🛍️ BNPL gets picky

…and ChatGPT turbocharges into an app store   Buy now, pay for the next year (Daniel Harvey Gonzalez/Getty Images)   [Sponsored by]( Yesterday’s Market Moves   Dow Jones 34,153 (+0.17%) S&P 500 4,378 (+0.28%) Nasdaq 13,640 (+0.90%) Bitcoin $35,301 (+0.69%) Dow Jones 34,153 (+0.17%) S&P 500 4,378 (+0.28%) Nasdaq 13,640 (+0.90%) Bitcoin $35,301 (+0.69%) Hey Snackers, When that Shein price looks too good to be true (even for Shein), beware: online shoppers are accidentally ordering [teeny-tiny]( household items, like thumb-size Christmas trees and hangers that would only fit a doll’s clothes. That “small” label is very literal. US stocks continued rising yesterday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq notching their longest win streak in two years as Treasury yields fell. Fed Chair Powell’s set to speak today. Payin4 BNPL giant Klarna returns to profitability after lenders tighten their IOU criteria $200 jeans in 4 easy installments… girl/boy-maths out to $50. Buy now, pay later service Klarna just had its first [profitable]( quarter in four years. But in the ecomm-obsessed US, Klarna’s been profitable for the past four quarters. Last quarter, US transactions through its service jumped 50% — versus a 22% bump overall. Klarna also shrank its total credit losses by 56% by being pickier about who it lends to. BNPL companies take on the risk of the loans they dole out, so when customers don’t pay up, they take a hit. - Up next: US rival [Affirm]( reports today, which should give a broader picture of the BNPL market’s health. Buy now, pay never?… BNPL services thrived during the pandemic as online shoppers snapped up air fryers and designer yoga pants. Klarna’s valuation ballooned to $46B in 2021, making it Europe’s most valuable startup. But with folks reining in spending, Klarna’s valuation plunged last year to $6.7B, and the company laid off 10% of its workforce. Meanwhile, regulators have said that half of those using BNPL services make purchases they can’t afford. A recent gov’t study found BNPL users had lower credit scores and higher rates of loan delinquency than the average shopper. THE TAKEAWAY Being picky helps when things get sticky… Klarna’s made a point of being choosier about who it lends to, which helped shrink its credit losses. Banks are also tightening up their IOU criteria for everything from business loans to mortgages, as consumer debt balloons and savings dwindle (not to mention: high interest rates). Getting fewer but more reliable borrowers could help lenders curb losses during tight economic times. Sponsored by Infinity® Bringing NASA technology down to earth Actual rocket science… Two of the hottest markets right now are space and renewable energy, and [Infinity® is an opportunity to invest in both](. Like PCs, laptops, and smartphones — all technologies that were accelerated by NASA — Infinity’s fuel systems were developed by NASA and private spacecraft companies, but may be poised to become integral, mainstream technology. Fly high and dive deep… [Infinity®]( is developing renewable, longer-lasting energy supplies for any altitude, whether it's space, underwater, or backup power here at sea level. How it works: The electrolyzers in Infinity’s breakthrough fuel-cell design take water and make hydrogen and oxygen, and their fuel cells take hydrogen and oxygen and make electricity, heat, and water — no grid or gas tank required. [Learn more about the opportunity to invest and receive 2% bonus shares by 11/9.*]( VROOM OpenAI announces a “Turbo” ChatGPT as it looks for fresh revenue in the bot race Not a vacuum… At its first in-person event on Monday, OpenAI [presented]( GPT-4 Turbo, an update to its popular large language model. The company said Turbo will have lots of bells and whistles, including a half dozen preset voices and the option for customers to create customized ChatGPT-powered bots. Picture: task-specific bots that can be listed for sale on a soon-to-launch GPT Store (like the App Store, but for AI). OpenAI said ChatGPT has 100M weekly users, but many use it for free. - How OpenAI makes $$: In addition to charging $20/month for its ChatGPT Plus subscription, OpenAI charges developers for access to its model. - Turbo opportunity: AI servers are incredibly pricey to run, and the GPT store could create an opp to boost revenue. - Due for an overhaul: Researchers said that Turbo’s predecessor, ChatGPT-4, had become less capable (aka: dumber) over time. Turbochargin’ competition… OpenAI said that 92% of Fortune 500 companies use its platform, but it’s far from the only game in AI-ville. Elon Musk recently said that his xAI would release its own ChatGPT rival. Musk said the bot, called “Grok,” would eventually be available to paid X subscribers, and that it’d answer “spicy” questions. Also in the mix (* takes deep breath *): [Google]( Bard, Anthropic’s Claude, [Meta]( Meta AI, and scores of up-and-comers like Aleph Alpha, Inflection AI, and Cohere. THE TAKEAWAY A crowded track can lead to crashes… As companies rush to get ahead in the AI race, collisions may be inevitable. Researchers said chatbots regularly make factual errors (when tested, Bard “hallucinated” 27% of the time). Experts say potential AI harm includes people being falsely ID’d as criminal suspects and AI-powered autonomous cars not accurately spotting pedestrians. Officials are paying attention. Last week, President Biden [signed]( an exec order on AI safety. What else we're Snackin' - [iRobot]( China rolled out plans to mass-produce “disruptive” humanoid robots by 2025. Investment in automation is growing: Amazon’s testing “Digit” bot factory workers and Tesla’s developing its “Optimus” bot. - [Opposite]( Luxury-EV maker Lucid missed sales estimates and lowered its annual production guidance to between 8K and 8.5K cars, while e-truck rival Rivian beat expectations and boosted its forecast to 54K vehicles. - [SAG]( The Screen Actors Guild rejected Hollywood studios’ “last, best and final” contract offer, saying it doesn’t go far enough on AI protections. SAG has been on strike since July, halting myriad productions. - [Gainz]( Planet Fitness’ stock surged 12% after the gym chain reported better-than-expected profit and sales growth. It lifted its forecast and said it might hike the price of its $10 membership for the first time in three decades. - [Arrived]( Uber shares rose after the company delivered 11% revenue growth (less than expected) and an acceleration in gross bookings as ride-hail growth outpaced Eats. Uber swung to a profit from a loss a year ago. 🍪 Thanks for Snacking with us! Want to share the Snacks? Invite your friends to sign up [here](. Snack Fact Of the Day The average US commute is 27 minutes [Read more]( Wednesday - Earnings expected from AMC, Beyond Meat, Biogen, Disney, Lyft, MGM Resorts, Roblox, Take-Two, Under Armour, and Warner Bros. Discovery Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Amazon, Beyond Meat, Disney, Google, Tesla, and Uber *Advertiser’s disclosure: This is a paid advertisement for Infinity Fuel Cell and Hydrogen, Inc. Reg CF offering. Please read the offering circular at [(. Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... 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