Good morning.

It’s Tuesday, September 2. And let’s be real—we’re all crawling out of the Labor Day weekend haze, pretending we didn’t just spend three days in stretchy pants. The long weekend’s gone, and we’re all staggering back into “real life” like zombies who forgot how email works. 

So let’s call it what it is: a collective hangover from summer’s last gasp. Grab your caffeine, ignore the to-do list for five minutes, and enjoy the read.

Today’s stories:

• SpaceX Starship finally launches without exploding

• Wealthy Americans shop Europe to dodge tariffs

• SSENSE files bankruptcy amid tariff pressure

• Doctors perform first partial heart transplant

• Amtrak debuts faster trains, still lags abroad

• Pepsi boosts Celsius stake in energy drinks

• US Open parties outshine tennis matches

• U.S. passport drops out of top ten

• Google Pixel 10 packs smarter AI

  and more…

Markets paused for Labor Day, but futures ticked slightly higher Monday afternoon. A late-Friday court ruling added intrigue, declaring most Trump’s tariffs illegal.

Last week’s rally had momentum through Thursday, pushing the S&P 500 to new highs, only to lose steam Friday as AI names—led by Nvidia—pulled the market back.

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US Open Parties Serve More Flex Than Tennis

The US Open isn’t just about forehands — it’s about $38 sandwiches, crystal-netted ping-pong, and penthouse tennis courts for people who think tennis balls should come with caviar. At The Mark Hotel, $1,770 a night buys you a rooftop “mini” court, a $45 lip balm, and a breakfast credit too small to cover room service. The Fifth Avenue Hotel offers chauffeur rides, Honey Deuce cocktails on arrival, and helicopter transfers if LaGuardia feels too… pedestrian. The Lotte Palace throws in Moët, pickleball seats, and a diamond tennis bracelet starting at $3,395 a night. Baccarat Hotel skips the matches and instead serves truffle grilled cheese and lobster rolls next to a $225 crystal ping-pong table. For the peasants, The Lowell has a $38 chicken sandwich and $27 cocktails.

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SSENSE files for broke. Canadian fashion darling SSENSE just tripped on the runway and is filing for bankruptcy protection. The Montreal retailer blamed Trump’s new tariffs on small U.S.-bound parcels, which killed its duty-free shipping perk. That, plus a lender looking to cash out, left SSENSE broke and scrambling. The company insists it’ll keep paying employees and “operate as usual”—translation: your overpriced sneakers will still ship, just with a side of financial panic. Once valued at $4B, SSENSE is now a cautionary tale: even luxury platforms can’t out-design trade wars and empty wallets.

Pepsi doubles down on caffeine and vitamins. PepsiCo just dropped $585 million to boost its stake in Celsius Holdings, upping its share to about 11%. Celsius now controls Pepsi’s U.S. energy portfolio, including its own brand, Alani Nu, and Rockstar Energy. Translation: Pepsi outsourced the energy drink hustle to the people who actually know what TikTok kids want. The U.S. energy drink market is worth $25 billion and climbing, so this move is about stealing share from Red Bull and Monster, while Coca-Cola sits on its 19% Monster stake. With Celsius in the driver’s seat, Pepsi and its partners now hold about 20% of the category. Celsius stock popped 4% on the news, and has already more than doubled this year. Meanwhile, Pepsi keeps buying anything that screams “healthy-ish,” from Poppi sodas to prebiotic this and vitamin that. Sugar water is out, fake wellness juice is in.

Rich Americans turn tariffs into excuse for Europe trips. Wealthy Americans are booking flights to Europe not just for skiing and selfies, but to dodge Trump’s new luxury tariffs. Switzerland, home of Rolex and Patek Philippe, is now a top “shopping destination” for people dropping $50K to $75K on watches. A 39% tariff on Swiss goods means a Rolex that used to cost $11K now hits $15K at home. Buy it in Geneva, toss in a ski pass, and suddenly the vacation “pays for itself.” Advisors say shopping-driven travel is up almost 50% this summer, with Milan, Paris, and Madrid also hot spots for tariff-hacking. Of course, U.S. Customs wants its cut. Travelers are supposed to declare those shiny new toys, which means tariffs can still hit at the border. But VAT refunds and lower overseas prices mean many luxury buys still come out cheaper abroad.

Google’s Pixel 10: Same Look, More Brains

Google launched the Pixel 10 lineup, and the hardware looks almost identical to last year’s. The difference is AI everywhere. Gemini edits photos with a sentence, replies to texts, pulls up flight details mid-call, and even mimics your voice in another language.

The Pixel 10, 10 Pro, and 10 Pro XL ($800–$1,200) also add Qi2 wireless charging with built-in magnets, making MagSafe accessories work on Android. Cameras remain the main draw, now supercharged with AI tools like Camera Coach and a 100x AI zoom that turns blur into “memories.”

Google admits Pixel will never outsell Apple or Samsung, but the phones exist to show off Android at its best. The Pixel 10 is Google’s clearest pitch yet for leaving your iPhone behind.

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Starship finally doesn’t explode. SpaceX just pulled off a rare win with its monster Starship rocket. After a streak of fiery flops, Elon Musk’s 400-foot toy actually launched, deployed eight dummy satellites, fired its engines in orbit, and tested its reusable heat shield without blowing itself to pieces. The Super Heavy booster and the ship itself splashed down separately, making this test the first time the whole routine looked more NASA than fireworks show. NASA’s thrilled—Starship is supposed to deliver astronauts back to the Moon by 2027. Musk, of course, has his eyes on Mars and a $400B company valuation. For now, he’ll settle for not lighting up the Gulf of Mexico.

Doctors save baby with first-ever partial heart transplant. Owen Monroe was born with a heart defect so bad he almost didn’t make it out of the hospital. The usual surgery kills most infants within a year, so Duke surgeons tried something new: a partial heart transplant. Translation: they borrowed parts from a donor heart and patched his up like a Franken-organ. The gamble worked. Owen’s now starting preschool instead of being a statistic. Fewer than 50 people have had this surgery so far, but doctors say the early results look good. Turns out fixing hearts with spare parts might actually stick.

How 433 Investors Unlocked 400X Return Potential

Institutional investors back startups to unlock outsized returns. Regular investors have to wait. But not anymore. Thanks to regulatory updates, some companies are doing things differently.

Take Revolut. In 2016, 433 regular people invested an average of $2,730. Today? They got a 400X buyout offer from the company, as Revolut’s valuation increased 89,900% in the same timeframe.

No wonder 10K+ everyday people are taking the chance on Pacaso.

Founded by a former Zillow exec, Pacaso’s co-ownership tech reshapes the $1.3T vacation home market. They’ve earned $110M+ in gross profit to date, including 41% YoY growth in 2024 alone. They even reserved the Nasdaq ticker PCSO.

The same institutional investors behind Uber, Venmo, and eBay backed Pacaso. And you can join them. But not for long. Pacaso’s investment opportunity ends September 18.

Invest While You Still Can

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The World’s Most Powerful Passport

The American passport is slipping out of the world’s top 10 for the first time. Once ranked No. 1 in 2014, the U.S. now sits in 10th place on the Henley Passport Index, its lowest spot ever. And because ties are counted as one ranking, 33 countries now offer more travel freedom than the U.S. Singapore holds the crown again in 2025, with visa-free access to 193 destinations. South Korea and Japan follow closely with 190. European heavyweights like Germany, France, Italy, and Spain sit comfortably at No. 3 with 189 destinations. At the bottom of the list, Afghanistan offers visa-free travel to just 25 countries, while Syria and Iraq barely improve on that number. The global mobility gap between top and bottom passports now stands at 168 destinations.

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Amtrak finally speeds up, kind of. Amtrak’s new NextGen Acela trains are rolling between Boston, New York, and D.C., topping out at 160 mph. That’s 10 mph faster than the old ones, still nowhere near Europe or Asia, but at least it’s progress on century-old tracks. The 28 new trains have bigger windows, faster Wi-Fi, more seats, a food bar, and enough outlets to keep everyone’s laptops alive. They also meet stricter safety standards after the deadly 2015 derailment. All trains were built in upstate New York and should be fully running by 2027. Amtrak calls it the future of U.S. rail. The rest of the world calls it “still slow.”

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TikTok of the day: watch here

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