Today's Cheddlines You Need2Know

• Stocks tumble on Trump’s tariff announcements

• Will Elon Musk be done heading up DOGE soon?

• Your computer will be able to smell you soon

• Nintendo Switch 2 out this June

• Robots are building weapons with AI now

—Matt Davis, Need2Know Chedditor

Stocks tumble on Trump’s tariff announcements

You know it’s good news when your financial adviser sends a mass email at 3pm the day after a major financial policy announcement telling everybody to “stay calm” and “wait it out.” 🤦🏻‍♂️

That actually happened to me yesterday because the financial markets experienced their most severe downturn since the pandemic. The latest downturns were largely due to the president’s new set of tariffs. The S&P 500 $SPX ( ▲ 9.52% ) plummeted nearly 5%, marking its worst performance since June 2020, amid global criticisms of the U.S.'s actions and heightened economic concerns.

The tariffs have led to worries about potential job losses as businesses may cut back on hiring or even lay off workers due to increased production costs. Economies worldwide reacted rapidly, with China promising to take countermeasures and the EU, led by President Ursula von der Leyen, vowing a united response. Mr. Trump's tariffs, unexpectedly high, have imposed significant levies not only on adversaries but also on allies, affecting goods from a wide range of countries and even impacting remote territories.

The global response has been varied, from Japan's reserved regret to France urging European companies to halt investments in the U.S. Additionally, the tariffs sparked immediate consequences in industries, such as automobile — where companies like Volkswagen $VLKAY ( ▼ 0.99% ) announced plans to pass on the costs to consumers — and tech, exemplified by a significant drop in Apple's $AAPL ( ▲ 15.33% ) stock value due to concerns over increased production costs.

“Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again. And it’s happening, and it will happen rather quickly,” Trump said in a joint address to Congress early in March.

Will Elon Musk be done heading up DOGE soon?

President Trump has told his inner circle — and amazingly, it’s leaked to Politico — that Elon Musk will soon step back from his significant role within the administration, returning his focus to his business ventures, including running Tesla $TSLA ( ▲ 22.69% ) .

The decision has been shaped by Musk's unpredictable nature, which many in and around the Trump circle increasingly see as a political liability. The sentiment was underscored when a conservative judge Musk supported lost a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat on Tuesday.

Musk's imminent exit marks a shift from the administration's previous stance, where insiders believed Musk would remain a constant figure in Washington. Even though Musk will likely retain an informal advisory role, his direct involvement is set to decrease after his special government employee status — which temporarily exempts him from certain ethics rules — expires in late spring or early summer.

Despite tensions, Trump has publicly praised Musk, recognizing his fervor in eliminating what he perceives as bureaucratic excesses. However, concerns within the GOP about maintaining a steady course ahead of the upcoming midterms have won out.

From @cheddar

Social media post of the day

Your computer will be able to smell you soon

Have you ever wondered if computers could smell? Alex Wiltschko, CEO of Osmo, a Google $GOOGL ( ▲ 9.68% ) spin-off company, is turning that thought into reality. He gave us the lowdown on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange where the prevailing smell yesterday was, as we all know, panic.

"Computers can see, they can hear, and we're building the technology to help them smell," Wiltschko said. Osmo recently launched a fragrance house, designing scents for brands and individuals alike. The process involves teaching computers how to smell, capturing real-world scents, digitizing them, and then reprinting them. The innovative approach combines AI and human creativity to produce fragrances with "unprecedented speeds and with unprecedented precision."

Wiltschko's interest in scent goes way back. "I started collecting fragrances when I was 12," he said, describing himself as "a big computer nerd." His dual passions — for computers and cologne — led him to work at the intersection of smell and artificial intelligence for the past 17 years. At Google Brain (now Google Deep Mind) he led the digital olfaction group, aiming to "teach computers how to smell." Two and a half years ago, this mission led to the creation of Osmo.

When asked what people can expect from Osmo's fragrance house, Wiltschko used a unique example: “the smell of money.” Asked to create the scent, Osmo delivered four interpretations. One was "the scent of the excitement of money, of like a new wire in the bank." Another evoked "the most luxurious like day out at a restaurant," while a third was "by the seaside." The final scent was described as "driving your sports car in Monaco. Right, leather seats, the windows are down, you've got the seaside." As Wiltschko stated, "These are different interpretations of money and of wealth."

He is yet to launch the smell of your 401(k) tanking 10 percent. #Pivot

Osmo's work brings together various fields, including machine learning, chemistry, and neuroscience. "It's a really special company because nobody's ever brought all these different people together," Wiltschko notes. The company has "brought together real artificial intelligence and real fragrance chemistry, real perfumery."

Smells like…victory!

Should You Check Your 401(k) Today?

👎

(you’re kidding, right?)

Nintendo Switch 2 out this June

The eagerly anticipated Nintendo Switch 2 is slated for release on June 5th, priced at $449 — a high figure that swiftly became a point of contention among gamers as it followed President Trump's announcement of comprehensive tariffs on imports to the United States.

Despite its steep price, which nears the cost of a new PlayStation 5, the Nintendo Switch 2 promises to significantly bridge the power gap with its predecessor, offering enhanced graphical and computational abilities. The leap in technology enables Nintendo to pursue more ambitious projects, as evidenced by the array of games previewed at a New York City press event. Headliners included fresh Nintendo titles such as Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, alongside third-party powerhouses like Cyberpunk 2077 and Civilization 7.

Quote of the Day

Robots are building weapons with AI now

We delved into the fascinating world of advanced manufacturing with Edward Mehr, co-founder and CEO of Machina Labs. Mehr paints a vivid picture of a manufacturing landscape ripe for change. "We have not had a significant change in manufacturing in the past 100 years," he said. "Shop floors are pretty much how they used to be in the 1920s, 1930s." But AI is changing everything.

Mehr's journey is as compelling as his vision. With an engineering background and early days in AI, he "eventually went to SpaceX. That's when [he] got more familiar with the manufacturing challenges we have, and [he’s] been in manufacturing since."

Government contracts play a significant role for Machina Labs. Mehr explained: "Our government, specifically military, which is our biggest customer in the government, is a very tricky space. Military's looking for all innovative solutions that allows them to turn like one-year, two-year lead times into a matter of hours, and that's what we're doing."

This agility is critical for modern defense needs.

"Every day we can teach the robot to do a new thing…what we're working on right now is forging even larger parts, forging parts for nuclear reactors, nuclear submarines," Mehr said.

Just think, you could come up with an idea for a new kind of product right now, and one of Mehr’s robots could have manufactured it by lunchtime!

Poll of the Day

Public companies in today’s newsletter

$SPX ( ▲ 9.52% )  $VLKAY ( ▼ 0.99% )  $AAPL ( ▲ 15.33% )  $TSLA ( ▲ 22.69% )  $GOOGL ( ▲ 9.68% )  

Cheddar of the week

Today’s cheddar of the week is Tillamook’s 2014 Extra Sharp reserve. It triumphed at the World Cheese Awards in Viseu, Portugal last November, being named the "Best Cheddar in the World" by 244 international judges. They were impressed by the cheese's rich, complex flavor profile featuring notes of brown butter and caramel, achieved through a meticulous decade-long aging process. You can buy eight ounces for just $26 here.