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Linda Yaccarino says game on as Instagram prepares Twitter clone

Linda Yaccarino is ready for some competition. The incoming Twitter CEO responded Sunday to a report about Instagrams plans for a Twitter clone.

Game on, Elon Musks hand-picked successor tweeted, a week after thanking her new boss for the job leading the social network.

Her post linked to a TechCrunch article about Meta-owned Instagrams Twitter clone. That article includes a tweet by Lia Haberman, author of social media newsletter ICYMI, showing what is reportedly a screenshot of the new app.

Meta reportedly included the screenshot in an email sent to a select group of creators. Fortune reached out to Meta for comments but received no immediate reply.

According to Haberman, who said she spoke to a creator who received the email, Instagrams Twitter competitor could be released in late June. It will be a decentralized app built on the back of Instagram but will be compatible with some other apps like Mastodon. She added theres a single sign-on with your Instagram username and password, you can sync up with your existing followers, and your handle, bio and verification will carry over from Instagram.

Matt Navarra, a social media consultant, received some of the same information and shared it in a May 12 tweet.

Meta will trail other Twitter alternatives like Mastodon and Bluesky in terms of timing, but it will have one enormous advantage: access to billions of users through Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger, all of which it owns.

The competition from Meta adds the difficult job ahead for Yaccarino, who also must persuade advertisers who reduced their activities on Twitter to take a second look. Many feared a spike in objectionable content under the ownership of Musk, a self-described free-speech absolutist.

On that front, Yaccarino, NBCUniversals former head of advertising, is already having a positive impact. GroupM, one of the worlds top media agencies, is cautiously optimistic about Yaccarinos appointment and has told clients it no longer considers Twitter high risk, according to the Financial Times.

While Musk has pushed for more subscription revenue, Twitter has long relied on advertising as its main source of revenue. Wedbush Securities Managing Director Daniel Ives told Reuters that Musks appointment of Yaccarino was a home-run hire, noting, This is someone whos going to be much more aggressive on advertising.

Shell also be unafraid to challenge Musk, judging by her performance interviewing him last month onstage at a Possible marketing conference in Florida. She aggressively questioned him about the concerns of advertisers and even got him to promise he would aspire to tweet less after 3 a.m.

Now Yaccarino, who some believe is in a glass-cliff situation that other female CEOs have encountered, faces the prospect of competing head-on with Mark Zuckerbergs Meta, a formidable rival with proven social media chops. Game on indeed.

Fannie Mae: The housing market recession isn't overand soon it'll help spur a 'mild' U.S. recession

The U.S. housing market, in the telling of housing bulls, has stabilized. New home sales are rising again, as aggressive builder incentives pull buyers back into the market. Meanwhile, mortgage rates falling back under 7%, combined with the housing market entering into the busier spring season, has seen many regional housing markets flip from correction mode to growth mode. In fact, only 16% of regional housing markets tracked by Zillow saw a home price decline between March and April.

When it comes to housing, the worst is behind us. Or is it?

The housing market recession isnt over just yetand it could regain momentum as the market moves into the seasonally slower summer and fall months. At least thats according to a revised forecast just put out by Fannie Mae.

Through the first quarter of 2023, U.S. housing market activity as measured by private residential fixed investment (i.e. the core of housing GDP) has declined, on a nominal basis, for four straight quarters. And more contractions could be on the horizon. Indeed, Fannie Mae expects residential fixed investment to fall in Q2 2023 (-5.9%), Q3 2023 (-9.1%), Q4 2023 (-6.4%), and Q1 2024 (-1%).

There is a record number of multifamily units currently under construction, which are scheduled to come online later this year and into 2024. Combined with tightening credit for construction lending, which we expect will soon be realized by a slower new project pipeline, we are expecting a significant slowdown in starts later this year, wrote Fannie Mae economists in their report published on Friday.

The pullback on the multifamily side, according to the Fannie Mae forecast, will negate any economic boosts created on the single-family side, which has benefited this spring from builder incentives like mortgage rate buydowns.

Over the past year, the housing market has been one of the few areas of the economy stuck in recession. That could soon change: Fannie Maes forecast model thinks declines in the U.S. housing market will spill over and help to push the U.S. economy into a recession. Indeed, Fannie Mae is forecasting U.S. GDP declines in Q3 2023 (-1.2%), Q4 2023 (-1.7%), and Q1 2024 (-0.5%).

A modest recession is the likeliest outcomeand that its timing remains the principal outstanding questionas the Fed is likely to maintain tighter policy for longer if wage-related inflationary pressures do not subside, wrote Fannie Mae economists.

While Fannie Maes forecast model predicts that the U.S. housing market will help to drag the economy into recession, Fannie Mae economists also believe that the U.S. housing market will be a buffer against a deep recession.

We see the conditions in the housing construction and auto sectors as likely being more of a buffer to the severity of a recession by being potential drivers of eventual recovery than a means to prevent one, wrote Fannie Mae economists on Friday.

What does this mean for home prices?

Unlike Zillow and CoreLogic, which are forecasting slight home price gains over the next year, Fannie Mae thinks the home price correction will soon regain momentum. Fannie Mae's forecast model has U.S. home prices, as measured by the Fannie Mae Home Price Index, falling 1.2% between Q4 2022 and Q4 2023, and then another 2.2% decline between Q4 2023 and Q4 2024. If those declines come to fruition, it'd mark the first year-over-year declines measured by the Fannie Mae Home Price Index since 2012.

By the time national home prices bottom in Q4 2024, Fannie Mae predicts U.S. home prices will be 5.28% lower than the peak in Q2 2022. Regionally speaking, the outcomes are likely to varya lot.

That forecast is a mild correctionnot a housing crash.

The reason Fannie Mae says a national home price crash is unlikely boils down to the lack of resale inventory. In fact, active inventory is still 40% below pre-pandemic levels.

"Even though mortgage rates remain elevated compared to the previous few years, the acute lack of housing supply remains supportive of home prices. Of course, the shortage of homes for sale is currently being exacerbated by the so-called lock-in effect, which continues to disincentivize huge numbers of households with low mortgage rates from listing their homes," wrote Fannie Mae chief economist Doug Duncan in a recent report.

Want to stay updated on the housing market? Follow me on Twitter at @NewsLambert.

Memecoins and NFTs erupt on Bitcoin blockchain, leading to seismic shift for miners

An eruption of memecoins and nonfungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain has reshaped the revenue profile of miners and stirred questions about how lasting the upheaval will prove to be.

New software known as Ordinals paved the way for the NFTs and meme tokens to come to the network this year. Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd. says the Bitcoin NFT ecosystem could be worth $4.5 billion by 2025, while about 25,000 memecoins have been tallied on the blockchain since they first emerged in March.

The NFT and meme-token craze spurred record transactions and an ensuing fee windfall for miners, who run the computers underpinning Bitcoin. At one point in May, transaction fees made up over 40% of revenues, whereas miner income is usually dominated by the new Bitcoin they get for securing the blockchain.

The Ordinals protocol has stimulated a seismic shift in the Bitcoin mining landscape, said Jihan Wu, chairman of Singapore-based Bitdeer Technologies Group, one of the top crypto miners by computer power.

Ordinals and a crypto rebound have eased the pressure on mining margins caused by last years digital-asset rout and high energy costs. But Bitcoin purists argue the Ordinals phenomenon clogs the network and interferes with the largest cryptocurrencys store-of-value and payments functions.

The mean fee per transaction on the Bitcoin blockchain began April at $2.80, reached $30 on May 8 and moderated to $6 on May 18, CryptoQuant data show. Total fee income attributable to Ordinals stands at about $37.4 million, according to data compiled by Dune Analytics AS.

Developer Casey Rodarmor created Ordinals, a software protocol that lets users inscribe digital content like videos, images and text on satoshis, the smallest unit of Bitcoin. There are 100 million satoshis in one Bitcoin.

Rodarmors innovation then allowed a pseudonymous blockchain analyst called Domo to develop the Bitcoin Request for Comment or BRC-20 standard, which led to the explosion of memecoins.

The durability of the sudden ardor for NFTs, or digital collectibles, and speculative tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain remains an open question. The market value of the memecoins was heading toward $1 billion earlier in May but has since declined to about $582 million, figures from BRC-20.io show.

The BRC-20 tokens have no utility, said Carlos Gonzalez Campo, a research analyst at crypto exchange-traded product provider 21Shares AG.

The fundamental takeaway may be that Ordinals has created a pathway to uses of the Bitcoin network that didnt exist before.

While the memecoin frenzy on Bitcoin will likely subside eventually, valuable use cases will emerge from the chaos, such as utilizing Bitcoin as a data availability layer and storing crucial documents that require permanent preservation, said Sami Kassab, a research analyst at Messari.

Shares Rally

A sustained boost to transaction income could help sustain the Bitcoin network longer term by keeping miners engaged. Transactions will be the sole revenue source by about 2140, when Bitcoin is due to hit its cap of 21 million tokens and new coins will no longer be issued in return for securing the blockchain.

For now, Ordinals is helping to fuel renewed investor enthusiasm for Bitcoin miners. The 20-member MVIS Global Digital Assets Mining Index is up 110% so far in 2023, outstripping Bitcoins 74% advance.

The application of ordinals is completely rewriting how people think about mining profitability, said Colin Harper, head of content and research at crypto-mining services provider Luxor Technologies.

Janet Yellen says odds U.S. can pay its bills by mid-June quite low as fears of catastrophic default grow

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the US is unlikely to reach mid-June and still be able to pay its bills, underscoring the urgency of the White House reaching a deal with Republicans to raise the debt limit.

Well, theres always uncertainty about tax receipts and spending, Yellen said on NBCs Meet the Press on Sunday. And so its hard to be absolutely certain about this, but my assessment is that the odds of reaching June 15th while being able to pay all of our bills is quite low.

Yellen has previously said the US could lose its ability to pay all its bills by June 1, placing the country at risk of a catastrophic default. While tax payments are expected in mid-June, getting to that date is the problem, she told NBC.

On June 15, there are tax payments that are made that are substantial, she said. But early June, I interpret as before that, and it would be very difficult to get to that date.

Gen Z and millennials say social media is pressuring them to buy what theycantafford

Not every young person is making bank by going viral on TikTok. Quite the contrary: For most Gen Zers and millennials, social media apps like TikTok and Instagram exacerbate their financial anxiety. So finds Deloittes 12th annual 2023 Gen Z and Millennial survey, which fielded responses from over 22,000 Gen Z and millennial respondents in 44 countries. Fifty-one percent of Gen Zers and 43% of millennials said that social media makes them want to buy things they know they cant afford.

That could stem from regularly seeing posts from friends or influencers flaunting fancy clothes and vacations, as well as targeted ads, says Michele Parmelee, Deloittes global people and purpose leader. In those ways, social media can generate the desire to have more things and spend more money, she tells Fortune.

Unfortunately for young professionals, extravagant purchases have never been farther out of reach. Respondents overwhelmingly told Deloitte that the high cost of living is their top societal concernrightly so considering that theyre both dealing with true inflation for the first time in their lives and the looming prospect of making student loan payments again (or for the first time ever). Half of Gen Zers and millennials each say they live paycheck to paycheck.

Some are so stressed about money that they are taking on second jobs to make ends meet and postponing major life decisions like buying property or starting a family. In their place, theyre adopting more spendthrifty habits, like buying things second-hand or eschewing car ownership.

Social media isnt helping matters. Theres no shortage of evidence that social media can wreak havoc on the mental health of its users of all agesnot just teens and young adults. Last July, a Bankrate study found that nearly two-thirds of social media users who made impulse purchases after scrolling came to regret it.

Those purchases, often stemming from clever ads or sponsored content from popular creators, can often harm our finances more than benefit our lives, Bankrate.com analyst Sarah Foster told Fortune.

Thats a double-edged sword: Social media usage and subsequent shopping hurts users wallets and their egos. Social media users are more likely to feel negatively about their financial situation than any other aspect of their lives, Bankrate found. They chalk that up mostly to the comparison game: Many Gen Zers and millennials said theyve felt bad about their own finances after seeing another persons social media post.

Spending a lot of time online doesnt helpone in five (20%) Gen Zs spend five hours or more a day on video social media platforms alone, Deloitte found, while 17% of millennials spend five hours or more a day on traditional social networking sites. They believe this is having a mixed impact on their lives, Parmelee said.

Long sessions of scrolling, swiping, and tapping make our brain check out and send neurochemical signals of demotivation and failure, Brittany Harker Martin, an associate professor of leadership, policy & governance at the University of Calgary wrote for Fortune earlier this month.

Suffice it to say, you might be better offboth financially and emotionallydeleting your account.

China says U.S. chipmaker Microns products pose significant security risks in escalating semiconductor battle

China said it found relatively serious cybersecurity risks in Micron Technology Inc. products that were sold in the country, and warned operators of key Chinese information infrastructure against buying the companys goods.

The products caused significant security risks to our critical information infrastructure supply chain which would affect national security, according to a statement from Chinas Cyberspace Administration on Sunday.

Results of the review came more than a month after China announced an investigation on imports from Americas largest memory-chip maker. That opened a new front in the escalating semiconductor battle between the the US and China.

The worlds biggest economies increasingly see each others tech sectors as risks to national security. The US has already blacklisted Chinese tech firms, sought to cut the flow of sophisticated processors and banned its citizens from providing certain help to the countrys chip industry.

Micron said after the review was announced that it was cooperating fully in the inquiry and committed to conducting all business with uncompromising integrity. It also said it stood by the security of its products and commitments to customers.

Operators of key information infrastructure should stop purchasing Micron products according to relevant law and regulations, the regulator said Sunday. The checks into Micron products are necessary measures to safeguard national security, it said.

China welcomes products and services provided by companies of all countries as long as those goods comply with Chinese laws and regulations, according to the statement.

Micron is the last remaining maker of computer memory based in the US, having survived brutal industry downturns that forced larger companies such as Intel Corp. and Texas Instruments Inc. to bow out. The company has relatively little exposure to China compared with its peers, and it doesnt use the country as a major manufacturing base.

A day in the life of the P.F. Changs CEO who wakes up at 4am

My life is my work. My work is my life.

So says Damola Adamolekun, former Wall Street whiz-turned-CEO-of casual-dining restaurant chain P.F. Changs. In the midst of the remote work revolution, employees worldwide have been fighting for a better work-life balance, pushing back against employer mandates to return to office and advocating for four-day workweeks. Even global superstar Rihanna recently expressed that finding balance is almost impossible.

But for Adamolekun, work and life have never been separate. I never really have been a person that separated work and life, he tells Fortune. It mixes.

That might be because the 34-year-old has a lot on his plate. Hes one of the few Black CEOs leading a major U.S. company; there are only six black CEOs in the Fortune 500, and only 8% of C-Suite executives are Black, according to a 2021 Washington Post analysis of the 50 most valuable companies. And Adamolekun balances running the helm with his job as a partner at Paulson & Co., the hedge fund that acquired the Asian-inspired restaurant chain in 2019.

It follows a successful career in private equity, where Adamolekun worked at top companies, including Goldman Sachs and TPG Capital. He says he dedicated his finance era to working all the time, even on the weekends.

I thought it was fun. So it wasnt like I had to go in on a Saturday, Adamolekun said. It was like I got stuff to do, and I want to knock it out, or I want to look at something.

Its not unlike the life of many financiers and CEOs, who are known for logging after work hours to get the job done. He says he still works on the weekends and can sometimes be found checking emails by the pool.

Although Adamolekun has never prioritized finding a work-life balance, he acknowledges that work impacts people differently. Its an individual thing, he says, adding that you should separate the two if work is stressful. Thats why he encourages employees to build in buffers, taking a day off on a Tuesday or Wednesday since weekends are usually busy at the restaurant due to higher demand.

But for him, despite all the pressures of being a chief executive, work doesnt stress [him] out.

Adamolekun gave Fortune a sneak peak into his daily routine, which kicks off at 4 a.m. sharp.

From a.m. runs to p.m. cigars

4:30 a.m.: Adamolekuns motto: Early to bed, early up.

He begins his day with a seven to eight-mile run, which he says helps him feel less stressed and more relaxed. The aerobic exercise routine stimulates his calm, relaxed, autonomous nervous system, Adamolekun says, unlike the sympathetic nervous system, which triggers your bodys fight or flight reaction.

Theres a reason you feel good when you workout, he adds: Youll feel better the whole day; youll be smarter, youll be sharper, youll be more energetic.

6:00 a.m.: After his run, Adamolekun showers and prepares to head to P.F. Changs headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Before hitting the road, he takes a few minutes to review the chains performance numbers from the previous day in his home office, checking to see if they aligned with the companys expectations.

7:00 a.m.: Adamolekun arrives at the headquarters, a 20-minute drive from his house, and casually meets with the COO and CFO before jumping into a day full of meetings. His schedule is packed with internal and external meetings.

In between meetings, Adamolekun manages emails, prioritizing the most essential tasks to ensure employees are being met with timely approvals to move forward with their work.

6:00 p.m.: When the days meetings are over, Adamolekun clears his inbox and heads home. But, his work day doesnt exactly stop there.

As the CEO of a major restaurant chain, Adamolekun is no stranger to mixing business with dinner, often meeting with colleagues and connections after the traditional nine-to-five workday ends.

As he puts it, Its a hospitality business, so a lot of dinners are involved.

On the occasions when Adamolekun can go straight home without any post-work affairs, he relaxes with a cigar on the patio, ending his day the same way he starts by activating his parasympathetic nervous system.