The $SPCE Launch

Tale of the Tape

Happy Friday! We made it through another week in the markets with some mixed feelings.

On one hand, three of four stock indices continued their climb today. 🧗 The only exception was the Nasdaq, -0.065%.

On the other hand, it’s been a rough one for crypto HODLers. The global crypto market is down 7.4% today. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Binance Smart Coin are down over 8%…

Maybe it won’t matter that much a week from now? 😅 😭

$SPCE’s new flurry of investors sent the stock +38% today. The company plans to start customer launches soon. 🚀

$EXPR jumped 28.5%, $NKE ran 15.5%, and $PSFE hopped 9.65%.

Here are the closing prints:

S&P 500	4,280	+0.33%
Nasdaq	14,360	-0.06%
Russell 2000	2,326	+0.52%
Dow Jones	34,393	+0.70%

Earnings Roundup

Payroll services company Paychex reported its Q4 earnings this morning. 💸

Here are the stats:

EPS: $0.73 vs $0.67 est
Revenue: $1.01B, +14% YoY

Paychex President and CEO Martin Mucci said:

“Our fourth quarter results were driven by record client retention levels, record sales results, and stronger checks per client, which were driven by improving macroeconomic conditions and gains in employment. Client base growth was strong and we ended the fiscal year with over 710,000 clients.”

$PAYX rose 1.28% today.

CarMax solidly surpassed Q1 earnings expectations today, fueled by high demand for used cars. 🚗 💨

Here are the details:

EPS: $2.63 vs $1.63 est
Revenue: $7.7B, +138% YoY

CarMax President and CEO Bill Nash said:

“We delivered exceptional results in the first quarter thanks to excellent execution by our team in a high demand environment … Our strong performance, which included record net revenues and profitability, reflects the strength of our omni-channel experience and diversified business model across retail, wholesale and CAF.”

$KMX climbed 6% today.

Virgin Is Flying (Again)

Investors are hyped about the “private space race”— Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic vs Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.

Both billionaires plan to board their companies’ rockets to space. With Bezos’ expected July 20 launch, the billionaires will be some of the first civilians aboard spacecrafts. 🚀 🚀

But Branson might try to beat Bezos, according to CNBC. Can he? Possibly, if Virgin Galactic turns around the company’s only spaceship for another flight.

What’s even more exciting are the rumors that Virgin Orbit, Virgin’s space payload and deliveries company, will go public through the NextGen Acquisition II Corp SPAC. 🤯

$SPCE blasted 38.8% today. $NGCA rose just 1.58%.

The Big Bitcoin Debate

Get ready for a debate between tech billionaires and Bitcoin fans, Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey. The pair will debate Bitcoin on July 10, and guess who’s excited? ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood. 🥳

On Friday, the geniuses agreed over Twitter to discuss $BTC.X on July 21 at a conference called “The B Word.” The event is educational, intended to spread cryptocurrency adoption and awareness.

After seeing the tweet, ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood couldn’t contain herself. She welcomed both for the event. 🤗

Musk and Dorsey have always been bullish on ET crypto, but they have different opinions on its future. We’ll see if the two can get on the same page.

Whatever happens, the conference is sure to affect Bitcoin’s value. We’re looking forward to it. ⏳ 🔥

Combating Crypto Crime 🚨

The booming crypto world is also (unfortunately) famous for financing terrorism and money laundering. The problem with tackling these issues legally? The law was made for traditional finance. ⚖️ 🤔

But there may be hope, thanks to exchanges and custodians like BitGo, Coinbase, Gemini, Kraken, and Fidelity. Supposedly, they have a proposal capable of tackling issues like financial crime while maintaining the ‘no control’ and ‘freedom’ aspects of crypto.

The proposal should comply with the Financial Action Task Force (FAFT), an organization combating global money laundering. The FAFT’s ‘Travel Rule’ mandates all crypto transactions above a specified amount to disclose identifying information. Crypto giants are optimistic their proposal will track transactions to combat financial terrorism.

We just don’t know how long it’ll take to implement. 🙏