🐤 The goodest boy

🏦 Markets: Wall Street is shutting down early Wednesday and will remain closed until Friday for Independence Day. Despite the shortened week, there’s lots of information coming out for investors to ponder.

The second half of 2024 begins today, and in addition to remarks from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell and earnings reports from beer maker Constellation Brands, the latest jobs market report is set to drop this week. More on that in today’s Breakdown.

2️⃣ The second half: It might be hard to believe 2024 is already half over, but July is officially here. And that means investors are setting their sights on indicators regarding the state of the economy for the remainder of the year. Among the first indicators will be the labor market stats that surface this week, which traders hope will be as positive as the recent inflation numbers. With all three major markets showing impressive gains since January, it remains to be seen whether we’re in a stock market bubble or experiencing sustainable growth.

🤖 Big Tech frenemies: You probably think of Apple and Google as pretty fierce competitors, particularly where their respective smartphone tech is concerned. But with AI rapidly infiltrating every aspect of our lives, there seems to be an opportunity for these two massive corporations to find some common ground. Apple devices are currently limited to ChatGPT as far as AI integrations go, although a deal with Google could soon provide an alternative. Industry insiders say Apple is expected to announce Gemini will be available this fall.

🎾 Back to the future: With Wimbledon rapidly approaching, one of the tennis world’s biggest stars still doesn’t know if he’ll be up to competing. Andy Murray recently underwent back surgery, and said that he assumed it would mean missing the major competition. But now he’s committed to taking things one day at a time, admitting that “it’s impossible” to know whether he’ll have enough recovery time to play. He was on the schedule for this week’s All England Club, explaining at practice on Sunday he still hadn’t regained all the sensation in his leg.

📖 Read all about it: Physical books are so 20th century. These days, people are reading on high-tech devices that can hold tons of content … but the best ones usually don’t come cheap. If you’re in the market for the popular Amazon Paperwhite, however, you might be able to snag a pretty sweet deal. If you don’t mind an older, used version and can live with ads, the 2018 Paperwhite is available through retail discount service Woot for under $50. It’s got a lot of cool features, but it doesn’t include a USB-C port and only offers 8gb of storage.

From trainers to assistants to medical professionals, it takes a lot of people to ensure that Team USA puts up the best performance possible at the upcoming Paris Olympics. But there’s one four-legged factor that many fans might not know about.

Official title: “Goodest Boy”

Other Olympic teams also travel with therapy dogs, but the women’s gymnastics squad attracts significant attention over its relationship with Beacon, a 4-year-old golden retriever with an official tag declaring him the “goodest boy.”

He’s a lot more than just a good boy to the athletes hoping to join Team USA, though.

Whether helping celebrate victories or console gymnasts after a tough loss, Beacon is always a reliable source of companionship. And his handler, Tracey Callahan Molnar says he does “important work” on behalf of Team USA.

When team members Shilese Jones and Kayla DiCello were both hurt recently, Beacon was there.

“He picks up on the stress and will pull to that person immediately,” Molnar said.

And after working up to 15-hour days, he all but collapses when it’s finally time for bed.

Beacon’s demanding schedule

ESPN recently chronicled a typical day for the team’s therapy dog, beginning at 7 a.m.

Molnar got most of Beacon’s attention for the first few hours, but pretty soon it was time for him to attend two “comfort sessions” that take advantage of the scientifically proven connection between petting a dog and reduced anxiety.

Throughout it all, he was the center of attention, with athletes and spectators alike rushing to engage with him.

“Everyone wants to say hi,” Molnar added. “And he wants to say hi to them.”

Beacon was busy until dinner time around 5:30 p.m. and was back to work less than two hours later, as gymnasts warmed up for a competition.

There’s an often-repeated adage that advises: “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

Although it’s true that people frequently make assumptions based on a split-second initial encounter, that doesn’t mean it’s smart.

What the research shows

Experts recently conducted research for a study that was just published in Motivation Science … and the results are pretty eye-opening.

Professor Chris Harris, who wrote the new report, explained how inherent biases seem to influence our first impressions far more than the facts. He added that this can lead us to believe we’ve made the best choice in a situation even if a more rational approach would have resulted in an objectively better outcome.

“In other words, even when we get to make many repeated choices and even when the alternative is better, we might still continue wrongly thinking that we have the best option,” Harris said. “I believe this research has implications for why stereotypes are so pervasive.”

Two different experiments

In one study, subjects were asked to choose balls from a bag that would either add or subtract points from their total. Because the bag with the lowest reward was shown more frequently, participants demonstrated a bias toward it despite the presence of a better option.

In another, researchers upped the ante with an even bigger difference in reward probability. While most participants finally shifted their preference toward the better option, it took longer than researchers anticipated.

The same trend can play out in your everyday life.

“Say you preferably interact with one group of people, this often means that you then interact less with other groups,” Harris said. “But as a result, it will be much more difficult to realize whether this other group is equally fun to hang out with or perhaps even more fun.”

In this uncertain economy, you probably know someone who is struggling to afford the cost of rent … or you might even be in that situation yourself. But it’s not just residential property that has seen a huge uptick in rental prices over the past several years.

Bad for business

Commercial rentals have experienced staggering inflation recently, essentially pricing out many of the most vulnerable small business owners across the nation. And with massive corporations like Amazon capable of absorbing these higher prices, it’s becoming harder than ever for entrepreneurs to remain competitive.

A new report published by the business networking organization Alignable put the reality of this trend into sharp focus.

Here are some particularly troubling statistics:

• 43% of all U.S. small businesses weren’t able to pay their April rent in full.
• More than one half of restaurant owners couldn’t afford to pay rent that month.
• Fewer than 1 in 3 small business owners are making as much as before COVID.

And with 54% of those surveyed saying rent was higher than it was just six months earlier, it’s clear that this problem isn’t one that will be resolved anytime soon.

“Very worrisome”

Not only are small businesses vital components of communities nationwide, they’re also pivotal sources of revenue for the nation as a whole. According to the Chamber of Commerce, nearly half of the country’s workers are employed by a small business, and this sector of the economy contributes a whopping 43.5% to the U.S. gross domestic product.

That’s why Alignable refused to sugar-coat its findings, describing the situation as “very worrisome.”

And things are even worse in some states. More than half of small business owners in Texas were unable to pay their full rent in April, followed closely by Massachusetts and California.