Short squeeze
The OJ industry gets pulped
Good morning, zest zealots. This is your Stock Market Rundown for April 8th, 2024. Thanks for tuning in for another week of financial tomfoolery. Let’s dig in:
TODAY’S TOP STORY: CONCENTRATED INVESTING
Ever since the orange juice industry used marketing to tie oranges to breakfast in the public mind, it’s been Americans’ favourite beverage to enjoy before noon, right beside their bowl of shredded wheat or stack of pancakes.
But in recent years, orange juice sales hit a 15-year low. Why? Consumers have realized that “natural” doesn’t necessarily mean healthy. Sure, orange juice has no added sugar, but still has enough naturally-occurring sugars to give a toddler a midafternoon energy crash.
Another problem: rising costs, due to OJ supplies being squeezed by extreme weather and disease. Orange groves worldwide have been hit by citrus greening, a tree-killing ailment caused by a bacteria and spread by invasive insects.
85% of global orange juice supply comes from Florida and Brazil, and both locations have major citrus greening problems. At the same time, heat waves in Brazil and hurricanes in Florida have hammered production.
Result: experts are warning of a global orange juice shortage, and futures prices for frozen concentrated orange juice are near all-time highs. That’s bad news for big juice brands like Tropicana and Minute Maid—as well as for those of us who enjoy a bottomless mimosa with our Sunday brunch.
SO WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
Crypto founder Do Kwon was just convicted of defrauding investors, who lost $40 billion when tokens backed by Kwon crashed in value. The crypto industry continues to be a reliable machine for incinerating your money.
If your job is 90% sending emails, prepare to justify your existence. A survey of top corporate execs found that many expect to be able to reduce staff by using AI.
Chinese online shopping platform Taobao is experimenting with using rockets for express delivery. Soon online shopping purchases might involve a rocket landing in the front lawn… hope they miss my bird feeder and hydrangeas.
The oil price is like Goldilocks’ porridge right now: not too high to dent demand, not too low to squeeze producers’ revenue. That’s thanks to the brainiacs at OPEC skillfully twiddling the supply knobs. Steady, lads.
Clocking out for today, comrades; see you bright and early tomorrow. Yours in capitalism, The Axe
Thank you so much for reading. If you enjoyed today’s Stock Market Rundown, the #1 thing you can do to help me out is forward it to a friend.