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Greetings N2K reader!

The theme of this week’s world famous News Haiku™ competition is that Nvidia is the first ever company worth $5 trillion. Email me your entry by noon Eastern on Thursday! Now, let’s talk about the news you need to know!

—Matt Davis, Need2Know Chedditor

News You Need2Know

• SCOTUS will weigh tariffs this week

• AI darlings prop up Wall Street as most other stoc …

• President says he ‘won’t be extorted’ on shutdown

• Getty’s $3.7 billion attempt to buy Shutterstock f …

• The long and unexpected afterlife of the Timothée …

What’s the stock market up to, eh?

$SPX ( ▲ 0.17% ) $DJI ( ▼ 0.48% ) $NDX ( ▲ 0.46% )

Companies mentioned in today’s newsletter

$NVDA ( ▲ 2.17% )  $AMZN ( ▲ 4.01% )  $KMB ( ▼ 14.57% )  $KVUE ( ▲ 12.32% )  $BYND ( ▼ 16.01% )  $MSFT ( ▼ 0.15% )  $PLTR ( ▲ 3.35% )  $GETY ( ▲ 4.26% )  $SSTK ( ▼ 9.63% )  

SCOTUS will weigh tariffs this week

The Supreme Court is set to weigh arguments on whether President Donald Trump overstepped federal law with his unprecedented use of tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Trump has used tariffs not only to address trade practices but as tools of foreign policy, flexing executive power to influence international relations. “The importance of this case cannot be overstated,” said White House press secretary Karoline “Love It Or” Leavitt.

Traditionally, tariffs have been used sparingly, requiring lengthy justification processes, yet Trump wielded them broadly and swiftly. Josh “Loose” Lipsky, of the Atlantic Council, told the AP: “Presidents have typically treated tariffs as a scalpel, not a sledgehammer.”

At the center of the debate is whether IEEPA gives Trump authority to impose tariffs without congressional approval. Emily “Flatiron” Kilcrease, director at the Center for a New American Security, believes the law offers “broad, flexible emergency powers,” suggesting the Supreme Court may side with Trump. Of course, others disagree.

Song of the day: The Charlatans, ‘We Are Love’

The Charlatans have been mainstays on the UK indie scene since the early ‘90s, with hits like “The Only One I Know.” The band continue to be festival favorites, but they have been surprisingly quiet of late when it comes to original material. They put that right with “We Are Love,” their first new studio album in eight years. It’s alright. The folks at StereoBoard say it feels like they’re “playing it a tad safe” but there’s nothing wrong with that, is there? Unless you want to be a danger man!

AI darlings prop up Wall Street as most other stocks fall

Wall Street started the week mixed, as AI superstars like Nvidia $NVDA ( ▲ 2.17% ) , Amazon $AMZN ( ▲ 4.01% ) , and Palantir Technologies $PLTR ( ▲ 3.35% ) propped up the S&P 500 while much of the broader market saw declines. The S&P 500 $SPX ( ▲ 0.17% ) rose 0.3%, led by AI-focused companies, while two-thirds of its constituents fell.

Nvidia $NVDA ( ▲ 2.17% ) continued to shine, climbing 3.3% and contributing to a staggering year-to-date gain of 55%. Amazon $AMZN ( ▲ 4.01% ) jumped 4.4% after revealing a $38 billion deal with OpenAI, leveraging its cloud computing services for AI workloads. Meanwhile, Palantir added another 3.3% ahead of its quarterly earnings report—bringing its year-to-date gains to an impressive 165%.

The excitement around AI stocks reflects a frenzy comparable to the dot-com boom, raising concerns about inflated valuations. Despite criticism of AI stock valuations, 80% of S&P 500 companies reporting this quarter have exceeded earnings expectations, according to FactSet.

Post of the day: Shades of O.J.?

Quote of the Day

President says he ‘won’t be extorted’ on shutdown

The ongoing government shutdown, poised to become the longest in U.S. history, underscores a deepening impasse between Democrats and Republicans. Millions of Americans are facing dire consequences, including the expiration of food aid benefits, health care subsidies, and mounting unpaid wages for federal workers. Despite these impacts, little progress has been made to resolve the stalemate. The question, of course, is whose fault is it?

People have different views! In yesterday’s Cheddar poll, we asked: Whose fault is the shutdown?

You voted as follows:

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Donald Trump's (853)

 🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ The Democrats's's (143)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ The precious's'ssss! The precious! We wants it! (30)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ There is no such thing as free will so it was predestined (16)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Mine. I'm the problem, it's me. (17)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ I'm prepared to blame Zohran Mamdami for everything (20)

1,079 Votes via @beehiiv polls

So, yeah. There’s a diversity of views about whose fault the shutdown is, and I should say that a poll of a thousand Need2Know readers doesn’t necessarily reflect the country’s opinions as a whole. Thirty people seem to blame Gollum from “Lord of The Rings,” for example?! And a healthy 17 looked at the man (or woman) in the mirror and pointed fingers. So 🤷 

Voters are headed to the polls today in New Jersey and Virginia and are likely to make their feelings known on the whole shutdown debate at the ballot box, by proxy. It’s fair to say their ballots might be a more reliable poll of public sentiment than yesterday’s Need2Know poll. Or will they? I don’t know!

Against this backdrop, President Donald Trump has made it clear that he “won’t be extorted” by Democrats, insisting he will only negotiate over healthcare costs once the government reopens. Trump told CBS’s “60 Minutes” that Democrats “have lost their way.” Senate Democrats, opposing Trump’s demands, have voted 13 times against reopening government operations while pushing for negotiations over health care and federal worker protections. With SNAP benefits for millions caught in the crossfire and flight delays worsening, many hope for a resolution soon. I think we can all agree on that, at least?

Should you check your 401(k) today?

👍️ 

Oh yes, particularly if it’s weighted towards AI darlings and the Nasdaq.

Getty’s $3.7 billion attempt to buy Shutterstock faces U.K. investigation

I’m deliberately excluding a stock image from this story because of my reasonably impish sense of fun. Also, the image accompanying the next story will more than make up for it.

Getty Images’ $GETY ( ▲ 4.26% ) ambitious $3.7 billion bid to acquire rival Shutterstock $SSTK ( ▼ 9.63% ) is facing heightened scrutiny from Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority. The antitrust watchdog announced Monday that it is escalating its investigation into the proposed merger, citing concerns that it might lead to higher prices, reduced quality, or worse commercial terms for editorial and stock visuals in the United Kingdom.

The CMA raised alarms that the merger could result in a “substantial lessening of competition” in the market. Following these concerns during the preliminary phase, Getty and Shutterstock presented “a complex package of remedies.” However, the CMA found that these measures did not “fully address” the issues raised by businesses and trade groups.

Responding to the latest developments, Getty expressed disappointment but affirmed its commitment to the deal. The company said it would continue working with regulators and Shutterstock to secure approval, which, I dunno, sounds kinda presumptuous about it eventually being approved, no?

The CMA has until April 16 to deliver its decision, as the U.S. Department of Justice also reviews the merger for competitiveness concerns. My guess is that the U.K. authority might take a slightly harder line, but you never know, eh?

The long and unexpected afterlife of the Timothée Chalamet look-alike contest

What started as an unofficial contest in New York’s Washington Square Park in October 2024 has grown into a surprising-ish-ly cultural phenomenon. The Timothée Chalamet look-alike contest brought together contestants with, let’s say, varying degrees of resemblance to the Hollywood star.

Miles “Call Me By His Name” Mitchell, who took first place, has since parodied Chalamet’s role in “Dune” for an Impossible Foods ad and donned his thrifted “Wonka” costume on CBS’s “The Drew Barrymore Show.” “[It’s] a motivator for me to become an actor,” Mitchell said, imagining a future where others might hold look-alike contests modeled after him.

Best of luck with that, Miles. Sincerely.

For Zander “Bones and All” Dueve, who placed second in the competition, the ripple effects have been continual. "Every now and again, I’m like, OK, five minutes up," he told the Associated Press in March. "And then I’m like, oh, OK. There’s another thing, and then another thing, and then another thing."

Ultimately, as Dueve reflected, the contestants became “the graduating class of the Timothée Chalamet competition,” proving that one moment of quirky fun can add up to several more moments of quirky fun.

Poll of the day: Hocus-Scotus, alakazam!

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