Viral Stories of the Week: July 31

Vonetta Logan's recap of the big business, news, markets, political, cultural and viral trending stories featured this week on Daily Dose.

What’s up tastynation! Welcome to this week’s edition of Weekly Dose! Each week, I recap the top stories that I covered on Daily Dose. If you missed any eps of Daily Dose you can catch up on them here. 

Happy August! Literally playing “August” on repeat. #swiftie. “Meet me behind the maaaaaaaallllll” 

Let’s get to the recap! 

Monday

• Biden plans to curb tech investment in China: U.S. President Joe Biden is planning to sign an executive order that would limit U.S. tech investments in China (FXI) by the middle of August. The order would focus on semiconductors, AI and quantum computing. Meanwhile China plans to keep investing in America by providing us with astonishingly cheap clothing. 
• Tupperware is the new meme stock: Shares of Tupperware (TUP) have exploded by about 165% this week and more than 300% over the last month for no discernible reason. Gen-Z and millennials are just really committed to keeping their leftovers fresh. How else are they gonna afford a house in this economy if they don’t save their leftover ‘cado toast in some Tupperware? Meme stock or not, Tupperware is so pervasive even our fearless leader got asked about it over on that other random financial site. 
• Musk vs the City of San Francisco: On Friday, July 28, the company formally known as Twitter erected an "X" logo on the roof of its Market Street headquarters, to the chagrin of neighbors who complained about intrusive lights—and San Francisco's Department of Building Inspection which said it is investigating the structure. Look, we all make hasty decisions when it comes to our own “Xs” but things really didn’t work out for Musk. By week’s end the X has now been axed from X's headquarters. 
• Man pays $16,000 to become a dog: A Japanese man who shelled out thousands of dollars on a realistic rough collie costume to fulfill his childhood dream of becoming a dog has shared a video of his first public walk. OMG this was one of my favorite stories of the week. There were a lot of “is this a human in a costume” stories this week, but this was an actual man in a dog costume. Look, 99% of the time I prefer people over animals. I applaud this man for being like, “Men drool. Dogs rule.” Look at the video. The sheer joy on people’s faces when they see a dog. 15 out of 10. Would definitely pet. 

Tuesday 

• Banks say loan conditions are getting tougher for consumers: The Fed’s Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey showed that banks “reported having tightened standards for credit card loans and other consumer loans.” Banks also said they are raising the minimum level for credit scores when giving personal loans and are lowering credit limits in the $1.9 trillion consumer-loan space. Whelp looks like I’m not gonna be able to get that loan for that sweet end-of-season jet ski that I had my eye on. Damn you, banks! 
• Coinbase continues to fight SEC: The Securities and Exchange Commission asked Coinbase (COIN) to halt trading on all cryptocurrencies except for bitcoin before it sued the company in June. The SEC’s request left Coinbase, America’s largest crypto exchange, with no choice but to take the matter to court, CEO Brian Armstrong said, because stopping those trades would have “essentially meant the end of the crypto industry in the US,” he told the Financial Times. Man, it just seems like SEC Chair Gary Gensler is like the Dean of Students in Animal House and he is just hellbent on shutting down Delta Tau Chi, erm, I mean Coinbase. 
• Birkenstock IPO expected in September: The designer sandal line beloved by hippies and suburban moms alike is expected to IPO in September with its owner eyeing an $8 billion valuation ahead of its market debut. That’s a lot of scratch for shoes that have a negative effect on getting the user laid. But, due to the dearth of IPOs this year it’s a welcome addition. Put on your favorite jam band and your best pair of Birkies and get ready to trade. Find out what your favorite Birk style says about you. 

Wednesday 

• Fitch downgrades America: Fitch Ratings cut the United States’ long-term foreign currency issuer default rating to AA+ from AAA. “The repeated debt-limit political standoffs and last-minute resolutions have eroded confidence in fiscal management,” Fitch said. Look, America is a Hot Mess™ but that’s our brand, baby. The downgrade came out of nowhere and most in finance say it means nothing but the market did have a hard time rebounding in the latter part of the week after the news. 
• Some crypto assets are securities: Adding more muck to an already polluted regulatory environment, A Manhattan federal judge said in an opinion this week that cryptocurrencies are considered securities regardless of how they are sold. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff’s decision complicates the SEC’s litigation with both Ripple and crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN). What a fun game we’re playing where the rules literally change at the drop of a hat. The opinion contradicts an earlier ruling from the same district. 
• Bed Bath and Beyond is back…kinda: Everything old is new again. Gen-Z has discovered 90s fashion and Bed Bath and Beyond has risen from the ashes! Overstock (OSTK) acquired Bed Bath’s intellectual property and ditched its own name in a bid to boost sales, acquire new customers and cement itself as a go-to home goods retailer. The newly branded site launched this week and customers who download and shop the new app will be given a 25% off coupon. Sadly, it will not be jumbo size. 

Thursday 

• Dems introduce OLIGARCH Act to tax the rich: Democratic House representatives Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Barbara Lee, California, Summer Lee, Pennsylvania and Jamaal Bowman, New York, introduced the Oppose Limitless Inequality Growth and Reverse Community Harms (OLIGARCH) Act to tax extreme wealth, reduce inequality, and combat the threat to democracy posed by billionaires. Trying to finish the work that was started by a rogue pod of Orcas, congressional leaders are also trying to take down billionaires. Also, you guys tried it with the acronym but it's a little #tryhard #cringe. 
• Twitter Blue can now erase the fact that you paid for Twitter Blue: Imagine taking over a beloved and revered service and then making it so abysmal your latest app update involves the ability of your users to REMOVE ALL TRACES of the fact that they pay for your product. This is called reverse-marketing. Twitter Blue, which Elon Musk is currently rebranding to X Blue, now includes the option to hide the notorious blue checkmark. I seriously can’t wait for this to be studied in business schools all across the land. But hopefully this feature will eliminate the ridicule of “this MF paid for Twitter” memes. 
• IRS enters the year 2000: The U.S. Treasury Department announced that taxpayers will have the choice to go paperless for all Internal Revenue Service (IRS) correspondence in the upcoming 2024 filing season. By 2025, the IRS plans to achieve paperless processing for all tax returns to “cut processing times in half” and “expedite refunds by several weeks”. Did y’all know that in other countries, once a year, residents just get a check in the mail or a notice of how much they owe? Like, they don't have to do a damn thing. America is a spicy game of “guess what you owe us! If you’re wrong … straight to jail!” 

Friday 

• Bitcoin ‘Bonnie & Clyde’ reveal their actual roles in infamous hack: Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein admitted being the original hacker of bitcoin in the 2016 hack on Bitfinex. He pleaded guilty in federal court to a conspiracy to launder the stolen cryptocurrency, which ended up being worth $4.5 billion. His wife, Heather Rhiannon Morgan AKA cringe rapper “Razzlekhan”, pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the United States government.
  If you’ve never done a deep dive into this story. I implore you to check out this awesome podcast. Also please watch her “rap” video here. Y’all ain't ready. God bless people who are simultaneously super smart and super dumb, it makes for great content. 
• X social media wants to be your internet trading hub: X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter, wants to delve into the world of Wall St Bets. The company that can’t even put a sign on its headquarters, wants to handle the intricacies of setting up and running a brokerage platform. What could go wrong? X is seeking a financial data giant to build a trading hub inside the app. This seems like an important “Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow” origin story moment where we will start things off when we explain to our children how the great internet riots of 2024 started. 
• Americans say Europe or bust!  Road trip to another giant ball of twine somewhere in middle America or suck it up and shell out the big bucks for a summer in Santorini? Americans have made their choice: we’re going international, baby! Airlines and hotel chains in recent weeks have reported a surge in bookings for international trips — along with rising prices.
  That’s a boon to companies with global offerings, but a new challenge for airlines, theme parks and hotels that are more focused within the U.S. as travelers increasingly opt for locations abroad at the expense of domestic destinations. But there has been a slight decrease in prices for domestic airline fares. 

Will Tom eat it? During Live From the tastytrade Trade Desk this week, Scott introduces Tom and Bat to a little pizza spot in Old Town called Gallucci. We check it out. 

That’s it for this week. See ya next week! 

Vonetta Logan has more than a decade of markets experience and has been a trader for five years. She is an on-air personality, creative writer and news correspondent at tastylive, She appears Monday-Friday on Daily Dose and contributes to Luckbox Magazine. @vonettalogan

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