Axios Closer

July 29, 2022
It's been a week! (And month.)
Today's newsletter, edited by Pete Gannon, is 669 words, a 2½-minute read.
🔔 The dashboard: The S&P 500 closed up 1.4%, capping a 4.3% weekly gain and 9.1% monthly gain — the biggest since November 2020.
- Biggest gainer? Amazon (+10.4%), after reporting better than expected results after yesterday's bell.
- Biggest decliner? Church & Dwight (-8.6%), after it cited inflationary pressures for its second-quarter revenue miss.
1 big thing: EVs bring fun features... and recalls
Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
With Congress potentially poised to recharge a $7,500 federal tax credit to push the sale of more EVs, new buyers may need to prepare for some early headaches — recalls.
Why it matters: Electric vehicles are more likely to have defects than traditional gas cars, according to an Axios analysis of industry data. And quality setbacks could undermine their path to replacing internal combustion engine cars, Nathan writes.
State of play: EVs represented a disproportionate amount of automotive recalls from 2017 through the first half of 2022, collectively making up about 0.9% of recall incidents and 1% of total vehicles involved, according to data compiled by recalls manager Sedgwick at the request of Axios.
- During that period, EVs represented an average of no more than about 0.4% of vehicles on the road, based on the most conservative estimates.
Between the lines: What's driving the issue? EVs are so much different than traditional cars and they have so many new features, Sedgwick executive Wayne Mitchell tells Axios.
- “Anytime you have that new technology, you’re going to have new issues that pop up,” Mitchell says.
- New features on EVs often include technology like high-tech infotainment systems, fancy door handles and pseudo-autonomous driving systems.
What they're saying: “Right now people are willing to compromise,” Edmunds analyst Ivan Drury tells Axios. “I think there’s some level of acceptance that you’re driving a test bed.”
The bottom line: EVs are just getting off the ground, and that involves some growing pains in terms of quality.
2. Charted: Communication skills wanted

Demand for communicators is expected to outpace other occupations over the next 10 years, Axios Communicators author Eleanor Hawkins reports.
- Employment in media and communications fields will grow at an estimated 14% compared to about a 6%–10% average for other occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
State of play: Job postings for media and communication roles are currently 42% higher than they were pre-pandemic, according to an Indeed Hiring Lab spokesperson.
Go deeper and sign up for Eleanor's new weekly newsletter on communications trends.
4. Uber offers a lift to drivers
Photo: Nathan Stirk/Getty Images
More Uber drivers in the U.S. will start to see their fares and routes before accepting rides, Uber said today as part of a larger announcement, Hope writes.
Details: Upfront Fares, as Uber calls the feature, began to roll out earlier this year.
- Another newer feature shows drivers a list of other trip requests nearby that they can accept.
Yes, but: The customer impact is yet unclear.
- The risk of rider and trip discrimination, for example, could increase if drivers decide they want to avoid certain neighborhoods.
- In earlier experiments, Uber found the features harmful to its business.
- Axios has reached out to Uber for comment.
The big picture: The company has tried to improve driver benefits — now more crucial than ever as it seeks to deliver anything to anyone — in the face of increased competition for gig workers.
5. Beyoncé drops new album
On cue, Spotify starts social conversation around Beyoncé's new album. Screenshot: Spotfiy/Twitter
Apple Music and Spotify dedicated much of their day to celebrating Beyoncé's new album, Hope writes.
- Apple's streaming service featured "Renaissance" prominently on the Browse page of its app.
- Spotify gave Beyoncé prime real estate on its web service and started a listening party at midnight on Twitter.
Why it matters: It's been six years since her last solo album, "Lemonade," which made her the highest-paid musician in the world that year.
- But notably, publishing fees, sales and streams contributed to only 12% of what she made ($62.1 million), according to Billboard data. The majority came from touring.
6. What they're saying
"It is best for me to move on and I’m staying with Turner for the rest of my TV career.”— Charles Barkley, commentator for “Inside the NBA” on TNT, to the New York Post, saying he ended talks with the LIV Golf series after speculation that he would join the Saudi-backed PGA Tour rival.
Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing today's (and every day's) newsletter.
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Catch up on the day's biggest business stories and look ahead to important trends. Led by Nathan Bomey.


