Good morning.

 

PRESENTED BY Good morning. If there’s one person who could beat Ken in a beach-off, it’s Dr. Beach. Stephen Leatherman, professor in the Department of Earth and Environment at FIU and self-styled Dr. Beach, has ranked the best US beaches based on metrics like wave action, wildlife presence, and sand type for the past 34 years. And just in time for MDW, he released his best beaches list for summer 2024. The top three are: Duke Kahanamoku Beach, Oahu, Hawaii Coopers Beach, Southampton, New York Wailea Beach, Maui, Hawaii How can you become a Dr. Beach? Four years at Club Med school. —Matty Merritt, Molly Liebergall, Cassandra Cassidy, Adam Epstein, Neal Freyman

MARKETS Nasdaq 16,736.03 -0.39% S&P 5,267.84 -0.74% Dow 39,065.26 -1.53% 10-Year 4.475% +4.0 bps Bitcoin $67,565.45 -2.32% Boeing $172.21 -7.55% Data is provided by *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 10:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. Markets: The Dow had a worse day than the officer who arrested Scottie Scheffler as stocks plunged despite Nvidia’s smash earnings report earlier this week. Investors remain concerned over comments from Fed officers that suggest they’re still in no rush to lower interest rates. As is tradition, Boeing dropped after it admitted its free cash flow is worse than expected.

ENTERTAINMENT DOJ sues to break up Ticketmaster ‘monopoly’ Anna Kim The US government did not mince words yesterday: Live Nation and Ticketmaster need to split. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and 30 state and district attorneys general sued Live Nation, which refers to itself as the “largest live entertainment company in the world,” lodging a 120-page complaint that it purposefully stifles competition, hurts consumers, and unfairly jacks up ticket prices. The suit alleges that Live Nation threatened to retaliate against venues that didn’t use its ticketing service and that artists who don’t use Live Nation’s tour promo services can’t perform at any of its venues. The DOJ said the company controls over 70% of ticket sales at major concert venues in the country. Plus, Live Nation controls 265 venues in North America and 60 of the top 100 amphitheaters in the US. “This is a travesty!” Cried the Justice Department, which allowed the merger to happen 14 years ago. Industry pros had begged the DOJ to prevent Live Nation from buying Ticketmaster, warning of the same concerns the DOJ now cites in seeking to break them up. Then came Taylor Swift… The Eras Tour’s ticket-buying process was such a mess that a bipartisan group of senators brought Live Nation execs to Capitol Hill last year to grill them on the company’s practices. The DOJ’s investigation was announced shortly after the Swiftie debacle, though the agency claimed it had already been investigating the company. Live Nation called the lawsuit “baseless.” In a company blog post, an executive claimed that the suit ignores price factors like artists’ popularity and scalpers. The post also says that Live Nation’s net profit margin was only 1.4% last year, too low to indicate a monopoly. A long road ahead…the whole thing is expected to take years to move through the courts, especially since the suit requests a jury trial (which is unusual for this type of case).—MM

PRESENTED BY ARMRA COLOSTRUM Balance by the scoop Plenty of products promise to boost your immune system. But as it turns out, the best benefits come with balance. Fortunately, that’s where ARMRA Colostrum™ excels. It’s a powerful bioactive whole food that strengthens your body’s immune barriers. And these barriers house 80% of your immune system—so that support really matters. ARMRA’s patent-pending, Cold-Chain BioPotent™ Pasteurization concentrates colostrum’s 400+ bioactive nutrients in their purest and most bioavailable form for superior efficacy. In fact, in research ARMRA Colostrum™ triggered a rapid, 32% stronger immune response against harmful LPS particles compared to other available colostrum.* As you gear up for summer travels, opt for proactive, balanced immune support. Take 30% off your first ARMRA Colostrum™ subscription order with code REVIVE30.

WORLD Tour de headlines The Washington Post/Getty Images  Louisiana designated abortion pills as dangerous controlled substances. Lawmakers in the state voted to reclassify the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol, which would make possessing them without a prescription punishable with jail time. Louisiana becomes the first state to pass such a law, though other GOP-controlled states are considering similar measures. Supporters of the bill say it protects “expectant mothers from coerced abortions,” the AP reported, while doctors vehemently oppose it, saying it falsely gives the impression the drugs are dangerous and makes it harder to prescribe them to patients with other medical needs.  Biden is strengthening US ties to Kenya. The Biden administration welcomed Kenyan President William Ruto to the White House yesterday—the first time an African leader has made an official state visit to Washington in over 15 years, the Financial Times reported. President Biden is trying to bolster the US’ relationship with Africa to counter the growing influence of Russia and China on the continent in hopes that a closer relationship with Nairobi will enhance peace and security globally. As part of the meeting, the US is designating Kenya as a “major non-NATO ally,” the first from sub-Saharan Africa to receive the designation.  NOAA warned this hurricane season could be historically bad. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast 17 to 25 named tropical storms this upcoming season, the most it has ever predicted in its May outlook. Of those storms, eight to 13 are expected to become hurricanes, with four to seven likely to be Category 3 or higher—about double the usual number. Scientists believe warming temperatures are increasingly leading to more storms and helping to intensify the ones that form. The NOAA will provide an updated forecast in August.

DESIGN Spotify gets a new font Spotify Times New Roman walked so that Spotify Mix, a new custom typeface that the green-colored music streamer started rolling out to app and desktop this week, could lowkey two-step in a chill way. Spotify says…the curved yet angled new font will add a more “distinctive character” to the brand’s products and marketing than the last font it used, Circular, which was not created for Spotify. So what…? Spotify will be using a bespoke typeface that it owns, which means it no longer has to pay annual licensing fees like it did while using Circular. Spotify, welcome to the proprietary font club—they’ve been waiting: In the 2010s, tech giants looking to quirk up their brand identities churned out a lot of original typefaces, including Android’s Roboto, Google’s Product Sans, Apple’s San Francisco, YouTube Sans, and Samsung One, Mashable reported. There’s also Netflix Sans, Airbnb Cereal, Uber Move, Twitter/X’s Chirp, Burger King’s Flame, and Popeyes’s Chicken Sans. Don’t sleep on font business. Dinamo Typefaces, which helped Spotify develop its pretty new letters, has also worked with Burberry, Discord, Nike, Patreon, Tumblr, and other big hitters. Advancements in screen resolution have opened up the doors for digital designers to create finer and more creative typefaces.—ML