A McDonald's spinoff with a focus on beverages over burgers is opening its first location this week.
Driving the news: The fast-food giant announced that the first CosMc's small-format concept restaurant will open near Chicago in Bolingbrook, Illinois.
Why it matters: Despite falling consumer sentiment, Americans plan to spend an average of $975 on gifts — a $52 increase from what consumers thought in October, the survey found.
Enterprise blockchain projects from the world of traditional finance usually go nowhere, but one European bank's stablecoin could flourish outside the confines of its walled garden.
Why it matters: Bank-issued stables are a big no-go in the U.S. and how to regulate it remains a point of contention for the industry and policymakers.
Here's what's new on Prime Video, Paramount+, Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, Disney+ and Apple TV+ this weekend.
What we're watching: Another star-studded apocalyptic thriller from Netflix, a recap of Coach Prime's first season at Colorado and Adrian Monk's final case.
Autoworkers at the only Volkswagen plant in the U.S. have launched a voluntary organizing committee in coordination with the UAW — the first step toward officially joining the union, workers exclusively tell Axios.
Why it matters: The UAW recently launched a bid to organize 13 non-unionized automakers in the U.S., aiming to build on its momentum after winning record contracts following a strike at General Motors, Ford and Stellantis.
Criticism is growing of a paper released this week, which claimed some investors may have profited on advanced knowledge of Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.
The nation's largest retail trade group retracted a key assertion from an April report that "nearly half" of the $94.5 billion inventory losses reported by retailers in a 2021 survey "was attributable" to organized retail crime.
Why it matters: Skeptics of the recent narrative of retail theft's growing size and scale have been given more reason to double down.
The great AI platform building race is showing no signs of slowing down.
Google released Gemini today, and Elon Musk's X.ai startup appears to have raised at least $134.7 million, Hope writes with Axios' Ina Fried and Kia Kokalitcheva.
Why it matters: In the year since OpenAI launched ChatGPT, companies across all sectors have had to answer existential questions about their business.
But the answers are highly dependent on how the biggest tech players are building the tools that other corporates will ultimately use.
Be smart: Google, which invented the tech underpinning the current AI boom, has been under pressure to detail Gemini after rivals OpenAI and Anthropic launched improvements to their models.
Musk will require significant sustained investment for his AI plans given how compute-intensive the AI race is.
Growers of the luxuryOmakase strawberry are out with a new gourmet fruit today — the "Rubī" tomato, Hope writes.
Driving the news: Oishii, the vertical farming company based in Jersey City, New Jersey, announced that select Whole Foods Markets will sell a $10 box of 11 Japanese varietal "fruit tomatoes."
But Closer got a sample.
The verdict: We found them packed with a rich and distinct flavor that was juicy, sweet, bright and with just the right amount of tang.
I could see myself reaching for these like a box of candy.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon ramped up his years-long opposition to bitcoin and other digital currencies on Wednesday, suggesting that lawmakers should move to ban cryptocurrency altogether.
What they're saying: "If I was the government, I'd close it down," Dimon said at a Senate hearing alongside seven other big bank CEOs.
Fifty is the new 25, at least when it comes to living alone.
Why it matters: That's about the average age of a solo U.S. renter, according to the latest census data. Many young Americans are splitting steep rents that eat into their income.
Leaders of some of the nation's biggest banks attacked regulators over their proposals to toughen industry rules — even threatening at a Senate hearing on Wednesday to challenge the constitutionality of the plan.
Why it matters: It's unusual for the heads of the nation's biggest banks to so publicly berate regulators. The heated exchanges offer a preview of what could be ahead for the proposed rules that CEOs claim will hurt the economy.
McDonald's officials said Wednesday that the company is planning to expand at a record pace and open 10,000 new restaurants by the end of 2027
Why it matters: The restaurant expansion is expected to drive global sales and profitability for the fast-food giant. Just around 900 of the new locations are expected to be in the U.S.
September and October featured a remarkable surge in longer-term interest rates, a development that policymakers,market mavens, and economics newsletter writers alike scrutinized for what it might say about the future.
Nevermind. Since then, it has mostly reversed.
Why it matters: Market sentiment has shifted abruptly in the last seven weeks as fears have eased that the U.S. is getting locked into an era of much higher borrowing costs.
That means a bit of relief — relative to October, at least — for homebuyers, corporate borrowers and the government's fiscal position.
Fewer workers are working primarily from home these days, according to polling data out Wednesday from Morning Consult.
Why it matters: While far more Americans work remotely now than before the pandemic, the share of those who are fully remote has been steadily declining.
A year after a cap on Russian oil prices was imposed, the Treasury Department says that enforcement is needed to counteract Moscow's growing ability to ship crude, according to a memo obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: The $60 price cap on Russian crude was credited last year with making a dent in how much cash the Kremlin brings in from oil sales. That money helps pay for its war on Ukraine.
Why it matters: The merger would be ExxonMobil's largest deal since the two namesakes merged in 1999 and reshape the U.S. oil industry. And it would give the oil giant the Permian Basin's most prolific player.
