AI or Pants 👖

Good morning, nerders. It’s Monday, July 1st. In today’s newsletter (3-minute read), we cover:

• Abercrombie & Fitch: what “good looking looks like”

• That pesky little thing called inflation

• ‘Just checking out what’s good over there’ — Meta

TODAY’S STORY

We all have that friend who can’t stop talking about how much they’ve made on their single share of Nvidia.

One stock you probably haven’t heard much about: Abercrombie & Fitch

Formerly, the most hated retailer, which always left you out of breath from choking on their cheap perfume when you exited the store, was one of the best-performing stocks.

In 2023, Abercrombie & Fitch’s stock gained 285%, outpacing Nvidia’s 239% surge, and the momentum has carried into 2024  Abercrombie & Fitch’s stock is up 90%+ year-to-date.

Several changes have led to renewed optimism regarding the brand:

• Shifted its customer demographic away from dressing teens in favor of young graduates and adults entering the workforce

• Ditched the loud music and thick perfume at their retail locations

• Overhauled their inventory to include new sizes and apparel lines with the help of generative AI technology

Who knew Abercrombie & Fitch’s modern chino pants could be as impactful as Nvidia’s futuristic computer chips? At least, that’s how the market is treating it.

DATA BYTES

#SHORTS

@boringbusinesskieran

Meta’s Copycat Machine Fuels Instagram Growth 📈 #business #meta #instagram #tiktok #socialmedia #businesstiktok

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PREVIOUS STORIES

Uh-oh: Americans are falling behind on monthly auto loan payments due to higher car prices and inflated interest rates. Nearly 1 in 12 auto loans is now delinquent.

Head of Macro: Job title inflation is rising, and the implications are not insignificant.

Buzzin’: The world’s largest beer companies are looking to capture the non-alcoholic beer market. Only 62% of U.S. adults say they drink alcohol, down from 71% in the 1970s.

#Dupe: Some brands, like Lululemon and Olaplex, are embracing the rise of the #dupe subculture. Nearly one-third of U.S. adults have bought a dupe.

Ozempic craze: Energy drinks, stretch mark creams, airlines. Some of the non-obvious winners.

To read the web version of previous stories, click here

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Thanks for reading,
Kieran & Justin Ryan