In The Name of Science 🧬

Every June, Russell FTSE updates its indices’ holdings— this morning concluded the multi-week process. The Russell 1000, 2000, and 3000 look different to reflect the market.

Retail made its presence known. Memestocks like AMC and GameStop are very much present. AMC Entertainment became the largest holding in the Russell 2000. GameStop left the small-cap index to join the big boys in the Russell 1000. 🎮 🚀 🚀

AMC towers above others in the Russell 2000’s rebalance. According to the largest Russell 2000 ETF, the four next-largest holdings are Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Ovintiv, Lattice Semiconductor, and II-VI INC. 

The large-cap Russell 1000 index had few surprises. Tesla and JPMorgan Chase hopped into the top ten. 🏆

Additions to the Russell 2000 (which also appear in the Russell 3000) include Asana, fuboTV, Fisker, AppHarvest, QuantumScape, Lordstown Motors, WIX.COM, and others. The full list of additions is available here. 

Most lawmakers seem to have one thing in common— they all hate Big Tech. For different reasons, but ultimately everyone has reached a consensus…

Companies like Facebook, Google, and Apple are too big and powerful. 🤷

Despite lawmakers’ and regulators’ attempts to curtail tech companies, they keep failing. The FTC’s antitrust suit against Facebook was thrown out today (even though it was filed by 48 attorney generals from different states). Another W for Big Tech. 

The FTC recommended forcing Facebook to sell/spin off its companies. The Court said the FTC’s claims were “legally insufficient and must therefore be dismissed.” FTC calculations on $FB’s market share were called “too speculative and conclusory to go forward.” 

This probably isn’t the end of antitrust action. In the meantime, though, Facebook can relish in its victory. Congress and the White House will prep their next punch. 🥊

$FB closed above a $1T market cap for the first time ever; $FB rose 4.18% today. 

China’s crackdown on crypto mining and exchanges unsettles the crypto community. FUD is nothing new to crypto maximalists, but these prices might be— large-cap cryptos like Bitcoin and Ethereum have almost halved from their peaks.

The FUD impacts big blockchains in new ways: fewer transactions and less on-chain activity. Gas fees (transaction fees paid by users to miners) associated with “proof-of-work” blockchains are declining. 📉 Gas fees typically correlate with price.

Bitcoin’s average gas fee fell 24% overnight to $5.10. According to Ycharts, Bitcoin’s average transaction fee is 330% lower YoY. The second-largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, also saw dips in fees. BitInfoCharts shows the average gas fee at $2.15, down from $69.92 on May 12 one day after Ethereum hit $4,164.

Fewer miners and participants on blockchains might benefit some users, but China’s crackdown means crypto lost most of its miners… and miners are necessary on networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum. 😬

If demand rises again without a spike in the number of miners, gas fees could soar to unprecedented levels. Hopefully China’s crypto miners just migrate somewhere else. 🙏

After a rough couple months, Cathie Wood is back in the spotlight. $ARKK posted over $600M in inflows last week; another fund scored a huge W thanks to a genetic breakthrough. 🥳 🧬

ARK Innovation ETF power-houred today— +3.7% alongside growth and tech stocks. Coinbase led Cathie’s picks, +9.8%.

ARK Genomic Revolution ETF jumped 3.3% today after Intellia Therapeutics published its gene therapy study (read more here). Companies like Crispr Therapeutics AG and Editas Medicine also climbed today. 

Despite crypto’s recent plunge and a losing bet on DraftKings, Wood looks like she’s mounting a comeback. Ark’s flagship Innovation ETF has recovered 26% since its May low. It trades +4.4% on the year. 📈

Dogecoin is Daddy’s favorite child. ❤️ 🐶 On Elon’s 50th birthday, the Tesla CEO supported Doge’s fee change proposal— he reduced standard dogecoin transaction fees by ~100x. 

Doge cheered up on the news, shot up over 10%, and landed at $0.25.

Musk responded to Dogecoin developer Ross Nicoll about the fee change proposal. Doge used to be 10x cheaper than its current Litecoin transaction costs. 

Higher fees correspond to higher exchange rates between USD and BTC.X. Musk is working with Doge developers to reduce fees by ~50x.