Happy Thursday Zingernation! Retail trends are a lot like the women I go on dates with: they come and go but they never tend to stick around for too long. Last week we talked about how older clothes are back in vogue, with the second-hand clothing market expected to experience strong growth over the next decade.

Levi Strauss reported earnings last night, beating estimates on EPS and sales, confirming that cloths that were cool ‘back then’ are cool once again. Personally, I didn’t contribute to the denim giant’s earnings as I haven’t thrown on a pair of jeans since before COVID.

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MARKET SNAPSHOT

Yesterday: Was a mixed day with the S&P and Nasdaq trading slightly higher while the Dow dipped slightly.

On Our Radar: Initial jobless claims came in slightly higher than expected this morning in a sign that the labor market could be cooling off slightly. The market responded positively to the news, with all indices trading in the green ahead of the open.

TOP STORY

Elon Musk Thinks Tesla Will End Up Making More Batteries For Energy Storage Than EVs: 'Demand For Stationary Batteries Is Super High'

Basically: Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday said that the demand for its stationary energy storage products is “super high” and hinted that the company might make more batteries for energy storage than cars in the long term.

What Happened: Responding to a Tesla enthusiast who opined that Tesla must advertise its large-scale energy storage system called Megapack, Musk said that production rate and cost are the key challenges with stationary batteries and not demand.

Quoted: “Demand for stationary batteries is super high,” Musk said. “I think Tesla might end up doing more total Joules in stationary than mobile long-term,” he added, hinting that the company is looking to scale its energy storage business to be significant in due time.

Why It Matters: In the first quarter of 2024, Tesla deployed 4,053 MWh of energy storage products, representing its highest quarterly deployment to date and a year-on-year increase of 4.2%.

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FIVE ZINGERS

The Gold Standard: Gold prices continued to make new all-time highs overnight as commodities continue to show strength.

Not Done Yet: Ethereum and Bitcoin have been hot, but one analyst expects the industry to get even hotter. Here’s why Ethereum could reach a $1T valuation by 2030.

If It Ain’t Broke: The buy-the-dip strategy has been working all year, and continued to look good as NVIDIA’s stock rose this morning after a recent pullback.

Mixed Signals: Rivian reported bullish production numbers but the stock still hasn’t responded positively to the news. Here’s why.

Cop Out: Copper prices have been on an absolute tear due to strong demand and supply-chain worries. Here’s what’s going on.

ONE FOR THE ROAD

Mastercard Set to Increase Credit Card Fees, Adding Millions in Costs for Retailers After Visa Settlement

Briefly: Mastercard Inc is looking to raise specific credit card fees starting April 15, a move that comes shortly after announcing a $30 billion settlement with Visa Inc V over swipe fees aimed at providing financial relief to retailers.

Quoted: The network “assessment” fee will increase to 0.14% from 0.13%, which translates to an additional $259.1 million in fees based on last year’s transactions exceeding $2 trillion, as the Merchants Payments Coalition reported.

Basically: This coalition, advocating for lower payment fees, disclosed the fee hike, emphasizing that such costs ultimately burden retailers through banks, Bloomberg Law reports.

So: The recent five-year agreement to cap swipe fees aimed to help save retailers around $30 billion and mitigate longstanding litigation. Analysts expected the deal to relieve Visa & Mastercard of regulatory pressure and contain further reductions in interchange fees.

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