.
In her first tweets since getting the job, Yaccarino said she’s committed to the development of the social media company and said feedback from users is “vital to that future.”
Getting NBC’s Yaccarino proves Musk is serious about beefing up the platform.
Yaccarino resigned from NBCUniversal effective immediately.
📰Yep That’s Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart is making history as the oldest cover model in the history of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. At 81, she’s breaking the record set last year by Maye Musk, who was 75 at the time. “All of us should think about good living, successful living, and not about aging,” Stewart said. “The whole aging thing is so boring.”
🔥Santos Arrested
Congressman George Santos, the Republican whose pivotal victory in New York was soon followed by revelations that he had falsified his biography on the campaign trail, pleads not guilty to federal criminal charges. He was released on a $500,000 bond after he was arraigned at a federal courthouse in Long Island,
Santos was charged with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.
Santos has tweeted for the first time since the charges against him were reported. His statement: “WITCH HUNT!” (a phrase often used by Donald Trump)
Despite calls for his resignation, Santos will likely be allowed to remain in Congress while he fights the charges. “In America, you are innocent until proven guilty,” Speaker Kevin McCarthy said.
During his brief time in office, Santos has been accused of breaking campaign finance laws, violating federal conflict of interest laws, stealing cash meant for an Iraq War veteran’s dying dog, masterminding a credit card fraud scheme, lying about where he went to school and worked and even lying about being Jewish.
🏦Is Your Money Safe?
Half of American surveyed say they are concerned about the safety of the money they keep in banks, according to a just released Gallup poll. That’s similar to worries during the 2008 financial crisis.
But Bank shares are rebounding —PacWest gained as much as 26% in premarket trading, while Western Alliance Bancorp and First Horizon Corp. rose 15% and 7%. PacWest shares fell as much as 50% to close at a record low while Western Alliance tumbled 25%. Comerica and Zions Bancorp are down sharply as well.
It comes after the FDIC seized First Republic Bank and immediately sold it to JPMorganChase — it’s the second largest bank failure ever in the U.S.
The selloff in PacWest flew in the face of Fed Chair Powell’s assertion that the government’s seizure and sale of First Republic Bank was “an important step toward drawing a line under that period of severe stress” for regional lenders.
Like Silicon Valley and Signature Banks—First Republic collapsed under the weight of loans and investments which lost billions of dollars in value as the Federal Reserve rapidly raised interest rates to fight inflation.
Over 100 banks may still be in trouble according to reports.
🏈You Won’t Believe For How Much Washington Commanders Sold
$6.05 billion that’s what a group led by Josh Harris, co-owner of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and NHL's New Jersey Devils, paid to buy the NFL’s Washington Commanders from Dan Snyder.
The previous record sale for a sports franchise had been set in August, when a group led by Walmart heir Rob Walton bought the Denver Broncos for $4.65 billion.
The deal reached by Harris' group and the Snyders is expected to receive NFL approval.
📺Hollywood Writers Strike
Television and movie writers are on the picket lines. Negotiations between studios and the writers, which began in March, failed to reach a new contract before the writers' current deal expired just after midnight. All script writing is to immediately cease, the guild informed its members. The walk-off by the 11,500-member guild is the first major Hollywood work stoppage in 15 years and will massively disrupt the entertainment industry.
For viewers, the most immediate effect will be felt on talk and sketch shows. Late night shows like “Saturday Night Live,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” will likely go dark immediately. Reality series and some international shows, which are not covered by the guild, will be aired in heavy rotation.
🚨Poll Finds Exhaustion Over Another Biden-Trump Election
The percentage of those approving of President Biden’s performance fell to 36%, six points lower than in February and a point off his previous low in early 2022, according to the survey conducted for ABC. Some 56% disapproved of his performance, while 68% regarded Biden, at 80, as too old for another term.
It comes after President Biden formally announced he would seek a second term.
In a 3 minute video he pitches himself as the Democrat best positioned to keep Donald Trump from reclaiming the White House, and needing to ‘finish the job’.
It comes as more Americans say they feel “exhaustion” over the prospect of a 2024 rematch between Biden and Donald Trump, according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll.
The survey of 1,530 U.S. adults, which was conducted from April 14 to 17, found that 38% chose exhaustion after being shown a list of eight feelings and asked to select all that “come to mind” when considering another Biden vs. Trump campaign.
Among registered voters, the number is even higher: 44%.
No other sentiment — not fear (29%), sadness (23%), hope (23%), anger (23%), excitement (16%), pride (8%) or gratitude (7%) — cracks the 30% mark among all Americans.
And an NBC News poll showed, most of those surveyed, by a 70%-to-26% margin, said Biden shouldn’t seek reelection, while 60% said Trump should bow out.
Overwhelmingly people feel the candidates are too old.
It’s a trying time for all of us.
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🍀Americans Spend More On Weed Than On Beer & Chocolate Combined
U.S Legal sales of marijuana and marijuana products -- like edibles -- reached an estimated $30 billion in 2022, according to a report from MJBizDaily.
That total is more than Americans spent on chocolate and craft beer combined, -- $20 billion and $7.9 billion, respectively.
And get this — legal sales are still vastly outweighed by illicit ones – Whitney Economics estimates that legal transactions constituted just 25% of total cannabis market in 2021.
💊Weight Loss Wonder Drug Worth Billions
What price beauty?
An Eli Lilly drug if approved for weight loss could become the best-selling drug of all time.
Experts are confident that the drug, called tirzepatide, will be granted approval by the Food and Drug Administration sometime this year. If that’s the case, it would join two other popular — and expensive — recently approved weight loss drugs on the market, Wegovy and Saxenda, both from the drugmaker Novo Nordisk.
The drugs have been shown in clinical trials to be highly effective for weight loss. All three drugs — which are given as injections — work in a similar way: They’re a class of drugs called GLP-1 agonists, which mimic a hormone that helps reduce food intake and appetite.
Oh yea it would cost you $13,000 a year (and most insurances won’t pay)!
💻They Want Your Password
Warning-New Scams to steal your passwords.
If you've had a password hacked recently, you aren't alone. The volume of password attacks has soared to an estimated 921 attacks every second. That's a 74% rise in one year, according to the latest Microsoft Digital Defense Report.
Exiger's Robert Kolasky with more on Bloomberg & CBS:
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💰Money Does Buy Happiness
Money really does buy happiness.
The rule extends well beyond the $75,000-a-year salary threshold that had been seen as the upper limit for making an impact, according to a team of scientists that include the Nobel Prize-winning psychologist who introduced the idea of a happiness plateau more than a decade ago.
Happiness does increase steadily in line with incomes and even accelerates as pay rises beyond $100,000 a year and more — as long as the person enjoys a certain baseline level of happiness to begin with. That’s according to a study of 33,391 people living in the US, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.
The results contradict a famous 2010 paper by the psychologist Daniel Kahneman and economist Angus Deaton, which reported that happiness goes up with income until the relationship starts to “flatten” at between $60,000 and $90,000 a year.
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